business process manager user guide · tableofcontents preface..... 9 chapter1...

Business Process Manager UserGuide

Version 5.3 SP1August 2005

Table of Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 1 Understanding Business Process Design ............................................. 11Introducing Workflows ............................................................................... 11Process Templates and Associated Workflow Objects .................................... 14Planning Workflow Processes...................................................................... 15Choosing or Creating Activity Templates ................................................. 16Choosing Activities ................................................................................ 17Choosing Performers .............................................................................. 17When the Performer Is Determined...................................................... 19Using Aliases ..................................................................................... 20

Enabling Delegation and Extension.......................................................... 21Defining Task Subjects ............................................................................ 21Adding a Signoff Requirement ................................................................ 22Setting Priority Values ............................................................................ 23Defining Packages .................................................................................. 23Associating Form Templates With Packages ............................................. 24Setting Trigger Conditions ...................................................................... 25Setting Timers ........................................................................................ 26Setting Up Notifications .......................................................................... 27Defining Activity Transitions................................................................... 27Determining Transition Conditions...................................................... 28

Chapter 2 Using Business Process Manager ......................................................... 31Business Process Manager Toolbar............................................................... 32Activity Palettes ......................................................................................... 33Process Template Editor Pane ...................................................................... 34Aligning Activities.................................................................................. 35Snap to Grid........................................................................................... 36Zooming In or Out.................................................................................. 36Adding Notes ........................................................................................ 37

Navigator .................................................................................................. 39

Chapter 3 Working with Process Templates .......................................................... 41Opening Existing Process Templates ............................................................ 41Creating Process Templates ......................................................................... 42Setting Process Template Properties ............................................................. 44Managing Process Packages ........................................................................ 46Saving Process Templates............................................................................ 48Validating Process Templates ...................................................................... 50Installing Process Templates........................................................................ 51Modifying Process Templates ...................................................................... 52Printing Process Templates.......................................................................... 53

Business Process Manager User Guide 3

Table of Contents

Setting Page Setup Options ..................................................................... 53Previewing Printed Processes .................................................................. 54

Chapter 4 Connecting Activities ............................................................................ 57Creating Flows ........................................................................................... 57Changing Flow Display Settings .................................................................. 58

Chapter 5 Working with Activities .......................................................................... 61Setting Activity Properties .......................................................................... 62Selecting Performers ................................................................................... 63Choosing manual performers .................................................................. 65Assign performer(s) now .................................................................... 67Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) ofthis activity ........................................................................................ 67Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned whenworkflow is underway) ....................................................................... 69

Choosing automatic performers............................................................... 70Setting Activity Triggers ............................................................................. 71Setting Warning Timers .............................................................................. 73Setting Notifications ................................................................................... 76Setting Activity Transition Rules.................................................................. 76Creating transition conditions ................................................................. 79

Handling Packages ..................................................................................... 80Changing Display Settings .......................................................................... 82

Chapter 6 Working with Activity Templates ........................................................... 85Creating Activity Templates ........................................................................ 85Managing Activity Palettes.......................................................................... 86Configuring Activity Templates................................................................... 87Validating and Installing Activity Templates ................................................ 89

Appendix A Delivered Activity Templates ................................................................. 91Decision Split ............................................................................................. 92Join............................................................................................................ 93Start Sub-Process ........................................................................................ 93Post Event to Parent Process ........................................................................ 94FTP............................................................................................................ 94HTTP Post.................................................................................................. 95SMTP......................................................................................................... 95Web Service................................................................................................ 97Send to JMS Queue ..................................................................................... 98Send to MQ JMS ......................................................................................... 98Publish to JMS Topic ................................................................................... 99Set Queue Task Skill.................................................................................. 100Queue Task Rework Decision .................................................................... 100XSL Transformation .................................................................................. 101

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Appendix B Substitution Variables for Custom Activity TemplateProperties ............................................................................................ 103

Appendix C Business Process Manager Conguration File ................................... 107


Table of Contents

List of Figures

Figure 1–1. Workflows Capture Business Processes ............................................................ 12Figure 1–2. Components of a Workflow............................................................................. 13Figure 2–1. Business Process Manager............................................................................... 32Figure 2–2. Notes Add Text to the Visual Layout................................................................ 37FigureA–1. Approval Process Without and With Decision Split Activity.............................. 92FigureA–2. Review Process Without and With Join Activity ............................................... 93


Table of Contents

List of Tables

Table 1–1. Activity Performer Selection Categories ........................................................... 18Table B–1. Supported Substitution Variables for Activity Configuration Fields ................. 104Table C–1. bpmconfig Parameters .................................................................................. 107


Table of Contents


Preface

Purpose of the ManualThis manual is intended to help users design and build business process templates usingEMC Documentum Business Process Manager. Business Process Manager extends thefunctionality of Documentum Workflow Manager. While you can use either tool tocreate process templates, Business Process Manager offers enhanced options, includingmost notably the ability to create templates for custom activity types.

Intended AudienceThis manual is intended for business users whose role is to design business processes.It assumes some familiarity with basic Documentum functionality, especially with theruntime workflow features available through Documentum Webtop.

Related DocumentationBusiness Process Manager is a design tool for business process templates. Workflows arecreated from these templates at runtime; see the user documentation for DocumentumWebtop for information about running and participating in workflows.

In addition to this manual, the documentation set for Business Process Manager includes:

• Business Process Manager Development Guide• Business Process Manager Installation Guide• Business Process Manager Release Notes• Business Process Manager Localization Guide


Preface


Chapter 1Understanding Business ProcessDesign

You use Business Process Manager to create process templates. A process template captures thedefinition of a business process, enabling users to repeatedly perform the process. Individualprocesses generated from a process template are called workflows.

This chapter introduces the basic concepts of Documentum workflow and business process design.The following topics are included:• Introducing Workflows, page 11• Process Templates and Associated Workflow Objects, page 14• Planning Workflow Processes, page 15Business Process Manager extends the functionality of DocumentumWorkflow Manager. While youcan use either tool to create process templates, Business Process Manager offers enhanced options,including most notably the ability to create templates for custom activity types.

Introducing WorkowsA workflow formalizes a business process such as an insurance claims process or anengineering development process. After the business process is formalized in a workflowdefinition, called a process template, users can use the template to repeatedly perform thebusiness process. Because a process template is separate from its runtime instantiation,multiple workflows based on the same template can be run concurrently.

A process template consists of multiple activities linked together by flows. Activitiesrepresent the tasks needed to process the documents being routed through the workflow,such as reviewing a document, checking it into the repository, or approving it. Flows arethe links between the activities, specifying the sequence of activities and the packagesthat are exchanged between them. Packages contain the object, generally a document,passed between activities so that work can be performed on it. See Process Templates


Understanding Business Process Design

and Associated Workflow Objects, page 14 for further details about these workflowcomponents.

Figure 1-1. Workows Capture Business Processes

Workflows can describe simple or complex business processes. You can create workflowsthat have both serial segments, in which activities follow one another in a specifiedsequence, and parallel segments, in which two or more activities happen concurrently.You can also create a cyclical workflow, in which the completion of an activity restarts apreviously completed activity. The path that a document takes through the workflow candiffer depending on what happens along the way; for example, a purchase order could berouted to different activities depending on whether the manager approves it or rejects it.

You can create a process template that can be used in many contexts. This is done byincluding activities whose performers are identified by aliases instead of actual usernames. When aliases are used, the actual user is selected at runtime. For example, atypical business process for new documents has four steps: authoring the document,reviewing it, revising it, and publishing the document. The actual authors and reviewerswill be different people for different documents. Rather than creating a separateworkflow for each document with the author and reviewer names hard-coded, you createone process template with activity definitions that use aliases for the author and reviewernames. Depending on how you design the workflow, the actual people represented bythe aliases can be chosen by the person who starts the workflow, by the person whoperforms the previous activity, or automatically by the server when the activity is started.For more information about using aliases in workflows, refer to Using Aliases, page 20.

You add activities to a process template by creating a blank activity or by selectingthe appropriate activity template for the type of task represented by the activity. Theactivity template determines what configuration attributes are necessary for a particulartype of task, including attributes common to all activities (such as a name and a listof performers) and custom attributes unique to a particular task. For example, theactivity template for activities that post files to a Web site would include an attributecontaining the URL to use for posting. Business Process Manager comes with predefinedactivity templates representing typical activity types, and you can create custom activitytemplates that exactly match your needs.



Each package (that is, each document) passed from one activity to the next can have aform template associated with it. The form template defines the data entry fields that aredisplayed to the user(s) performing the activity and specifies how the entered data isstored in the Documentum repository. You create forms using Documentum FormsBuilder and associate them with packages using Business Process Manager.

A workflow’s process template is implemented by Documentum Content Server as adm_process object. The definitions of individual activities in a workflow are stored indm_activity objects. Storing activity definitions and process templates in separate objectsallows activity definitions to be used in multiple process templates. When you designa workflow, you can include existing activity definitions in addition to creating anynew activity definitions needed.

When you start a workflow, the server uses the process template (the dm_process object)to create a runtime instance of the workflow (a dm_workflow object). When an activitystarts, the server creates one or more work items, which are tasks that the server adds tothe Inbox of the users who are the designated performers of the activity.

Figure 1–2, page 13 illustrates how the components of a process template and runtimeinstance work together.

Figure 1-2. Components of a Workow



Process Templates and Associated WorkowObjects

Documentum workflow definitions consist of a process template, a set of activitydefinitions, a set of flows connecting the activities, and one or more packagesrepresenting the documents being processed.

The process template defines the structure of a business process. It is composed ofactivity definitions and a set of attributes that define the flows connecting the activities.

ActivitiesActivities represent the tasks that comprise the business process. Workflows containthree kinds of activities:

• Begin activities are the first activities in the workflow. A process template must haveat least one Begin activity.

• The End activity is the last activity in the workflow. A process template can haveonly one End activity.

• Step activities are the intermediate activities between the beginning and the end. Aprocess template can have any number of Step activities.

An activity can be either manual or automatic. A manual activity is performed by aperson or multiple people. An automatic activity is performed by a script or program.

The attributes of an activity definition describe the characteristics of the activity,including:• The unique name of the activity• How the activity is executed• Who performs the work• What starts the activity• The transition behavior when the activity is completedActivities can also have characteristics that are specific to the type of task they represent.For example, an activity that sends documents to an external vendor would include anattribute containing the vendor’s email address. The set of custom attributes associatedwith an activity is configurable through the use of activity templates.

When the server starts an activity, it creates work items and adds them to the Inboxesof the users identified as the performers of the activity. These work items contain thepackages that the user needs to work on and instructions about the required task. (Moretechnically, the server adds a queue item to the Inbox, linked to the work item. See theDocumentum Content Server Object Reference for details.)

PackagesPackages are the objects on which activities perform their work. You list all of thepackages handled by a process as part of the process properties, then specify for each



activity which of the packages it works with. An activity can handle multiple packages.Each package can have a form template associated with it, defining the user interfacethat the activity performers see when working on the package.

FlowsFlows connect activities together, and enable the movement of packages, their properties,and dependencies between the connected activities.

There are two types of flows: forward flows and reject flows. Forward flows advancepackages from an activity to the next activity in the normal workflow, for examplemoving a package from the Edit activity to the Approve activity. Reject flows determinewhat happens when the performer of an activity rejects the package being routed. Theydirect packages in a backward loop, for example sending a package from the Approveactivity back to Edit.

All Step activities must have at least one flow coming in and one flow going out. A Beginactivity has at least one outward flow, but no incoming flow. An End activity must haveat least one incoming flow, but no outward flow.

Planning Workow ProcessesEach time you create a process template, there are design decisions to make. You mustdecide what documents are involved in the process, which activities to include, andhow to structure the workflow.

First, review the business process you want to automate and identify the sequence ofactivities required to complete it. Choosing Activities, page 17 provides some guidancefor the decisions about activities.

For each activity in the workflow, you must make the following decisions:• Is an appropriate activity template available?

Choosing or Creating Activity Templates, page 16 explains how to decide whetheryou need to create additional templates.

• Who performs the activity?

Choosing Performers, page 17 describes this choice.• For manual activities:

— Can the user delegate or extend the activity? Enabling Delegation and Extension,page 21 describes these choices.

— What message should be displayed to the performer(s) to provide informationabout the work item? Defining Task Subjects, page 21 describes this option.

— Must the user sign off to complete the activity? Adding a Signoff Requirement,page 22 describes this option.



— Should the user complete a custom form template in order to complete theactivity? Associating Form Templates With Packages, page 24 describes thisoption.

• For automatic activities, what is its priority?

Setting Priority Values, page 23 discusses priority values for automatic activities.• What packages does the activity accept and what packages does it send on to the

next activity or activities?

Defining Packages, page 23 gives some guidelines for this decision.• When does the activity start?

Setting Trigger Conditions, page 25 provides information about this decision.• What actions will the activity take if it has not been started or completed in a

reasonable amount of time?

Setting Timers, page 26 outlines the available actions.• What notifications will this activity send out when system events occur?

Setting Up Notifications, page 27 discusses notification options.• What happens next in the workflow?

Defining Activity Transitions, page 27 describes the transition options.

Choosing or Creating Activity Templates

As you identify the business tasks necessary at each step in the process, you need todetermine whether there is an activity template that supports each activity you will addto the process. Many activity templates include one or more custom attributes that areunique to a particular task. For example, the activity template for activities that senddocuments through email includes an attribute containing the target email address. Thetemplate may also provide default values for attributes common to all activities.

Business Process Manager comes with predefined activity templates representing typicalactivity types. If your business process includes special-purpose activities to which noneof the available templates apply, you need to create custom activities whose customattributes reflect the tasks performed with the activities. You may also need to developa custom workflow method to perform the required task. If you commonly use aparticular type of custom activity, you can create a custom activity template based ona custom activity.

For information about creating activity templates, see Chapter 6, Working with ActivityTemplates.



Choosing Activities

Each process template must have one or more Begin activities and a single End activity.The template can have any number of Step activities. The number of Step activitiesyou include depends solely on the structure of the workflow, which will depend on itsbusiness purpose.

Each activity in a workflowmust have a name that is unique within the process template.The name is assigned when you add the activity to the process template. Choose activitynames that are descriptive of the work performed by the activity.

You can include any activity that you create or any activity for which you have at leastRelate permission.

You can use an activity definition more than once in a workflow. For example, supposeyou want all documents to receive two rounds of review. You might design a workflowwith the following activities: Write, Review1, Revise, Review2, and Publish. TheReview1 and Review2 activities can use the same activity definition.

However, if you use an activity multiple times in a workflow, you must structure theworkflow so that only one instance of the activity is active at any time. A workflowcannot start an activity if a previous activity based on the same definition is still running.

Choosing Performers

An activity definition includes the information that lets Business Process Managerdetermine who will perform the activity. Business Process Manager supports a widerange of choices for a manual activity’s performer. For automatic activities, you must stillidentify a user whose permissions will be used when running the script or program.

When a manual activity starts, the server adds a queue item to the Inbox of the useror users designated as the performer of that activity. For high-volume documentprocessing, you can add the queue item to a work queue that many different users workfrom; see theWebtop User Guide for more information about work queue management.

Table 1–1, page 18 lists the categories from which you can choose a performer. Eachcategory is represented by an integer value. Only the first four options are availablefor automatic activities.



Table 1-1. Activity Performer Selection Categories

User Category How Performers are Selected

0 Workflow’s initiator/supervisor The server selects the user designated at theworkflow supervisor when the activity starts. Bydefault, the user who starts the workflow is theworkflow supervisor.

1 Repository owner The server selects the user identified as the ownerof the active Documentum repository.

2 Previous activity’s performer The server selects the performer from the lastfinished activity that satisfied the trigger conditionof the current activity. (See Setting TriggerConditions, page 25 for information about triggerconditions.)

3 Specific user You select an actual user name when you createthe template.

4 All users in group You select a group name when you create thetemplate. At runtime, the server assigns a separatework item to each group member.

5 Single user from group (First toacquire the work item)

You select a group name when you create thetemplate. At runtime, the server assigns a newwork item to every group member. When onemember of the group acquires the work item, thework items are removed from all other groupmember’s Inboxes.

6 Single user from group (Leastamount of unfinished workitems)

You select a group name when you create thetemplate. At runtime, the server determineswhich user in the selected group has the smallestworkload and assigns a new work item to thatuser. Workload is measured as the number ofdormant and active work items.

8 Some users from a group You select a list of multiple users or aliases as theperformer of the activity. The server assigns awork item to each of the users who are chosen asperformers.



User Category How Performers are Selected

9 Multiple sequential performers You select a list of multiple users or aliases as theperformer of the activity. The server assigns thework item to the first user in the list of chosenusers. When that user completes the work item,the server creates another work item for the nextuser in the list of chosen users. This continues untilall chosen users have completed their work items.

10 Work queue The server assigns the work item to the workqueue you select. Users assigned to work on thatqueue pull work items from the queue in priorityorder, or the queue manager assigns the item to aparticular user. For more information about workqueue processing, see theWebtop User Guide.

Participants in a workflow have the option to mark themselves as unavailable forworkflow tasks. When the workflow runs, if the user selected as the performer isunavailable, the workflow engine attempts to give the work item to the user’s delegateduser. See Enabling Delegation and Extension, page 21 for information about delegatedusers.

