Types of Workflow Structures

Each Workflow Structure has its own function, as follows:

• And: An And activity has multiple input activities and a single output activity. It synchronizes events; it waits for all incoming Transitions to be completed before proceeding with the next Transition.

• Fork: A Fork activity has a single input activity and multiple output activities, creating two or more branches. The subsequent activities run in parallel.

• Or: An Or activity has multiple inputs and a single output. It fires the next Transition as soon as any one of its input activities completes.

• Start: All Workflows must contain a single Start Structure as their first activity. A Workflow can contain only one Start. If you need to begin with more than one activity—for example, two or three SAS Load Sets, each loading a different data set—use a Fork immediately after the Start, with an unconditional Transition to each Load Set after the Fork.

• End_Success: End_Success ends Workflow execution with a status of Success. Use this Structure at the end of the successful completion of the Workflow. If you have multiple branches with parallel activities, use an And Structure before End_Success so that they must all complete successfully before Workflow execution ends with success.

• End_Failure: End_Failure ends Workflow execution with a status of Failure. Use this Structure following a Transition with a condition of Failure, after each executable. If the executable fails to execute properly, execution of the Workflow ends with an error.

  Use this Structure also following a Notification of type Approval, after a conditional Transition whose condition is Failure. If an Approval times out—its recipients do not either approve or reject it within the defined timeout period—the system interprets the timeout as a failure.

• End_Warning: End_Warning ends Workflow execution with a status of Warning.

  You can use this Structure after a conditional Transition whose condition is Warning.