Flow form - Editing in Visio - Assignment shape properties

Add an assignment shape for each place in the business process that requires human judgment and input.

For every assignment, add at least one flow action. The assignment normally appears on the worklist of the user who executes the flow.

1. Drag the assignment shape () and drop it onto the flow.

2. If this flow is a screen flow, special rules apply. Continue with Flow Rules — Editing in Visio — Creating and Editing a Screen Flow.

3. When the Assignment Properties panel appears, complete these fields. (To edit the shape properties after you save the Flow form, open the Diagram tab, right-click the shape, and select the Edit tab on the pop-up window.)

Field	Description
Name	Assign a name to this Assignment shape. Assignment names have a limit of 128 characters. Choose a name meaningful to application users who see this on the work item history display, the breadcrumbs control (for entry points), and the Where-Am-I? diagram. The shape name is only descriptive; it does not affect runtime execution. This name also appears inside the assignment shape on the Diagram tab. When you begin building your application, it is customary to make this name the same as the name of the assignment activity. Later when your flow is more complete, you can change this to a more descriptive name.
Rule	Select an assignment activity. Use SmartPrompt to see a list of activities with an `Assign` Activity Type that are available. Five standard activities defined with Work- as the Applies To class are always choices in this field. (Your application may include others or override these standard activities.) Work-.WorkList — Causes the assignment to be placed on the worklist of the current operator (or of another operator identified by a Router shape). Creates an instance of the Assign-Worklist class. Work-.WorkBasket — Causes the assignment to be placed in a workbasket, determined by an associated Router shape. Creates an instance of the Assign-Workbasket class. Work-.External — Starts the directed Web access feature, sending a temporary assignment by email to a party identified in the work item who is not an interactive PRPC user. Creates an instance of the Assign-External class. Work-.Dependency — Causes the assignment to be placed in a workbasket, determined by an associated Router shape, and wait for an instance of a specified case type (in the same top-level case type) to reach a specified work status in order for the assignment to automatically complete and resume the process. Creates an instance of the Assign-Workbasket class. Work-.Agent — Sends the assignment to a background process rather than to a person (rarely used, similar to WorkBasket ). (Another standard assignment activity Assign-.Connect activity is used internally when creating an instance of the Assign-Connect class and to support BPEL processing. Do not use this for assignments directly.)
Parameters	The activity you select may accept input parameters. Supply a value for each parameter. See Parameters for guidance on common parameters. PRPC validates these parameter values when you exit from Visio editing (unless the flow in is Draft mode).
Service Level	Optional. Select a service level rule to apply to this assignments. See Associating a service level rule with an assignment.
Local Actions	Optional. Select one or more local flow actions that are to be available at runtime from this assignment. Use SmartPrompt to display all flow actions available to flows in this class. At runtime, local actions appear in the order listed here. Click to insert a row, or Click to delete a row. Click to display three entry fields that can associate a local action with a specification. Enter values for the Application, WorkType, and Specification Name. Click to hide these fields. The SmartPrompt list includes both local and connector flow actions. If you are not sure that an action is local, click the pencil icon () to open the flow action. Review the Indicator field on the Action tab. To make a local flow action such as Save available in all assignments in the flow, list it on the Design tab of the flow form rather than here in the Local Actions field. You don't need to also enter such global flow actions in this field. See below for guidance on choosing local flow actions.
Effort Cost	Optional. You can associate a cost value (in any units) with this assignment. For each work item, the system computes the sum of these cost values for the specific path it takes through the flow. A Declare Expression rule records this in property Work-.pyTotalFlowActionCost.
Notify	Optional. You can select a notify activity here, as an alternative to a separate Notify shape. Click to enter values for the parameters of the activity. Click to hide parameter fields. Some developers prefer this approach, to simplify the flow diagram. The system add an envelope icon () to the assignment shape to indicate that correspondence is created as the assignment is created.
Router	Optional. You can select a router activity here, as an alternative to a separate Router shape. Click to enter values for the parameters of the activity. Click to hide parameter fields. Some developers prefer this approach, to simplify the flow diagram. You can't specify a router activity if this assignment is within a swimlane.
Entry Point?	Select to indicate that this assignment is an entry point, which a user can return to using the breadcrumbs control or the standard flow action Work-.Previous. The default is selected. This checkbox works with Perform harnesses that include a breadcrumbs display and with assignments that offer the Previous flow action. In other cases, the checkbox has no effect.
Only going back?	This checkbox appears only when you select the Entry Point? checkbox. Select to restrict users at runtime from jumping ahead to this step without having completed the preceding steps. After having completed this step, users may jump back to it from steps that follow it. Leave unselected to allow users to select this entry point from anywhere within the flow. They can complete or visit an earlier or later step. For maximum user flexibility, leave this checkbox unselected if your flow accepts inputs in any order. However, this approach is typically not workable for flows that contain fork and decision shapes, or that have intermediate shapes that are not entry points.
Post Action on Click Away?	This checkbox appears only when you select the Entry Point? checkbox. Select to run flow action post-processing when you click away from this entry point.

