Using the Diagram Editor

Elements of a Process

Overview

Activities

Process Diagram Elements

Elements of a Process

Overview

Using SAS Workflow Studio's diagram editor, the process analyst can graphically design the relevant sequence of activities that comprise the workflow. Each workflow or process is a collection of elements assembled using the following object model:

activities
data objects
policies
statuses
participants

Activities

Activities can be atomic nodes (tasks) or can contain collections of related nodes (local subprocesses). The process hierarchy is represented in the process tree as expandable folders. Tasks are represented by an activity icon (

) and the root workflow and its subprocesses are denoted using the process icon (

Data Objects

General process data and logic should be separated from actionable business data and logic. Processes embody the abstract data and logic. Data objects embody the relevant business data and policies the business actions.

Policies

Policies encapsulate event-triggered, executable business logic that can reference process data to add, change, or update peer processes at run time. These events occur when there is a change in the process. Events can be triggered when there is either a change in the state or status of the process, generated by using a timer for single or repeated actions, or received by external systems.

Statuses

Statuses link the process logic and business logic because they represent transition states between activities and process flow elements. The status values are precondition logic used to initiate state changes in processes or trigger the execution of policies.

Participants

Participants drive process access and authorization by linking the workflow authorization roles to the SAS platform users, groups, and organizational roles.

Process Diagram Elements

Global data objects, policies, statuses, and participants are associated with the top-level folders under the workflow root. Activities can also contain locally defined data objects, policies, statuses, and participants. Local elements exist in the context of a specific activity are accessible only at the activity-level, not by the other tasks or subprocesses. Data objects can be defined on the root or subprocess level, but the visibility can be configured by enabling the Visible in entire subtree option. Enabling this option means the data definition is available to the children within that process level for logical evaluation or policy execution. However, these global elements are not recreated as local values associated with the child elements.

Each process begins with a Start node and contains one or more activities (tasks or subprocesses) before terminating with at least one Stop node. Each new diagram includes a Start and Stop node, but a single Stop node might terminate multiple activities. Likewise, the Start node can be used to initiate multiple activities.

The following elements can be used in a process diagram:

The Start node must precede the first activity in the process.

The Stop node must be connected to any activity that leads to process termination.

Activities are individual work items in the process that can represent automated or manual tasks.

An activity element with a stacked appearance represents a subprocess. A subprocess contains one or more activities that might, in turn, represent subprocesses resulting in a process hierarchy. You can create subprocesses and edit the contained activities from the drawing editor.

Swimlane elements are used in SAS Workflow Studio to group activities assigned to the same participant definition. They can be explicitly assigned to a Participant object, or they can be implicitly assigned via a swimlane policy. The swimlane policy derives the user, group, or role value defined by the specified data object at run time.

The Sequence Flow tool is used to connect process elements.

Example sequence flow with assigned status of “Done”

This connection element might also be used to designate process status (that is, state changes or transitions between activities).

Annotations are used to hold additional information. These notes are for presentation only and are not associated with the run-time process definition.

You can use the drawing tools in the toolbar to place activities on the diagram editor and connect them using the Sequence Flow element. You can also select and right-click any activity or connection on the diagram editor to add objects. Alternatively, you might use the process tree pop-up menus to add activities and other process elements.