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Process Reference  
Process Designer
Getting Started
Workflow Properties
Steps
  Add a step
  Move steps
  Specify step properties
  Delete a step or route
  Change step type
  Specify incoming routing
  Launch step
  General steps
  Submap steps
  System steps
  Component steps
Routes
Validate & Launch
   

About steps

A step is a stage in a workflow where a distinct, well-defined kind of work is performed. Each step on a workflow map represents a specific activity or task in the business process you are defining.

Relationship between main map and submaps

Process Designer provides the following step types that you add to the workflow map to represent different types of activities:

  • General step, representing an activity that will be processed by a participant or sent to a work queue for processing by participants or an automated process.
  • System step, representing a built-in function that will be performed by the system software. The built-in system functions perform logic-control and other functionality in the workflow, such as setting time limits for specific activities in the workflow.
  • Submap step, representing a call to another workflow map.
  • Component step, representing a call to an external subsystem.

In addition, there are two types of steps that Process Designer automatically adds to a map when necessary:

  • Launch step, which is the first step in the workflow. This step is created automatically on the main map.
  • Start step, which is the first step on any submap. Execution of the submap starts at this step. The start step acts as a General step by default (you can specify a participant, and so on), but you can change it to be another type of step if that is appropriate for your workflow design.

In defining your workflow, you can place General, System, Submap, and Component steps wherever you like on a workflow map, and you can reposition one or more steps, and their connected routes by dragging them. You can also change one type of step to another (for example, change a general step to a submap step) by right-clicking on the step, and selecting Change Step Type from the menu.