Subprocesses and linked processes

Subprocesses and linked processes allow you to capture the right level of detail about the activities in your process without over-complicating your diagram. A subprocess groups related activities into one parent activity, while a linked process is a call to another stand-alone process.

Use a subprocess when you want to group together a set of steps in your process, allowing that group to be collapsed or expanded depending on the level of detail required. For example, in a Security Badge Request process, you might have a set of steps required for creating the badge. The details of these steps might be interesting to the facilities personnel who are producing the badge, but less important to other people who want to see a high-level view of the process.

To add a subprocess, hover over a flow line and click the add button . Select Insert a Subprocess. You can also convert an existing activity to a subprocess by right-clicking the activity and selecting Convert to Subprocess.

Use a linked process activity when you want to make a call to a separate stand-alone process from within your process. For example, an Expense Reimbursement process might call a separate Funds Disbursement process that is called by several other processes.

To add a linked process activity, hover over a flow line and click the add button . Select Insert a Linked Process. You can also convert an existing activity to a linked process activity by right-clicking the activity and selecting Link to Process. Specify the name of the process that you want to link to. You can navigate between the calling process and the linked-to process by clicking the link icon on the activity element. To return to the parent process, use the breadcrumb trail at the top of the diagram area.

To convert a set of elements to a subprocess, use Ctrl+click or Cmd+click to select the elements you want, which must be contiguous. Or, select the first element and then use Shift+click to select the last element and all other elements in the shortest path. Alternatively, you can toggle the Marquee Select button and draw a rectangle around the elements you want. Right-click and select Convert to subprocess.

Prefer to watch?

Watch this short video about using subprocesses and linked processes in Blueworks Live.

Read a transcript of this video.

For more videos, visit Big Blue Helps and go to the playlist "How to use IBM Blueworks Live."