For information about selecting performers for an activity in Business Process Manager,see Selecting Performers, page 63. For details about creating activities whose performersare selected at runtime, see When the Performer Is Determined, page 19 and UsingAliases, page 20.

When the Performer Is Determined

When you create the activity, you must define the performer type, the user category. Youcan also define the actual performer at that time or you can configure the activity so thatthe actual performer is selected at runtime:• By the workflow initiator when the workflow is started• By the server, when the activity is started• By the performer of a previous activity, when the previous activity completesDefining the actual performer in an activity definition is the least flexible structure.Allowing the performer of a previous activity to choose an activity’s performer is themost flexible structure, since it lets decisions about performers be based on currentcircumstances and business rules.

If you select category 0 (Workflow supervisor), 1 (Repository owner), or 2 (Previousactivity’s performer) as the user category, the actual user is defined by the category. Forexample, an executing workflow has only one workflow supervisor and the repository



in which it runs has only one Repository owner. It isn’t necessary to define the actualperson when you create the activity. The server determines it when the activity is started.

If you select category 3 (Specific user), you can choose the actual person when youcreate the activity. To have the actual person selected when the workflow runs, use analias in place of a specific user name; see Using Aliases, page 20 for information aboutaliases. The alias can be resolved automatically by the server using an alias set or by theperformer of a previous activity. The same options apply to categories 4, 5, 6, or 10,except that you provide the name of a group or work queue instead of an individualuser. Provide a group or queue name if you are choosing it when you create the activity;use an alias if you want the actual group or queue selected at runtime.

For categories 8 and 9, you provide the names or aliases for a list of multiple users. Justas with the other categories, you can choose the actual performers when you create theactivity, have the performer of a previous activity chose the performer, or use aliasesto have the performer chosen at runtime.

Using Aliases

An alias is a descriptive name for a category of user or group that you use in place of anactual user or group name. At runtime, the server replaces the alias with the name of theactual user or group who fits the category in that time and place. Using aliases in activitydefinitions creates a flexible process template that can be used a variety of contexts.

For example, suppose you are creating a workflow for vacation requests. Eachdepartment in your company has a different manager who must approve vacations.Rather than create a different process template for every department, you want to createone template for everyone to use. After all, the business process is the same for everydepartment. In place of specific performer names for the activities, you use an alias, suchas Manager. When the workflow runs, the server answers the question "Who is theManager of the workflow initiator?" and sends a work item to that user.

The server resolves aliases at runtime by searching one or more alias sets to find the aliasand its associated actual value. An alias set is an object that defines a list of aliases andtheir corresponding actual values. You create alias sets in Documentum Administrator;see the Content Server Administrator’s Guide for details. You can associate alias sets withparticular users, and in Business Process Manager you can identify a default alias setfor the workflow.

When you include an alias as the performer for an activity, you can specify that theserver resolve the alias at runtime by referring to the default alias set for the workflow,to the alias set associated with the user who starts the workflow, to the alias set for theperformer of a previous activity, or to any other alias set you choose. You can also havethe server require the workflow initiator to manually provide values for the aliases whenthe workflow starts; to require the workflow initiator to resolve the aliases, you define a



default alias set for the process template that contains the aliases but not the names towhich the aliases are mapped. See Choosing manual performers, page 65 for details.

Enabling Delegation and Extension

When you create a manual activity, you specify whether the user performing the activityis able to delegate the activity to another performer or extend the activity by identifyingan additional performer.

With delegation, the original performer does not complete the activity. With extension,both the original performer and the designated additional performer complete theactivity.

If delegation is allowed, it can occur automatically or manually.

• Automatic delegation occurs when the server checks the availability of an activity’sperformer or performers and determines that the person or persons is not available.When this happens, the server automatically delegates the work to the users thatthe original performer designated in theWorkflow Availability dialog box. If thereis no user identified or that user is not available, the work item is either reassignedto the workflow supervisor or returned to the original performer depending on aconfiguration option set when the activity is created.

• Manual delegation occurs when the work item’s performer, the workflow supervisor,or a superuser elects to delegate the work item.

If extension is allowed, when the original performers complete an activity’s work items,they can identify a second round of performers for the activity. The server generatesnew work items for the second round of performers. Only after the second roundof performers completes the work does the server evaluate the activity’s transitioncondition and move to the next activity. The second round of performers do not have theoption to extend the activity any further.

See Selecting Performers, page 63 for information about setting these options.

Dening Task Subjects

The task subject is a message that provides a work item performer with informationabout the work item. The message is part of the activity definition. It can includereferences to one or more attributes whose values the server substitutes at run time. Forexample, suppose the task subject is defined as:Please work on the {dmi_queue_item.task_name} task(from activity number {dmi_queue_item.r_act_seqno})of the workflow {dmi_workflow.object_name}.The attached package is {dmi_package_r_package_name}.



Assuming that task_name is "Review", r_act_seqno is 2, object_name is "Engr Proposal",and r_package_name is "First Draft", at run time the user sees:Please work on the Review task(from activity number 2) of the workflow Engr Proposal.The attached package is First Draft.

Task subjects can be up to 255 characters (before variable references are resolved) andcan contain references to the following object types and attributes:• Any attribute of the dm_workflow object• Any attribute of the dmi_workitem object associated with the current task• Any attribute of the dmi_queue_item object associated with the current task, except

for task_subject.• Any attribute of a dmi_package object

Note: The name of the document in a package is available only if you select theStore document name to the package at runtime option in the Workflow TemplateProperties dialog box (see Setting Process Template Properties, page 44).

The reference must be enclosed in curly brackets. The object type name and attributename must be lowercase and must separated by a period.

The server uses the following rules when resolving the string:• The server does not place quotes around resolved object type and attribute references.• If the referenced attribute is a repeating attribute, the server substitutes all values,

separating them with commas.• If the constructed string (after variables are resolved) is longer than 512 characters,

the server truncates the string.• If an object type and attribute reference contains an error, for example if the object

type or attribute does not exist, the server does not resolve the reference. Theunresolved reference appears in the message.

The resolved string is stored in the task_subject attribute of the task’s associated queueitem object. Once the server has created the queue item, the value of the task_subjectattribute in the queue item will not change, even if the values in any referenced attributeschange.

Adding a Signoff Requirement

Many business processes require accountability. One way to provide accountability is torequire performers to sign off the tasks that they perform. When you define a manualactivity in Business Process Manager, you can specify that the performers must sign offin order to complete the activity. Signing off requires the performer to enter his or herpassword to confirm that they performed the task.



Note: Content Server also supports electronic signatures and digital signatures asways to sign off tasks or the documents associated with a task. See the Content Serverdocumentation for details about these advanced sign-off options.

Setting Priority Values

For automatic activities, you designate a priority value that determines the order inwhich the server runs the activity relative to other actions in its queue. You can set apriority value for manual activities as well, which is reflected in the performer’s Inbox.

When an automatic activity is started, the activity is placed on the execution queue for aserver facility that runs periodically. The server facility executes the activities in order ofpriority. By default, it executes all queued automatic activities each time it is invoked,but a system administrator can limit the number of activities handled each time thefacility runs. If the server configuration setting max_wf_jobs is set to a low number andthere are a large number of queued activities with high priority, a lower priority activitymay have to wait several invocations for execution.

In addition to priority settings Low, Medium, and High, Business Process Managerenables you to set a Dynamic priority for an activity. Dynamic priority is when thepriority of the activity is set using custom code as the workflow runs rather than beingset as part of the process template. You should assign Dynamic priority only when yoursystem includes custom code to set the priority at runtime.

See Setting Activity Properties, page 62 for information about setting the priority ofan activity.

Dening Packages

When you define a business process, you need to identify what objects the workflowhandles. An object, such as a document, processed by a workflow is called a package.The package represents the content that the activities work on. An activity can workwith one or more packages.

To define a package, you identify the item to process with the workflow. You also havethe option to choose a form that the performer of the activity working with the packageuses to perform the task.

There are three basic options for what an activity does with a package:• The activity make no changes to the package.• The activity can modify the package and save it as a new version in the repository.



• The activity can introduce a new package into the workflow, not forwarding thepackage it received.

In many workflows, all activities work on the same package or packages. For example,a workflow for reviewing and approving purchase orders will use the same purchaseorder document as a package for all the necessary activities.

In other cases, the work performed by an activity results in a new version of a documentfrom the incoming package. For example, a user might receive a document for review.He or she checks out the document, adds comments or revisions, and checks in thedocument. In this case, you want the activity to send the new version of the componentwhen it sends the package to the next activity. In Business Process Manager, youaccomplish this scenario by configuring the activity to forward the same packages itreceives, but forward a different version. You can specify the version using an actualversion number, such as 2.5, or a symbolic version label, such as Draft or CURRENT.

The work performed in some activities requires the activity to send on a package thatis entirely different from the package it received. For example, suppose an activityaccepts a personnel action notice. The performer (an HR employee) must file the notice,then send a different form to the accounting department. In Business Process Manager,you can configure an activity to accept certain packages as inputs and pass along otherpackages as outputs.

For information about configuring flows and packages in Business Process Manager,see Handling Packages, page 80.

Associating Form Templates With Packages

You can associate a form template with each package passed to a manual activity. A formtemplate provides a custom user interface for the performer entering data. Dependingon the configuration options, the performer may see the form when he or she opensthe package from his or her Documentum Inbox, or may see the form when viewingthe properties of the package. The performer fills in the form to complete the activityor to update the package properties. If the activity receives more than one package, theperformer fills in the forms associated with each package. If a package does not have anassociated form, the performer sees a default Task Manager dialog box.

You can associate a form template with each package when you add it to the workflow,as described in Managing Process Packages, page 46. You can also associate a formtemplate with a package when you configure a manual activity. A package can haveonly one form associated with it at a time, but which form it is may change as thepackage moves through the workflow. For example, the form displayed to a managerwho approves a purchase request may be different from the form completed by theperson making the request. The data underlying the two forms is the same, but the userdisplay is different. When configuring an activity, you can set the form template used



for that activity to be different from the form template associated with the package atthe business process level.

To associate a form template with a package, the form template and the package musthave the same underlying data model. Therefore, when you are choosing forms,Business Process Manager displays only those form templates whose data modelmatches the data type selected for the package. If you select the form template beforesetting the object type of the package, Business Process Manager sets the object type tomatch the selected form template’s data model.

For more information about form templates and forms, see the Documentum FormsBuilder User Guide.

Setting Trigger Conditions

A trigger is a signal that the activity can begin. Trigger conditions define the startingcriteria for an activity. At runtime, the server does not start an activity until the activity’strigger condition is met. The trigger condition can optionally include a trigger eventthat must occur before the activity starts.

If the activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many of theprevious activities must complete before this activity starts. The trigger condition is theminimum number of flows that must have delivered packages to the activity before theactivity starts. For example, if an activity has three incoming flows, you may decide thatthe activity can start when two of the three have delivered their packages. The triggercondition must be a value between one and the total number of incoming flows.

A trigger event is an event queued to the workflow. The event can be a system-definedevent, such as dm_checkin, or you can make up an event name, such as promoted orreleased. However, because you cannot register a workflow to receive event notifications,the event must be explicitly queued to the workflow using the Documentum API. If youinclude a trigger event in the starting condition, the server must find the event youidentify queued to the workflow before starting the activity. The same event can be usedas a trigger for multiple activities, however, the application must queue the event oncefor each activity. See the chapter "Tasks, Events, and Inboxes" in Documentum ContentServer Fundamentals for further details about defining and queuing events.

For information about setting an activity’s trigger conditions, see Setting ActivityTriggers, page 71.



Setting Timers

When you configure an activity, you can set timers that take action if work does notappear to be flowing as it should. For example, you might want the workflow supervisorto receive a warning if the activity is not started within 12 hours of when the workflowstarted, or you might send a message to the activity performer if the activity has not beencompleted 4 hours after its start.

Business Process Manager supports two kinds of warning timers for activities:• A pre-timer takes action if an activity has not started within a designated amount of

time after the workflow starts• A post-timer takes action if an activity has not completed within a designated

amount of time after the activity startsDepending on the nature of the activity, an expired timer can take one of these actions:

• Notification— Send a notification message to one or more people• Start Process—Launch a newworkflow process using the current activity’s packages• Run Java Method— Run an automated workflow method (available for users with

superuser privileges only)• Delegate Task— Delegate the task to another performer• Complete Task—Automatically complete a manual task and move the workflow

forward to the next activity• Rerun Failed Automatic Task—Attempt to run the workflow method associated

with an automatic activity after it has failedThe first two actions are available for any activity timer. Any timer can invoke a serviceas long as the activity performer is has the necessary superuser privileges. The DelegateTask and Complete Task actions are available only as post-timer actions for manualactivities that handle a single work item. Rerun Failed Automatic Task is available onlyas a post-timer action for an automatic task.

When a timer completes a task, it can optionally set the value of an attribute on one ofthe workflow packages. The transition conditions for the activity can test for this valueand process the packages differently if necessary.

An activity can have as many timers of both types as you like. You can also tell theserver to repeatedly perform the final timer action at a specified interval until the activityis completed.

The task of checking the warning timers and performing the requested actions isperformed by the dm_WfmsTimer system administration tool. The dm_WfmsTimer toolis installed with the system administration tool suite. It is not installed in the activestate. If you intend to use warning timers in workflows, make sure that your systemadministrator activates this job. When it is active, it runs by default once an hour. See theContent Server documentation for further information about dm_WfmsTimer.



By default, users receive warning notifications in the form of an item in their Inboxqueue. However, you can configure the timer to send email notification using a customemail template.

See Setting Warning Timers, page 73 for more information.

Setting Up Notications

Content Server has the ability to monitor for particular events and to notify interestedusers when they occur. Events are specific actions applied to Documentum objects; inthe context of Business Process Manager, the relevant events are actions related to theworkflow, such as a user starting work on a work item or delegating a work item toanother user.

When you configure a process template or an activity, you can associate custom emailmessage templates with several key workflow-related events. An email template is aspecially-formatted document stored in the Documentum repository which defines thesubject and body of a notification email message. The template can include variableswhose values the server replaces at runtime, so that the delivered message includescontextual information such as the name of the current performer or the package beingrouted. If an event has an email template associated with it, any user who has registeredto receive notification of the event will get a message generated from the associatedemail template.

Note: The server generates and sends notification messages only when one or more usershas registered to receive notification of the event. See the chapter "Tasks, Events, andInboxes" in Documentum Content Server Fundamentals for information about registeringfor event notifications.

See Setting Notifications, page 76 for information on how to set notification options.

Dening Activity Transitions

When an activity has multiple outgoing flows, you may want packages sent to all ofthe following activities, or you may want packages sent to only some of the followingactivities depending on the outcome of the activity. For example, you might give aperformer who reviews the design of a new form the choice of forwarding the designto the next reviewer or sending it back to the designer for revision. You set up thisbranching logic by creating flows from this activity to the two possible followingactivities, then allowing the performer to choose which path to follow.

An activity’s transition type defines how following activities are selected when theactivity is complete. There are three types of transitions:



• Select all connected activities — Packages are sent to all following activities linked tothis activity, including both forward flows and reject flows

• Let performer select the next activities — The performer of this activity chooseswhich following activities to send packages to at runtime

• Select next activities based on conditions — Which activities receive packages isdetermined at runtime by evaluating a set of transition conditions

If the activity is a group activity — that is, if the performer category is 4 (All users ingroup) or 8 (Some users from a group) — you specify how many members of the groupmust complete the task before the server considers the overall activity complete andforwards packages to the following activities. For example, if five users receive a workitem for an activity, you can specify that the activity is complete when any three of themare done. Alternatively, you can require that all five users complete the task.

If you let performers select the next activities, you can limit the number of followingactivities the performer can select. For example, if an activity has three outgoing flows,you can let the performer send packages to all three, or you can require the performer toselect just one or two of them.

If you let a group of performers select the next activities — that is, if the performercategory is 4 or 8 and the transition option is Let performer select the next activity — youalso need to advise the server about how to combine the performers’ selections. When agroup selects activities, it is possible that some performers might select forward activitieswhile others select reject activities. Which activities should the workflow engine startin this case? All of the selected activities, just the reject activities, or just the forwardactivities? You can also decide to complete the activity immediately whenever anyperformer selects a reject activity or a forward activity.

If you choose an conditional transition type, you must define at least one transitioncondition for that activity.

Determining Transition Conditions

Transition conditions enable you to define activities that route packages differentlydepending on the results of the activity. A transition condition is a logical conditionand one or more associated flows. When an activity is complete at runtime, the serverevaluates the activity’s transition conditions to determine which following activities tostart as the next step in the workflow. It delivers packages to the activities associatedwith the first transition condition that is TRUE. An activity can have multiple transitionconditions, although the server always selects just one — the first TRUE one — atruntime.

Transition conditions must be Boolean expressions. They are typically used to checkattributes of the package’s components, the containing workflow, or the last completed



work item. When the workflow package is an XML document, you can create transitionconditions that check the value of an XML element in the document.

When you use transition conditions, you always include an Else option. The Else option isthe action that the server takes if none of the transition conditions apply. The Else optiondoes not have a condition associated with it. An activity can only have one Else case.

