A parent flow of a flow execution is the flow rule that contains the call, branch, spin-off or shape that started the current flow execution (a subflow). For example, if a flow named Classify contains a Flow shape () that starts a flow named Research on the same work object, then Classify is the parent of the Research subflow.

This is not a permanent or static relationship. For example, the Classify flow creates work object W-1001; the Classify then starts the Research flow, so Classify is at that point the parent of Research for part of the history of W-1001. However, another Work object W-1007 can be created by a different flow which also calls the Research flow.

The work object history display identifies parent flows. Additionally, when a user clicks the Where-am-I? button (), the resulting window shows the currently executing flow, the parent of that flow (if any), and the parent of that flow, and so on. This ordered list of flows is known as the flow stack.

	flow, Spin-off task, Split-Join task, starter flow rule, subflow, Where am I?
	About Flow rules Using the Process Explorer

Definitions — P