Build Business Process flow in Workflow designer

Designing a Business Process (BP) means creating and configuring a sequence of code-based or no-code steps, such as Manual or Bot Tasks, nested processes, or rules, as required to accomplish a business goal.

A Business Process flow can have one of the following designs:

• Schema-based, where each step can have a contract defining variables expected as input for this step and those produced as its output.

• Schemaless, the legacy type, requiring no contracts to be set. You can convert a schemaless design into a schema-based one by setting step contracts.

To start designing a Business Process, navigate to the Workflow tab.

tip

When you design a BP, it's recommended to use only tested tasks and processes. Make sure that all tasks within the BP have valid input data and generate valid output.

Explore Workflow designer interface

The Workflow designer features the following design tools and elements:

The digits in the figure above correspond to the following descriptions:

1. Title panel: you can edit the BP name and add tags for better accessibility. The date and time values change automatically, depending on when you create or update the BP.

2. Modes:

   • In the View Process mode, you can watch the progress of handled records at each step or double-click tasks and rules to view their settings. However, you cannot modify the BP or any of its elements.

     

   • In the Edit Process mode, you can modify the BP flow and its specific elements.

3. Toolbar: you can add elements to the canvas and manage viewing options.

   Tool	Purpose
   	Select the workflow elements.
   	Shift the canvas by clicking an empty space and dragging.
   	Add elements to start or end the BP or include a Manual Task, Bot Task, trigger, decision rules, nested synchronous or asynchronous BP. You can add the elements by dragging them to the canvas or by selecting an appropriate icon in Toolbar and clicking an empty space in the canvas.
   	Undo or redo a preceding action.
   	Delete an element by selecting it and clicking the icon or pressing the Delete key.
   	View BP workflows comfortably in detail. Click a corresponding icon to fit the workflow to the size of the canvas, zoom in on or out of it, return to the actual size, and so on.

   tip

   To navigate across the BP flow, no matter how big and complicated it is, move the blue frame on the scheme miniature in the bottom right corner of the canvas.

   

4. Buttons: click Validate to validate the BP and Save to save it. You cannot save a BP without validation.

5. Reusable components side panel: contains all existing triggers, connectors, and rules, as well as Manual Tasks, bot steps, and nested processes. To leverage the elements in your BP, drag them to the canvas.

   If you drag a component from the panel to the canvas, editing the step configuration will affect other Business Processes where it is used. If you don't want edits to the step to affect other Business Processes, copy the component.

   To hide the panel, click the button on the left panel border. To copy tasks or other elements, hover over them and click the displayed Copy button.

   

6. Canvas: the checkered background is intended for placing the BP elements and connections between them.

7. Element context menu: to open the menu, right-click a workflow element.

   • If you duplicate a task or nested BP, all subsequent changes in the source or duplicated task or BP are synchronized.

   • If you copy a task or nested BP, you are prompted to edit its name, and there is no synchronization between the source and the copy.

   • To improve the workflow readability and logically group similar steps, add custom colors to any process step or sub-process.

     

8. Canvas context menu: if you right-click an empty space within the canvas, the following context menu is displayed:

   

Build schema-based process flow

In a schema-based Business Process, each step can have a contract defining variables expected as input for this step and those produced as the output. As a result, a schema-based BP boasts the following additional features:

• Input and output validation

• Per step data mapping

• Support of complex no-code steps, such as Transformation, Decision, Trigger, Connector, and so on

Below is a general sequence for designing a schema-based BP flow:

1. On the Workflow tab, switch to the Edit Process mode.

2. Drag the Start element from the toolbar to the canvas.

   Alternatively, you can set up a Trigger element to start a Business Process based on an external event. For details, see the guide.

3. Add other steps to the canvas one by one using one of the following methods and connect the steps with each other.

   • Method 1: drag them from the toolbar or right-click the canvas and choose an element from the context menu. In this case, an empty element is created that needs to be configured.

   • Method 2: drag them from the Reusable components side panel. In this case, the already existing element is added to the workflow, and you don't need to configure it additionally.

4. Set up configurations for each of the steps:

   1. Configure the input and output contracts. For detailed instructions, see the guide.

   2. Set the parameters on the Design tab.

   For detailed configuration instructions on each of the steps, see the following guides:

   • Add Bot Task

   • Add Manual Task

   • Add and configure Model and Dataset steps in Business Process

   • Add OCR step to Business Process

   • Configure no-code Transformation step

   • Start Business Process by internal event

   • Configure no-code Generic Connector

   • Add no-code Data Store steps (available only from 10.2.9.2)

   • Add nested Business Processes

5. Build the decision logic by adding Decision rules steps.

   To set up technical operations, such as splitting, joining, or throttling data, you can use the legacy composite rules.

6. Validate the BP. If needed, read error messages and warnings and edit the BP elements.

7. Save the BP and switch to the Run tab to set run options and start the resulting BP.

tip

See also the Create no-code schema-based Business Process tutorial.

Build schemaless process flow

Below is a general sequence for designing a schemaless BP flow:

1. On the Workflow tab, switch to the Edit Process mode.

2. Drag the Start and End elements from the toolbar to the canvas.

3. Add and configure flow steps using one of the following methods and connect them with each other:

   • Method 1: drag them from the toolbar or right-click the canvas and choose an element from the context menu. In this case, an empty element is created that needs to be configured.

   • Method 2: drag them from the Reusable components side panel. In this case, the already existing elements are added to the flow, and you don't need to configure them additionally.

   For detailed configuration instructions, see the following guides:

   • Add Bot Task

   • Add Manual Task

   • Add nested Business Processes

   • Add and configure Model and Dataset steps in Business Process

   • Add OCR step to Business Process

4. If needed, add composite rules to set up splitting, joining, or throttling data.

5. Validate the BP. If needed, read error messages and warnings and edit the BP elements.

6. Save the BP and switch to the Run tab to set run options and start the resulting BP.

tip

See also the Create schemaless Business Process in 20 minutes tutorial.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If Workflow Designer opens slow, try the workaround described in the support guide.