For information about defining transition conditions for an activity, see Setting ActivityTransition Rules, page 76.


Chapter 2Using Business Process Manager

Business Process Manager is a graphical tool for laying out and defining your workflow. The BusinessProcess Manager window is divided into two major panes:

• The left pane contains Activity palettes, which display activity templates for the types of activitiesthat you can add to the process template

• The right pane is the process template editor, which displays a graphical representation of yourprocess template as you create it

You can control the size of the two panes by positioning the mouse over the border between them anddragging the border to a new position.

A pair of arrows appears between the two panes. To expand one of the panes to fill the entirewindow, click the arrow pointing away from the pane you want to expand. To return BusinessProcess Manager to its two-pane view, click the arrow facing the other direction, which now appearsat the edge of the window.

A configurable toolbar appears across the top of the window, providing quick access to commoncommands.

If the workflow is too large to display on the screen, you can use the Navigator to view the completeprocess template and specify which portion appears.


Using Business Process Manager

Figure 2-1. Business Process Manager

Business Process Manager ToolbarAcross the top of the window is a configurable toolbar that provides quick access tocommon commands. To access a command from the toolbar, click the icon correspondingto that command. To find out what command an icon corresponds to, hold the mousepointer over the icon without clicking it. A small box pops up showing the name ofthe icon.

You control which icons appear in the toolbar using options on the Viewmenu. BusinessProcess Manager offers three collections of toolbar icons:

• Standard toolbar icons provide access to commands from the File and Editmenus• Workflow toolbar icons enable you to create activities or flows and to display the

properties of workflow objects• Display toolbar icons enable you to zoom in and out on the process template editor

paneBy default, the toolbar displays all three collections of icons.

To select which icons appear in the Business Process Manager toolbar:

1. From the View menu, select Toolbars.A submenu appears with the name of each available group of toolbar icons. Thegroups currently appearing in the toolbar have a check mark next to their names.

2. Select the group you want to add or remove from the toolbar.



If you select an unchecked option, that group of icons is added to the toolbar. Ifyou select a checked option, the check mark is removed and that group of iconsare removed from the toolbar.

Activity PalettesThe activity palettes, along the left side of the Business Process Manager window,display predefined activity templates that you can add to the template. Activity palettesprovide a way of organizing activity templates into related groups. For example, thenames of the palettes might represent general categories of activities, such as Approvalsand Integration.

Each activity template represents a particular type of activity and may include specialproperties that are specific to that type of activity. For example, an activity template forsending email to external partners includes a property for the email address. See Chapter6, Working with Activity Templates for more information about activity templates.

Each activity palette corresponds to a system folder in the Documentum repository.The palette folders have the same name as the palette and reside in the system folderSystem\Workflow\Activity Templates. The folder contains the dm_activity objectscorresponding to the activity templates on the palette.

To add an activity to your process template, drag the appropriate activity template fromthe palette to the desired location in the process template editor, then set the activity’sproperties. To view or edit the properties of the activity template, double-click its icon inthe activity palette. See Chapter 5, Working with Activities for details about setting theproperties for activities and activity templates.

Activity palettes may also include predefined process templates, which can serve as astarting point for building your custom process templates. If the activity palette includesprocess templates, aWorkflow button appears at the bottom of the palette. If you clickthe button, the predefined process templates appear in the lower half of the palette. Youcan drag and drop a process template on to the process template editor.

You control which activity palettes display using the Business Process ManagerPreferences dialog box. The preferences you set apply to your user ID only; each usercan set different preferences. For information about controlling which activity templatesappear on each palette, see Managing Activity Palettes, page 86.

To set Business Process Manager preferences:

1. Select Preferences from the File menu.The Preferences dialog box appears. The list box on the left displays the availableactivity palettes, and the list box on the right displays the palettes currently beingdisplayed in Business Process Manager.



Note: Preferences are saved separately for each user. The list of palettes may differ ifyou log in as a different user.

2. To add a new palette to the list of available palettes, click New and enter a name forthe palette in the dialog box that appears.The new palette appears in the list box when you click OK in the dialog box. Thename will appear on the display tab for the palette. If it has more than 11 characters,the name will be truncated on the tab.

3. To display a palette in the Business Process Manager, highlight its name in the leftlist box and click Add >.The name moves to the right list box.

4. To remove a palette from the Business Process Manager, highlight its name in theright list box and click < Remove.The name moves to the left list box.

5. Specify whether Business Process Manager should ask whether to validate or installtemplates when you save them.Before you can use a process template to create a running workflow, it must bevalidated and installed. If you select the Always show validate and install promptsafter save checkbox, Business Process Manager displays prompts whenever you savethe template, asking whether you want to validate and install the template. If thecheckbox is not selected, the prompts do not display. You will need to validate andinstall the template and its activities explicitly before creating workflows from it.

Process Template Editor PaneThe process template editor pane is the area where you lay out the business process flow.To define a business process, drag activities from the palettes into the process templateeditor, connect them with flows, then define the properties of the activities and flows.See Creating Process Templates, page 42 for more information. You can also add textnotes to label areas of the template.

The procedures you follow to control the visual layout of a business process are similarto those in other graphical layout software.

• To add objects to the process template, drag an activity from the palette and drop it inthe process template editor pane. The object is added to the template at the locationwhere you release the mouse button. The workflow toolbar also provides buttonsfor adding (blank) activities and flows.

• To move objects within the process template, select them and drag them to their newlocation. When you move an activity that has flows connecting it to other activities,



the arrows representing the flows move along with the activity. Flows cannotbe moved on their own.

• To remove objects from the process template, select them and click the DeleteSelected Objects icon from the toolbar or select Delete from the Editmenu.

• To copy activities, select them and click the Copy icon from the toolbar or selectCopy from the Editmenu. To add the new copy to the template, click the Paste icon

from the toolbar or select Paste from the Edit menu.• To see the actions that are available for a given object, select the object then right-click

on it. A context menu appears at the location of the mouse cursor, showing theavailable actions.

These actions require you to select the objects you want to act on.

To select one or more objects in the process template editor pane:

1. With the Select Objects icon in the toolbar selected, click the visual representationof the object in the process template editor pane, or click in an open area and dragthe mouse to draw a rectangle around the object(s) you want to select.A set of black boxes appears around the selected object(s). Clicking the object asecond time de-selects it and removes the black boxes.

2. To select additional objects, hold down the Shift key as you click each of the objects.If you do not hold down the Shift key, selecting one object automatically de-selectsany previously selected objects.

3. To select all objects in the template, select Select All from the Editmenu.

Aligning Activities

The Alignment options enable you to position workflow activities precisely. You canalign activities vertically or horizontally by their left or right edges, top or bottom edges,or by their center points.

To align activities:

1. Select the activities you want to align.You must have two or more activities selected to enable the Alignment options. SeeProcess Template Editor Pane, page 34 for information about how to select activities.

2. Select Alignment from the View menu, then select the desired alignment fromsubmenu.The available alignment options are:• Left— Align the left edges of the selected objects



• Vertical—Align the centers of the selected objects vertically• Right— Align the right edges of the selected objects• Top— Align the top edges of the selected objects• Horizontal—Align the centers of the selected objects horizontally• Bottom— Align the top edges of the selected objectsIf you choose to align the top edges of your activities, the highest or topmost activitydetermines the placement of the other activities; that is, the selected activities willmove up to be in alignment with the topmost activity. Similarly, if you choose to alignthe bottom edges of your activities, the lowest or bottommost activity determines theplacement of the other activities. This is also true for left and right alignment.

Snap to Grid

The snap to grid option provides added precision for aligning workflow activities andflows.

When the snap to grid option is turned on, a grid appears in the background of theprocess template editor. Each square in the grid measures a third of an inch. When youmove activities or flows in the editor, they will automatically align themselves with thegrid, making it easier to align objects with each other. Turning on snap to grid does noteffect the layout of existing objects in the template.

When the snap to grid option is turned off, the grid does not appear and objects areplaced exactly where you drop them. Turn the option off when you want to have finecontrol over the position of the objects.

To turn on or off snap to grid:

1. Select Snap To Grid from the View menu.

Zooming In or Out

If the Display toolbar buttons are active, the current level of zooming appears in a boxbetween the Zoom In icon and the Zoom Out icon . Each time you click the ZoomIn or Zoom Out icon, Business Process Manager zooms in or out by one magnificationlevel.

To zoom in or zoom out on a process template:

1. Expand the drop-down list next to the Zoom In icon, or select Zoom from the Viewmenu.



2. Select one of the zoom levels:• 200% (Highest magnification)• 150%• 100% (Normal viewing - default)• 75%• 50%• Last—Toggles between the current zoom option and your previous zoom setting• Width— Sizes the process template so that its full width fits within the visual

dimensions of the process template editor pane• Fit—Magnifies or shrinks the appearance of your process template so that it fits

within the visible dimensions of the process template editor pane

Adding Notes

You can add text to the visual layout of the process template through the use of notes.Notes have no effect on the automated business process, but can help to clarify theprocess for people looking at the template. You can place a note anywhere in the templatelayout. By default, the note appears with a yellow rectangle surrounding the text, but youhave a variety of display options. The example below shows notes in a variety of formats.

Figure 2-2. Notes Add Text to the Visual Layout

Business Process Manager gives you the option to suppress the display of any notes.From the Toolsmenu, select Notes then Show. This menu item is a toggle option: eachtime you select it, it turns note display on or off.



To add a note to a process template:

1. Click the Note icon in the toolbar .When you drag the mouse cursor across the process template editing area, a smallversion of the icon appears next to the mouse arrow.

2. Double-click on the process layout at the location where you want to add the note.The first click creates a yellow rectangle on the page, and the second click opensthe Note Inspector dialog box.

3. Enter the text for the note on the Note Content tab.

4. Click the Display tab.As you make changes to the display settings, the Preview box at the bottom of thedialog box shows the current selections.

5. Set the font and style used for the note text.

a. Select a font from the Font list.

b. Select a point size from the Point size drop-down list.

c. To set the font style of the label, check or de-select Bold and Italic.

6. Set the alignment and color of the note text.

a. Select one of the radio buttons Left, Center, or Right to specify how each line ofthe note text is justified.

b. Select the text color from the Text Color drop-down list.

c. Select the background color for the note from the Background Color drop-downlist.The outer edges of the note remain yellow regardless of the background coloryou select.

7. Specify how transparent the note is.Using the Transparency slider control, set how transparent or opaque the note is.If the transparency level to 100%, the note is opaque and completely obscures anyobjects behind it in the process template. If the transparency level is 0%, the note iscompletely transparent.

8. Specify the appearance of the border of the note.

a. Select the Border checkbox to display a yellow border around the edge of thenote.

b. Select the BPMN style checkbox to display the note in the Business ProcessModeling Notation format for text annotations: a heavy border along the leftside of the note (as shown for the "Default Purchase Order Processing" notein the example above).



9. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Note Inspector, or click OK tosave your updates and close the Note Inspector.The note appears in the process layout.

10. Resize the note box if necessary.To resize the note, select the note object and drag one of the black handles thatappears along its edges.

NavigatorWhen you are defining a process template, the graphical representation can easily growbeyond a size that can be displayed on the screen all at one time. The process templateeditor automatically scrolls as you add objects and create a larger layout.

The Navigator enables you to control which portion of a large template appears onthe screen.

To navigate to the portion of a template to display on screen:

1. Select Navigator from the Viewmenu, or click the Navigator icon in the toolbar .The Navigator window appears in the right pane of the Business Process Managerwindow. It displays a reduced representation of the current process template with agray box around the section currently displayed on the screen.

2. To change which area of the process template appears on screen, drag the gray boxin the Navigator window so that it is over the area you want to appear in the editor.The editor pane scrolls to the selected location when you release the mouse button.


Chapter 3Working with Process Templates

Process templates represent the business process through which a given object or set of objects flows.They define the overall workflow from beginning to end. You create process templates in BusinessProcess Manager, then make them available for users to create individual workflow instances from.

There are three possible states for process templates: draft, validated, and installed. The current stateof the open template appears in the title bar of the Business Process Manager window.

A template in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or last modified. A templatein the validated state has passed the server’s validation checks, which ensure that the template iscorrectly defined. A template in the installed state is ready for use in an active workflow.

This chapter explains how to create templates, validate them, and install them. The topics are:

• Opening Existing Process Templates, page 41• Creating Process Templates, page 42• Setting Process Template Properties, page 44• Managing Process Packages, page 46• Saving Process Templates, page 48• Validating Process Templates, page 50• Installing Process Templates, page 51• Modifying Process Templates, page 52• Printing Process Templates, page 53

Opening Existing Process TemplatesYou can open an existing template in order to review it, revise it, or save it under a newname as a starting point for a new workflow.

Note: If you plan to revise a process template and want to save the updated templateas a new version in the repository, you must check out the process template using aDocumentum client application before opening it. Note also that activities cannot be


Working with Process Templates

versioned: Business Process Manager saves new copies of the activities for the newversion of the process template.

To open a process template in Business Process Manager:

1. From the File menu, select Open.The Open Process Template dialog box appears.

2. Navigate to the process template by double-clicking on cabinet and folder namesuntil the template name appears in the list box.

3. Double-click the template name, or highlight it and click Open.

Creating Process TemplatesThe procedure below provides an overview of creating templates. Several of the stepsprovide links to other topics where you can find more detail about the task described bythat step.

To create a process template:

1. Design the business process and the workflow that implements it.For details about designing business processes, see Planning Workflow Processes,page 15.

2. From the File menu, select New.If you have a template already open, Business Process Manager closes it. If thetemplate has unsaved changes, a message box appears asking if you want to savethe changes.The new template includes Initiate and End tasks.

Note: To create a template based on an existing template, open the existing templateand save it with a new name.

3. Set the template properties.See Setting Process Template Properties, page 44 for details.

4. Identify the packages processed or created as part of the business process.See Managing Process Packages, page 46 for details.

5. Add activities to the process template until you have one activity for each task inyour workflow.

To add an activity, click the manual activity icon or the automatic activity iconfrom the toolbar, then click in the process template editor pane where you want



the activity to appear, or drag and drop activity templates from the activity paletteson to the process template editor pane.If the activity palettes do not include a template representing the type of activity youneed, you can create a blank activity by clicking the Activity button in the toolbar,or you can create a new template. See Chapter 6, Working with Activity Templatesfor details.

6. Connect each activity to the activity that precedes it in the logical flow.The first activity in the workflow must be connected to the Initiate task, and the lastactivity must be connected to the End task.To connect two activities, select one of the flow icons described below, move yourmouse over the first activity until you see its selection box, then drag the mouse tothe second activity. Release the mouse button when you see the selection box for thesecond activity. Business Process Manager draws a line between the activities.You connect activities using one of three Create Flow icons in the Business ProcessManager toolbar:• To connect activities in a forward movement of data, click either the Create

Single Segment Flow icon or the Create Multi-Segment Flow icon . Thedifference between the two is visual: one draws a straight line to represent theflow between activities, the other draws a line consisting of multiple segments.

• To connect activities in a backward movement of data, click the Create RejectFlow icon . Reject flows represent the path taken when the user of an activityrejects the object being processed.

Note: It is best to connect all activities into the flow before configuring the individualactivities, because some configuration steps are based on the activity’s position in thebusiness process.

7. Configure each activity.See Chapter 5, Working with Activities for details about configuring activities.Typically, the best practice is to configure the activities in the order they appear inthe business process, starting with the Initiate activity. (For the Initiate activity, onlythe Packages tab is available.)

8. Adjust the visual layout as necessary.For information about the options available for laying out the process templatedisplay, see Process Template Editor Pane, page 34.

9. Save the process template.See Saving Process Templates, page 48.

10. Validate the process template.See Validating Process Templates, page 50.

11. Install the process template.



See Installing Process Templates, page 51. Once you have installed the template,it is available to users.

Setting Process Template PropertiesYou use theWorkflow Template Properties dialog box to provide basic informationabout the workflow you are creating. The original creator and current state of the processtemplate display at the top of the dialog box in display-only fields.

To set process template properties:

1. From the Tools menu, select Process Properties, or click the Template Propertiesicon on the toolbar .

2. To change the owner of the process template, click the Change button that appearsnext to the owner name and select a user from the dialog box that appears.You are the default owner of any templates you create. You can only change theowner if you are a superuser. If you are not a superuser, the Change button is notavailable.

3. Enter a description of the process template in the Description text box.

4. To change the default alias set for this process template, click the Change buttonthat appears next to the current alias set.For more information about alias sets and how they are used in workflow, see UsingAliases, page 20.• To choose an existing alias set, check Choose from existing alias sets, select the

name of the alias set from the drop-down list, and click OK.• To create a new alias set, check Create new alias set, type the name and

description of the new alias set, and click OK.• To remove the currently assigned default alias set, check Remove alias set.

5. Enter instructions for the performer in theWorkflow instructions box.For example, you can give performers of all activities specific instructions relatingto tasks they are expected to perform.

6. Turn on or off the template audit trail setting by clicking the appropriate option.When auditing is on, audit trail information is saved for each workflow created fromthis template. For more information about auditing in Documentum software, seethe Documentum Content Server API Reference Manual.

