Creating Process Flow Steps

This topic describes how to create Process Flow Steps.

1. Open a Process Flows record (if not already opened) and select the Design tab.
   • You must first save a process flow record before adding process flow steps.
     
     
2. Click a step from button on the Main Toolbar or select Insert and then the step type. The available options are:
   • Component: Based on a Process Component. Component steps appear as rectangles in the designer. See Working with Process Components for information on creating and using Process Components.
   • Sub-Process: Execute an existing Process Flow. Sub-Process steps appear as a dotted-line rectangles in the designer.
   • Rule: Execute a specific Rule statement. Rule-based steps appear as rounded rectangles in the designer.
     
     
     
     
3. Place the Process Flow step on the design grid.
   • Figure below illustrates a component-based step.
     
     
4. Expand the Properties area of the Process Flow form, if necessary.
   
   
   
   
5. Enter a Name for the step within the Properties area.
   
   
6. Do one of the following based upon the step you selected:
   • If Step is Component: Select a Process Component in the Component list.
   1. • The drop-down list displays all of the records in the Process Components service grouped by category. Expand a particular category to see its associated sub-categories and/or process components.
      • See About the Delivered Process Components for information on the components provided with the default Aptify installation.
      • See Creating Process Components for information on adding new components.
      • When you select a component, the component's Input Properties automatically populate the step's Properties tab.
        
        
        
        
   • If Step is Sub-Process: Select an existing process flow from the Sub-Process drop-down list. 
   1. • When you select a process flow, that process flow's Input Properties automatically populate the step's Properties tab.
        
        
   • If Step is Rule: Select the Rule tab and perform the following actions:
   1. • Select a Rule Type (VBScript or SQL).
      • Enter the rule text in the syntax of the language selected. See Writing Process Flow Step Rules for details.
        
        
        
        
7. Configure the step's input map on the step's Properties tab. See Configuring Process Flow Input Maps for more details.
   • For Component or Sub-Process steps, configure the input map on the Properties tab.
   • For Rule-based steps, click Add Map to manually add input properties required by your rule as needed.
     
     
8. Select the Description tab and enter a description for the step.
   
   
9. Select the Output Map tab. A list of Output Properties displays. See Defining Process Component Output Properties for more information on creating Output Properties.
   
   
10. Add and configure additional steps to the Process Flow as necessary.
    • Click a step from button on the Main Toolbar to add a new step of a particular type.
    • Place the Process Flow steps on the grid.
    • Configure the step's properties accordingly.
      
      
11. After you have created the steps, you can link them together in a logical order. You link steps together using the Insert Result Code Link option. See Linking Process Flow Steps Together for details.
    • Use the Process Flow Designer's layout tools as needed to organize the Process Flow's steps. See Navigating the Process Flow Designer for information on the available layout tools.
      
      
12. Add informational labels to the process flow as necessary. See Adding Labels to a Process Flow for details.

13. Save and close the Process Flows record.

    After you have finished designing your process flow, you can test it with the Process Flow Debugger tool. See Testing Process Flows for details