Starting an orchestration process

Learn how to start the orchestration process either by enqueing messages or by creating an instance through the Process Management APIs.

Before you begin

Starting an orchestration process by enqueueing messages

If you want to enqueue a message into one of the input queues of your orchestration process to start it, you must consider one of the following scenarios:

  • If you are using IBM Robotic Process Automation version 21.0.2 or lower and your orchestration process uses the IBM RPA queue server, you can only enqueue messages into input queues by using an IBM RPA script.

    1. In your script, add the Connect to IBM RPA Queue Server command.
      • Set Connection to ibmRpaQueueServerConnection.
    2. Add the Get Queue command to get the queue you want to add messages to.
      • Toggle Storaged Configurations on.
      • Select your queue from the Queue list. The queue must be an input queue of the orchestration process.
      • Set Queue Obtained to inputQueueInstance.
    3. Add the Enqueue command to enqueue your message.
      • Set Queue to ${inputQueueInstance}.
      • Toggle Queue Provider on.
      • In Inserted Item, enter your message.

    When this script runs, it enqueues the message set on the Enqueue command, which starts the orchestration process.

  • If you are using IBM Robotic Process Automation version 21.0.2 or lower and your orchestration process uses a third-party queue provider, you can enqueue messages either by using a script or by using the API of the third-party queue provider, if available.

    • To use a script, make you can use the previous sample procedure, replacing the Connect to IBM RPA Queue Server command with the appropriate command to connect to the third-party queue provider. See Commands from the Queue category for a list of the available connection commands.

    • To use the API of the third-party queue provider, refer to the documentation of the third-party queue provider for details.

  • If you are using IBM Robotic Process Automation version 21.0.3 or higher, you can use the Process Management APIs to create an instance, which enqueues the message. See Starting an orchestration process by creating an instance. You could also use an IBM RPA script to enqueue messages.

Starting an orchestration process by creating an instance

Starting from version 21.0.3, you can create an instance of an orchestration process through the Process Management APIs:

  1. You need to authorize your account by using the /v1.0/token endpoint. See Authentication APIs for details.
  2. Use the /v2.0/workspace/{workspaceId}/process endpoint from the Process Management APIs to get the ID of the orchestration process that you want to start.
  3. Use the /v2.0/workspace/{workspaceId}/process/{processId}/instance endpoint from the Process Management APIs to create the instance.

What to do next

You can monitor and manage the orchestration process in IBM RPA Control Center:

  1. Log in to your IBM RPA Control Center environment.
  2. In the side menu, click Workflow > Processes.
  3. Find your process and click the ellipsis button ⋮ and click Control Panel.