Process Flow

The Process Flow window contains four tabs:

Process Flow: This tab has a floating toolbar and a drawing canvas. Drawing canvas is used to design the Process flow with the Tools, Activities, and OFSAA Widgets available in the floating toolbar. For more information, see Components for Designing Your Process Flow section. Click to zoom in and to zoom out the Process Flow tab. Click Save in the top right corner of the canvas to save the workflow. You can click Save as New Version if you do not want to overwrite the existing Process with changes.

Definition: This tab contains general Process related details such as Name, Description, Created By, and so on. You can also set the Display Height and Width to change the size of the Designer window according to your choice.
Application Rule: This tab helps to add, edit, and delete Application Rules associated with the Process. For details on Application Rule, see Working with Application Rule.
Data Fields: This tab helps to view, add, edit, and delete Data Fields associated with the Process. For details on Data Fields, see Working with Data Fields.

This section explains how to create a Process Flow using the following Tools, Activities and OFSAA Widgets:

Activities
OFSAA Widget
Transition
Gateways
Connector
Tasks
Task Groups
Notifications
Committee Approval/Group Consensus
Outcomes

Gateways

Split refers to a condition where an incoming transition is split to multiple transitions. In Merge, multiple incoming transitions are merged to a single transition. The Splitting and Merging of Activities is modeled through gateways. Gateway can be Sequential, Parallel, or Multi Choice.

Sequential Gateways are used when you want to execute multiple activities in a predefined sequence. Parallel Gateways are used when you want to execute multiple activities in parallel. Multi Choice Gateways are used when you want to execute multiple activities based on decision rule or condition expression.

To add a Gateway

From the Process Flow tab, click the required Gateway from the Tools section in the floating toolbar. The options available are Sequential Gateway, Parallel Gateway or Multi Choice Gateway.

Connector

A Connector is used to connect two activities with different paths, in case if the default path is overlapping some existing flow.

To add a Connector

From the Process Flow tab, click Connector from the Tools section in the floating toolbar and then click the canvas where you want to add a connector.

Task Groups

You can create task group by selecting individual users, user groups, or users selected by a particular rule. You can also create a task group based on a user role. That is, if user role is provided and a user or user group is selected, then task group is created with those users or user groups that are mapped to the same user role.

All users in the Task Group are able to view the pending /open tasks in their Application inbox. They can navigate to their inbox and click the link provided under Entity Name, to directly open the application and complete their tasks.

To create task group

From the Process Flow tab, double-click the Activity for which you want to create task group.
Click to go to the Actions tab.
Select the task for which you want to create task group. The Participants grid is displayed
Click Add in the Participants grid. The Task Details window is displayed.
Enter the details as given in the table:

Field	Description
Decision Rule	Select the condition to send the task to the users. Click . From the Browser, select the required decision rule and click OK.
Role Code	Enter the role code if you want to send the task to users assigned with the role. This field is optional. If this is not provided, then the check to verify whether the user is mapped to the role is not performed.
User Type	Select the appropriate options from the drop-down list. The options are: User Rule User Group None- This can be selected if you have entered the Role Code and you want to assign the task to users having that role.
User	For User Type selected as User- Click . The User Details window is displayed. Select the appropriate user and click OK. During execution, if the condition is met as indicated in the Decision Rule field and the user is mapped to the role code, then task will be generated to the selected user. For User Type selected as User Group- Click . The User Group Details window is displayed. Select the appropriate user group and click OK. During execution, if the condition is met as indicated in the Decision Rule field and the user group is mapped to the role code, then task will be generated to all users in the user group. For User Type selected as Rule- Click . The Rule Details window is displayed. Select the appropriate selection rule and click OK. During Execution, if the condition is met as indicated in the Decision Rule field, and user IDs returned from the Selected Rule are mapped to the role code, then task will be generated to those users.

Click OK.

Adding Notifications

Notifications are used to alert the users about a task that requires possible user intervention. It will be sent as an Inbox item.

