Parallel Tasks (External Forms) activity

An activity that specifies a set of human tasks that must be completed before the process can go forward. This activity is usually used to request approval for a task from a group of approvers that can change.


Parallel Tasks activity

Configure the Parallel Tasks (External Forms) activity

To configure the Parallel Tasks (External Forms) activity, do the procedure in this topic.

Good to Know

  • In most text fields, you can use process data variables as an alternative to literal data values.
  • Use a Standard Task activity only if you do not want the form to start the process. If you want your form to start the process, use the Start Task (eForms) activity or Start Task (External Forms) activity.
  • Some information about third-party integrations is outside the scope of the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation, and it is the responsibility of the vendors who create and maintain these technologies to provide this information. This includes specific business uses cases and examples; explanations for third-party concepts; details about the data models and input and output data formats for third-party technologies; and various types of IDs, URL patterns, connection string formats, and other technical information that is specific to the third-party technologies. For more information, refer to Where Can I Find Information and Examples for Third-Party Integrations?

How to Start

  1. On the Application Explorer screen, do one of these:
  2. Do one of these:
    • Add an activity:
      1. In the Process Builder, in the Activity Library, open the External Forms External Forms icon tab.
      2. On the External Forms External Forms icon tab, drag the Parallel Tasks (External Forms) Parallel Tasks icon activity onto your process.
    • Change an activity:
      1. In your process, double-click your activity.

Procedure

  1. Complete the fields on the General Configuration screen.
  2. Click User Defined Properties User Defined Properties icon.
  3. Configure user defined properties on the User Defined Properties screen.
  4. Click Update Process Instance Variable Update Process Instance Variable icon.
  5. Set process data variables whose values you want to change a variable on the Update Process Instance Variable screen.
  6. Click Dynamic Parallel Configuration Dynamic Parallel Configuration icon
  7. Assigns participants and work to perform values on the Participants And Work To Performs screen.

    For more information, refer to Configure Parallel Approvals for External Forms.

  8. (Optional) ​When the task changes status, you can send notifications using e-mail, Yammer, Salesforce Chatter, Skype for Business, or SMS:
  9. (Optional) If you want to configure your task to show on a mobile device, click Advanced Advanced icon > Mobile View Mobile View icon.

    For more information, refer to Mobile View.

General Configuration

Specifies the basic settings for the Parallel Tasks activity.

Figure: General Configuration screen

General Configuration screen

Fields

Field Name Definition

Display Name
Function:
Specifies the activity name that shows in your process.
Accepted Values:
One line of text that can have spaces.
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
No
Example:
This is a common configuration field that is used in many examples. Refer to:
  • Examples - Step-by-step use case examples, information about what types of examples are provided in the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation, and other resources where you can find more examples.

Description
Function:
Specifies an optional text description for your activity.
Accepted Values:
More than one line of text.
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
No

Time to Complete
Function:
Specifies the maximum amount of time that should be allowed for the completion of the task associated with this activity before it is considered Overdue. This is a combination of a number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
Accepted Values:
A number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
Default Value:
1 Day
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes

User Defined Properties

Specifies ClientData process data variable values that are associated with a human task activity when a process runs. You can specify a set of variables as name/value pairs that are sent to your web forms. This is an alternative to sending data with URL parameters.

Figure: User Defined Properties screen

User Defined Properties screen

Fields

Field Name Definition

Name
Function:
Specifies the name for the ClientData.

The ClientData property stores data related to the human task activity. This is like defining a process data variable to store specific values.

Accepted Values:
One line of text that can have spaces.
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes
Limitations:

Some information about third-party integrations is outside the scope of the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation, and it is the responsibility of the vendors who create and maintain these technologies to provide this information. This includes specific business uses cases and examples; explanations for third-party concepts; details about the data models and input and output data formats for third-party technologies; and various types of IDs, URL patterns, connection string formats, and other technical information that is specific to the third-party technologies. For more information, refer to Where Can I Find Information and Examples for Third-Party Integrations?

Value
Function:
The value for the ClientData variable.
Accepted Values:
A number or a text string that can contain spaces.

You can set the value for the process data variable by using an XML value.

Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes
Limitations:

Some information about third-party integrations is outside the scope of the AgilePoint NX Product Documentation, and it is the responsibility of the vendors who create and maintain these technologies to provide this information. This includes specific business uses cases and examples; explanations for third-party concepts; details about the data models and input and output data formats for third-party technologies; and various types of IDs, URL patterns, connection string formats, and other technical information that is specific to the third-party technologies. For more information, refer to Where Can I Find Information and Examples for Third-Party Integrations?

Type
Function:
Determines the data type for the ClientData variable.
Accepted Values:
  • string
  • int
  • bool
  • decimal
Default Value:
string

Add Add icon
Function:
Creates a row where you can specify a ClientData property.

Delete Delete icon
Function:
Deletes the selected row from the user defined properties list.

Update Process Instance Variable

Updates a value for a process data variable based on a specified type of event.

Figure: Update Process Instance Variable screen

Update Process Instance Variable screen

Fields

Field Name Definition

Process Instance Variable
Function:
Specifies the name of the process data variable you want to update on the basis of an event type.
Accepted Values:
  • The name of process data variable to be updated.
  • You can also use the XML variable associated with the process.
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes
Example:

Value
Function:
Specifies a value for the process data variable that is set when an event occurs.
Accepted Values:
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes

When To Update
Function:
Specifies the event that causes the process data variable to be set to your value.
Accepted Values:
  • Enter - The process goes into the activity.
  • Assign - A task is assigned to a participant.
  • Cancel - A task is cancelled.
  • Complete - A task is completed.
  • Leave - The process goes out of the activity.
Default Value:
None

Add Add icon
Function:
Creates a row to add a process data variable, value, and event.

Delete Delete icon
Function:
Deletes the selected row from the variable list.

Participants and Work to Performs

Connects a list of parallel tasks with their participants.

Figure: Participants and Work to Performs screen

Participants and Work to Performs screen

Fields

Field Name Definition

Participant
Function:
Specifies the user to whom the task is assigned.
Accepted Values:
  • A text string that can contain spaces.
  • A list of predetermined variables.

You can specify only one user name in the Participant field. You cannot specify multiple participants such as group of users, or a user role for the task at a time. However, you can add multiple instances of a Work to Perform, each with a different Participant assigned.

Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
Yes

Work To Perform
Function:
Specifies the name of the task that shows in a participant's task list.

In most cases, for processes that use ASP.NET forms, this value also determines the file names for the .aspx form pages.

For the Web Form activity, this property does not set the file names for the web form. Instead use the Web Form URL. For more information, refer to Web Form Task (External Forms) activity.

Accepted Values:
A text string that represents the name of the task.
Default Value:
None
Accepts Process Data Variables:
No

Add Add icon
Function:
Adds a row for Participant and WorkToPerform where you can specify parallel tasks, and assign participants to complete them.

Delete Delete icon
Function:
Deletes the selected row.

Participant Type list
Function:
Specifies a category of participants to add to the task. The list of participants of the type you select shows.
Accepted Values:
Default Value:
Groups
Accepts Process Data Variables:
No
Example:
Refer to:

Search
Function:
Does a search based on the specified criteria.