Declaring variables for a subprocess

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Subprocesses and event subprocesses can access the variables of the process they are contained in. They can also have their own variables that are only relevant within the context of the subprocess or event subprocess and any subprocesses or event subprocesses they might contain.

Before you begin

If your subprocess uses business data that is also used in the top-level process or in other subprocesses or event subprocess under the same top-level parent, declare the variables in the top-level process. If the data is only used within the context of process execution, create these variables as private variables. If the data needs to be passed into or out of the process, create your variables as input or output variables in the top-level process. Data that is used only within the subprocess should be captured in private variables declared in the subprocess activity.

Procedure

  1. Open your subprocess or event subprocess by double-clicking the activity in the parent process.
  2. Go to the Variables tab.
    The input and output variables declared in the top-level process are visible, as are any private variables declared in the parent process. You can access these variables from within your subprocess or event subprocess, passing values between any subprocess activities that might require them. For example, if you are modeling the Get Customer Order subprocess of a larger Customer Order Handling process, you might need to access the Customer Account variable that is declared in the parent process.
  3. Create private variables for any data that is used only within the context of the subprocess or event subprocess and any subprocesses it contains. For example, the Get Customer Order subprocess might need to use a private variable that is used to authenticate the customer service representative onto the ordering system. This data is not needed outside of this part of the larger Customer Order Handling process, so it is a private variable that is visible only within the subprocess and its contained subprocesses.
    Note: Variable names declared in a subprocess or event subprocess cannot be the same as variable names declared in its parent process. If there are multiple layers of embedding, with subprocesses contained within other subprocesses, variable names must be unique throughout the entire subprocess hierarchy. In addition, if you specify an alias to use for business data in Process Portal searches, this alias must be unique within the top-level process and across all subprocesses and event subprocesses under the same top-level parent.
  4. To capture information about your subprocess data at run time, you can enable automatic tracking of variable data for the subprocess.
    1. In the Variables tab, select the variable that you want to track.
    2. Under Details, select the Track this variable.
    3. In the Tracking tab, ensure that Enable Autotracking is enabled for the subprocess. This setting is independent of the setting for the parent process. Therefore, disabling autotracking in the parent process does not disable autotracking in the subprocess or any subprocess that is contained within that subprocess.
  5. Click Save or Finish Editing.
  6. Send your newly defined tracking requirements to the Business Performance Data Warehouse.
    From the IBM® Business Automation Workflow main menu, select File > Update Tracking Definitions.

What to do next

Now that you have declared your private variables, activities within your subprocess or event subprocess can use these variables to capture business data. To pass data between the activities inside your subprocess, you need to map the input and output data required for these activities. For more information about mapping input and output data, see Mapping input and output data for an activity or step.