Versions of a Workflow Definition 
Versions of a Workflow Definition
Use
The system administers several versions of one workflow definition within a validity period for a multistep task. One of the versions of a workflow definition is its active version.
The import and export parameters of the workflow container are not subject to any versioning.
To check which version of the workflow definition you are processing, select 
in the Workflow Builder. The version number is displayed on the tab page Control. An overview of all versions of the workflow definition can be found on the tab page Overview. The status of the workflow definition is displayed in the header.
A workflow always refers to the version of the workflow definition active at the time it is started.
Even if subsequently a new version of the workflow definition becomes the active version, workflows still running continue to refer to the version active when they were started.
Features
Calling the Workflow Builder
When the Workflow Builder is called, the active version is displayed as standard. If there is no active version, the version with the highest version number is displayed. For further information, refer to
Calling the Workflow Builder.Saving and activating workflow definitions
When a workflow definition is saved, the old version is overwritten automatically. After being saved, the workflow definition has the status revised.
To set the workflow definition to status active, you select 
. The workflow definition is first subjected to a syntax check. Any errors and warnings discovered are displayed in the message area of the Workflow Builder. Only if errors are found, is the workflow definition not activated. If no errors are found (no red traffic lights in the message area), the workflow definition is saved and activated.
If you save and activate a workflow definition, current workflows that refer to this version of the workflow definition may no longer be executable.
Generating a runtime version of a workflow definition
You can generate a runtime version without activating the workflow definition. To do this, you choose Workflow ® Generate runtime version.
New version of a workflow definition
To generate a new version, you choose Workflow ® Generate version. The workflow definition is set to status new, saved.
In order not to increase the memory space requirements for workflow definitions excessively, you should only generate a new version under the following circumstances:
As long as you are still in the test and development phase, you do not usually have to create new versions.
Transporting a workflow definition
If a workflow definition is transported into another system, only the active version is transported. In the target system, an existing workflow definition with the same version number is overwritten if there are no current workflows for it. Otherwise, the transported workflow definition is saved with a free version number. The transported workflow definition becomes the active workflow definition in the target system.