Specifying Activities

When you create a new activity in the Business Process Modeling perspective, by default, it creates a User task. You can create following types of activities in the Business Process Modeling perspective.

• Task
  • None Task - The None task can be specified to do nothing. You can use it for technical reasons, such as; to join transition conditions.
  • Manual Task - This icon represents the manual task. A performer should be assigned to execute the manual task.
  • User Task - This icon represents the user task. The user task has interactive application associated with it. A performer should be assigned to execute the user task.
  • Service Task- This icon represents the service task. The service task has non-interactive application associated with it.
  • Script Task - This icon represents the script task. The script task has Script Invocation application associated with it.
  • Send Task - This icon represents the send task. The send task has a JMS application associated with it.
  • Receive Task - This icon represents the receive task. The receive task has a JMS application associated with it.
  • Rule Task - This icon represents the rule task. The rule task has a Rule application associated with it.
• Subprocess - The plus sign in the center-bottom of the rectangle represents the subprocess task.

You can perform following operations on activities:

• Adding Activities
• Renaming Activities
• Deleting Activities
• Viewing Tooltip Text of Application Activity and Subprocess
• Using Activity Flyout Menu
• Viewing and Modifying Activity Properties

Adding Activities

You can add activities using four different ways:

• In the toolbar, click the Create Activity icon and drop it to swim lanes


Figure: Create Activity Icon

OR

• Hover the mouse in proximity of already added activity in swim lanes and click the Activity icon in the flyout menu


Figure: Create Activity - Flyout Menu

• Drop it in the swim lane

By default, the Manual task is created.

OR

• Drag an application from the Applications node of a model displayed under the My Process Models panel and drop it in the swim lane. Based on the application type the task gets created.

OR

• Drag a process definition from any model displayed under the My Process Models panel and drop it in the swim lane. The subprocess activity gets created.

For more information on activity connection, please refer to the section Rules for Connecting Elements.

Renaming Activities

To rename activities, perform the following steps:

1. Double-click activity name in the swim lanes
2. Specify the new name

Rename can be performed in the property panel of the element and by double-clicking element in the Process Diagram canvas.

Deleting Activities

To delete activities, perform the following steps:

1. Hover the mouse in the proximity of the activity
2. Click the Delete icon in the flyout menu of the activity


Figure: Delete Activity - Flyout Menu

Viewing Tooltip Text of Application Activity and Subprocess

To view the tooltip text of application activity, hover the mouse over the icon of application activity added in the process diagram canvas. If the description is added, then it is displayed in the tooltip.

Figure: Application Activity - Tooltip

Also, if you click the application activity icon, the application view of that application is displayed.

Similarly, you can view the name and description of the subprocess in tooltip, if provided.

Figure: Subprocess - Tooltip

If you click the subprocess activity icon, the process diagram canvas of referenced process is displayed.

Using Activity Flyout Menu

The activity flyout menu is displayed when you hover the mouse in the proximity of the activity.

Figure: Activity - Flyout Menu

Following menu options are available in the activity flyout menu.

Menu Icon	Menu Option	Description
	Delete	Deletes the activity.
	Connect	Starts a sequence flow or data flow with the activity as the first anchor point. Click the icon and connect it to another element.
	New Activity	Adds a new Manual task connected from the existing activity. Click the new activity icon and drop it on the swim lane.
	New Gateway	Adds a new gateway connection to the activity. Click the new gateway connection and drop it between the activities.
	New End Event	Adds a new end event to the activity. Click the new end event icon and drop it on the swim lane.
	New Intermediate Event	Adds a new intermediate event. Click the new intermediate event icon and drop it on the activity or between the activities.

Viewing and Modifying Properties of an Activity

General Properties

To view and modify the properties of an activity, perform the following steps:

1. Select the activity in the swim lane. The properties window is displayed at the top right corner of the swim lane.


Figure: Activity - General Properties

2. Specify the properties:
   • UUID - A unique identifier ID gets generated as an identifier for client server communication
   • ID - An ID generated automatically based on the activity name. If element with the same name exists then during ID generation, a numerical suffix gets added to the ID. If the element is renamed, the ID gets regenerated.

   The UUID and ID options are displayed only when you switch to Integrator profile.

   • Name - Specify name of the activity
   • Description - Specify the description
   • Allow Abort by Participant - Determines whether the assigned participant may abort instances of this activity in the Stardust Portal. Note that only the activity itself is aborted, not the root process hierarchy. The process instances will continue as if this activity had been completed. This option affects the Stardust activity operations only. It does not influence the Stardust API usage.
   • Hibernate Initially (Hibernate On Creation) - Determines whether the activity instance should directly change its state to hibernated after creation - thus ending the synchronous flow here.
   • Supports relocation -Determines if relocation is supported for this activity and it can be used as starting point for the relocation.
   • Is Relocation Target -Determines if the activity is allowed as target point of relocation. For details on relocation, refer to chapter Relocation of Activities Relocation of Activities of the Concepts handbook. Concepts handbook in the Stardust Documentation.
   • Task - Following task types are supported:
     • None Task
     • Manual Task
     • User Task
     • Service Task
     • Script Task
     • Send Task
     • Receive Task
     • Rule Task
   • Subprocess - If you select the option, the activity acts as a subprocess and the activity icon changes to subprocess icon with a plus sign in the center-bottom of the activity. The adjacent drop-down list displays all the processes defined in all the models displayed under the My Process Models panel.
     • Execution - This option provides the facility to decide whether process can be executed synchronously or asynchronously. By default, the Synchronous/Shared Data option is selected. The drop-down list contains following options:
       • Synchronous/Shared Data
       • Synchronous/Separate Data
       • Asynchronous/Separate Data
       The Copy All Data option is disabled for the Synchronous/Shared Data option, by default. The Execution option is displayed only when you switch to Integrator profile.

   
   Figure: Activity - Subprocess

   For more information, please refer to the chapter Configuring Subprocess Activities Configuring Subprocess Activities of the Modeling Guide. Modeling Guide in the Stardust Documentation.

Implementation

This option is available only when you switch to Integrator profile. Using this option, you can select the application which is implementing the logic for the task.

Figure: Implementation

For the Manual task, auto-generated screen defines the underlying logic.

Figure: Implementation - Manual Task

For all the other task, excluding Manual and None task, you need to select the defined application from the Application drop-down list. It lists the applications from the current model and other models displayed under the My Process Models panel, according to the selected task.

Figure: Implementation - User Task

Display

Click the Display icon.

Figure: Display Icon

Select the Is Auxiliary Activity checkbox to mark activity as auxiliary from business perspective.

Figure: Is Auxiliary Activity

Controlling Properties

Click the Controlling Parameters icon.

Figure: Controlling Properties Icon

The following controlling parameters are available for activities:

• Measure
• Target Measure Quantity
• Difficulty
• Target Processing Time
• Target Execution Time
• Target Idle Time
• Target Waiting Time
• Target Queue Depth
• Target Cost per Execution
• Target Cost per Second
• Resource Performance Calculation

Figure: Controlling

Comments

To add comments for activities, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Comments icon.


Figure: Activity - Comment Icon

2. Add comment in the text box and click Submit


Figure: Activity - Add Comment

3. To delete the comment, select the comment and click the Delete icon. The newest comment gets displayed at the top of the table. The user, who has submitted the comment, only that user can delete the comment. If the other user selects the comment or no comment is selected, the Delete icon remains in disabled state.