Creating Workflows Overview
A workflow is basically a constructed workflow that consists of activities, invocations of child workflows, and logic components that can be included to complete the workflow. Action Orchestrator allows you to automate IT processes based on your organizational requirements using a workflow format. The Action Orchestrator also includes many predefined workflows in its packaged automation packs.
The following sections provide information about creating and managing workflows:
Action Orchestrator simplifies workflow creation using a drag and drop workflow designer. The Workflow Editor allows you to drag activities, workflow activities (logic), or workflows you want to invoke into a workflow definition where you want it to occur. The Workflow Editor dynamically accepts the new addition and shows the resulting logic.
Unlike drag-and-wire approaches common to other Process Orchestrators, the logic of the workflow is always clear, without having to constantly modify the layout as the workflow definition evolves. This makes it easier for other operators to view or edit workflows that have previously been created. You can also collapse sections of the workflow that are not currently of interest.
Use the workflow Editor to:
View and modify the properties of an existing workflow
Define properties
Construct a new workflow
Construct a new workflow as a atomic workflow
The procedure to access the editor depends on the task to be performed.
To access the workflow Editor:
If you are creating a new workflow, choose My Workflows > NEW WORKFLOW from the default home page or from the side task bar choose Workflows > My Workflows > NEW WORKFLOW. For more information, see Creating a Basic Workflow.
If you are creating a new workflow as a atomic workflow, choose Atomic Workflows > NEW WORKFLOW from the default home page or from the side task bar choose Workflows > Atomic Workflows > NEW WORKFLOW. The atomic workflows allows you to group the workflows in a group name under the activities. This helps you to drag and drop the workflows as activities from the customized group name. For more information, see Creating an Atomic Workflow.
Conditions for Atomic Workflow
- The users with Adapter Author role only would be able to view, create, and modify atomic workflows. This options would not be enabled for other roles. For more information on Roles and Permissions, see Action Orchestrator Roles.
- A workflow with trigger can't be marked as atomic workflow.
- The atomic workflow can't run individually as a workflow, it can only be a part of a workflow.
- An atomic workflow can have another atomic workflow as a child. But it can't have a any other workflow as a child.
If you are modifying an existing Workflow, choose the respective workflow from the My Workflows page and you will be able edit it in the workflow pane.
Activities Panel
The left pane of the editor includes these views. The navigation items displayed in the pane depend on the view that is selected.
Activities
| The Activities view displays the list of activities that are used to construct the workflow. For more information, see Activities. |
Logic  | The Logic view displays the list of workflow components that support or define the workflow logic and provide control over the execution of the workflow logic. |
Workflows | The workflows view displays the list of defined workflows that can be included in other workflows. |
Workflow Panel
The Workflow pane is a canvas located in the center portion of the workflow Editor. Use this area to create workflows by dragging and dropping activities, other workflows, and components from the toolbox onto the canvas.
Properties Panel
The workflow pane is located on the right side of the editor and displays the properties for the selected workflow, as well as selected activity, child workflow, or workflow logic element properties.
Header
The header displays the actions that can be performed on the workflow such as Validate, Commit, View Runs, Run, and Close. For more information on View Runs, see Runs.
And it also allows you to show or hide Activities and Properties panel by using the following icon:
Click on the icon to hide or show both Activities and Properties panel.
Hover over the icon and click on the Show/Hide icon on the SHOW/HIDE panel to display or hide either Activities or Properties panels based on your requirements.
Toggling the Workflow Editor View
In the Workflow Editor view, you can toggle the view between the workflow property pages and the activity view pages. To switch to the workflow properties in the Workflow pane, click anywhere outside of the activities in the workflow.
Expanding the Workflow View
To expand the workflow, click the + Expand tool.
Collapsing the Workflow View
To collapse the activities in the Workflow pane, click the - Collapse tool.