Use the BPM Engine for process and task management within your client.

Introduction

The BPM Engine in yuuvis® Momentum is provided by the BPM-ENGINE service based on the workflow functionality of the open-source software Flowable. In yuuvis® client as reference implementation, it can be integrated in order to support process and task management via the browser application.

Administrators can model process models (process-definitions in Flowable nomenclature) with the help of a Flowable modeler, pack them and export them as applications, and deploy the applications to the BPM-ENGINE in yuuvis® Momentum. Once deployed in such a manner, a process definition can be instantiated and executed in the engine. If process instances running in the bpm engine contain user tasks, they will be available in the Inbox of the user to whom they were assigned.

The following information is intended to support administrators to set up Flowable processes that are supported by the reference client.

Processes and Tasks in the Reference Client

yuuvis® client as reference implementation offers three specific views that allow users to handle processes based on Flowable:

Users can create follow-ups for each object via the action menu. The My follow-ups view lists all active follow-ups with their follow-up date.
The Inbox view lists all user tasks that are intended for the authenticated user, such as reminder tasks of follow-up processes that have reached their follow-up date.
As of version 2021 Autumn, all tasks of processes the currently logged-in user is assigned to are listed as well.
As of version 2021 Autumn, the new My processes view lists all processes started by the logged-in user.

Recommendations

If you start a process related to a document, the ID of the document should be saved in the process variable documentId. The reference client uses this variable to retrieve and display object details.
When starting a process, specify a meaningful value for the process property name since it will be shown in the Process column in the My processes view.
When modeling a workflow, specify meaningful names for Tasks, since they will be shown in the Task column in the Inbox view.

My follow-ups

This view lists the follow-up processes with the following specific properties:

Column in yuuvis® client	Corresponding Counterpart in BPM Engine	Description
Description (not available anymore as of version 2021)	Process variable `whatAbout`	The description that was entered while creating the follow-up.
as of 2021 Winter: Subject	Web-API Gateway parameter `subject`, represented as Flowable string variable `subject`	Set while creating the process.
Created on	Process parameter `startTime`	The time the follow-up (process) was created.
Follow-up date	Process variable `expiryDateTime`	The due date that was entered while creating the follow-up.
Status	Derived from process parameters `endTime` and `suspended`	Possible values for Status are `running`, `completed` and `suspended`.

Inbox

As of version 2021 Autumn, besides the follow-up tasks, the inbox lists all other BPM tasks as well. The following properties are displayed:

Column in yuuvis® client	Technical details	Description
Type	If the process parameter `processDefinitionName` is `Follow-up`, then `Follow-up`. Otherwise `Task.` As of 2021 Winter, an icon is displayed. If the process parameter `processDefinition.idPrefix` is `follow-up`, then a bell is shown and the tooltip shows `Follow-up`. Otherwise, a general process icon is shown and a tooltip with the localized prefix. If no localization is configured, the technical prefix is displayed.	The description that was entered while creating the follow-up.
Task	Task `name`	The time the follow-up (process) was created.
as of 2021 Winter: Subject	Web-API Gateway parameter `subject`, represented as Flowable string variable `subject`	Set while creating the process.
Received as of 2021 Winter: Received on	Task `CreateTime`	The date and time the task was created. The value corresponds to the due date that was entered while creating the follow-up.

My processes

As of version 2021 Autumn, all processes including follow-ups are listed as soon as they are started by the user. The following properties are affected:

Column in yuuvis® client	Technical details	Description
Type	Process-definition parameter `processDefinitionName` As of 2021 Winter, an icon is displayed. If the process parameter `processDefinition.idPrefix` is `follow-up`, then a bell is shown and the tooltip shows `Follow-up`. Otherwise, a general process icon is shown and a tooltip with the localized prefix. If no localization is configured, the technical prefix is displayed.	Process definition name
Process (not available anymore as of version 2021)	Process-instance parameter `name` (as set when starting the process instance)	Process instance name (e.g., a case number)
Created on	Process-instance parameter `startTime`	The time the process was created.
Status	Derived from the process-instance parameters `completed` and `suspended`	The status of the process can be running, suspended, or completed. The status is given in the user's language.

Starting a Process for an Object via a Plug-in Action

The object actions can be extended with a plug-in action that can be offered in the MORE ACTIONS action group. The following example shows the Two step process action, which starts a process based on the twosteptest_proc process model (mapped to Flowable processDefinitionKey) for a single marked object or for multiple selected objects. Beginning with 2021 Winter Alph2, the objects are shown in the attachment task of the task details for a selected task in the inbox.

To provide the example Two step process action in a client, import the client plugin settings file shown below. To be able to import a settings file, users will need an administrative role.

The twosteptest_proc process model has to be deployed to the Flowable BPM engine.