4. Click Apply when finished.

5. Connect at least one incoming connector to the assignment shape.

6. Connect one or more outgoing connectors from the assignment shape, corresponding to flow actions.

The parameters you supply depend on the activity you select. These are common:

Field	Description
Instructions	Select a field value rule for the worklist column Instructions that describes the task that users perform to complete the assignment. Click the pencil icon ( ) to review the field value rule or define a new field value rule. The SmartPrompt lists field value rules with an Applies To key part equal to the work type of the flow (or a parent class) and a Field Name key part of `pyInstructions`. Examples of instructions are "Evaluate and accept or reject" and "Fulfill as soon as possible." Use wording that clearly states what users are expected to accomplish. When you plan to localize the application using this rule, so the application can support users in various languages or locales, choose the text carefully and limit text length to 64 characters. A field value rule with this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. See About the Localization wizard.
Status (or StatusWork)	If this parameter appears, you can enter a work item status value that displays when the assignment first appears on the worklist or in the workbasket. If you leave this blank, the status value is unchanged when this assignment is created. Don't confuse the work item status value (the Work-.pyStatusWork property), which controls many aspects of processing, with the assignment status value. See Status. Don't use this feature to set .pyStatusWork to a resolved value. Always use the standard utility Work-.Resolve to resolve a work item.
StatusAssign	If this parameter appears, you can enter an assignment status value (not a work item status value). If you leave this blank, the assignment has no status.
Confirmation Note	Optional. Enter text to display in a confirmation form presented to the user when the flow action is complete. When you plan to localize the application using this rule, so the application can support users in various languages or locales, choose the text carefully and limit text length to 64 characters. A field value rule with this text as the final key part is needed for each locale. When practical, choose a caption already included in a language pack, to simplify later localization. See About the Localization wizard.
HarnessPurpose	Identify the Purpose key part of a harness the system is to use to present this assignment. (The system uses the Applies To key part of this flow as the first key part of the harness.) By convention, the Purpose key part has the value `Perform`, or another name starting with the word Perform. The action section in the harness you identify affects the presentation of flow action choices at runtime. The most appropriate choice depends on user skills, the complexity of the actions, and likelihood values. See Presenting flow actions.
Use CurOperIfBasketNotFound	WorkBasket activity. Select to redirect the assignment to the current operator if the workbasket is not defined. (This parameter is used by the Work-.WorkBasket activity.)
DoNotPerform	WorkList or WorkBasket activities. Select to prevent the activities from overwriting the newAssignPage page, allowing a pre-existing page to be performed instead. This option is useful for performing an assignment on a spun-off work item. (This parameter is used by Work-.WorkBasket and Work-.WorkList activities.)
DependentOn	Dependency activity. The Class Name of the case type that the waiting assignment is dependent upon for completion. This case type and the flow's Applies To class must be under the same top-level case type in the case management hierarchy. To help avoid deadlocks and as a best practice, do not enter a case type that has a parent or child relationship with the flow's case type. When an instance of the Dependent On case type reaches the value in the Dependent Status field, the system automatically completes the assignment and advances the flow.
DependentStatus	Dependency activity. Select a work status that the dependent-on case type instance must reach in order to complete the assignment.
ActionToTake	Dependency activity. Select the connector flow action (exiting this assignment shape) that is called when the dependency condition is met. Cannot be used with local flow actions.
CompleteDependentWhen	Dependency activity. Optional. Specify a when condition rule that is applied to the Dependent Status value before the dependency condition can be met. For instance, "Wait for a ReceivePayment instance where amount >= $1000 to reach status of Payment-Cleared".
WaitForAllCases?	Dependency activity. Select so that all instances( of the depends-on case type under that same top-case type) must meet the dependent status before completing the assignment. Otherwise, the first depends-on instance that reaches the status condition completes the assignment. You can use, in Subprocess, Split For Each, or Split Join shapes, the standard flow @baseclass-.pyWaitForCase, which employs a Decision shape and two Dependency assignments to determine whether to wait for any or all cases. Enter the flow's parameter values in the shape's Properties panel. The Decision shape uses the WaitForAllCase parameter to determine which Dependency assignment to use.
OperatorModel	External activity. Identify the Operator ID that serves as a model for the external operator. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.)
Days to Expiration	External activity. Enter a positive integer for a number of calendar days after which the external assignment expires, unless completed. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.)
Party	External activity. Identify the party role (such as Customer, Originator, or another role) of the party within the work item who is to receive the external assignment. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.)
Subject	External activity. Enter text to become the subject line of the email message sent to the external party. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.)
Message	External activity. Optional. Enter a phrase or sentence to appear in the body of the email message sent to the external party, above the system-generated URL link. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.)
Corr Name	External activity. Optional. Identify the Corr Name key part of a correspondence rule to appear in the body of the email message sent to the external party. The resulting output appears above the system-generated URL link. (This parameter is used by the Work-.External activity.) PRPC validates this value when you exit from Visio editing.

Tip Strive to anticipate and include all the local flow actions that users may ever need. Some local actions let users respond to conditions that happen rarely but are important when truly necessary.

For example, you may want to define and include local flow actions that let users bypass approvals, exceed normal limits, cancel assignments, and so on. Remember that such local flow actions may be restricted through privileges that are available to only some users, and that user selections of flow actions are recorded in work item history.

Neglecting to allow for such real-world situations may make your application seem rigid and unforgiving to users and managers.

Before using a Dependency assignment, do the following:

Specify ToWorkbasket in the Router field, and a Workbasket parameter on this Assignment Properties panel.
Create a Declare Trigger rule in the Applies To class entered in the Depends On field. On the trigger rule form's Triggers tab, enter .pyStatusWork in the One of these Properties Was Modified array. In the Trigger Activity area, select pxCheckFlowDependencies in the Name field. Here is an example:

The trigger must be able to obtain a lock on the waiting assignment in order to complete it. If it cannot, the work is queued to be completed later. The Process Flow Dependencies agent (System-Queue-FlowDependency-.pzProcessFlowDependency activity) periodically rechecks the lock status until a lock is available.

Flow form — Editing in Visio Assignment shape properties

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Flow form — Editing in Visio
Assignment shape properties