Workflow Details shows a sample workflow view. A box, along with a representative icon, represents a discrete unit of work and is called an activity. Any line connecting nodes is called a transition and is intended to illustrate the flow of work. For this reason, the start and end activities are represented by icons only. Workflow proceeds from the left and ends at the right-most activity. An activity is a hyperlink to a tab containing further details on that activity. An activity can have a second, smaller icon indicating that there is a notification on this activity. Clicking on the notification icon (a small envelope in the image below) will open a separate tab with details of the notification.
An activity has an entry point and an exit point for a transition, on the right and the left respectively. When two or more transitions leave an exit point this is called a split. The transitions in a split can be given a number to indicate their relative progression. When two or more transitions meet at an activity's entry point this is called a join. If either a join or a split is an "and" type, also called a "conjunction", then it is represented as a small square. This implies that a series of transitions have to take place together in order for the workflow to proceed. If a join or a split is an "xor" type, an either-or situation, then a small circle is used. There are examples of both in the figure below. Finally, a transition can have an associated transition condition. This means that certain criteria have to be met in order for a transition to proceed. This is represented by an asterisk on the transition and the full condition information is displayed in a pop-up if the user hovers the mouse over the symbol.
