Activities manipulate workflow relevant data. In the support case management process of ACME, a set of data items describes the support case. For example, a description of the problem, a reference to the customer reporting the problem, etc. is created by the Create Case activity and then passed to other applications to be changed or augmented with other data items related to the support case. The data structures or variable definitions used in this process must now be defined in the model. This tutorial uses the Structured Data type to represent the case data.
To start with:
Figure: Drag Support Case Data
Figure: Drag Support Case Data
The Support Case data keeps the information and makes it available for all activities in the process. The difference consists in the relationships between the support case data and the diverse activities. First, an instance of the Support Case Data needs to be created so it can be used by other activities. Init Data performs the object instantiation. In Enter Data the activity gives output of case information to the Support Case Data object instance. Then the activity Analyze To Solve uses the data (modified or supplemented within this activity) as both input and output. Finally, the remaining activities in the process use the same data element as the input data only.
To achieve this, you need to create data flows between data and activity. Then, you need to specify data paths for these activities.
So, let's start with creating a data flow between the data element and the Init Data activity
Figure: Create Data Flow - Init Data and Support Case Data
Now you have created a data flow between an activity and a data.
The next step is to specify data flow properties.
Figure: Click Data Flow
Figure: Data Flow Properties - Output Access Point
The Enter Data is the first activity in the process to interact with a human. The steps are similar to those used for the non-Interactive application.
Figure: Output Data Mapping
Figure: Support Case Data - Create Connection
Figure: Input Data Mapping
However, as Enter Data is a Manual activity you need to provide additional detail, so that later, the Stardust features can automatically render a user interface to present the data.
Figure: Data Flow between Data and Activity
Figure: Data Flow Property
to add a new data flow.
Figure: Data Flow - Customer ID
Similarly, add the following data mappings for the Enter Data activity.
| Name | Input/Output Data Mapping | Input/Output Data Path |
|---|---|---|
| CustomerName | Input and Output | Name |
| Input and Output | ||
| ProductName | Input and Output | Product/Name |
| Synopsis | Input and Output | Product/Synopsis |
The Data Flow is created as shown in the following screenshot:
Figure: Data Flow - Enter Data
The second human activity, Analyze To Solve, needs both input and output data mappings. The procedure is very similar to the one used for Enter Data activity.
Figure: Output Data Mapping
Figure: Support Case Data - Create Connection
Figure: Input Data Mapping
However, as Analyze To Solve is a Manual activity you need to provide additional detail, so that later, the Stardust features can automatically render a user interface to present the data.
Figure: Data Flow between Data and Activity
Figure: Data Flow Property
to add a new data flow.
Figure: Data Flow - Customer ID
Similarly, add the following data mappings for the Analyze To Solve activity.
| Name | Input/Output Data Mapping | Input/Output Data Path |
|---|---|---|
| CustomerName | Input | Name |
| Input | ||
| ProductName | Input | Product/Name |
| Synopsis | Input | Product/Synopsis |
| State | Input and Output | Product/State |
| Analysis | Input and Output | Product/Analysis |
The Data Flow is created as shown in the following screenshot:
Figure: Data Flow - Analyze to Solve
Deliver Patch is also an interactive activity which needs an In Data Mapping for e-mail (allowing the customer to be sent a software patch in this example).
Figure: Data Flow Property - Input Data Path - Email
Figure: Data Flow - Input Access Point