Defining Maps

This section provides an overview of map definition, lists common elements, and discusses how to create and define maps.

You create maps using PeopleSoft Application Designer. After creating the map, you can add items and establish the attributes of and relationships between the items.

Because maps are freestanding definitions in PeopleSoft Application Designer, use the standard techniques for opening, saving, deleting, renaming, adding to projects, printing, and so on.

Field or Control

Definition
Icon Desc (icon description)

Enter a description, which will appear in the dialog boxes that list this type of map. If you leave this field blank, the map name appears by default.

This field is language-sensitive; the map name is not. If you intend to translate this object, supply a value for this field.
Owner ID

To track definition owners, enter an appropriate value.

To create a new map:

  1. In PeopleSoft Application Designer, select File, New.

  2. In the New scrolling list, select the map type: Activity or Business Process.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Add the icons required to represent the activity or business process.

    If you are creating a business process, the icons represent other maps, activities, and possibly other business processes. When you add these types of icons to the map, you can specify an existing activity or business process that the icon represents, or you are prompted to create a new one.

    Even if you do not save the business process on which you are working, the new activities or business processes that you created are saved to the database. Arrange the icons in a logical and visually informative way.

    If appropriate, add modeling symbols, drawings, arrows, text, or other graphic elements to the map. These elements are useful primarily in maps that are visible in PeopleSoft Navigator. They do not affect workflow processing, nor are they visible in workflow activity guides.

  5. Connect the activities, decision points, and subprocesses in the appropriate order:

    1. Click the Link button.

    2. Click the two objects sequentially.

      An arrow appears, pointing from the first object to the second.

      The links between steps only clarify the flow of work. They do not directly determine the order of the steps, which you specify when you set the properties for individual icons in the maps. However, if you enabled automatic sequencing in the activity properties, then the default step order is based on the links.

  6. Define the properties of the map.

  7. Define the properties of the icons on the map.

  8. Save the map.

To define the properties of a business process:

  1. Open the business process in PeopleSoft Application Designer.

  2. Open the Business Process Properties dialog box and then:

    1. Right-click in the map (but not on an item in the map).

    2. Select Definition Properties.

      The General tab in the Business Process Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Set the properties on the General tab.

  4. Set the properties on the Use tab.

    A Navigator homepage is the high-level business process that a user sees immediately after accessing PeopleSoft Navigator. A user's homepage settings are established on the User Profile and Permission List pages. To make this business process available as a homepage, select the Can be used as a Navigator home page check box.

  5. Click OK to accept the settings.

  6. Save the business process.

To define the properties of an activity:

  1. Open the activity in PeopleSoft Application Designer.

  2. Open the Activity Properties dialog box and then:

    1. Right-click in the map (but not on an item in the map).

    2. Select Definition Properties.

      The General tab in the Activity Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Set the properties on the General tab.

  4. Set the properties on the Use tab.

    The Use tab includes options for automatically sequencing steps and for enabling end-user-facing workflow activity guides.

    After you add steps to an activity, arrange them into a logical sequence using connecting arrows, and assign each step a number. If you select Automatically sequence steps, the step numbers are automatically assigned when you save the activity. The step numbers are based on the order in which you connect the arrows. This is an efficient way to order the steps.

    Select Activity Guide if you are creating a map to use as the basis for an end-user-facing workflow activity guide.

    Note: Normally, an activity that you use in a workflow application isn’t reused as a workflow activity guide. Instead, you create activities specifically for workflow activity guides.

  5. Click OK to accept the settings.