A
workflow is a repeatable series of steps that, when accomplished, collectively realize a business
objective or
policy goal. These goals are typically accomplished within the context of an organizational
structure that defines functional roles and relationships. With SAS Workflow Studio,
workflow designers define the workflow and its data. Managers, administrators, and
end users start individual instances of these workflows and interact with them using
a SAS solution.
SAS Workflow Studio enables you to quickly build, organize, and reorganize the workflows
and business logic at the heart of the workflow integration within a SAS solution.
SAS Workflow Studio supports complex business
or application workflow logic and many common workflow and process modeling patterns.
Business process logic can be defined and implemented in SAS Workflow Studio, including
data-driven flow control using logical decisions (alternate paths) and parallel paths.
Workflow designers can use the point-and-click interface of SAS Workflow Studio to
define workflows that simplify the automation of sophisticated business processes.
SAS Workflow Studio also provides predefined and customizable policies. Workflow designers
can use policies to define actions (for example, send an e-mail) that are triggered
by a particular workflow event (for example,
task start). The policy represents an action at a specific step within the workflow. Because
a task can potentially
initiate multiple actions, multiple policies might be associated with a single task.
Policies can perform arbitrarily complex programmed actions. For example, policies
can send notifications as portal alerts or e-mails, alter process flow, or even provide
integration points across applications by invoking SAS code or web services. Policies
can also refer to data objects stored in a workflow to add, change, or update peer
workflows during execution. For example, you can define a policy for updating a workflow
with the completion date and time of a task or
subflow.
Workflow definitions from SAS Workflow Studio are saved as XML template files. These
template files can be uploaded to the server and activated using the SAS Workflow
Services. After a
workflow definition is activated, it is available for instantiation by workflow-enabled applications.
Workflows are versioned by SAS Content Services.