7. Specify whether to make the names of routed documents available for displayto users.



By default, the package routed through a workflow does not include the names ofthe documents in the package for security reasons. If you want to store the documentnames as part of the package, so that the names can be used in the instructionspassed to workflow participants, select the Store document name to the package atruntime checkbox.

8. To associate custom email messages with specific workflow events, select the eventsand email templates in the box at the bottom of the dialog box.You can set the messages that the server sends in response to process-relatedevents. Users registered to receive notification of the event will receive a messageconstructed using the email template associated with the event; see Setting UpNotifications, page 27 for details.

Note: You can also associate email templates with events as part of an activitydefinition. If you associate the email template with a process template, the emailtemplate is used whenever the event occurs in workflows created from that processtemplate. If you associate the email template with an activity definition, the templateis used whenever the event occurs during an instance of the activity. If a particularworkflow instance and an activity in that workflow both have an associated templatefor the same event, the template associated with the activity is used.

a. Click the Add button to add a row to the event notification box.

b. Click in the Event column of the new row and select a workflow event from thedrop-down list that appears. The available events are:• dm_startedworkitem — A work item is generated as part of the workflow• dm_delegatedworkitem — A user delegates a work item• Pre Timer Expires — An activity has not started within a designated number

of hours after the workflow starts• Post Timer Expires — An activity has not completed within a designated

number of hours after the activity starts• dm_changedactivityinstancestate — An automatic activity changes state

because the error handling flag is set to zero and the work item returned anon-zero value

c. Click in the Email Template column of the row and select the email template touse for the event you selected at step b. An email template is a document in theDocumentum repository that defines the structure of the notification message.See the Business Process Manager Development Guide for information about thestructure of a document that serves as an email template.

9. Identify the packages that this business process handles or creates.You use the Packages tab to manage the list of packages involved in this businessprocess. See Managing Process Packages, page 46 for details.

10. Click OK to close the dialog box.



Managing Process PackagesThe Packages tab of theWorkflow Template Properties dialog box displays a list of thepackages involved in workflows created from this process template.

In many workflows, the same package or packages passes through all activities. Forexample, a workflow for reviewing and approving purchase orders will pass the samepurchase order document as a package to all the necessary activities. In other cases, thework performed by some activities may result in the creation of a new document. Forexample, suppose an activity accepts a personnel action notice. The performer (an HRemployee) must file the notice, then send a different form to the accounting department.The list of packages in theWorkflow Template Properties dialog box must include allpackages involved in the workflow, including packages created or discarded in thecourse of the process. When you configure the activities, you will specify which packageseach activity deals with; see Handling Packages, page 80.

To set the packages for a business process:

1. If theWorkflow Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select ProcessProperties from the Toolsmenu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar.

2. Click the Packages tab.

3. To add a package to the business process, click the + button above the Packageslist box.The new package appears in the list box, and the controls for defining the packageappear below the box.

4. Enter the name of the package in the Name text box.Choose a name that will enable you to identify the package when you configure theactivities in the business process.

5. Choose the object type of the object included in the package by selecting it fromthe Type drop-down list.

Note: Business Process Manager can be configured to not display the Type list; seeAppendix C, Business Process Manager Configuration File. If the Type list does notappear, or if you want Business Process Manager to select the object type based onthe form template you select (at step 7), skip to the next step.

Most commonly, the object type of a package is Document or a custom documenttype you have created. Refer toDocumentum Content Server Reference for a descriptionof object types.

6. From the Version drop-down list, select or enter the default version of the contentyou want to use.



Note: Business Process Manager can be configured to not display the Version list;see Appendix C, Business Process Manager Configuration File. When the list doesnot appear, the workflow always uses the CURRENT version.

The version you specify here appears as the default version used for each activitythat handles the package; you can override the version when you configure theactivity. To specify the version, you can select or enter:• A specific version number, for example, 2.5 or 3.0. If you enter a specific version

number, the package will always contain that version of the document.• A symbolic version label, for example, Draft. The symbolic version label is case

sensitive, so be sure the version you enter matches the version of the object inthe repository.

• CURRENT, which is the default selection. If you select CURRENT, the packagewill always contain the version labeled CURRENT, which is typically the mostcurrent version of the object in the repository.

7. To associate a form template with the package, select the template from the Formdrop-down list.A form template defines a custom user interface for users who handle this packageduring the workflow. See Associating Form Templates With Packages, page 24 formore information about using forms and form templates. The form template youspecify here appears as the default template used for each activity that handles thepackage; you can override the form template when you configure the activity.The Form drop-down list shows only those form templates whose data modelmatches the object type you selected at step 5. If the form template you want doesnot appear, make sure you selected the correct object type at step 5. To create a newform template or edit the selected form template, click the button with the FormsBuilder icon to launch Forms Builder.

Note: If you select a form template before setting the object type of the package,Business Process Manager displays all available form templates in the drop-downlist and sets the package object type based on the form template you select.

8. To use the form you selected at step 7 to display the properties of the package, selectthe Use Form for Properties checkbox.When the Use Form for Properties checkbox is not selected, the form from step 7appears when the performer of an activity selects the package from his or her Inbox;the form is used to save the content of the package. When the checkbox is selected,the form appears when the performer views the package properties; the form is usedto set the package’s properties in the repository, not the content of the package.

Note: The Use Form for Properties option is available only for form templateswhose storage mapping option is set to Store in Repository attributes. See the FormsBuilder User Guide for information about this storage mapping option.



9. To prevent Business Process Manager from making this package visible to allactivities by default, deselect the Visible across entire process checkbox.By default, Business Process Manager makes the package visible to every activityin the business process, on the assumption that the package will flow through theentire process. When you deselect this option, the package will only be visible inactivities to which you explicitly add it.

Note: If you select an existing package that has been set to be visible in someactivities and not visible in others, the checkbox is grayed out. To reset all activitiesto the same value, click the Change activity-level settings link, then click Yes in thedialog box that appears.

10. To require that the package have an associated document or other content, click theThis is a mandatory package checkbox.

Note: If you select an existing package that has been set to be mandatory in someactivities and optional in others, the checkbox is grayed out. To reset all activities tothe same value, click the Change activity-level settings link, then click Yes in thedialog box that appears.

11. Click Apply to add the package to the list box.

12. To add another package to the flow, repeat steps 3 through 11.

13. Click OK to save your updates and close the dialog box.

14. Configure each activity to specify which packages it handles, starting with theInitiate activity and moving forward through the business process.See Handling Packages, page 80.

Saving Process TemplatesWhen you have completed a process template, you must save it before you can validateand install it. Saving the template copies your changes to the repository.

The process of saving differs depending on whether you are saving changes to an existingtemplate or saving a template with a new name. You can only save process templates thatare in a draft state or a validated state, and you must have at least Write permission onthe template. The current state of the template appears in the Business Process Managertitle bar. If the Save options are grayed out on the File menu, it may mean that thetemplate has been installed. You must uninstall it before you can make any changes to it.

Business Process Manager can be configured to enforce unique names or specificfolder locations for process templates; see Appendix C, Business Process ManagerConfiguration File. By default, however, process templates can be saved to any locationin the repository, and their names need to be unique only within their folder.



To save a new process template or save an existing template with a new name:

1. From File menu, select Save As.The Save Workflow Template As dialog box appears.

Note: If the current process template has not been previously saved, selecting Savehas the same effect.

2. Enter a name for the process template.

3. To create a folder in which to store the template and its associated objects, make surethe Create new folder for associated items checkbox is selected.The checkbox is selected by default. Business Process Manager saves the templateand its activities in a folder with the same name as the template, located under thefolder you select in the next step.If the checkbox is de-selected, Business Process Manager saves the template and itsactivities directly in the folder you select in the next step.

4. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the template by double-clicking oncabinets and directories in the Save in box until you have highlighted the foldername.The complete path to the folder appears in the gray text box at the bottom of thedialog box.

5. Click OK.If you have sufficient permissions on the selected folder, Business Process Managersaves the template and its activities.If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears askingwhether you want to validate the template. (Installation and validation prompts areset on or off in the Preferences dialog box; see Setting Process Template Properties,page 44.)

6. Choose whether to validate the process template.See Validating Process Templates, page 50 for more information about validatingtemplates. If you choose to validate the template, Business Process Manager attemptsthe validation. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click theDetails button to see the error that prevented validation.If the validation is successful, a dialog box appears asking whether you want toinstall the template, making it available for use.

7. Choose whether to install the process template.See Installing Process Templates, page 51 for more information about installingtemplates.

To save an updated process template:

1. From File menu, select Save.



If the current process template has been previously saved and is not checked out ofthe repository, Business Process Manager updates the saved file.If the process template has been checked out of the repository, a dialog box appearsasking if you want to save the changes to the current version or check in a newversion. You can check out a process template with a Documentum client applicationsuch as Webtop or Desktop.

2. Click the Save button to save changes to the current version or the Check In buttonto create a new version.Either option removes the checked-out status of the process template.If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears askingwhether you want to validate the template. (Installation and validation prompts areset on or off in the Preferences dialog box; see Setting Process Template Properties,page 44.)

3. Choose whether to validate the process template.See Validating Process Templates, page 50 for more information about validatingtemplates. If you choose to validate the template, Business Process Manager attemptsthe validation. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click theDetails button to see the error that prevented validation.If the validation is successful, a dialog box appears asking whether you want toinstall the template, making it available for use.

4. Choose whether to install the process template.See Installing Process Templates, page 51 for more information about installingtemplates.

Validating Process TemplatesValidating a template verifies that the process defined in the template meets systemrequirements.

You can validate a template at any time by selecting Process Template > Validate fromthe Tools menu. If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog boxappears when you save asking whether you want to validate the template. Installationand validation prompts are set on or off in the Template Properties dialog box; seeSetting Process Template Properties, page 44.

If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to seethe error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a dialog box appearsasking whether you want to install the template, making it available for use.

Please note that any errors that occur will refer to activities by their names. If you labelactivities with the performer name, you might want to temporarily change the display



setting to Name in order to locate the activity. See Changing Display Settings, page 82for information about this display setting.

You can only validate if your open template is in the draft state and you have Writepermission.

Validating a process template verifies that:• The referenced activities have unique names within the template• There is at least one Begin activity and only one End activity• There is a path through the workflow from each activity to the End activity• All package definitions are valid• All referenced objects exist as local objects

Installing Process TemplatesA process template must be installed before it is available for use in an active workflow.You can only install a template if it is in the validated state and you have Writepermission. The current state of the open template appears in the title bar of the BusinessProcess Manager window. If it is not validated, select Process Template > Validate fromthe Toolsmenu. See Validating Process Templates, page 50 for more information.

If you need to make changes to an installed template, you must uninstall it first. Anyactive workflows based on the template are halted. After making the changes, validateand install the template again.

When you reinstall, you can choose how you want to handle any workflows thatwere halted when you uninstalled the template. You can choose to resume the haltedworkflows at the point from which they were halted. Or, you can choose to abortthe workflows. Which option you choose depends on the changes you made to theworkflow. Perhaps you added an activity that you want to perform on all objects in theworkflow. In that case, you abort the workflows and then start each again. The defaultbehavior is to resume all halted workflows that reference that template.

To install a process template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Process Template > Install.If the Install option is grayed out, it means the template is currently installed orhas not been validated.If there are any halted workflows based on this process template, you are given theoption to resume or halt them. Click one of the following:• Click Yes to resume the halted workflows.

If you resume a halted workflow that is based on a process template to whichyou have made significant changes, incompatibilities between the old process



template and the changed process template may result in the workflow beingplaced in an undefined state.

• Click No to abort the halted workflows.To uninstall a process template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Process Template > Uninstall.You can only uninstall if the template is in the installed state and you have Writepermission.If any users are running workflows based on this template, a warning messageappears telling you there are active workflow instances.

2. If you see the warning message, click Yes to halt the workflows or No to cancel theuninstall process.

3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to uninstall this process template and all of itsactivities.

4. Click OK to clear the message box telling you that the process is complete.

Modifying Process TemplatesYou can change a process template by changing its process flow or activity definitions.When you change a process template, you can either overwrite the existing templatewith the changes or create a new version of the template. Any changes you make aregoverned by object-level permissions.

To make changes to a process template and save the changes without versioning, youmust uninstall the template. To uninstall a template requires Relate permission on thetemplate or sysadmin or superuser privileges. To save your changes requires Writepermission.

To create a new version of a process template, you must check out the template beforeyou begin modifying it. You can check out the template using a Documentum clientapplication such as Webtop or Desktop. You must have at least Version permission onthe template. You can create a new version of a template without uninstalling the currentversion. Versioning a process template has no impact on the running workflows basedon the previous version of the template.

When you save or check in your changes, the server sets the new version to the draftstate. The new version must be validated and installed before you can start a workflowbased on it.

See also Saving Process Templates, page 48.



Printing Process TemplatesYou can print a copy of the process template at any time.

To print a process template:

1. Open the process template you want to print.

2. Verify that the page setup options are as you want them.See Setting Page Setup Options, page 53 and Previewing Printed Processes, page54 for information about these options.

3. Click the Print Template Layout icon in the toolbar, or select Print from the Filemenu.The Print dialog box appears.

4. From the Name list, choose the name of the printer to which you want to print.

5. To change the properties of your printer, click Properties and update the settings.Refer to the documentation for your printer for information about the printerproperties.

6. To print your process template to a file rather than to the printer, select the Print tofile checkbox.

7. To print more than one copy of the process template, enter the number of copies youwant from the Number of copies box.

Note: The controls in the Print range box are grayed out except for the All radiobutton. You cannot print portions of the template, only the complete template.

8. Click OK.If you elected to print to a file, the Print to File dialog box appears. Otherwise, theprocess template is sent to the printer you selected.

9. In the Print to File dialog box, enter the name of the file to create, including thefull path.

Setting Page Setup Options

The page setup options determine how the process template is printed.

To change page setup options:

1. From the File menu, choose Page Setup.The Page Setup dialog box appears.

2. Choose the paper size for printed versions of the process template.



The Paper Format box offers six standard sizes. The dimensions for each formatdisplay either in inches or in centimeters, depending on the unit of measurementselected in theMargins field. The paper format options are:• US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches)• US Legal (8.5 x 14 inches)• US Executive (7.25 x 10.5 inches)• A3 (29.69 x 42.01 centimeters)• A4 (21 x 29.7 centimeters)• A5 (14.8 x 21 centimeters)

3. Specify whether to print pages in landscape or portrait orientation.

4. Enter the margins for the printed pages.You can enter the measurement in inches or centimeters with up to two decimalplaces, such as 1.25 inches or 4.44 centimeters.

5. Click OK to save the page setup options and exit from this dialog box, or click Printto print the current template with these settings.

Previewing Printed Processes

The Print Preview option gives a graphical representation of the image that will beprinted.

To view the printing format:

1. From the File menu, choose Print Preview.The Print Preview dialog box appears. The box on the right displays a previewimage of the process template as it will appear on the printed page(s). The layout isbased on the page setup options and on the Printout Size option.

2. Set the size of the process template printout.The Printout Size options are:• Actual size— The printout will be the same size as the process template display

in Business Process Manager.• Same as paper size— The size of the process template will be adjusted so that it

fits on a single page of the size and orientation you specified in steps 2 and 3.• Fit to— The size of the process template will be adjusted so that it fits on a

specified number of pages across and down. If you select this option, you mustenter a number in each of the two adjacent text boxes.



3. Click OK to save the Printout Size option and exit from this dialog box, or clickPrint to print the current template with these settings.


Chapter 4Connecting Activities

The flow lines that connect the activities in a workflow represent the flow of the document orobject that the workflow routes. Flows enable the movement of packages, their properties, anddependencies between the connected activities. See Process Templates and Associated WorkflowObjects, page 14 for a description of flows.

Once you have added a flow to the template, you configure it using the Flow Inspector. You access theFlow Inspector by double-clicking on a flow in the process template editor pane, or by selecting oneor more flows and choosing Flow Inspector from the Tools menu.

The Flow Inspector enables you to control how the flow appears in the visual display of the processtemplate; see Changing Flow Display Settings, page 58.

The name of the flow you are configuring appears in the text box at the top of the Flow Inspector. Ifmore than one flow is selected, arrow buttons appear on either side of the text box, enabling you toscroll through the selected flows. The settings you make apply to the flow whose name appears in thebox, unless you select the Apply to all selected option.

When multiple flows are selected, each tab in the Flow Inspector displays one or more checkboxeslabeled Apply to all selected. When this checkbox is selected, Business Process Manager applies theassociated settings — that is, those settings that appear to the right of the checkbox — to all selectedflows, not just the one whose name appears in the text box at the top. Any settings for which thecheckbox is not selected apply only to the current flow.

Creating FlowsYou connect activities using one of three Create Flow icons in the Business ProcessManager toolbar:• To connect activities in a forward movement of data, click either the Create Single

Segment Flow icon or the Create Multi-Segment Flow icon . The differencebetween the two is visual: one draws a straight line to represent the flow betweenactivities, the other draws a line consisting of multiple segments.


Connecting Activities

• To connect activities in a backward movement of data, click the Create Reject Flowicon . Reject flows represent the path taken when the user of an activity rejects theobject being processed.

See Process Templates and Associated Workflow Objects, page 14 for a description ofthe types of flows.

Changing Flow Display SettingsThe options on the Display tab control how the flow appears in the visual display of theprocess template.

