Sample routes for a workflow

Routes between the steps in a workflow definition specify how work progresses from one step to the next.

Except for the last step on the map, every step has one or more routes leading from it. The following diagrams illustrate simple routes.

Always true

Routing with no conditions — Figure 1. Route with no conditions

Only the most simple workflows proceed linearly from one step to the next. In the illustration in the workflow route, each route is always true because there are no conditions to test.

Tip: If you define a response for the only route from a step and the condition does not evaluate to true when the step completes, the workflow or the specific branch of the workflow stops.

Route with an OR condition

Route with OR condition — Figure 2. Route with an OR condition

Most workflows require branching at various points as the result of a response made by a participant. In the illustration about the route condition, the route from the launch step is always true. The route from the Eval step depends on the value of a response by the participant at the Eval step. Only one of the routes is taken.

For example, if the Eval step requires the participant to respond by choosing either "OK" or "No," you can define two routes from the step: one route for the OK response and one for the No response. This type of step is called an OR-split.

Restriction: Process Designer supports expressions based on property values for a split, but Case Builder does not support expressions for evaluating a step.

Route with an AND condition

Routing with AND condition — Figure 3. Route with an AND condition

When there are multiple routes from a step and more than one of those routes can evaluate to true, then work can continue down multiple paths simultaneously. The work proceeds along all true routes.

In the illustration about AND conditions, the Write step uses an AND-split. The route to Graphics is always true, and the Start review path and the Request graphics path are both processed. The Start review step is an OR-split that processes either Review A or Review B. The case worker sees that there are two separate work items: one for Graphics and one for either A or B.

To create a valid map, you must define a collector step that brings the work back into a single path at the end of all the true routes. In this illustration, the Edit step is the collector step and is an AND-join.

The processing waits just before the collector step (Edit) until all of the child processes reach this stage.