To add notifications

From the Process Flow tab, double-click the Activity for which you want to create notification.
On the right pane, click to display the Notifications tab.
Click Add from the toolbar to add a new notification. The Notification Group Details window is displayed.
Enter the details as given in the table:

Field	Description
Notification ID	Displays the automatically generated Notification ID.
Notification Name	Enter the Notification name. By default, Notification name is prefixed with “NotificationName_”.
Condition	Select the decision rule so that when the condition is satisfied the Notification will be sent to the users associated to this Activity.
Generate	Select the required option: On Entry- Notification is sent just before executing the activity business logic. On Exit- Notification is sent just before leaving the activity and moving to next activity. On Stage- When there is a transition where the target and source is the same activity, and if that transition happens, then OnStage tasks are triggered. On Escalation- Notification is sent when the task is escalated. This needs to be selected if you have set escalation of the task. On Reminder- Notification is sent at the time of the reminder set for the task.
Enabled	Select the Yes checkbox to enable the Notification.
Email
Email Required	Select the Yes checkbox if an email needs to be sent as notification.
Email Template	Select the email template to be used from the drop-down list. Templates are populated from AAI_WF_Email_Template table.

Click OK.

Group Approval/Group Consensus

Group approval/Group Consensus can be used to decide whether the flow has to move to a particular activity based on the response of a single member, majority of members of the group, or all members of the group. If more than one group is present, then you can design to move the flow to a particular activity based on the response of a single group, all groups or the majority of groups.

Configuring Parallel Group Approval

Parallel group approval is used when you want to send the task to all users in the task group simultaneously.

To configure parallel group approval:

From the Process Modeller window, select the required Process and click Edit. The Process Flow tab is displayed.
Double-click the Activity for which you want to configure user approval.
On the right pane, click to display the Actions tab.
Click Group Approval to configure group approval. The Task Stage Details window is displayed.
Select Parallel to configure parallel group approval.
Click Add. A row is added to define the voting formula for target activity.

Note: It is recommended that you define voting formula for all activities. If voting formula is not defined for an activity and if someone in a task group selects that activity, the workflow moves to that activity.

Select the required Target Activity from the drop-down list.
Select the required option from the Voting Formula drop-down list. The options are:

- Approved by anyone- If any one of the users from any task group chooses the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to the selected activity. If no one chose it, it checks for the voting formula defined for the next Target Activity.
- Approved by anyone from every Group- If at least one user from every task group chooses the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity.
- Approved by overall majority- If majority of the users from all task groups choose the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity. For example, if there are 2 task groups and 15 users in each group, then at least 16 users (majority of 30 users) should choose the selected Target Activity, for the flow to proceed to that activity.
- Approved by majority from each Group- If majority of the users from each task group choose the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity. For example, consider there are 3 task groups and each group has 15 users, then from each group at least 8 users should favour the Target Activity to move the flow to that activity.
- Approved by everyone- All the users in all the task group should choose the selected Target Activity for the flow to move to that activity.
- Approved by overall percentage- If the specified percentage of users in the task group chooses the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity. Enter the percentage in the Value field.

Select the Default Target Activity from the drop-down list. This is the activity which will be executed if none of the condition is satisfied.
Click Ok.

Configuring Sequential Group Approval

Sequential group approval is used when you have multiple tasks for an activity.

To configure sequential group approval:

From the Process Modeller window, select the required Process and click Edit. The Process Flow tab is displayed.
Double-click the Activity for which you want to configure user approval.
On the right pane, click to display the Actions tab.
Click Group Approval to configure group approval. The Task Stage Details window is displayed.
Select Sequential to configure sequential group approval.
Select the Condition to trigger intragroup from the drop-down list. Intragroup is the task group of each task in a particular activity. The sequence in which each intragroup will be considered for voting is based on the sequence in which the tasks are added in the Task Stage pane in the Actions tab. The options are:

- Responded by a Member from the Group- If anyone from the task group of the first task responds, it goes to the next task group and wait till someone from that task group respond and so on.
- Responded by Overall Majority- If majority of users in the task group of the first task respond, it goes to the next task group and wait till majority of users in the task group of the second task respond and so on.
- Responded by Everyone in each Group- Once all users in the task group of the first task have responded, it moves to the next task group. Then it waits till everyone in the second task group respond and so on.

Click Add. A row is added to define the voting formula for target activity.

Select the required Target Activity from the drop-down list. This is the activity which will be executed if none of the condition is satisfied.
Select the required option from the Voting Formula drop-down list. The options are:

- Approved by anyone from all the groups- If anyone selects the Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity.
- Approved by Overall Majority- If majority of the users select the Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity.
- Approved by Everyone in each group- If everyone in the group selects the Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity.
- Approved by Overall Percentage- Provide the percentage in the Value field. If the specified percentage of the users select the Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity.

