Flows
Visio editing basics

When operating in Visio, the Diagram tab toolbar contains buttons that apply only to flows.

Button	Description
	Turn on or turn off draft mode. While the flow is in draft mode it is known as a flow model, you can reference rules and flow actions that are not yet defined. You can save and run a flow in draft mode in systems where the production level is set to a value less than 5. See About System Settings Rules. Applications created with the Application Express tool have an internal property (pzIsPrototypeMode) set to true. When you save a flow model while your current application has its pzIsPrototypeMode set to true, the system automatically performs certain actions, including creating and regenerating rules. See About the Application Express tool.
	Display the normal Microsoft Visio toolbars, to access full Visio features for drawing, shape alignment, colors, and so on. Click once to display the toolbars. Click again to hide the toolbars.
	Start a Visio editing session.
	Zoom in to enlarge the Visio diagram.
	Zoom out to shrink the Visio diagram
	Undo the most recent Visio operation (equivalent to pressing CTRL + Z).
	Exit Visio editing and return to normal rule form editing.
	View and edit the flow using the Discovery Map, a high-level representation of the flow primarily used by business analysts.
	Display the Process Modeler representation of the flow. If you select this button, then edit the Process Modeler representation and save the rule form, you can no longer return to the Visio representation.
	Display the Visio representation of the flow.

The shapes on the Visio template are Microsoft SmartShapes®. Each shape has parameters and behaviors.

The shapes identify types of tasks. Drag a shape from this left panel into the right session panel to configure your flow. Each shape has a descriptive text name that may contain only letters and digits, but no spaces. Each shape has a corresponding shapes panel.

When you drop the shape on the main session panel, the corresponding shape panel appears. Complete this panel to continue. As you complete a panel, you can reference parameters to this flow using the notation param.name, where name is the parameter name on the Params tab.

Shape	Description
	Assignment — Creates an assignment at runtime associated with work item in a workbasket or worklist. See Assignment shapes. After you enter an assignment shape, you can create an associated Router shape. Optionally, after the assignment shape is defined, you can associate a service level rule with it. A clock appears on the diagram, as shown here. See Associating a Service Level with an Assignment.
	Assignment-Service — Waits for an external callback from an external system using Service BPEL rules. See Assignment-Service shape.
	Start — Identifies the start of this flow. See Start shapes.
	Comment — Adds explanatory text comments anywhere on the flow diagram. Comments do not affect execution of the flow. See Comment shapes.
	Connector — Associates a shape in the flow with another that may follow the first shape. Connectors leaving assignment shapes may be flow actions. Connectors leaving other shapes may be when conditions. See Connectors and Flow Actions.
	Decision — Identifies an activity that can make an automated decision about the progress of the work item through this flow. See Decision shapes.
	End — Marks the end of the flow. See End shapes.
	Fork — Supports automatic selection of one connector from two or more. See Fork shapes.
	Integrator — Identifies an activity that can connect to an external system to send or receive data. See Integrator shapes.
	Notification — Notifies a work party by email or correspondence about the status or progress of this work item as the assignment is created. See Notification shapes.
	Router — Sends an assignment be sent to a user, workbasket, or agent other than the current user. Associate a Router shape with an assignment shape. This activity determines which worklist or workbasket is to contain the assignment. See Router shapes.
	Spinoff — Starts a new flow execution and does not wait for its completion. See Spinoff shapes.
	Split Join — Sends the work item to two other flows, both of which must complete before the current flow resumes. See Split Join shapes.
	Split For Each — Performs an operation or test on each element in a repeating group. See Split For Each shapes.
	Pools and swimlanes — Identifies and groups shapes performed by separate organizational units within one division. See Pool shapes.
	Ticket — Marks a business exception that might arise at any point in the flow, such as a cancellation. See Ticket shapes.
	Utility — Specifies an activity to run at that point in the flow to perform automated processing without any user assignment. See Utility shapes.

You can create new shapes for many types of rules by dragging instances from the Application Explorer and dropping them onto the Visio diagram. See PDN article 26016 How to drag rules from the Application Explorer into shapes on a Visio flow diagram and Using the Application Explorer.

• When working in Visio, you can print, decorate, and rearrange your flow diagram in any way that does not affect its connections, shapes and parameters. Click the toolbar button to make the Visio toolbars visible.
• You can select Save from the Visio menu to save your Visio file to a local or network disk from time to time, but do not perform Save As for the Visio file. PRPC's Visio interface depends on the file name it assigns.
• Click Returnto exit Visio. The system automatically uploads your results from your workstation to the new or updated flow and changes the toolbar. As you exit Visio, PRPC checks the diagram and highlights any dangling connectors.

Remember to click the Save toolbar button () to save the Flow form. When you save, PRPC validates whether all shapes on the diagram can be reached through connectors that leave either the Start shape or ticket shapes. It marks any unreachable shapes with a gray background rather than a colored background. Incomplete shapes are marked in red to indicate an error. Click the shape to review the error message. An error indicator () also appears on the property panel next to the parameter in error.

When a flow is saved in Draft Mode, PRPC validates whether rules exist for each shape in the flow. A warning () image marks an incomplete shape and appears on the property panel next to the parameter in error. Hover over the shape to display the error message.

After saving a flow, review carefully any shapes that turn gray. You can save and execute a flow that contains unreachable shapes, but the processing corresponding to the unreachable shapes will never be performed. As a best practice, delete the gray shapes or add a comment as to why they are present.

Consider these tips as you complete the flow:

• Every flow must include one Start shape, and should have at least one End shape identifying an end.
• Limit each flow to about 15 shapes (not counting connectors) to avoid difficult-to-follow flows. If your diagram includes too many shapes, simplify the diagram by moving a portion of the processing to a subprocess. Consult the PDN for more information about creating flows.
• You can work and test in draft mode first, and then print the diagram as a requirements specification.
• Start out simply by creating and testing the main path of the flow. Don't forget to add flexibility and robustness with supporting error flows, tickets for exceptional conditions, and so on.
• Choose likelihood values that are initial guesses. After the flow is in use, click the  Flow Analysis   button on the Design tab to obtain statistics for comparison. If you estimated that a connector flow action will be used 1 percent of the time, but it is in practice used 15 percent of the time, this large difference is worth researching. Productivity, costs, and timeliness are directly related to the path that a work item takes through the flow diagram.
• Include tickets and utility shapes to accommodate cancellations, rollbacks (sometimes called compensating transactions), errors, and similar exceptions.