Note: The options on the Display tab do not control whether the flow line begins with aBPMN-style diamond. Flows have a diamond when the originating activity selects thenext activity using conditional logic; see Setting Activity Transition Rules, page 76 formore information.

To change the display settings for a ow:

1. In the Flow Inspector, select the Display tab.

2. Determine whether the flow line appears as a Single line straight betweenthe connected activities or asMulti-segment lines with each segment runninghorizontally or vertically.Multi-segmented lines in a flow are generally easier for users to follow.

3. Set the font and style used to display the names of the packages routed over the flow.These settings are relevant only if you elect to display the package names in thenext step.

a. Select a font from the Label Font list.

b. Select a point size from the Point Size drop-down list.


4. Specify how to label the flow in the process template editor display.

a. Select the Show Label checkbox to display a label for the flow, or deselect it todisplay the flow without a label. The two radio buttons below the checkbox aregrayed out when the checkbox is not selected.

b. Select Show visible activities at destination activity to label the flow with thenames of the packages that the following activity handles; or select Customlabel and enter the label text in the adjacent text box.



5. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Flow Inspector, or click OK tosave your updates and close the Flow Inspector.


Chapter 5Working with Activities

Activities are the tasks that comprise the workflow. Most of the configuration of the workflow relatesto configuring its activities. For information about planning the configuration of workflow activities,see Planning Workflow Processes, page 15.

You configure activities using the Activity Inspector. You access the Activity Inspector bydouble-clicking on an activity in the process template editor pane, or by selecting one or moreactivities and choosing Activity Inspector from the Tools menu.

The Activity Inspector has several tabs, each corresponding to one aspect of activity configuration:

• The Properties tab sets the priority for automatic activities and lets you provide instructions formanual performers; see Setting Activity Properties, page 62.

• The Performer tab enables you to select who performs the activity and what actions theperformers have available to them; see Selecting Performers, page 63 for details.

• The Trigger tab settings determine when the activity starts; see Setting Activity Triggers, page 71.• The Timers tab sets timers to take action if work bogs down; see Setting Warning Timers, page 73.• The Notification tab specifies whether to notify the workflow supervisor when certain system

events occur; see Setting Notifications, page 76.• The Transition tab settings determine which activities come next in the workflow; see Setting

Activity Transition Rules, page 76.• The Package tab controls which packages the activity handles; see Handling Packages, page 80.• The Display tab controls how the activity appears in the visual display of the process template;

see Changing Display Settings, page 82.• Many activities include one or more additional tabs containing properties specific to that type of

activity. The name of the tab and the properties contained on it are set in the activity template;see Configuring Activity Templates, page 87.

When entering values into the fields on a custom tab, you can include variables that are replaced atruntime with values from the current environment, such as the name of the dm_workflow object.To include a variable, enter the XML element <dmp:param>supported_parameter</dmp:param>,where supported_parameter is one of the variables Business Process Manager supports for variable


Working with Activities

substitution. See Appendix B, Substitution Variables for Custom Activity Template Propertiesfor a list of the supported variables.

Note: Depending on the nature of the activity, some of the tabs may not appear in the ActivityInspector. For example, an activity created from the Decision Split activity template displays onlythe Transition, Packages, and Display tabs: the settings on these tabs are the only ones relevant forDecision Split activities. The set of displayed tabs is defined by the activity template; see ConfiguringActivity Templates, page 87.

The name of the activity you are configuring appears in the text box at the top of the ActivityInspector. Each activity must have a unique name within the template. To change the activity name,enter the new name in the text box, replacing the previous name. If more than one activity is selected,arrow buttons appear on either side of the text box, enabling you to scroll through the selectedactivities. The settings you make apply to the activity whose name appears in the box, unless youselect the Apply to all selected option.

When multiple activities are selected, each tab in the Activity Inspector displays one or morecheckboxes labeled Apply to all selected. When this checkbox is selected, Business Process Managerapplies the associated settings — that is, those settings that appear to the right of the checkbox — toall selected activities, not just the one whose name appears in the text box at the top. For example, youcan select multiple activities and choose the same performer for all of them at once. Any settings forwhich the checkbox is not selected apply only to the current activity.

Setting Activity PropertiesThe Activity Inspector’s Properties tab enables you to set the priority of automaticactivities and to provide instructions for the performers of manual activities.

To set activity properties:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Definition tab.

2. Select a priority level from the Priority drop-down list.The priority value designates the execution priority of an automatic activity. Thevalue is ignored for manual activities. For more information, see Setting PriorityValues, page 23.Dynamic priority is when the priority of the activity is set using custom code as theworkflow runs rather than being set as part of the process template. You shouldassign Dynamic priority only when your system includes custom code to set thepriority at runtime.

3. Enter a description of the activity in the Description text box.

4. Enter text for the message that appears in a manual performer’s Inbox in the TaskName box.



The default message appears in the box by default. In addition to normal text, themessage can include the values of workflow attributes that the system determines atruntime. For example, the message can include the name of the workflow or of thedocument being routed. You can enter up to 255 characters; the message that theuser sees, with any variables evaluated, is truncated after 512 characters.To include a runtime attribute in the task subject, you add a variable to the messageby following these steps:

a. In the Task Name box, put the cursor at the location in the text where you wantto place the variable.

b. Click Insert. The Insert Task Name dialog box appears from which you canselect the runtime attribute you want to include.

c. From the Parameter type drop-down list, select the object that contains theattribute you want to include in the subject message. The available attributesfor the selected object appear in the Attribute box.

d. Select the attribute from the Attribute box.

e. Click OK to close the dialog box.See Defining Task Subjects, page 21 for information about the available variables.You can include multiple variables in the task name.

5. Enter any instructions you want to include for the performer of this activity in theTask Instructions box.

6. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OKto save your updates and close the Activity Inspector.

Selecting PerformersWhen defining an activity, you need to specify who performs the activity. Activitiescan be performed manually by an individual, group, or alias that you identify, orautomatically by a workflow method. For manual tasks, you can select specificperformers or allow the workflow participants to choose performers. For automatic tasksyou must specify a user whose permissions the automatic task takes on.

To select performers for an activity:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Performer tab.

2. In the box labeled The activity’s work is performed, select manual or automaticperformers.• To choose a manual performer, select By one or more manual performers.



• To choose an automatic performer, select Automatically on behalf of aperformer.

3. Click the Select Performer button to display the wizard for selecting the performerfor this activity.• To choose one or more manual performers, see Choosing manual performers,

page 65.• To choose the user whose permissions are used for an automatic activity, see

Choosing automatic performers, page 70.4. If you selected one or more manual performers, choose what actions the performer

can or must perform.• To enable the performer to pass the task to another user or group, selectDelegate

the activity’s work to someone else. When you select this option, you mustalso specify where the task is sent if the user to whom the performer delegatesit is also unavailable. The task can be forwarded to the workflow supervisoror returned to the original performer.

• To enable the performer to choose another user or group to also perform thistask, select Have someone else repeat the activity’s work.

• To require that the performer sign off when the activity is complete, selectPerformer’s sign-off required when finished.

For details about the delegation and extension options, see Enabling Delegationand Extension, page 21.

5. If you selected an automatic activity, set the execution parameters.

a. Choose the action to automatically perform from the Execute this methodautomatically drop-down list. The actions in the drop-down list are workflowmethods.

Note: To make a custom method available here, the attribute a_special_appmust be set. a_special_app is a dm_sysobject attribute reserved for use byDocumentum products. This attribute must have the value Workflow. See theBusiness Process Manager Development Guide for details about developing customworkflow methods.

b. To save an execution log when the automatic method runs, select Yes for SaveExecution Results.

c. Specify how long the workflow server tries to run this method before quitting.Enter a number of seconds in theMethod times out in box.

d. Decide whether the workflow will stop or continue if the workflow methodencounters problems. Selecting Stop Execution causes the task to be placed in apaused state and be reassigned to the workflow supervisor. Selecting ContinueExecution causes the task to be placed in an acquired state and forces thecompletion of the task.



Note: We recommend choosing Stop execution for any automatic activity thathas other activities following it.


Choosing manual performers

The steps required to choose manual performers for an activity depends on two keyfactors:

• Whether there is a single performer for the activity or multiple performers• Whether you identify the actual users now, as part of the template, or use aliasesFor details about the options for choosing manual performers, see Choosing Performers,page 17.

To choose one or more manual performers for an activity:

1. On the Activity Inspector’s Performer tab, select By one or more manual performersand click the Select Performer button.The Select Performer dialog box appears.

2. From the drop-down list, choose the user or group that will perform this activity.You can choose a specific user or group, or you can choose an option that determinesthe specific user when the workflow runs. The options are:• Workflow supervisor— The activity will be performed by the workflow

supervisor, which by default is the user who starts the workflow• Repository owner— The activity will be performed by the user who owns the

repository• Previous activity’s performer— The activity will be performed by the same user

who performed the previous activity in the workflow• Specific user— The activity will be performed by a user specifically chosen• All users in group— The activity will be performed by all of the members of

a specific group• Single user from group— The activity will be performed by a single member of

a specific group• Some users from a group— The activity will be performed by some members of

a specific group, but not all• Multiple sequential performers— The activity will be performed by multiple

users one after the other• Work queue— The activity will be performed by a user assigned to work from

the selected work queue



The rest of the procedure differs depending on the option you choose. If you choseany options other than the first three, a box labeled Define Performer(s) appears onthe screen. You select an option in this box to specify how the specific performersof this activity will be selected.If you chose any of the first three options, the specific user will be determined whenthe workflow runs. Click Finish and ignore the rest of this procedure.

3. If you choseMultiple sequential performers, specify whether each performer of thisactivity has the right to reject the package they receive and return it to the performerwho preceded them in the sequence.Sequential performers do not have this option by default. To grant them the option,click the checkbox immediately below the Select Performer(s) box.

4. If you chose Single user from group, specify which user in the selected group willperform the activity.You will select the group in the next step. To specify which single user from thatgroup will perform the activity, choose one of the options from the Select UserFrom Group By box:• First to acquire the work item—When the preceding activity completes, a work

item is added to the Inbox of every user in the group. The first user who acquiresthe work item from their Inbox is the performer; the work items are removedfrom the other user’s Inboxes.

• Least amount of unfinished work items—When the preceding activitycompletes, a work item is added to the Inbox of the user who has the smallestnumber of unfinished tasks in his or her Inbox.

5. Specify whether you will choose the performers for this activity now or have themdetermined dynamically when the workflow is underway.Choose an option from the Define Performer(s) box:• Assign performer(s) now— You will select the specific user or group as part

of the process template• Have performer(s) of activity <activity name> determine the performer for this

activity <activity name>— The performer(s) of the preceding activity will selectthe performer(s) of this activity when the workflow is run. If this activity hasmultiple preceding activities, select from the drop-down list which activity’sperformer selects the performer for this activity.

• Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when workflow isunderway)— The performer of this activity will be determined by an aliasset. You will specify which alias set is used in the next steps. This option isnot available if you selected Some users from a group orMultiple sequentialperformers.

6. Click Next to continue.The steps required to complete this procedure depend on the option you chose.



• Assign performer(s) now, page 67• Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity, page 67• Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when workflow is

underway), page 69

Assign performer(s) now

• If you selected Single user on the previous screen, highlight the name of a groupor <All users> in the Groups list box, then select the performer of this activity fromthe users in the selected group from the Users in Group list box. After selecting auser, click Finish.

• If you selected All users in group or Single user from group on the previous screen,select a group from the Groups list box, then click Finish.

• If you selectedWork queue on the previous screen, highlight the name of the workqueue, then click Finish.

• If you selected Some users from a group orMultiple sequential performers, youcan designate multiple users, groups, or alias names to perform the activity. See theprocedure in the topic Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of thisactivity, page 67 for details about the options that appear when you click Next.

Note: Because you chose Assign users now, the server will select all users in the listyou build as performers, not use the list to provide a selection list to the performerof a previous activity as described in the topic Have performer(s) of <activity>determine performer(s) of this activity, page 67.

Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of thisactivity

This feature is also known as dynamic performer selection. This option gives the performerof one activity the ability to choose which users will perform the next activity in theworkflow. At runtime, the performer of the activity can choose one or more users fromthe group you specify.

If you selected Some users from a group orMultiple sequential performers, you candesignate a combination of multiple users, groups, or alias names from which theperformer of the previous activity can choose at runtime. If you selected any of theother performer types, no further definition of the performer is necessary. This pagedoes not appear.

For more information about aliases and alias sets, see Using Aliases, page 20.



To select users and groups:

1. Select one or more of the options for selecting users.If you select more than one option, the dialog pages for each option appear insequential order. The options are:• Specific users and/or groups— You will select the user and group names now.• Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiator— You

will select alias sets and aliases for which the workflow initiator will providespecific user and group names when starting the workflow.

• Performer alias(es) which will be resolved at run-time from the alias set—You will select the alias sets and aliases that the server will use at runtime todetermine the actual users and groups.

2. Click Next.

3. If you chose Specific users and/or groups, select the names of the groups or userswho can perform this activity.

a. Highlight the user or group name in the list on the left and click Add to addit to the Selection List on the right.

b. Repeat step a for each user or group you want to add.

c. When the Selection List includes all the users and groups you want, click Nextor Finish (depending on whether you chose other options at step 1).

4. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiatorand have not yet defined a default alias set for this workflow, choose one.• To choose an existing alias set, click Choose from existing alias sets and select

an alias set from the drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repositoryto which you are currently connected and on which you have Write permission.

• To choose a new alias set, click Create new alias set and enter a name anddescription for the alias set. The server will create a new alias set using theinformation you enter on this page and the next.

Click Next when you have identified the alias set.

5. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiator,identify one or more aliases for which the workflow initiator needs to enter valuesfor when starting the workflow.

a. Specify whether you will Create a new performer alias or Use an existing,undefined performer alias. An existing, undefined alias is an alias that appearsin the alias set but does not have a specific user name assigned to it in the alias set.

b. To create a new performer alias, enter a name and description for the alias, thenclick Add to add it to the Selection List.

c. To use an existing performer alias, select the appropriate alias from the Existingperformer alias drop-down list, then click Add to add it to the Selection List.



Optionally, you can modify the description of the alias so that its purpose isclear to the workflow initiator.

d. When the Selection List includes all the aliases you want, click Next or Finish(depending on whether you chose the final option at step 1).

6. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved at run-time from the aliasset, select the aliases that the server will resolve from selected alias sets.

a. Select an alias set from theAlias Set list, then a specific alias from the list below it.

b. Click Add to add the alias to the Selection List.

c. Repeat steps a and b for each alias you want to include.

7. Click Finish.

Dene performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned whenworkow is underway)

When you select this option, you need to specify which alias set and alias the workflowserver will use at runtime to determine the actual person to perform this activity. Firstyou choose an alias set, then identify a specific alias within that set.

For more information about aliases and alias sets, see Using Aliases, page 20.

To identify the alias set and alias for the performer:

1. Select which alias set to use to resolve the alias.The options are:• Default alias set (workflow initiator will resolve when workflow is started)—

The server refers to the alias set defined as the default for this workflow. Thedefault alias set is defined on the Template Properties dialog box; if no alias sethas been selected, you will have a chance to set it on the next page.

• Specific alias set— The server refers to the alias set whose name you select fromthe adjacent drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repository to whichyou are currently connected and on which you have Write permission.

• Alias set of document in package— The server refers to the alias set assignedto a document in a package that this activity receives. Select which package’salias set to use from the adjacent drop-down list. If you choose <Any>, the serverwill scan through the alias sets of all packages until it finds the first match to thespecific alias you will identify at step 4.

• Alias set of previous performer— The server refers to the alias set assignedto the performer of the previous activity. Use this option, for example, ifthis activity needs to be performed by the Manager of the previous activity’sperformer. If, at runtime, the previous performer does not have an associated



alias set, the server will use the alias set belonging to the previous performer’sgroup. If the group does not have an alias either, the failed activity task is sentto the workflow supervisor.

2. Click Next.If you chose Default alias set but have not yet selected a default alias set for thisworkflow, you need to choose an alias set.If you chose one of the other options or have already set the workflow’s defaultalias set, clicking Next takes you to a page where you can choose the specific aliaswithin that set. Skip step 3.

3. If you have not yet defined a default alias set for this workflow, choose one.• To choose an existing alias set, click Choose from existing alias sets and select

an alias set from the drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repositoryto which you are currently connected and on which you have Write permission.

• To choose a new alias set, click Create new alias set and enter a name anddescription for the alias set. The server will create a new alias set using theinformation you enter on this page and the next.

Click Next when you have identified the alias set.

4. Identify the specific alias within the selected alias set.If you chose a specific alias set at step 2, the Performer Alias drop-down list includesthe aliases defined in that alias set.If you chose an alias set that will be selected at run time, such as the previousperformer’s alias set, the Performer Alias drop-down list is empty. Type the nameof the alias in the box, making sure that the name exactly matches the name in thealias set that the server will find. If at runtime the server does not find a matchbetween the performer alias and the available aliases in the alias set, the activity taskis returned to the workflow supervisor along with a notification.

5. Click Finish.

Choosing automatic performers

The performer for automatic activities must resolve to single user. This requirementlimits your choices for automatic activities to the following user categories:• The workflow supervisor (the workflow initiator by default)• The Repository owner• The performer of the previous activity• A particular userIf you select any of the first three, the server determines the actual user at runtime.