Select the activity which needs to be executed if the condition fails, from the Default Target Activity drop-down list.

Scenarios

Based on the Condition to trigger Intragroup and Voting Formula, the flow decides which activity needs to be triggered.

Consider Condition to trigger Intragroup is selected as Responded by a Member from the Group and Voting Formula is selected as Approved by anyone from all the groups. It waits for someone in the first task group to respond. If the first response is the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity. Otherwise, it waits for the response in the second task group. If the second group’s response is the selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity, else the process continues to the next task group. If no response from all the task groups favours the selected Target Activity, it checks the voting formula for the next Target Activity if it is defined. If no condition is satisfied, it moves to the Default Target Activity.

Consider Condition to trigger Intragroup is selected as Responded by Overall Majority and Voting Formula is selected as Approved by anyone from all the groups. It waits till either majority of the users in the task group responds or anyone selects the Target Activity. For example, consider there are 5 users in the first task group. Then if the first person selects the Target Activity, it moves to that activity. Else, it checks the second user’s response. If that response is the selected Target Activity, it moves to that activity. Else, it checks the third user’s response. If that response is the selected Target Activity, it moves to that activity. Else, it goes to the next task group since the majority of users in the task group responded and the process continues. If no condition is satisfied, it checks the voting formula for the next Activity. If no condition is satisfied, it moves to the Default Target Activity.

Consider Condition to trigger Intragroup is selected as Responded by Overall Majority and Voting Formula is selected as Approved by Overall Majority. It waits till the majority of the users from the first task group respond. Then it moves to the next task group and waits till majority responds and so on. Once majority of users in all task groups respond, it checks whether the majority of the responses favour the selected Target Activity. Then it moves to that activity. Else it checks the voting formula for the next Target Activity if it is defined. If no condition is satisfied, it moves to the Default Target Activity.

Consider Condition to trigger Intragroup is selected as Responded by Everyone in each group and Voting Formula is selected as Approved by Overall Majority. It waits till everyone in the first task group responds. Then it moves to the next task group and waits for the response by everyone in that group and the process continues till everyone from all task group responds. If the majority of the users of all groups selected Target Activity, the flow moves to that activity. Else it checks the voting formula for the next Target Activity if it is defined. If no condition is satisfied, it moves to the Default Target Activity.

Outcomes

Outcomes are used to have user defined buttons such as Approve or Reject, that will be available while execution to let approver decide which one to click. This helps in deciding the flow of Workflow and execution of transitions.

Outcome based approach helps in:

Automatically displaying the Actionable Buttons in the Application based on the stage (avoiding the development effort required in application to stitch action button for each stage of workflow)
Simplifying the Transition rules implementation by using Outcome Based Type rules ( there by SQL Script based rules can be avoided which has security risk)
Making customization in workflow process easy, as any change in process flow and stages will have less impact on application.

Configuring Outcomes

Step 1: Configure the required Outcomes to the Activity.

From the Process Modeller window, select the required Process and click Edit. The Process Flow tab is displayed.
Double-click the Activity for which you want to configure outcomes. On the Right Pane, the Activity tab is displayed.
Select the required Outcomes from the drop-down list. The options are Approve, Reject and Submit. These values are pre-seeded. You can add more values in the database.

Step 2: Define Outcome Rule for each Outcome.

Go to the Application Rule tab.
Click Add and select Outcome Rules. The Rule Details window is displayed. For more details, see Creating Outcome Rule. You should add Outcome Rule to every values of outcome (Approve, Reject and Submit).

Step 3: Map transition for each Outcome.

The outcome rule needs to be mapped to a particular transition so that it gets executed and moves to next stage.

Double-click the Activity and on the right pane, click to go to Transitions tab .
Click Add to add transition for each Outcome. That is, select the Outcome rule as the Decision Rule in the Transition Details window. For more details, see Adding a Transition.

During execution of the workflow, user can see Outcomes as buttons, for example, Approve or Reject button. When approver clicks the Approve button, transition associated with the Approve outcome gets executed and the workflow proceeds to the Connected to activity of that transition.