Define Process Data Objects

Data objects are variables used to store the information related to your process. They also define the type of information used by the process.

The value of a data object can be different for every instance of a process. However, the structure of the data object is the same for all process instances.

When you define a process you can define data objects to store information. In addition, you can also define in which part of the process you assign a value to these data objects. When you create an instance, the process engine assigns Null as the default value for all the data objects defined for that process. Thereafter, the activities in the process assign values to these variables.

You can create two types of data objects within a dynamic process:

• Simple: Simple data objects define the basic types of variables that you can use within your process. They can be used separately within your process or they can be combined into complex data objects.

• Business: Business objects enable you to create data structures based on simple data objects. For example, you can create a business data object called Patient that contains different data types for patient name, age, and pincode.

To create a new data object:

1. Click Data Object on the process page.

2. In the Data Object pane, click Create Data Object.

3. In the Create Data Object dialog, enter a name to identify the data object.

4. Select a data type to specify the type of data that the variable can store.

   1. If you select Simple, select a simple data type available in the drop-down list.

   2. If you select Business, you can select from a set of pre-defined business data types available in the drop-down list.

5. Click Create to save changes and close the dialog.

Use Edit or Delete to modify an existing data object from the Data pane.

Note:

In addition to data objects, the input and output data that you define for the process also show up in the Data Object pane.