Process Designer interface

Before you start to build processes with IBM® Process Designer, you must understand the Designer interface and the tools and components available in the interface.

The Designer interface provides the tools to model your processes in IBM BPM. The following image and corresponding table describe the parts of the Designer that you interact with when modeling processes and implementing the steps in those processes.

This screen capture shows each area of the Designer interface as described in the following table.

Table 1. Description of numbered areas on the Designer interface image
Number	Area	Description
1	Main toolbar	Provides access to Designer, Inspector, Optimizer, and Process Center. The main toolbar is also where you go to save all open editors, take a snapshot, and view web help.
2	Library	Provides access to the library items for the current process application. You can create and edit library items, as described in Managing library items in the Designer view. Note: Users who have administrative access to the application control access to process applications. For more information, see Managing access to the Process Center repository.
3	Main canvas	The area in which you can graphically model your process. Each business process definition (BPD) automatically includes a start event and an end event. Two default lanes are included for user and system tasks.
4	Palette	Provides elements that you can use to model your process. You can hide the palette by clicking the colored border to the left of the available elements. To restore the palette and view the available components, click the same border.

Understanding process components

When you develop the process diagram in the Designer in IBM Process Designer, the following tools and components are available from the palette:

Table 2. Tools and components available from the palette
Component icon	Component name	Description
	Selection Tool	Enables you to select and move components on the diagram.
	Sequence Flow	Connect process components to establish the order in which the steps in the process occur.
	Lane	Adds a lane to your process diagram to hold the related activities and events that occur while the process runs. Lanes typically represent departments in a business organization. For example, you can add a Human Resources lane to hold all activities that members of the HR department must handle when a process runs.
	Phase	Adds a phase to illustrate the phases that occur while a process runs. For example, you can add a Planning phase to capture the activities across lanes that occur in an initial stage of a process. (The term phase replaces the term milestone that was used in previous releases, but the two terms are synonymous.
	Start Event	Starts a process. To manually start the process, you can select None as the implementation in the properties. If you want an incoming message or event to kick off the process, select Message from the implementation options in the properties.
	Activity	Models the steps in your process, choosing the implementation that is best suited for each particular step. To learn about the options for implementing activities, see Implementing activities.
	Gateway	Controls the divergence and convergence of sequence lines, determining branching and merging of the paths that a runtime process can take. To learn more about the types of gateways, see Converging and diverging flows.
	Intermediate Event	Used to indicate a point in a service when you want Process Designer to capture the runtime data for reporting purposes. Intermediate events can be attached to activities in your BPDs or they can be included in the process flow, which is connected with sequence lines. To learn more about the types of intermediate events and when to use each type, see Adding events to a BPD and Modeling events.
	End Event	Ends process execution.
	Note	Adds information about the overall process or each step in the process. Adding notes helps other developers understand your design.