Client Settings for an Example 'Two step pocess'

{
  "disabled": false,
  "actions": [
    {
      "id": "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.label",
      "label": "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.label",
      "description": "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.description",
      "priority": 0,
      "icon": "<svg height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" width=\"24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"> <path d=\"M0 0h24v24H0V0z\" fill=\"none\"></path> <path d=\"M4 10h12v2H4zM4 6h12v2H4zM4 14h8v2H4zM14 14v6l5-3z\"></path> </svg>",
      "group": "further",
      "range": "MULTI_SELECT",
      "isExecutable": "(item) => item.id",
      "run": "(selection) => this.http.post('/bpm/processes', {businessKey: selection[0].id, name: selection[0].title || selection[0].id, processDefinitionKey: 'twosteptest_proc', attachments: selection.map((s) => s.id), subject: selection[0].title, variables: [{ name: 'myVariable', type: 'string', value: 'Lorem ipsum' }]},'api-web').then(() => this.util.notifier.success(this.util.translate('yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.success')))"
    },
    "yuv-download-action",
    "yuv-delete-action",
    "yuv-delete",
    "yuv-upload",
    "yuv-upload-action",
    "yuv-move-action",
    "yuv-move",
    "yuv-follow-up-action",
    "yuv-follow-up",
    "yuv-reference-action",
    "yuv-open-context-action",
    "yuv-open-versions-action",
    "yuv-clipboard-action",
    "yuv-clipboard-link-action"
  ],
  "translations": {
    "en": {
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.label": "Two step process",
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.description": "Starts simple process with two steps, also for many objects",
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.success": "Process has started"
    },
    "de": {
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.label": "Zweischritteprozess",
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.description": "Startet einen einfachen Prozess mit zwei Schritten, auch für mehrere Prozesse",
      "yuv.custom.action.two.step.multi.success": "Prozess wurde gestartet"
    }
  }
}

Handling of Task Forms

As of version 2021 Winter, the Inbox view displays tasks in task forms that can be configured in order to provide a specific form for a specific Flowable task. The configuration can be done via following steps:

Display the task in the Flowable process modeler and write a technical name into the property FormKey.
Define your configuration in a JSON file as shown below.
Save this form using the configuration endpoint in the admin-controller or system-controller of the Web-API Gateway. Use the value of FormKey for the path parameter name of the configuration.
>> POST /api-web/api/admin/resources/config/{name} or POST /api-web/api/system/resources/config/{name}

The client is calling this configuration file using the corresponding endpoint of the resource-controller of the Web-API Gateway.

Structure of the JSON Configuration File

The JSON format for task forms is the same as used for the object forms. Thus, the complete feature set is supported here as well.

The Flowable variable names are specified as values for the key name. We recommend user task names with a prefix (in the example: 'xyz') for easier localization.

If the variable has not been used in the process until the form is called, after saving the form the given values are saved to these variables.

The property types used in forms for yuuvis® Momentum objects can be used for the Flowable variable types as well. Only the yuuvis® property type 'decimal' is mapped to the Flowable variable type 'double'.

The yuuvis® table properties are saved as in a variable of type JSON.

All other attributes given in this example are mostly self-explanatory.

{
  "name": "twosteptest_proc:1st_task",
  "situation": "EDIT",
  "script": "",
  "elements": [
    {
      "name": "core",
      "type": "o2mGroup",
      "elements": [
        {
          "type": "o2mGroup", 
          "layout": {
              "align": "row"
          },
          "elements": [
           {
              "type": "o2mGroup", 
              "name": "xyzSimplefields",
              "layout": {
                  "align": "column"
              },
              "elements": [
                {
                  "name": xyzDatetime",
                  "type": "datetime",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzDate",
                  "type": "datetime",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false,
                  "resolution": "date"
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzInteger",
                  "type": "integer",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzDecimal",
                  "type": "decimal",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzString",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "rows": 1,
                  "readonly": false                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzStringmultirow",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "rows": 3,
                  "readonly": false
                }
              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "o2mGroup", 
              "name": "xyzComplexfields", 
              "layout": {
                  "align": "column"
              },
              "elements": [
                {
                  "name": "xyzEmail",
                  "type": "string",
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["email"]
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzUrl",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["url"]
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzPhone",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["phone"]
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzUser",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["id:organization"]
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzReference",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["id:reference[]"],
                  "label": "Reference"
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzCatalogcustom",
                  "type": "string",
                  "required": false,
                  "cardinality": "single",
                  "readonly": false,
                  "classifications": ["custom:catalog[/api-web/api/dms/catalogs/tenKolibri:processstatus]"],
                  "label": "Catalog status"
                },
                {
                  "name": "xyzBroc:boolean",
                  "type": "boolean",
                  "required": false,
                  "readonly": false,
                  "label": "Boolean"
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "xyzTest_table",
          "type": "table",
          "required": false,
          "readonly": false,
          "label": "Notices",
          "description": "List of notices",
          "elements": [
            {
              "name": "xyzColumn_string",
              "type": "string",
              "required": false,
              "cardinality": "single",
              "readonly": false,
              "label": "String"
            },
            {
              "name": "xyzColumn_date",
              "type": "datetime",
              "required": false,
              "cardinality": "single",
              "readonly": false,
              "label": "Date"
            },
            {
              "name": "xyzColumn_user",
              "type": "string",
              "required": false,
              "cardinality": "single",
              "classifications": ["id:organization"],
              "readonly": false,
              "label": "User"
            },
            {
              "name": "xyzColumn_boolean",
              "type": "boolean",
              "required": false,
              "cardinality": "single",
              "readonly": false,
              "label": "Boolean"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "data",
      "type": "o2mGroupStack",
      "elements": [],
          "layout": { "align": "column" },
          "label": "Table group"
    }
  ]
}

This is an example of Flowable representation of a yuuvis table property. Tables are only shown up in a form where the types of the column properties are added as seen above.

    {
      "name": "twosteptest_proc:test_table",
      "type": "json",
      "value": [
        {
          "twosteptest_proc:column_string": "abc",
          "twosteptest_proc:column_date": "2021-09-07T17:31Z",
          "twosteptest_proc:column_user": "2685df3a-1cf8-4da3-968c-0a4a10b48921",
          "twosteptest_proc:column_boolean": true
        }
      ],
      "scope": "global"
    },

Connection of BPM Engine