A workflow process is enacted at runtime based on a workflow process definition. A workflow process definition describes the flow of a business process in terms understood by the Cúram Workflow Engine. It defines the activities in the workflow and the transitions between them. It also defines the data that is passed into and out of an activity during the execution of a workflow process instance.
Business processes that have to be fully or partially automated will have workflow process definition requirements. Depending on the type of processing the workflow may contain various different types of activities. For example where manual steps are required a task needs to be generated to represent this piece of work, therefore the workflow process definition must contain a manual activity. Some business processes can be very complex and require a combination of different activity types that need to be executed in a specific sequence. The workflow process definition allows the designer to define the path between activities using transitions. The metadata associated with a process definition is described in more detail in the Process Definition Metadata chapter of the Cúram Workflow Reference Guide.
The main components of a process definition (activities, transitions, workflow data objects and notifications) are described in more detail in the following sections.