Work with Draft Processes

Process enables you to create and deploy draft processes. However, they must be valid before they can be deployed.

A draft process has one or more flow elements, which don’t have their implementation defined. By deploying a draft process, you can test the parts of your business process that have been completed without having to wait until all flow elements have been implemented. To create a draft process, mark one or more flow elements within the business process as draft.

When a flow element is marked as draft, you can’t configure data associations for it. If you mark a flow element as draft that has previously had data associations configured, these are lost.

You can define the implementation details of a draft flow element. However, it’s not required. A draft flow element with no implementation defined doesn't generate errors during validation.

When an application containing a draft flow element is activated, implementation details for those flow elements are ignored. For example, if your business process contains a user task marked as draft, the runtime engine doesn't create instances of the associated human task.

To mark a flow element as draft, select the required flow element, click Menu , and select Open Properties. Select the Is Draft check box.

Marking your process as draft is different than marking it as document-only. Document-only processes are for descriptive use only and aren’t used to control the application.

About the Abstract Flow Element

The Abstract flow element is a modeling placeholder for another activity or task.

You can mark the Abstract flow element as a draft element, which means you can activate and test the parts of your process that have been completed without having to wait until all the flow elements have been completed.