To control work item processing time, set a timer to indicate a period during which you want a specified series of steps to be processed. If the timer expires before this processing is complete, the system software calls another workflow map that provides alternate processing of the work item.
Timers do not preempt processing. If a work item is being processed when the timer expires, the timer waits until processing is complete before it calls the timer expiration workflow map. When the timer expiration workflow map completes, processing resumes either at the state when the expiration map was called or at the next state.
Multiple timers can be active at the same time. If you specify multiple timers with the same name in the same workflow map, the most recently activated timer overrides any previously activated timer of the same name.