To choose the user whose security access is used for an automatic activity:

1. On the Activity Inspector’s Performer tab, select Automatically on behalf of aperformer and click the Select Performer button.The Select Performer dialog box appears.

2. Choose which user’s security access will be used by the automatic activity:• Workflow supervisor— The automatic activity will use the permissions of the

workflow supervisor, which by default is the user who starts the workflow.• Repository owner— The automatic activity will use the permissions of the

repository owner.• Previous activity’s performer— The automatic activity will use the permissions

of the user who performed the previous activity in the workflow.• Specific user— The automatic activity will use the permissions of a user you

choose in the next step.3. If you chose Specific user, select the user whose permissions will be used.

a. Click the Choose button to display the Select User dialog box.

b. In the Groups list box, highlight the name of a group or <All users>. The usersin the selected group appear in the Users in Group list box.

c. Select the user from the Users in Group list box. The user name appears inthe Selection text box.

d. Click OK.The selected user name appears in the User text box.

4. Click Finish.The selected user name appears in the text box next to the Select Performer button.

Setting Activity TriggersA trigger is a signal that the activity can begin. Use the Trigger tab to describe theconditions that trigger the activity and send the package to the performer’s Inbox.

If the activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many of theprevious activities must complete before this activity starts. The trigger condition is theminimum number of input flows that must have accepted packages for this activity tobegin. For example, if an activity has three input flows, you may decide that the activitycan start when two of the three have accepted packages.

Tip: When an activity has more than one incoming flow, it represents a join activityin the overall business process; that is, packages following different paths throughthe process come together. To display the join action clearly in the business process



template, insert an explicit Join activity into the flow. The Join activity sets the triggerconditions for the next activity, which has only one incoming flow — the one from theJoin activity. See Join, page 93.

For more information about activity triggers, see Setting Trigger Conditions, page 25.

To set when an activity is triggered:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Trigger tab.

2. Specify how many of the activities input flows must have been completed beforethis activity starts.• To start this activity only when all preceding activities are complete, check All

input flows are selected.• To start this activity when some number of its preceding activities are complete,

check This number of input flows selected and enter the number of precedingactivities that must be complete before the activity runs. The total number ofinput flows for this activity is shown next to the text box.

When an activity has only one input flow, these options are not different.

3. To ensure a specific action occurs before the selected activity is run, check the Andwhen this event arrives checkbox and enter an event name in the adjacent text box.The event can be a system-defined event, such as dm_checkin, or you can makeup an event name, such as promoted or released. If you include a trigger event inthe starting condition, the server must find the event you identify queued to theworkflow before starting the activity. See the chapter "Tasks, Events, and Inboxes"in Documentum Content Server Fundamentals for further details about defining andqueuing events using the Documentum API.

4. To enable the activity to be run more than once in the same workflow, check the Thisactivity can run more than once in a workflow checkbox.A repeatable activity is an activity that can be used more than once in a particularworkflow. By default, activities are defined as repeatable activities. Activities withmultiple performers performing sequentially cannot be repeatable. (ChoosingPerformers, page 17 describes the user categories for performers.)If you use an activity multiple times in a workflow, you must structure the workflowso that only one instance of the activity will be active at any time. The server cannotstart an activity if a previous activity based on the same definition is still running.




Setting Warning TimersBusiness Process Manager supports two kinds of warning timers for activities:• A pre-timer takes action if an activity has not started within a designated amount of

time after the workflow starts• A post-timer takes action if an activity has not completed within a designated

amount of time after the activity startsFor more information about workflow timers, see Setting Timers, page 26.

When an activity has one or more timer actions set for it, a small clock icon appears inthe lower right corner of the activity’s icon in the process template editor pane.

To set timer actions:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Timers tab.

2. Click the + button above the list box to add a new timer, or highlight an existingtimer from the list box.

3. From the Event drop-down list, select which type of timer action to create, eitherPre-Timer expiration or Post-Timer expiration.

4. Specify when the timer should expire by entering the number of elapsed hoursand minutes in the Expire in text boxes.If this action is the first timer of a given type (pre-timer or post-timer), the timerexpires when the specified number of hours and minutes have elapsed since thestart of the workflow or activity respectively. Subsequent timers expire when thespecified number of hours and minutes have elapsed since the previous timer expired.

5. To notify users via email when a timer expires (rather than via their Inbox), click theUse email template checkbox, then click the Select button and choose the customemail template to use for notification.An email template is a document in the Documentum repository that defines thestructure of the notification message. See the Business Process Manager DevelopmentGuide for information about the structure of a document that serves as an emailtemplate.The name of the selected template appears next to the Use email template checkbox.The server uses the selected email template for all notifications of the same event type(pre-timer or post-timer). If you do not select the Use email template checkbox, theserver notifies users by sending a default notification to their Documentum Inbox.

6. From the Action drop-down list, select the type of action to take when the timerexpires.The available options depend on whether you are defining a pre-timer or post-timerand on the nature of the current activity:• Notification— Send a notification message to one or more people



• Start Process— Launch a new workflow process using the current activity’spackages

• Run Java Method—Run a workflowmethod (available for users with superuserprivileges only)

• Delegate Task—Delegate the task to another performer (available for manualactivity post-timers only)

• Complete Task— Automatically complete the task and forward it to the nextactivity in the workflow (available for manual post-timers only)

• Rerun Failed Automatic Task—Attempt to run the workflowmethod associatedwith an automatic activity after it has failed (available for post-timers only)

7. Identify the people to notify when the timer expires.

a. Click the Select button that appears next to the Send notification to text box.The Select Recipient dialog box appears.

b. To send notifications to specific users or groups, highlight the user or groupname in the left half of the dialog box, then click Add >> to move them to thelist box on the right. The Users in Group box shows the members of the groupselected in the Groups box.

c. Click Next.

d. To send notifications to users who fill particular aliases, highlight the alias inthe left half of the dialog box, then click Add >> to move them to the list boxon the right.

e. Click Finish.

8. If you chose Start Process at step 6, choose the process template for the process tostart.

a. Click the Select button that appears next to the Start Process text box.

b. Select the workflow template for the process to start. The selected template mustaccept the same number and type of packages as the current activity.

c. Click OK.

9. If you chose Run Java Method at step 6, choose the Java method to run.

a. Click the Select button that appears next to theMethod text box.

b. Select the workflow method for the expired timer to run and click OK.

Note: To make a custom method available here, the attribute a_special_appmust be set. a_special_app is a dm_sysobject attribute reserved for use byDocumentum products. This attribute must have the value Workflow. See theBusiness Process Manager Development Guide for details about developing customworkflow methods.



c. Click the Yes, save the execution results checkbox to save an execution logwhen the method runs.

10. If you chose Delegate Task at step 6, identify the users to whom to delegate the task.

a. Click the Select button that appears next to the To Performers text box. TheSelect Performer dialog box appears.

b. To delegate the task to specific users or groups, highlight the user or groupname in the left half of the dialog box, then click Add >> to move them to thelist box on the right. The Users in Group box shows the members of the groupselected in the Groups box.

c. Click Next.

d. To delegate the task to users who fill particular aliases, highlight the alias inthe left half of the dialog box, then click Add >> to move them to the list boxon the right.

e. Click Finish.

11. If you chose Complete Task at step 6, specify which package attribute value toupdate (if any).When completing a task automatically, you may want to set an attribute to aparticular value, so that an activity transition condition can route it differently basedon that attribute value.

a. To have the timer set an attribute value when completing the task, select theChange package attributes checkbox. If you do not select this checkbox, skip tostep 12.

b. From the Package drop-down list, select the package whose attribute the timerwill set a value for.

c. From the Attribute drop-down list, select the attribute whose value the timerwill set.

d. In the Value text box, enter the value to which the timer will set the selectedattribute.

12. To have the server continue to repeat the final pre-timer or post-timer action until theactivity is completed, select the Repeat last action checkbox.You set the value of the Repeat last action option separately for pre-timer andpost-timer actions. When it is selected, the server will perform the last timer action atthe specified time interval until the activity is completed.

13. Repeat steps 2 to 12 for each timer you want to add to this activity.

14. To change the order of a timer in the list box, highlight the timer action and clickthe up or down arrow buttons at the top of the list box.



The order is important because the expiration time for a timer is expressed as acertain interval after the preceding timer expires.


Setting NoticationsOn the Notification tab, you can set the messages that the server sends in response toworkflow-related events. Users registered to receive notification of the event will receivea message constructed using the email template associated with the event; see SettingUp Notifications, page 27 for details. You can also send notifications in response toworkflow timers; see Setting Warning Timers, page 73.

To specify when the workow supervisor is notied:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Notification tab.

2. Click the Use email notification checkbox next to the events you want to notifythe workflow supervisor about.The available events are:• Activity state change—An automatic activity changes state because the error

handling flag is set to zero and the work item returned a non-zero value• A work item is delegated• At the start of a work item—Awork item is generated as part of the workflow

3. To use a custom email template in place of the default notification message, click theSelect button for the event and select the email template to use for that event.An email template is a document in the Documentum repository that defines thestructure of the notification message. See the Business Process Manager DevelopmentGuide for information about the structure of a document that serves as an emailtemplate.The name of the selected template appears below the event name.


Setting Activity Transition RulesTransition rules determine which activities are next in the workflow. When an activityhas multiple outgoing flows, you may want packages sent to all of the followingactivities, or you may want packages sent to only some of the following activities



depending on the outcome of the activity. For example, you might give a performerwho reviews the design of a new form the choice of forwarding the design to the nextreviewer or to send it back to the designer for revision. You set up this branching logicby creating flows from this activity to the two possible following activities, then allowingthe performer to choose which path to follow.

Tip: When an activity has multiple outgoing flows with branching logic, it represents adecision point in the overall business process. To display the decision point clearly in thebusiness process template, insert an explicit Decision Split activity into the flow. Insteadof setting the branching logic in the current activity, connect the current activity to asingle Decision Split activity and set the branching logic in the Decision Split activity.See Decision Split, page 92.

If an activity has only one outgoing flow, there is no need to set a transition condition.The Transition tab is grayed out with the Select all connected activities option selected.For automatic activities, you generally should not chose the Let the activity’s performerchoose option, unless the automatic workflow method for the activity uses the setoutputmethod to choose the next activities; see the Business Process Manager Development Guidefor more information.

For more information about transitions, see Defining Activity Transitions, page 27.

To dene the transition action:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Transition tab.

2. Determine how the activity chooses which following activities to send packages to:• To send packages to all following activities connected to this one (including any

reject flows), choose Select all connected activities.• To let the performer decide which activities are selected when the current activity

completes, choose Let the activity’s performer choose.• To route packages to different activities based on a set of conditions, choose

Select next activities based on these conditions.If you select to route packages based on a set of conditions, skip to step 6.

3. If the activity is performed by multiple performers — that is, if the performercategory is All users in group or Some users from a group— specify how manyperformers must complete the task:• To require that all performers complete the task, select the All performers

complete the task radio button.• To complete the activity when a certain number of performers complete the task,

select the [ ] performers complete the task radio button and enter the requirednumber of performers in the text box. If the number you enter is greater than thenumber of performers who receive work items for this activity at runtime, theserver completes the activity when all performers complete the task.



If you chose Select all connected activities at step 2, skip to step 7.

4. If you let the performer select the next activities, specify the maximum number ofactivities the performer can select using the Select up to [ ] activities drop-downlist box.The list box displays the total number of available next activities by default. You canselect any number between 1 and this maximum. At runtime, the server will notallow the performer to select more than the specified number of activities.

5. If you let a group of performers select the next activities — that is, if the performercategory is All users in group or Some users from a group and the transition optionis Let performer select the next activity— specify when to forward packages to theselected next activities.• To start selected reject activities immediately, click the Any performer rejects

radio button. If any performer selects reject activities, the activities are startedwithout waiting for other responses; all other performers’ selections are ignored.

• To start selected forward activities immediately, click the Any performerforwards radio button. If any performer selects forward activities, the activitiesare started without waiting for other responses; all other performers’ selectionsare ignored.

• To start the selected next activities only after the number of performers identifiedin step 3 have completed the task, click the All performers complete thetask radio button. With this option, the server combines the selections of allperformers. If some users select forward activities and others select rejectactivities, the server determines which activities to start based on the final setof radio buttons on this tab.

— To start all of the activities selected by performers, both forward activitiesand reject activities, click Start all selected activities.

— To start only the selected reject activities (if there are any), click Start onlyreject activities. Forward activities are started only if all performers selectforward activities.

— To start only the selected forward activities (if there are any), click Startonly forward activities. Reject activities are started only if all performersselect reject activities.

6. Specify the conditions that the server uses to determine which activities receivepackages.See Creating transition conditions, page 79 for information about creating transitionconditions.




Creating transition conditions

When you choose the Select next activities based on these conditions option, a tableappears showing the defined transition conditions. When you first define an activity,the table is blank. Follow this procedure to add transition conditions for automaticallychoosing the next activities in the workflow. For more information about transitionconditions, see Defining Activity Transitions, page 27.

Note: When an activity uses transition conditions, the flows that lead to the nextactivities have a diamond at the start of the flow line. This format follows the BusinessProcess Modeling Notation (BPMN) standard.

To create a transition condition:

1. Highlight the row in the Query table that begins with the word IF.

2. From the Query on drop-down list, choose the object to which you want thiscondition to apply:• The running workflow — The condition will check attributes of the

dm_workflow object.• The last completed work item for the activity— The condition will check

attributes of the dmi_workitem object.• This input package’s document(s)— The condition will check attributes of the

dmi_package object that you select from the drop-down list. If this option isgrayed out it is because no packages are available.

3. If the selected input package is an XML document and you want this conditionto check a value of an internal XML element, click the XPath Expr checkbox andidentify the XML element whose value you want to use in the condition.

a. In the Schema text box, enter the fully qualified name of the XML schema towhich the document in the package conforms. You can type the name into thetext box, click the Local button to choose the schema from the local file system,or click the Repository button to choose the schema from the Documentumrepository.This step is optional. If the schema is not available, leave the text box blank.

b. In the XPath expression text box, create the XPath expression to the element youwant to use in the condition. If you selected a schema at step a, you can clickthe Select button to choose from a list of valid XPath expressions. If you did notselect a schema at step a, click theWrite-in Expression link and type the fullXPath expression in the dialog box that appears. After typing the expression,select the XML data type of the identified element and click OK.

4. If you did not select the XPath Expr checkbox, choose the Documentum repositoryattribute whose value you want to use in the condition.The drop-down list includes the attributes for the object type you selected at step 2.



If a drop-down list labeled Repeating attribute, choose or type an index appears, itmeans that the attribute you chose can have more than one value. Indicate whichindex value(s) to use in this condition by selecting one of the four options in the list,or by typing a valid index value. If the transition condition includes a reference toa repeating attribute, the attribute must have at least one value or the conditiongenerates an error when evaluated.

5. Specify the test you want to perform on the selected attribute.Choose a logical comparison operator from the Condition drop-down list and entera comparison value in the Value text box. The data type for the selected attribute isshown below the box.

6. Select the activities to perform next when this condition is true by highlighting theactivity names in the list box at the bottom of the page.The list displays the names of the activities connected to this activity by flows. Toselect more than one activity, hold down the Ctrl or Shift key when clicking theactivity names.

Note: You must select an activity now even if you plan to add additional clauses tothe condition.

7. To add an additional clause to this transition condition, click the AND or OR buttonnext to the Add another clause label and repeat steps 2 through 6.When a condition includes multiple clauses, the server uses the rules of naturalprecedence to evaluate the expression. That is, clauses connected by AND areevaluated before clauses connected by OR. For example, suppose the condition hasthis form, where the letters represent conditional clauses:IF A AND B AND C OR D AND E OR F SELECT Activity 1The server evaluates this condition as follows:IF (A AND B AND C) OR (D AND E )OR F SELECT Activity 1

8. To add another transition condition, click the + button above the query box (whichadds a row starting ELSE IF), then repeat steps 2 to 7.

9. When all of the specific transition conditions are defined, select the activities towhich packages are routed if none of the conditions are met.When you have defined all of the transition conditions, highlight the row in theQuery table that begins with the word ELSE and select the activities to performif none of the other conditions apply.

Handling PackagesWhen you configure an activity, you need to specify what packages it works on. Youdefine how the activity deals with each package that is part of the process template.



To specify how the activity handles packages:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Package tab.The list box at the top of the page displays the available packages. The list ofpackages comes from the process template definition; see Managing ProcessPackages, page 46 for more information.

2. Highlight one of the packages in the list box.Information about the selected package appears in the lower portion of the page.The package name and type are read-only; you cannot change them.

3. To make this package available to the performer of this activity, select the Visiblecheckbox.If the Visible checkbox is not selected, the activity performer does not see thispackage. The package is still available for transition conditions, however.

4. To require that the package have a content object associated with it, select This isa mandatory package.If the checkbox is not selected, the activity performer can assign content to thispackage, but need not do so.

5. From the Version drop-down list, select or enter the version of the package contentyou want this activity to save.

Note: Business Process Manager can be configured to not display theVersion list; seeAppendix C, Business Process Manager Configuration File. When the drop-downlist does not appear, the workflow always uses the CURRENT version.

