Configuring the Utility shape

After you add a Utility shape to a flow, you can configure it to call an activity. By using utilities, you can perform processing, such as computations or data retrieval, without human input.

Tip: Place a Utility shape before and after an Assignment shape to perform pre and post processing in your flow.

1. Double-click the Utility shape.

2. Complete the fields in the property panel as described in the table below.

   Options include:

   Field	Description
   Rule	Select a Utility activity to be executed when a flow execution reaches this shape. See Standard Activities for Flows for descriptions of a few standard Utility activities. A Utility activity is defined in a class derived from the Work- or Data- base class and has an Activity Type of Utility.
   Parameters	If the utility selected requires parameters, supply a literal value for each parameter. Parameter values are validated when you exit (unless the flow in is Draft mode). You can use the notation param.name in a parameter field to refer to a flow parameter. In this case, you are instructing the system to set a value of a parameter to this call of the activity equal to the value of a parameter to the flow. (Inside the activity, the keyword param refers — as always — to activity parameters, not flow parameters.
   Audit note	Optional. Select or enter the name of a Rule-Message rule to control the text of an instances added to the work item history (the "audit trail") when a flow execution completes this shape. The Pega 7 Platform includes a few dozen standard messages in the Work- class. (Through field value rules, the corresponding text on work item history displays can be localized. See About the Localization wizard.) Optionally, to reduce the volume of history detail instances, your application can prevent system-generated messages from being added to work item history. See Controlling the volume of generated work item history instances and the PDN article How to control history instances written to the audit trail.
   Entry point	Select to indicate that this Utility shape is an entry point, which a user can return to using the breadcrumbs control or the standard flow action Previous. The default is cleared. Because a utility shape presents no user form, if a user clicks a breadcrumbs control to return to this entry point, flow processing resumes and pauses at the next assignment or other shape that requires user input.
   Only going Back	This check box appears only when you select the Entry Point? check box. 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. For maximum user flexibility, clear this check box if your flow accepts inputs in any order.
   Post action on click away	This check box appears only when you select the Entry Point check box. Select to run flow action post-processing when you click away from this entry point.

3. Click Submit to close the property panel.

4. Hover on an existing shape in the flow and drag a connector from it to the Utility shape.

5. Hover on the Utility shape and drag a connector to an existing shape in the flow.

   Note: If the activity uses the TaskStatus-Set method to one of a few possible activity outcomes, the outgoing connectors can depend on this Status value. For example, a utility activity might return the values "HIRE", "REJECT", and "WAIT" through a TaskStatus-Set method. Using three connectors from the utility, one for each status value, simplifies the flow diagram by eliminating a fork or decision shape.

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