Modeling Automated Activities

Use

An automated activity is a type of flow object in the process that illustrates an activity that the system performs. First, you create an automated activity as a part of your process. To make the automated activity work, proceed as follows:

  1. Assign a service interface definition (WSDL file) of a Web service and an operation to the automated activity.

    When you create an automated activity, it has a SampleTimer service interface assigned to it by default. The default service interface enables you to model executable processes more easily and quickly. You can replace the default SampleTimer service interface with a new one.

    When the process is executed at runtime, the respective Web service is called and the automated activity is executed. You make service interface definitions available either by importing or manually creating them. You also create Service Groups for the service interfaces.

  2. Define input and output data mappings for the automated activity.

Prerequisites

You have opened the Process Development perspective in the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio and have expanded your project in Project Explorer view.

Procedure

1. Create the Automated Activity

  1. Expand Process Modeling , then expand Processes .

  2. In the context menu of a process, choose Open .

  3. Expand Flow Objects from Palette .

  4. Choose Automated from the dropdown menu, containing all the activities, and click the modeling surface.

    The automated activity appears in the place you clicked.

  5. Choose General in the Properties view and specify a name of the activity in the Name field.

  6. (Optional) Specify a description of the activity in the Documentation field.

2. Make Service Interfaces Available

You make service interfaces available in one of the following ways:

  • You can import service interface definitions. For more information, see Importing Service Interface Definitions .

  • You can create service interface definitions and define operations for them. For more information, see Creating Service Interface Definitions .

  • You can use the search capabilities in the Search Console view in the Developer Studio and directly drag and drop service interfaces from it to the modeling surface and over automated activities. For more information, see Browsing Services in Search Console .

  • You can import Remote Function Call (RFC) modules from ABAP back-end system. For more information, see Importing RFC Modules .

  • If you have installed the Process Integration and Orchestration Package, you can import operation mappings defined in ES Repository of SAP Process Integration.

    For more information see, Importing Operation Mappings (PI)

3. Assign Service Interfaces to Automated Activities

  1. Expand Process Modeling , then expand Processes .

  2. In the context menu of a process, choose Open .

  3. In the modeling surface, choose an automated activity.

  4. In the Properties view, open the Interface tab page.

  5. In the Service Interface field, select a service from the dropdown menu.

  6. In the Operation field, select an operation from the dropdown menu.

4. Create Service References

You create service references for the service interfaces you have assigned to automated activities. Service references enable the connection at runtime to the particular systems that provide the necessary Web services. You create service references to Service Groups, which you use to configure all Web services included in the group when you deploy your process. For more information, see Working with Service Groups .

If you use the default SampleTimer service interface in an automated activity, you do not have to create a Service Group and a service reference for this service interface. The Service Group for this service interface exists by default in your project and the service reference to it is created automatically.

5. Define Data Mappings

More information: Defining Data Mappings .