After you create a process definition in Flowable, you can import the process definition to
Cloud Pak for Data as a new workflow
type.
Each workflow type can contain multiple process definitions (or workflow templates) that have the
same start form properties and that are in the same namespace. For more information, see Designing and creating custom workflows.
Before you begin
- Required permissions
- To create a workflow type, you must have the Manage workflows
permission.
About this task
A workflow type defines the set of resources and configurations that support a specific business
process. For example, you can create a workflow type to manage requests for time off. For example, a
user might to request:
- Paid vacation
- Medical leave
- Bereavement
- Parental leave
Each type of request might require different request forms or approval from a different number of
managers. Therefore, you can create a process definition for each type of time off request. If each
process definition has the same namespace and the same start form, they can be included in the
workflow type for requests for time off.
Procedure
To import a process definition, follow these steps.
-
Log in to the Cloud Pak for Data web
client.
- From the navigation menu, select
.
- On the Types tab, click New workflow
type.
- Specify a name and a description for the workflow type.
- Click Next.
- Select the process definition files that you want to upload.
You can import
the following types of files to
IBM Cloud Pak for Data:
- BPMN files
- BPMN 2.0 XML files
- ZIP files that contain BPMN or BPMN 2.0
XML files and other resource files for the process definitions.
Important: Use ZIP import to import a complete workflow deployment. Deployments can
contain a variety of things like templates, images, or other files that the engine can use. In
particular, it can contain multiple templates that can refer to each other. Typically, there is one
main template and a set of helper templates in the same deployment that the main template references
for specific tasks. The overall collection of templates in a deployment can be versioned by changing
the file name of the main template.
Template BPMN files can also be deployed standalone, directly,
in which case the deployment only contains one template.
Note that templates are identified
by their key ID. If a template with the same ID already exists, it is overwritten regardless of the
filename.
Only the main templates are listed in the UI, helper templates are not listed even
if they are used. When importing a template you can use the template file name to convey information
about the version that is used. The displayed version number in the UI is just a counter, but does
not allow to recognize a certain specific file version. To recognize a certain file version, put
some recognizable text into the filename of the .bpmn file (not the ZIP file name) for a version
indicator, e.g. _v123 or a timestamp
_230713.
- Click Next.
- Review the summary.
If everything looks correct, click
Create.
- Open the workflow type that you created.
- On the Overview tab, specify which users can use this workflow
type to submit requests.
The following options are not mutually exclusive. You can use
either option or both options.
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Specify which permissions a user must have to use the workflow configurations |
- In the Access section, click Add permissions.
- Select the appropriate permissions from the list.
- Click Set.
To use the workflow configurations, a user must have at least one of the permissions.
|
| Specify which users can use the workflow configurations |
- In the Access section, click Add users.
- Specify the users that you want to give access to.
- Click Add.
The users who have explicit access to the workflow configurations do not need to have the
permissions that are specified in the Permissions table.
|
What to do next
After you import the process definition to Cloud Pak for Data, you can configure the workflows in
the process definition. For more information, see Configuring custom workflows.