Flow form
Completing the Design tab

Field

Description

Displays ProcessFlow for ordinary flow rules, or ScreenFlowZZZZ for screen flow rules. Read-only.

Categories are defined through model rules referenced in the Data-MOD class and related classes.

After you complete this rule and save it, click  Publish   to create a WSDL file in BPEL format for this flow. Complete the associated dialog box. The generated WSDL file is placed in the ServiceExport directory. This file is useful to developers of another Business Process Management application that supports BPEL and that is to call this flow through Service BPEL rules. See About Service BPEL rules.

After you complete this rule and save it, click  Generate Services   to start the Service Accelerator. See About the Service Accelerator.

You can represent your process flow diagrams using industry standard XML formats (XPDL and BPEL), enabling you to transfer your process flow definitions to other flow management systems.

Click to generate an XML file from this flow rule in the XML Process Definition Language V2 format defined by the Workflow Management Coalition.

Click to generate an XML file from this flow rule in the Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) format defined by OASIS.

Optional. Identify the work type that this flow rule usually is used with. Typically, this class is derived from the Work- base class. In the unusual cases — a class derived from the Embed- or Data- base class — this field is required.

Except in rare cases with unusual class inheritance, accept the default value, the Applies To key part. This field supports proper operation of SmartPrompts during Visio editing.

Optional. Select one or more Visio stencil files (VSS file type) to be associated with this flow rule. See Flow form — Visio editing — Using other stencils.

Field

Description

Select to cause the local flow actions listed here to be presented in alphabetical order by Short Description (.pyLabel), rather than the order listed.

Select to display, at runtime, the local actions listed here above other actions listed in the assignment task panel.

Optional. Select the local actions that are to be available in every assignment.

Click to access three optional fields for a local flow action. Click to hide the optional fields.

Optional. You can associate this action with an application; this association is reflected in generated documentation.

 Optional. You can associate this action with a work type; this association is reflected in generated documentation.

 You can associate this action with an application use case rule; this association is reflected in generated documentation.

Field

Description

Click to edit this flow rule directly in Visio (outside of the Process Commander portal, in its own Visio window).

After a flow rule is saved and executes, click to review a statistical analysis of the flow actions selected during processing.

The Flow Analysis report (Summary of Actions Taken) can provide insight for business process improvement. The report can help managers understand the real-world choices of your users and compare their behavior with the likelihood estimates on the flow diagram.
For example, if the likelihood of a complex, lengthy, or expensive action was estimated at 2 percent, but experience shows that the action is selected 10 percent of the time, the situation merits investigation and research.

Complete the query parameters:

• Use Work pool — Select the application name.
• Do not group by Class — Select to report the statistics by work type. Clear to consolidate all work types in one set of statistics.
• Limit query results to — Select Actions for this version to limit the report to work objects processed only by this flow rule — the exact RuleSet and version. Select Actions for any version to include in the report work objects processed by other flow rules with the same Applies To and Flow Type key parts but in other work types of the application.
• Start date — Select a starting date for the report.
• End date — Select an ending date for the report.

Click  Run Report  . The analysis searches through the history of work objects that have used this flow rule, for the selected time interval and work types.

This report may require several seconds to display.

For rare situations only. This button supports special one-time conversions when a digitally signed flow rule was created with Microsoft Visio 2000 using V3.2. When accessed with V4.1 or later system and Visio 2002 or 2003, the digital signature may be damaged and may cause a virus warning. To repair the damaged flow rule:

1. Click  Repair Flow   to start an external Visio 2002/3 session with the damaged rule. Process Commander also opens a blank flow rule form in the embedded Internet Explorer window.
2. In the external Visio session, use CTRL+A to select all shapes and connectors (except the Start Flow shape and header information).
3. Type CTRL+C to copy the selected shapes.
4. Click to switch to the embedded Visio session containing the blank Diagram tab. Type CTRL+ V to paste.
5. Connect up the Start Flow shape.
6. Save the new flow rule.
7. Delete the damaged flow rule.

If your workstation has the Animator component of the PegaRULES Process Simulator installed, click to send this flow (and other simulator scenario components) to the Animator and begin a simulation.

When clicked, this button looks for a simulation scenario rule (Rule-Simulator-Scenario rule type) named AAAAAA.FFFFF, where AAAAAA is the name of the work pool containing the Applies To class of this flow rule, and FFFFF is the second key part — Flow Type — of this flow rule. If not found, a simulation scenario rule is created with that name, using default values for the other rules it references. The scenario is transmitted to start the Animator on the user's desktop.

This button appears only for users who have access to the PegaForecaster RuleSet.