Tasks

This documentation describes the steps for modeling a process in the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio . You use the Process Development perspective in the Developer Studio for modeling executable processes. To model a process, you perform the following steps:

1. Creating a process composer project.

   You create a process composer project to model your process in it. After creating the process, you can execute it. For more information about creating a process composer project, see Creating a Project.

2. Creating a process.

   The process is the basis of your business process model. You create a process to put the process flow objects in it and to create connections between the flow objects. For more information about creating a process, see Creating a Process .

   You can create pools in the process to model a process, which involves more than one participant in the sense of a business entity or business role. For more information, see Defining Process Participants Using Pools .

   You can also create lanes within pools to organize and separate activities that are associated with different functions or roles in the process. For more information, see Defining Roles in the Process Using Lanes .

3. Creating a start point of the process.

   Creating a start point is the first step in the essential process modeling. You create a start point by creating a message start event flow object in the process. After creating a start event, you assign an event trigger to it to make the start event work. For more information about creating a start event, see Modeling Events .

   For more information about event triggers, see Creating Reusable Event Triggers .

4. Defining the process steps.

   After creating the start point of your process, you use the process composer to define the process steps. To do that, you do the following:

   • Create automated activities.

     The automated activity is a type of flow object in the process model that illustrates an activity the system performs. After creating an automated activity, you assign a service interface and define input and output data mappings of the automated activity to make the automated activity work. For more information about automated activities, see Modeling Automated Activities .

   • Create human activities.

     The human activity is a type of flow object in the process model that illustrates an activity performed by a human. For more information about human activities, see Modeling Human Activities .

     After creating a human activity, you assign a task and define an input and output data mappings of the human activity to make the human activity work. For more information, see Working with Tasks .

     You have to assign a user interface (UI) to the task to enable a human to execute the task. You have the option to assign either a Web Dynpro for Java (WDJ), Web Dynpro for ABAP (WDA) or Visual Composer (VC) UI component, or an Adobe form to your task. For more information, see Assigning a User Interface to a Task and Assigning an Offline Form to a Task .

   • Create sub-processes.

     The sub-process is a type of activity in the process model that illustrates another process, either independent and referenced by the parent process or dependent and embedded in the parent process. For more information, see Modeling Sub-Processes .

   • Create gateways.

     The gateway is a type of flow object in the process model that illustrates a merge or a split of your process model flow. You create a gateway to indicate that a decision must be made, or that the process flow must be split or merged depending on the given conditions. For more information about gateways, see Controlling the Process Flow with Gateways .

   • Create intermediate events.

     The intermediate event is a type of flow object in the process model that illustrates that the flow is delayed and is waiting for a message or for a certain time to pass. For more information about intermediate events, see Modeling Events .

   • Create data objects.

     The data object is a type of artifact that allows you to provide information about how data is used in the process model. You create a data object and set a data type to make it work. You illustrate how data is used with data mappings. For more information, see Creating Data Objects and Defining Data Mappings .

     You can also import and create from scratch an XSD file to define a different data type you want to use. For more information, see Importing XSD files and Creating and Editing XSD Files .

   • Create and edit functions

     You create functions to use them to perform complex data transformations. When you create functions, you define the function name and signature. For more information, see Performing Complex Data Transformation with Functions .

     You edit functions to define a function implementation, depending on the function type you have defined. For more information, see Editing Functions .

     You create expressions to implement expression functions. For more information, see Creating Expressions .

   • Create sequence flows.

     You create sequence flows to connect the flow objects in the process model and to define their order of performance. For more information, see Connecting Flow Objects in a Process .

   • Create message flows.

     You create message flows to show how messages flow between two separate process participants. In Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) two separate pools in the model represent these two participants. For more information about message flows, see Connecting Separate Process Participants with Message Flow .

5. Creating an end point of the process.

   Creating an end point is the final step of essential process modeling. You create an end point by creating an end event flow object in the process model. After creating an end event, you assign an event trigger to it to make the end event work. For more information about creating an end event, see Modeling Events .

   For more information about event triggers, see Creating Reusable Event Triggers .

   You can use error and escalation end events to model exceptions and exception handling in the process model. For more information, see Modeling Exceptions and Exceptions Handling .

6. Building and deploying the process.

   When you have finished modeling the process, you build the development component (DC) containing your project. After that you deploy the process, that is you install the process model definition on a runtime engine.

   After you deploy the process, you can analyze the process to improve process efficiency. For more information, see Performing Process Analytics .

7. Customizing BPM with the BPM APIs

   With the Business Process Management (BPM) application programming interfaces (APIs), you can customize and enhance the way you use business processes and execute tasks. For more information, see Working with the BPM APIs .

Optionally, you can also debug the process you have modeled. For more information, see Debugging Processes .