Note: The video below covers everything in this article.
Workflows help you automate your processes, regardless of their complexity in a simple way. It's done through a visual diagramming feature that is BPMN 2.0 compliant (Business Process Model and Notation). It's based on the Zeebe workflow engine.
Zeebe is a workflow engine designed to meet the scalability requirements of high-performance applications running on cloud-native software architectures and to support workflows that span multiple microservices in low-latency, high-throughput scenarios.
They are similar to the Automations since they are executed based on triggers and rules defined by you. They also provide a monitoring tool that allows you to review their execution in real-time.
User Permissions: Only Administrators or App Admin users can create Workflow.
In this section, we're going to go over a few examples of what you can do with Workflows. I highly recommend going through the following articles as well:
Just like with the series on creating apps, we'll start simple and progress to more difficult processes.
Business Process Modeling and Notation, also known as BPMN 2.0
BPMN is a flowchart method that models the steps of a business process from start to finish. Diagraming helps businesses to understand complex workflows better as it’s more visual. It’s used by:
- Process Participants
- Analysts
- Managers
- Technical Developers
- And many other roles
It can be used for:
- Order Fulfillment
- Incident Management
- Purchase Processes
- Basically, any business process that can be mapped out into specific steps.
BPMN is made up of certain elements or shapes that comprise its visual language. BPMN has four main groups of shapes. These are the main categories:
Flow Objects
These include Events, Activities, and Gateways.
Connecting Objects
these are the lines that show sequence and message flow
Pools
These represent major participants in a process.
The first kind of flow object is an Event.
Events are triggers that start, modify, or complete a process. There are three types of events. Start, Intermediate, and End. Each process must begin with an initiating event called the Start Event.
A start event is designated by a circle with a thin border. many start events have an icon in the middle to define the events trigger. For example, a start event that contains an envelope icon indicates that a message arrives and triggers the start of a process. An intermediate event has a double border with two circles. An End Event signifies the end of a particular process or path within a process when you see an end event you'll know that nothing else needs to be done in the process after that point. End events have a thick border. Intermediate and end events, like starting events, can be further designated by one of several symbols. And remember, your workflow diagram, no matter what it is, will always have at least one start event and at least one end event.
Activities
They are the building blocks of Workflow diagrams. they represent specific tasks performed by a person or system and they're shown by a rectangle with rounded Corners. There are four main types of activities task, subprocess, transaction, and call. For the sake of Simplicity will only focus on tasks in this tutorial a task is a single action that occurs in a business process like mailing a letter or editing a draft of a news release they are likely the most common shapes you'll see a diagram because they represent actions performed by process participants.
Gateways
The last type of flow object is gateways. Gateways are represented by a diamond shape and are decision points that can adjust the process path or flow based on certain conditions or events. Like a pipe may split and divert water in two directions so are Gateways. They create a condition where a Choice needs to be made. for example, a Gateway can be used to show the separation and a process path where the customer decides between two different shipping options. There are several different types of gateways differentiated by symbols. while gateways call out certain decision points it should be noted that gateways are not decisions nor do they make decisions, rather they dictate the flow of the process.
Connecting Objects
Objects are the lines present in every BPM diagram. They show the order of activities to be performed and there are three types. First is the sequence flow symbol. A solid line with an arrow at the end which shows the main order of activities to be performed. Next is the message flow symbol, a dotted line that depicts messages that flow across pools. You'll see these lines connecting different tasks between swimlanes. Lastly, there's the Association symbol which shows the relationship between artifacts and flow objects. A pool represents a major participant in a process like a company or organization.
Colors
Withing Workflows in FreeAgent you may notice different colors.
Blue indicates the current step in the workflow process.