Defining Blocks 

Purpose

Blocks are used to order the actions in the way that they should appear in the process at runtime. Using blocks, you can create more complex flows, such as loops, decisions, parallel execution, and so on. In addition, by combining actions into blocks, and managing roles and parameters, you can define process contributors, data flow, and other important aspects of a process.

In the Order Office Material process, blocks of different types are used:

·        Sequential (the actions are executed sequentially) – Display List and Select Loop Body, Order From List, Order with Order Number

·        Postconditional loop (the actions in the loop body are executed once and the loop condition occurs afterwards) – Display List and Select Loop

·        Alternatives (the following action depends on the user’s decision to choose an alternative) – Order Office Material

Prerequisites

·        To create objects in the Guided Procedures design time, you must hold the GP Business Expert portal role.

·        Basic knowledge of the Guided Procedures design time tools is also required, since this documentation does not describe in detail the procedures for creating objects.

Process Flow

The definition of the blocks used in the Order Office Material process goes through the following steps:

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       1.      A block is created by filling in its basic data – name, description, type, original language, and location.

       2.      The block flow is defined.

¡        Existing actions, blocks, and even processes can be inserted in the flow of a sequential or a parallel block.

¡        For loops, a decision action for loops is required, as well as a block that defines the loop body.

¡        For alternatives, a complex decision action with multiple result states is required.

       3.      Parameters and roles are consolidated.

This step is necessary when the block contains multiple items in its flow, and you want to transport data from one activity into the other. To do that, you consolidate the parameters of the relevant activities. Note that only parameters of the same type may be consolidated.

Role consolidation is a convenient way of defining that multiple activities are executed by the same person or group at runtime. A separate role is generated for each action that is added to the block flow. You can consolidate them only once in the highest-level block In the Order Office Material example, this is done in the Order Office Material block.

Result

The block can be used in a process flow.

The following sections describe the parameters of the blocks used in the Order Office Material process. The modeling approach is bottom-up – that is, the most low-level components are created first, and are used in the higher-level blocks.

The following documentation does not provide detailed instructions on how you create blocks using the GP design time tools.

To familiarize yourself with the detailed procedures, see Block Design.