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Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide for Financial Services > Testing Workflow Processes > Testing Processes with the Process Simulator >

Using the Process Simulator View

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The Process Simulator view is similar in appearance to the Process Designer view. It allows you to step through a process while viewing the results of each step.

The top portion of the view, the Simulator applet, is where you can incrementally move through the steps of a process to verify that they are working correctly. The lower portion of the view features the Step Detail applet. This applet displays the results of each step.

A process does not have to be active to run it in the simulator. The simulator ignores activation date, expiration date, and status.

Simulator Applet

The top applet on the Process Simulator view displays the process design for the selected workflow process. The design is shown in a read-only mode in this view, but you can access the detail steps by double-clicking the step icons.

This applet also contains the buttons for running the process. Table 35 describes the buttons on the Simulator applet.

Table 35. Simulator Applet

Item	Description
Start	Clicking this button activates the Start step in the process.
Next Step	Clicking this button activates the step immediately after the step that just executed.
Continue	Clicking this button resumes the process if it is stopped.
Stop	Clicking this button stops the process.

Step Details Applet Field Descriptions

As a workflow process is being executed in the simulator, the step details are populated in the Step Details applet on the lower portion of the view. These details are shown in read-only mode.

Table 36 describes the fields in the Step Details applet.

Table 36. Step Details Applet Fields

Field	Description
Next Step	The name of the next step in the process.
Process Status	The current status of the process.
Process Property Name	The name of the process property associated with the specific step.
Process Property Value	The value stored in the process property.
Process Property Hierarchy	Stores process property value of type hierarchy.

To debug a process with the Process Simulator

NOTE:  The Process Simulator will not work with processes that have runtime events associated with them, for example, an event defined in the Start Step, Wait Step, or User Interact Step.

CAUTION:  When testing a Workflow Process using the Process Simulator, it is important to note that the workflow runs just as if it were called normally. For instance, if the process includes a Siebel operation such as update or add, the records in the database will be updated when you run the Process Simulator; if you are testing a workflow in which the Outbound Communications Manager is used to send email, then email will be sent to the specified recipient.

NOTE:  Workflow Process Simulator will simulate a wait period if a Wait step is specified in seconds. However, if the unit of time is specified in minutes or greater, the Simulator will simply move on to the next step.

Select the process to debug in the All Processes view.
Navigate to the Process Properties view and enter a valid row ID in the default string field for the object ID property.

To locate a valid row ID for the object, you can select the object from any view in the Siebel application and navigate to Help > About Record. Click the Details button and the row ID is displayed in the Row # field. You should select a row ID for a record in the primary business component for the workflow process business object. The simulator tests your process on this record.

Click Process Simulator in the Siebel Workflow navigation bar.

The Process Simulator view appears with the selected process flow displayed in the workspace.

Click Start.

The Start step is executed, and the results are shown in the Step Details applet.

If the first step executes as expected, click Next Step to execute the next step in the process.
Continue stepping through the process and verifying the results of each step in the Step Details applet until the process completes.

You can use the Process Designer view at any time to make changes to the step details, and then return to the Process Simulator to debug the process.

Testing User Interact Workflows

You cannot use the Process Simulator to test workflows that involve User Interact steps. If a workflow process containing a User Interact step is run in the Process Simulator, incorrect behavior will result. To test a workflow process that involves a User Interact step, you test the workflow in the runtime environment.

You must make sure that the corresponding view is assigned to the application that the user is using. For example, if the user session views are in Siebel Sales, make sure you are testing the workflow in the Siebel Sales environment, and not in the environment of another application, such as Siebel Call Center. Verify that the environment in which you are testing contains all the views you want to test.

To test a process involving a User Interact step

Activate the workflow you want to test.
Verify that the corresponding view is assigned to the application used in the user session.
Reload personalization to load the runtime events in the current object manager session.
Test the workflow in the runtime environment.

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