To specify the version, you can select or enter:• A specific version number, for example, 2.5 or 3.0. If you enter a specific version

number, the package will always contain that version of the document.• A symbolic version label, for example, Draft. The symbolic version label is case

sensitive, so be sure the version you enter matches the version of the object inthe repository.

• CURRENT, which is the default selection. If you select CURRENT, the packagewill always contain the most current version of the object in the repository.

6. From the Form drop-down list, select the form template (if any) to use for displayingthis package to the activity performer.The form template assigned to the package in the Process Properties dialog boxappears by default. Only form templates that use the same data model as the defaultform template are displayed in the drop-down list. See Associating Form TemplatesWith Packages, page 24 for details about using forms in a workflow.If no form template is assigned to the package, the Documentum Task Manager usesthe default options for displaying the contents of the package, usually enablingthe user to open it in the application associated with the document type, such asMicrosoft Word for Word documents.



7. To use the form you selected at step 6 to display the properties of the package, selectthe Use Form for Properties checkbox.When the Use Form for Properties checkbox is not selected, the form from step 6appears when the performer of an activity selects the package from his or her Inbox;the form is used to save the content of the package. When the checkbox is selected,the form appears when the performer views the package properties; the form is usedto set the package’s properties in the repository, not the content of the package.

8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 for each package in the process.

9. For manual activities, specify whether a package displays automatically when theactivity starts.By default, when a performer starts an activity from the Inbox, the DocumentumTask Manager appears and displays each package as a link; the performer clicks alink to display the package (through the form assigned to the package or applicationassociated with the document type). To have this package display right away, clickthe checkbox at the bottom of the dialog box and select the package from thedrop-down list.


Changing Display SettingsThe options on the Display tab control how the activity appears in the visual displayof the process template.

Note: When an activity has one or more timer actions set for it, a small clock icon appearsin the lower right corner of the activity’s icon in the process template editor pane.

To change the display settings for an activity:

1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Display tab.

2. To change the graphic that represents the activity in the template, click one of theBrowse buttons that appear to the right of the Image file box, navigate to the filecontaining the graphic, and click Open.The two Browse buttons enable you to search for images in the Documentumrepository (Browse Repository) or in the local file system (Browse Local). If youselect an image from outside of the standard location for activity images (whichis the repository folder System\Workflow\Images), Business Process Managerautomatically saves a copy of the image in the folder when you save the activity.If you use Browse Local to select an image outside of the standard image directoryC:\Program Files\Documentum\BPM\classes\images, Business Process Managerimports the image file into the System\Workflow\Images repository folder.



The selected file appears in the Image file box.

3. To change the size of the graphic representing the activity, select a percentage fromthe Image size drop-down list.The percentage is the percentage of the actual size of the graphic.

4. Specify whether to display a label for the activity by selecting or deselecting theShow Label checkbox.If you deselect Show Label, skip steps 5 and 6.

5. Choose whether to display a label for the activity with its activity Name or thePerformer.Please note that error messages, such as any that occur when you validate thetemplate, will refer to activities by their names. If you label activities with theperformer name, you might want to temporarily change this setting to Name inorder to locate the activity.

6. Set the font and style used to label the activity in the template.

a. Select a font from the Label font list.

b. Select a point size from the Point size drop-down list.




Chapter 6Working with Activity Templates

An activity template represents a particular type of task that you can add to a business process. Thetemplate identifies any underlying workflow methods required to complete the task and determineswhat configuration attributes must be set in order to accomplish the task. The template may alsoset default values for some common attributes.

To add an activity to a business process template, you select the appropriate activity template fromone of the activity palettes on the right side of the Business Process Manager window. BusinessProcess Manager includes templates for common integration activity types as well as a sample activitytemplate. See Appendix A, Delivered Activity Templates for a list of the activity templates providedwith Business Process Manager. For custom activity types, you can create custom activity templates.

There are three possible states for activity templates: draft, validated, and installed. An activitytemplate in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or last modified. A templatein the validated state has passed the server’s validation checks, which ensure that the template iscorrectly defined. A template in the installed state is ready to use for creating activities. The currentstate of an activity template is indicated on the template icon in the palette.

This chapter explains how to create activity templates, configure them, validate and install them.The topics are:

• Creating Activity Templates, page 85• Managing Activity Palettes, page 86• Configuring Activity Templates, page 87• Validating and Installing Activity Templates, page 89

Creating Activity TemplatesIf your business process contains activities for which Business Process Manager does notinclude an appropriate activity template, you can create a new template. You can create abrand new template from scratch or you can copy an existing template then modify it.


Working with Activity Templates

To create a new activity template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > New.A new activity template appears on the currently active activity palette. Its name isUntitled.

2. Double-click the new activity template to display the Activity Template Inspector.

3. Configure the activity template.See Configuring Activity Templates, page 87 for information about configuringactivity templates.

To create a new activity template based on an existing template:

1. On an activity palette, select the activity template you want to copy.

2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Save As.A Save dialog box appears. The Save in box lists the folders underSystem\Workflow\Activity Templates, which represent the available activitypalettes.

3. In the Save in box, select the activity palette to which you want to add the newtemplate.

4. Enter a name for the new activity template in the Name text box.

5. Click OK.The activity template appears on the selected activity palette. The new template hasthe same characteristics as the template you selected at step 1. However, the originaltemplate and the new template are independent of each other; future changes to onedo not affect the other.

6. Make any necessary changes to the new activity template.See Configuring Activity Templates, page 87 for information about configuringactivity templates.

Managing Activity PalettesWhen you create an activity template, you specify which palette it appears on. Since anactivity template may be relevant in more than one type of situation or business process,a single template can appear on more than one palette.

To add (copy) an activity template to another activity palette:

1. Select the activity palette to which you want to add the activity template.

2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Add.



The Open dialog box appears.

3. In the Select from box, navigate to the activity template you want to add and select it.

4. Click OK.The selected activity template appears on the current activity palette. The template isnow linked to this palette as well as its original palette. Any changes made to thetemplate will be reflected on both palettes.

To remove an activity template from an activity palette:

1. Select the activity template you want to remove.

2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Remove.The activity template is removed from the current palette. If the template is linked toanother palette, it still appears on that palette.

Conguring Activity TemplatesIn most cases, you create a new activity template for a custom type of automatic activityfor which you need to collect additional attributes to pass as parameters to a custommethod.

You configure an activity template using the Activity Template Inspector. The ActivityTemplate Inspector shares several tabs with the Activity Inspector, which you use toconfigure individual activities. For these shared tabs, the values you set for the activitytemplate become the default values for activities created from the template. The ActivityTemplate Inspector does not enable you to set information about priority, packages,input and output flows, or transition options. These configuration attributes relate tohow an individual activity fits into a specific process flow, and so are not relevant foractivity templates.

The Activity Template Inspector also includes an additional tab, labeled Definition,which you use to define custom attributes for activities created with the template. Theattributes are defined using XML. The XML defines the names, data types, and displaycharacteristics of the custom attributes, as well as any assistance for users entering valuesfor the attributes. When an activity is created from the template, the Activity Inspectorincludes one or more extra tabs for the user to use when entering values for the customattributes. The names of the extra tabs are specified in the XML file.

In addition to defining extra tabs, the activity template definition file can suppress thedisplay of one or more of the standard Activity Inspector tabs. When an activity iscreated from the template, the Activity Inspector does not display any of the suppressedtabs, thereby preventing the user from changing any of the values on that tab. The valuesset in the Activity Template Inspector remain unchanged.



The structure of an activity template XML file is defined by the schema fileactivity.xsd, which is located on the local file system in the directory ProgramFiles\Documentum\bpm\classes. See the Business Process Manager Development Guidefor further details about the file structure. For a sample activity template XML file, seethe Sample Activity Template installed on the Sample activity template palette.

To set attributes for an activity template:

1. Double-click the activity template in the palette, or select it and choose ActivityTemplate Inspector from the Tools menu.The Activity Template Inspector appears.

2. Set default values for any of the available configuration attributes.The values you set in the activity template become default values for any activitiescreated from the template. See Chapter 5, Working with Activities for details aboutsetting the attributes. Commonly you will want to link the template to a customworkflow method on the Performer tab.

3. Select the Definition tab.A large text box appears showing the XML elements that define the custom attributesfor this activity template. If this is a new activity template, or a template withno custom attributes, the only elements are the top-level <xml> element and the<activity> element that identifies the XML schema for activity templates.

4. Edit the XML to define custom attributes and the user interface for editing them.The XML you enter must conform to the activity.xsd schema. See the Business ProcessManager Development Guide for further details about the file structure.

5. To suppress the display of one or more tabs in the Activity Inspector, enter a <tab>element for each suppressed tab.The <tab> element must be a subelement of the <tabs> element, which also specifiesthe custom tabs to display in the Activity Inspector. For each tab you want tosuppress, enter an element in this format:<tab id="TAB_NAME" showInActInspector="false" />

The valid values for TAB_NAME are PROPERTIES, PERFORMER, TRIGGER,NOTIFICATION, TRANSITION, PACKAGE, and DISPLAY. See Chapter 5, Workingwith Activities for information about the options on each of these tabs. TheshowInActInspector parameter is ignored for custom tabs.

6. Click OK to close the Activity Template Inspector.



Validating and Installing Activity TemplatesThere are three possible states for activity templates: draft, validated, and installed. Anactivity template in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or lastmodified. A template in the validated state has passed the server’s validation checks,which ensure that the template is correctly defined. A template in the installed state isready to use for creating activities. The current state of an activity template is indicatedon the template icon in the palette.

Validating an activity template verifies that the template meets system requirements.You can only validate if your open template is in the draft state and you have Writepermission.

You can validate a template at any time by selecting Activity Template > Validate fromthe Tools menu.

An activity template must be installed before it is available for creating activities with.You can only install an activity template if it is in the validated state and you have Writepermission. If it is not validated, select Activity Template > Validate from the Toolsmenu. An arrow appears next to the activity template icon in the palette.

If you need to make changes to an installed activity template, you must uninstall it first.After making the changes, validate and install the template again.

To validate an activity template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Validate.If the Validate option is grayed out, it means the template is currently validated orinstalled.If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to seethe error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a red check mark

appears next to the activity template icon in the palette.

To install an activity template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Install.If the Install option is grayed out, it means the template is currently installed.

If the installation is successful, an arrow appears next to the activity templateicon in the palette.

To uninstall an activity template:

1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Uninstall.You can only uninstall if the template is in the installed state and you have Writepermission. If the template is successfully uninstalled, the arrow next to the template



icon (representing installed state) is replaced with a red check mark (representingvalidated state).


Appendix ADelivered Activity Templates

Business Process Manager comes with a set of predefined activity templates. Four of the templatesappear on the Flow activity palette and enable you to explicitly show decision points, joins, andsub-processes in the business process flow. Several of them appear on the Integration activitypalette and enable you to easily create automated activities that send workflow packages to externalparticipants using the messaging features of Documentum Business Process Services. An activitytemplate related to work queue management appears on the Sample tab.

The activity templates are described in these sections:

• Decision Split, page 92• Join, page 93• Start Sub-Process, page 93• Post Event to Parent Process, page 94• FTP, page 94• HTTP Post, page 95• SMTP, page 95• Web Service, page 97• Send to JMS Queue, page 98• Send to MQ JMS, page 98• Publish to JMS Topic, page 99• Set Queue Task Skill, page 100• Queue Task Rework Decision, page 100• XSL Transformation, page 101This appendix describes each of these activity templates and the special parameters they require youto enter when creating an activity from them. Business Process Manager also includes a SampleActivity Template that illustrates the format of the activity template XML file to help you createcustom activity templates; it appears on the Sample activity palette.

Note: Business Process Services also supports receiving content from external sources. For moreinformation, see the Business Process Services Development Guide.


Delivered Activity Templates

Decision SplitThe Decision Split activity template enables you to display decision points explicitly in abusiness process template. Rather than specifying the branching logic on the Transitiontab of an activity that performs some other action, you add an activity whose only actionis to evaluate the branching logic and forward packages as appropriate. Separating thedecision from other actions can make the process flow clearer.

Figure A-1. Approval Process Without and With Decision Split Activity

When you add a Decision Split activity, link the preceding activity to just the DecisionSplit activity and set its transition to Select all connected activities. Set the branchinglogic on the Transition tab of the Decision Split activity.

The Decision Split activity template does not include any custom tabs or fields. Whenyou view an activity created with the Decision Split template in the Activity Inspector,only the Packages, Transition, and Display tabs appear. These tabs contain all of thesettings relevant to a decision point activity.



JoinThe Join activity template enables you to include activities to evaluate trigger conditionswhen multiple flows converge in a business process. Rather than specifying the triggerconditions on the Trigger tab of an activity that performs some other action, you add anactivity whose only action is to evaluate the trigger conditions and forward packages asappropriate. The Join activity waits for a certain number of its preceding activities tocomplete, then forwards its packages to the next activity. The next activity does not needto evaluate trigger conditions, because the Join activity has already done so.

Figure A-2. Review Process Without and With Join Activity

The Join activity template does not include any custom tabs or fields. When you viewan activity created with the Join template in the Activity Inspector, only the Packages,Trigger, and Display tabs appear. These tabs contain all of the settings relevant toa join activity.

Start Sub-ProcessA Start Sub-Process activity launches a new workflow. All packages from the currentworkflow whose names and types match packages in the process template for the newworkflow are passed to the new workflow. The activity is complete when the newworkflow is started.



While the new workflow is logically a subprocess of the workflow that launches it,there is no formal relationship between the workflow objects: they are independent. Topause the current workflow until the subprocess completes, define the next activity sothat it triggers in response to an event (on the Trigger tab) and include in the subprocessan activity, based on the Post Event to Parent Process activity template, that posts theevent the parent process is waiting for.

• Start this workflow as a sub-process — Select the process template to use for thenew workflow from the drop-down list. The required packages in the selectedtemplate must match packages from the current workflow in both name and type.The matching applies to all defined packages, not just visible packages.

• Sub-process supervisor — Select the user to serve as the workflow supervisor forthe new workflow.

Post Event to Parent ProcessActivities based on the Post Event to Parent Process template work in conjunction withStart Sub-Process activities to enable synchronous sub-processes. A parent workflowlaunches a new sub-process using a Start Sub-Process activity, then waits for a particularevent to be posted to it before continuing. The child sub-process uses a Post Event toParent Process activity to post the event, allowing the parent process to continue.

• Event Name — The name of the event to post to the parent workflow. The namemust match the name of the event that the parent workflow is waiting for (specifiedon the Trigger tab of the waiting activity in the parent workflow).

• Supervisor Name — Select the user on whose behalf the event is posted.

FTPYou use the FTP activity template to post content to an FTP site or directly to a file system.

• Protocol — This drop-down list displays the available protocols for posting thecontent. The supported standard protocols are FTP, FTPS (FTP over SSL), SFTP(SSH FTP), and File.

• Server — The host name or IP address of the FTP server to post the content to.• Port — The port number on which the FTP server is listening.• FTP Server user name — The user name for connecting to the FTP server.• FTP Server password — The password for the user name.• Remote Directory — The directory into which the content is posted.



• Transfer Mode — Select which method the activity uses when it posts the content.When you select the Archive option, the activity creates a ZIP file containing all ofthe content and places it in the specified Remote Directory. When you select CreateSub Directory, the activity creates a unique subdirectory in the specified RemoteDirectory and places all of the content in the subdirectory. When you select AllPackages in Base Directory, the content is placed in the specified Remote Directory.

• Attach content from activity packages — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity posts to the specified location. The value is the name of one ormore of the activity’s inbound packages. If you do not provide a value, the activityposts the content of the first inbound package (the package at index 0).

• Archive/Directory Name — If you chose Archive or Create Sub Directory as theTransfer Mode, the activity uses the value in this field to name the ZIP file orsubdirectory. When providing a directory name, you typically want to include asubstitution variable in the name, such as the workflow ID, so that the activity createsa unique subdirectory for each workflow.

HTTP PostThe activity template for posting content using HTTP is the most straightforward of theintegration activity templates. It has one required custom parameter and two optionalparameters.

• URL — This required parameter is the complete URL of the site to which the activityposts content, starting with the protocol prefix http://.

• Timeout (sec) — This optional parameter sets the timeout value for the HTTPconnection, in seconds. If you do not include a timeout value or set it to 0, theconnection will not timeout.

• Send content from activity package — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity posts to the specified URL. The value is the name of one of theactivity’s inbound packages. If you do not provide a value, the activity sends thecontent of the first inbound package (the package at index 0). You can only postthe content from one package.

SMTPYou use this activity template to deliver content using email. Its parameters definethe content of the message, the address to which it is delivered, and the SMTP serverused to send the mail.



When you send content using email, the content files are delivered as attachments tothe message.

• To — This required parameter is the email address of the recipient, including boththe user name and domain name (user@domain). You can include multiple recipientsseparated by commas.

• Cc and Bcc — These optional parameters list additional recipients of the emailmessage, in the same format as the To parameter.

• From — This required parameter is the email address of the sender, which displaysin the From field of the delivered message.

