Configuring SAS Workflow for Use with SAS Model Manager

Overview

SAS Workflow provides services that work together to model, automate, integrate, and streamline business processes. It provides a platform for more efficient and productive business solutions.
SAS Workflow is used by SAS solutions that benefit from business process management. SAS Workflow Studio is a desktop client application that is used to design and deploy workflow process definitions. The SAS middle tier hosts the workflow engine and the workflow services as part of the SAS Web Infrastructure Platform. The Workflow Console for SAS Model Manager is used to manage the workflow processes that are associated with modeling projects and versions. For more information about SAS Workflow, see SAS Workflow in SAS Intelligence Platform: Middle-Tier Administration Guide.
To use SAS Workflow with SAS Model Manager, be sure the following prerequisites are met:
  1. SAS Workflow Engine, SAS Workflow Services, and SAS Workflow Studio must be installed and configured. For more information, see SAS Intelligence Platform: Installation and Configuration Guide
  2. If you want to receive notifications for a workflow process, you can configure alert notifications using SAS Management Console. For more information, see Configuring Alert Notifications for SAS Workflow.
  3. Workflow process definitions must be created using SAS Workflow Studio. For more information about creating process definitions, see the SAS Workflow Studio 1.1: User’s Guide.

Guidelines for Creating Process Definitions

When you create process definitions in SAS Workflow Studio to use with SAS Model Manager, follow these guidelines:
  • Statuses, participants, and policies must be added to the activity level. The default statuses at the process definition level cannot be used with SAS Model Manager. Data objects can be added at the process definition level or activity level.
  • Only the Potential Owner, Actual Owner, and Business Administrator workflow roles are used by SAS Model Manager and they can be used in either a participant or swimlane definition.
  • In order to assign additional participants to activities using the Workflow Console, the user must have or be in a group that is assigned the workflow role of business administrator. Also, in order to create new instances and assign participants, the user must be in the Model Manager Administrator Users group or in a group that is associated with the Model Manager Administrator Users group in SAS Management Console. The following SAS Model Manager groups are created at installation time:
    • Model Manager Administrator Users Group (mdlmgradminusers)
    • Model Manager Advanced Users Group (mdlmgradvusers)
    For more information, see Configuring Users, Groups, and Roles.
  • Only process definitions that are in the Workflow repository, with the mmapi tag attribute specified in the file properties, are available to SAS Model Manager in the Workflow Console.

How to Make Process Definitions Available to SAS Model Manager

After you have created a process definition in the SAS Workflow Studio, you must make the process definition available to SAS Model Manager.
To save the process definition to the Workflow repository, follow these steps:
  1. Save the process definition to your local drive.
  2. Log on to the server.
  3. Add the tag attribute of mmapi to the process definition file properties.
  4. Upload the process definition.
  5. Verify that the process definition appears in the Process Definitions category view of SAS Model Manager Workflow Console.
For more information, see “Deploying and Maintaining Processes” in the SAS Workflow Studio 1.1: User’s Guide.

Log On to the Server

With SAS Workflow Studio, you are limited to managing locally stored workflow process definitions on your system until you have logged on to the SAS Content Server. After you are connected, you can access additional process definitions that are stored in the SAS Content Server.
To log on to the server, follow these steps:
  1. From the Server menu, select Logon.
  2. In the Log On window, select the host-name from the SAS environment drop-down list.
    Note: For more information, see Configuring the SAS Environment File in SAS Intelligence Platform: Middle-Tier Administration Guide.
  3. Enter a user ID and password, and click Log On.

Add Tag Attributes to a Process Definition

Only those process definitions in the Workflow repository that have the mmapi tag attribute specified in the file properties are available to SAS Model Manager in the Workflow Console.
To add a tag attribute to the file properties of a process definition template in SAS Workflow Studio, follow these steps:
  1. Select Filethen select Properties and click Add.
  2. Enter the tag value of mmapi.
    Note: The file properties are case sensitive. This value must be lowercase.
  3. Click OK twice.

Upload a Process Definition

To upload a process, follow these steps:
  1. From the Server menu, select the Save to Repository menu option. The Save to Workflow Repository window appears.
  2. (Optional) Enter relevant comments to associate with the process definition.
  3. Select the Activate option if you want to activate the current version in the Workflow repository.
  4. Click OK.

Verify That the Process Definitions Are Available in the Workflow Console

To verify that the workflow process definitions are available in the Workflow Console, follow these steps:
  1. Enter the URL http://hostname:port/SASModelManagerWorkflow in your Web browser.
  2. Enter the user ID and password for a SAS Model Manager administrator.
  3. Verify that the uploaded process definition appears in the Process Definitions category view.

See Also

Using Workflow Console in SAS Model Manager: User's Guide
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