• Reply to — The address to which responses to this message are sent. Use thisparameter to format the reply address so that it properly addresses a Business ProcessServices message handler. Typically, the Reply to address will include variables forthe server to replace at runtime, such as the workflow ID of the current workflow;see Appendix B, Substitution Variables for Custom Activity Template Properties.

• Subject — The text you enter for this parameter displays as the subject line of thedelivered message. If you leave it blank, the message is delivered with an emptysubject line.

• SMTP Server hostname or IP — This required parameter identifies the SMTP serverused to send the message. You can enter the name of the host machine or its IPaddress.

• SMTP Server port number — This optional parameter identifies the port numberfor the SMTP server. If you do not provide a value, the activity uses the standardSMTP port 25.

• SMTP Server authentication user name and SMTP Server authentication password— If the SMTP server requires a user name and password, provide the name andpassword.

• Attach content from activity packages — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity includes as attachments to the email message. The value is thenames of one or more of the activity’s inbound packages, separated by commas.If you do not provide a value, the activity sends the content of the first inboundpackage (the package at index 0).

• Attach all content in folder packages — If any of the packages are sending containfolder objects, the activity can send all documents in the folder (Yes) or it can skipover the folder (No). If you click Yes, the activity attaches only those documentsdirectly inside the folder; it does not recursively attach documents from anysubfolders.



Web ServiceThis activity template enables you to invoke document-literal style Web services. WebServices activities differ from the other integration activities in two key ways:

• The content that you send to the Web service must be a well-formed XML file that isnamespace self-sufficient.

• Web services respond to messages sent to them, so the activity needs to be able tohandle a response.

To invoke a Web service, you must have a Web Services Description Language (WSDL)document that provides the necessary information for accessing the service. The customparameters for Web Service activities identify the WSDL document and the XML contentto send to the service. They also specify how to handle the response from theWeb service.

• WSDL document — This required parameter points to a file containing the WSDLcontent for the Web service. The file must be a well-formed WSDL document storedin the repository. You can navigate to the file by clicking the button next to thetext box.

• Service name — In many cases the WSDL document includes the name of the Webservice for the activity to invoke. If it does not, or if the WSDL document includesmore than one service definition, you need to enter the Web service name in thisotherwise optional parameter.

• Operation name — This required parameter specifies the name of the Web serviceoperation to invoke.

• Port name — You need to enter the port name for the desired service if the WSDLdocument does not provide it or if it includes multiple port names.

• Send content from activity package — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity passes to the Web service. The content must be well-formedXML that is namespace self-sufficient. The parameter value is the name of one of theactivity’s inbound packages. If you do not provide a value, the activity sends thecontent of the first inbound package (the package at index 0).

• Save Web service response — If you set this option to Yes, the activity saves theresponse from the Web service as an XML document. The next two parametersspecify the name of the document and where in the repository it is saved. If you setthis option to No, the remaining parameters are not relevant.

• Save response to folder — If you elected to save the response from the Web service,this parameter specifies the repository folder into which the activity saves the XMLdocument. The default location is /Temp.

• Response document name — If you elected to save the response from the Webservice, this parameter specifies the name given to the XML document. If you do notenter a name, the activity creates a name using the name of the Web service followedby the word "Response" and the date and time of the response.



• Attach response document to package — If you elected to save the response fromthe Web service, this parameter specifies the output package to which the XMLdocument is added. Adding the document to an output package causes the activityto forward it to the next activity in the workflow. If you do not enter the name of avalid output package, the XML document is not forwarded.

Send to JMS QueueYou can send content using Java Message Service (JMS) in two ways: by sending itto a JMS queue or by publishing it to a JMS topic. Use this activity template to createactivities that send to JMS queues; see Publish to JMS Topic, page 99 for informationabout publishing to JMS topics.

Note: Use Send to MQ JMS, page 98 to send messages to a queue when IBMMQ series isthe JMS provider.

• JNDI initial context factory class — This required parameter provides the fullyqualified class name of the JNDI initial context factory class.

• JMS provider URL — This required parameter provides the complete URL forconnecting to the JMS provider.

• Queue connection factory JNDI name — This required parameter gives the JNDIname of the queue connection factory for the specified JMS provider.

• Queue name — This required parameter gives the name of the queue to which youwant to send the content.

• Reply to Queue name — This optional parameter provides the name of the JMSqueue to which any response message is sent.

• Message correlation ID — Business Process Services enables you to specify howinbound messages are handled. The message correlation ID is the ID that BusinessProcess Services will use to identify messages as coming in response to this outgoingmessage.

• Send content from activity package — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity posts to the specified URL. The value is the name of one of theactivity’s inbound packages. If you do not provide a value, the activity sends thecontent of the first inbound package (the package at index 0). You can only postthe content from one package.

Send to MQ JMSUse this activity template to send content using Java Message Service (JMS) with IBMMQ series as the JMS provider. All parameters are required.



Note: Use Send to JMS Queue, page 98 to send messages to a JMS queue when using aJMS provider other than IBM MQ series.

• Server — The IP address or fully qualified name of the machine on which WebSphereMQ is running.

• Port — The port on which the Queue Manager is listening. The default is 1414.• Queue Manager — The name of the WebSphere Queue Manager. The name is case

sensitive. In most cases, the name has the form WAS_nodename_servername.• Queue Name — The name of the queue to which you want to send the content. The

queue must be managed by the specified Queue Manager. The queue name hasthe form WQ_queuename. You can locate the queuename queuename by selectingServers > Application Servers > servername > Server Component > Queue namesin WebSphere MQ.

• Channel Name — The name of the server connection changed created in WebSphereMQ for connecting to MQ.

• Request Package — This parameter identifies which content the activity posts to thespecified queue. The value is the name of one of the activity’s inbound packages.You can only post the content from one package.

Publish to JMS TopicYou can send content using Java Message Service (JMS) in two ways: by sending itto a JMS queue or by publishing it to a JMS topic. Use this activity template to createactivities that publish content to JMS topics; see the previous section for informationabout sending content to JMS queues.

• JNDI initial context factory class — This required parameter provides the fullyqualified class name of the JNDI initial context factory class.

• JMS provider URL — This required parameter provides the complete URL forconnecting to the JMS provider.

• Topic connection factory JNDI name— This required parameter gives the JNDI nameof the topic connection factory for the specified JMS provider.

• Topic name — This required parameter gives the name of the topic to which youwant to publish the content.

• Publish content from activity package — This optional parameter identifies whichcontent the activity posts to the specified URL. The value is the name of one of theactivity’s inbound packages. If you do not provide a value, the activity sends thecontent of the first inbound package (the package at index 0). You can only postthe content from one package.



Set Queue Task SkillActivities created from the Set Queue Task Skill template set the performer skill levelrequired to process a given package. This skill level value overrides any previous skilllevel requirement for the package.

In a typical scenario, the activity that precedes the Set Queue Task Skill activity has atransition condition that checks the attributes of the package to determine whether itrequires special treatment. Packages requiring special treatment are routed to the SetQueue Task Skill activity while all other packages skip this activity.

• Package Name — The name of the package for which the activity sets the requiredperformer skill level.

• Skill Level — The skill level to apply to the package. The valid values appear ina drop-down list.

Queue Task Rework DecisionQueue Task Rework Decision is a sample activity template for creating activities thatperform periodic quality checks on documents processed through a work queue. Thedefinition of a work queue includes a policy that specifies a percentage of documentsthat should be routed to another processor for a quality assurance check.

Like the Decision Split activity template, the Queue Task Rework Decision templatecreates activities whose only action is to evaluate branching logic and forward packagesas appropriate. An activity based on the Queue Task Rework Decision template routespackages to either the Next Rework Activity or the Next No Rework Activity. Itdetermines which activity to route each package to based on two factors: (a) the PercentQuality Check specified in the work queue policy associated with the Activity to Check,and (b) the Required Skill Level parameter.

• Activity to Check — This required parameter specifies the activity that performs theinitial document processing. The performer type for this activity should be category10 (Work Queue). Enter the activity name.

• Required Skill Level — The skill level of the performers whose work should bechecked. The range of valid values is from 0 (Trainee) to 10 (Advanced).

• Next Rework Activity Name — This required parameter specifies the activity thatperforms the quality check. Enter the activity name.

• Next No Rework Activity Name — This required parameter specifies the activity towhich documents not requiring a quality check are routed next. Enter the activityname.

The routing logic for each package is:



1. If the Percent Quality Check value from the Activity to Check is zero, route thepackage to the Next No Rework Activity.

2. If the performer who handled this package in the Activity to Check has a skill levelless than the Required Skill Level parameter value, route the package to the NextRework Activity.

3. Route all remaining packages to the Next Rework and Next No Rework activitiesin the percentage specified by the Percent Quality Check value. For example, ifthe Percent Quality Check is 20%, route one out of every five documents to theNext Rework activity.

XSL TransformationThe XSL Transformation activity template creates activities that perform a transformationon an XML file. An activity based on this template retrieves XML content from aworkflow package, applies an XSL file to it, then attaches the transformed file as anotherworkflow package.

• Transform content in package — The name of the workflow package that containsthe XML content.

• Transform using this XSL file — Click the button next to the field to select the XSLfile to use for transforming the XML content. The XSL file must be stored in therepository.

• Attach result as content in package — The name of the workflow package into whichthe transformed content is written. You must specify a valid package defined for theprocess.

• Transformed output format — Specifies whether to save the transformed output inXML or HTML format.


Appendix BSubstitution Variables for CustomActivity Template Properties

When entering values into the fields on a custom tab in the Activity Inspector, a user can includevariables that are replaced at runtime with values from the current environment, such as the nameof the workflow or the task performer. The variable can be the complete value of the field, or it canappear anywhere within a longer string that contains literal text, other substitution variables, or both.

Note: Variable substitution is available only in fields whose data type is String.

To include a variable, enter <dmp:param>supported_variable</dmp:param>, where supported_variable isone of the variables listed in the table below. Each variable is composed of two parts, separated bya period: a parameter type, which identifies the type of the object from which the value is derived,and an attribute name, which identifies the specific value to insert at runtime. For example, thevariable <dmp:param>workflow.creator</dmp:param> will be replaced at runtime with the value ofthe creator attribute of the workflow object. If the selected attribute can have multiple values, thesubstitution variable also includes an index to specify which of the values to use.

If a field has an ellipsis (...) button next to it, you can select the variable from a dialog box rather thantyping it. When you close the dialog box, Business Process Manager inserts the selected variable atthe current cursor location.

To insert a substitution variable using the dialog box:

1. Position the cursor in the field at the location where you want to insert the variable.

2. Click the ellipsis (...) button next to the field.The Substitution Variable Dialog box appears.

3. From the Parameter type drop-down list, select the object type or the name of thepackage that contains the desired value.The Attribute list displays the available attributes for the selected item. Or, if youselect alias as the parameter type, the Alias Set and Alias Name lists appear.

4. If you selected alias as the parameter type, select an alias set from the Alias Setdrop-down list, then select the specific alias from the Alias Name list.


Substitution Variables for Custom Activity Template Properties

5. If you selected any parameter type other than alias, select from the Attribute list theattribute whose value you want to substitute into the string.

6. If the attribute you selected at step 5 can have multiple values, specify which value touse by selecting FIRST or LAST from the Index list.To use the value from a specific index position other than FIRST or LAST, edit thevariable after closing the dialog box, replacing FIRST or LAST with an integer value.The FIRST position is equivalent to index position 0.

7. Click OK to close the dialog box.Business Process Manager inserts the selected variable at the current cursor location.

Table B-1. Supported Substitution Variables for Activity Conguration Fields

Variable Description

workflow.creator The user name of the person who created the workflow

workflow.instructions The text from theWorkflow Instructions text box in theWorkflow Template Properties dialog box.

workflow.id The ID of the workflow

workflow.name The name of the workflow

workflow.process_id The ID of the process template from which the workflowwas generated

workflow.start_date The date when the workflow was started

workflow.supervisor The user name of the person identified as the workflowsupervisor (the workflow creator by default)

task.act_id The ID of the activity that generated the current task

task.number The sequence number within the workflow of the activitythat generated the task

task.auto_method_id The ID of the method definition for an automatic activity; ifthe task is not an automatic activity, the value of the variableis "0000000000000000".

task.creation_date The date format is determined by the default time patternset in DFC.

task.due_date The date format is determined by the default time pattern setin DFC. If the task has no due date, the value of the variableis "nulldate".

task.performer The performer of the task

task.priority The priority value assigned to the task




task.state The current state of the task, represented as an integer

packagename.attribute The value of any single-value attributeof the package specified by packagename.When selecting the variable from the SubstitutionVariable Dialog box, the dialog box displays all customattributes and a commonly used subset of the standarddm_document attributes. However, you can use anyattribute.

packagename.attribute[index]

The value of any multi-value attribute of thepackage specified by packagename. The indexidentifies which value to use: FIRST, LAST, or aninteger indicating a position in the list of values.When selecting the variable from the Substitution VariableDialog box, the dialog box displays all custom attributesand a commonly used subset of the standard dm_documentattributes. However, you can use any attribute.

doc.id The ID of the first document in the first package processedby the activity

doc.name The name of the first document in the first package processedby the activity

note.id The ID of the first note attached to the document, if any exists

note.writer The name of the person who created the note

note.text The text of the note

note.creation_date The date when the note was created

alias.alias_nameor

System alias, where alias_name identifies the alias you wantto resolve; if you include the optional alias_set, the server




alias.alias_set.alias_name

uses the alias from the specified alias set


Appendix CBusiness Process ManagerConguration File

Business Process Manager has a configuration file that controls certain aspects of its user interface.The bpmconfig file is an XML file that resides in the folder \System\Workflow\Config. It controls:

• Whether Business Process Manager enables users to set the object type or version for packages• Where in the repository users can save process templates• Whether Business Process Manager requires unique names for process templates• How many process template names appear in the Recent File list available from the FilemenuThe table below describes the parameters in the configuration file. To change a value, edit the file witha text editor, changing the values as necessary.

Table C-1. bpmcong Parameters

Parameter Description De-faultValue

unique-template-name

Set to true to require that process template names beunique across the repository

false

show-package-version

Specifies whether Business Process Manager enablesusers to select the version of a package; if set to false, theprocess always uses the CURRENT version

true

show-package-type

Specifies whether Business Process Manager enablesusers to explicitly set the object type of a package; isset to false, Business Process Manager uses the objecttype associated with the selected form template, ordm_sysobject if no form template is selected

true


Business Process Manager Conguration File

Parameter Description De-faultValue

max-recent-file Sets the maximum number of filenames that appear inthe Recent Files list

5

template-save-path

If this parameter exists, Business Process Managerrequires users to save process templates in the specifiedfolder or a subfolder; if the parameter does not exist,users can save process templates in any folder to whichthey have appropriate security access

None


Index

Aactivities

aligning, 35choosing which to include, 17connecting, 57copying, 35described, 14moving, 34pasting, 35performers, choosing, 17repeatable, 72selecting conditionally, 28task subjects, defining, 21transition types, 27trigger condition, 25

activity definitionstask_subject attribute, 21

Activity Inspector, 61activity palettes, 33

adding templates, 86activity templates

copying, 86installing, 89uninstalling, 89validating, 89

alias setsdefault, 69specific, 69

aliasesusing in workflow, 20

aligning activities, 35Apply to all selected option, 57, 62assign performers now, 67automatic activities

priority values, 23valid performers, 70

automatic performerschoosing, 63, 70tasks, 63

Cchanging

display settings, 58, 82process template properties, 44

choosingautomatic performers, 70manual performers, 65

copying activities, 35creating

flows, 57process templates, 42

Ddefault alias set, 69define performer alias, 69delegation, 21deleting objects, 35display settings

changing, 58, 82Display tab, 58, 82draft state, 41, 85

Eextension, 21

FFlow Inspector, 57flows, 15, 57

creating, 57

Ggrid, snap to, 36

Iinstalled state, 41, 85installing activity templates, 89installing process templates, 51


Index

Mmanual activities

aliases as performer, 20delegation, 21extension, 21valid performers, 17

manual performerschoosing, 63, 65tasks, 63

moving activities, 34

NNotification tab, 26, 76notifying supervisor, 26, 76

Oobjects

deleting, 35selecting, 35

Ppackages, 14, 23Packages tab, 46page setup, 53parameter type, 103pasting activities, 35performer aliases

defining, 69Performer tab, 63, 65, 70performers

automatic, 63, 70manual, 63, 65

print preview, 53 to 54printing process templates, 53priority values, for activities, 23process templates

architecture, 14changing properties, 44creating, 42described, 14installing, 51printing, 53saving, 48states, 41uninstalling, 51validating, 50

Ssaving process templates, 48Select Performer, 65, 70selecting objects, 35snap to grid, 36substitution variables, 103supervisor, notifying, 26, 76

Ttask_subject attribute, of activities, 22task_subject attribute, of queue items, 22tasks

automatic performers, 63manual performers, 63

Timer tab, 73Transition Condition Wizard, 79transition conditions, 28transition rules, 76Transition tab, 76transition types, for activities, 27trigger conditions, 25trigger events, 25

Uuninstalling activity templates, 89uninstalling process templates, 51

Vvalidated state, 41, 85validating activity templates, 89validating process templates, 50variables

substitution, 103

Wwarning timers, 26, 73work items, 14workflows, 11

packages, 14

Zzoom options, 36


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