Procedure

An activity that is tied to a system task and performed on the server side. In general, an automated activity is for performing a task between two or more systems such as application integration. Examples of automated activities include generating a report at the end of a process, updating a database when a request is approved, etc. AgilePoint provides various ways to integrate with applications, synchronously or asynchronously, through C#, VB.NET, managed C++, COM, XML Web Service, Messaging queue, etc.

This AgileShape should only be used within process templates that are (or will be) associated with an AgileStub (created using AgilePoint Developer). The AgilePart and WebService AgileShapes do not require the creation of an AgileStub, and can often be used instead of this AgileShape.

Design Time Properties

The following properties are always available for all instances of the AgilePart AgileShape. However, additional design-time properties will often be available for specific instances of the AgilePart AgileShape. The names, purposes, effect, and availability of these additional design-time properties will depend upon the specific .NET class associated with the AgilePart AgileShape instance.

(Name)

The display name of the AgileShape.

ReadOnly

Default value: Procedure.xxx

(UID)

ReadOnly

Default value: Procedure.xxx

The ID that uniquely identifies this AgileShape from all others within the same process template.

Description

Optional

This property is ignored at runtime. This property is primarily used as a means of recording additional notes, comments, and details about this AgileShape in order to make the process template more understandable to process modelers.

TimeSpan

Default value: 10 Minute(s)

Specifies the maximum amount of time that should be allowed for the completion of the activity associated with this AgileShape before it is considered overdue.

BusinessTime

Default value: False

Determines whether the time span represents normal time, or business hours only. This property can be set to the following specific values:

• True
  When set to this value, the time span represents a span of business hours only. E.g. 5 Days of business time would normally be equivalent to 7 Days of normal time, and 8 hours of business time would normally be equivalent to 24 hours of normal time. As an example, if business hours are configured as 9am to 5pm and a Manual AgileShape activity with a TimeSpan of 6 Business Hours is entered at 4pm on Tuesday, then the activity must be completed by 2pm on Wednesday.
• False
  When set to this value, the time span represents a normal (absolute) time span, and is unaffected by any business time configuration settings.

Length

Default value: 10

The number of time units represented by the time span.

Time Unit

Default value: Minute

The type of time unit represented by the time span. This property can be set to the following specific values:

• Second
• Minute
• Hour
• Day
• Week
• Month

Work To Perform

The name of the method that should be invoked when this AgileShape is entered at runtime. The specified method must be defined (using a specific method signature) within the AgileStub associated with the process template. Refer to the AgileStub section of the AgilePoint Developer section for additional information.

Incoming Email

Optional

The name of an Email Template that should be used to generate an automatic email notification when this AgileShape is entered at runtime. If this property is left blank, then an email notification will not be sent automatically when the AgileShape is entered at runtime. If this property is not blank, then an email notification will be dynamically constructed and sent at runtime (when the AgileShape is entered) using the specified Email Template.

Outgoing Email

Optional

The name of an Email Template that should be used to generate an automatic email notification when this AgileShape is exited at runtime. If this property is left blank, then an email notification will not be sent automatically when the AgileShape is exited at runtime. If this property is not blank, then an email notification will be dynamically constructed and sent at runtime (when the AgileShape is exited) using the specified Email Template.

Asynchronous

Default value: False

This property determines whether this AgileShape is exited immediately after invoking the .NET method associated with this AgileShape, or only after the associated method has finished executing. This property can be set to the following specific values:

• False
  This value indicates that the AgileShape invoke its associated .NET method synchronously. The AgileShape will only be exited (at runtime) after the associated method has finished executing.
• True
  This value indicates that the AgileShape invoke its associated .NET method asynchronously (i.e. in a separate thread). The AgileShape will be exited (at runtime) as soon as the associated method has been invoked, regardless of whether the method has finished executing. This property setting is typically used to initiate long-running procedures when the rest of the process will be unaffected by any possible work that the procedure might perform.

Audit Level

Default value: High

This property determines the amount of process related data that is recorded to the workflow database. This property can be set at either the Process Template Properties layer or at the individual AgileShape layer. This property allows you to control the level of granularity in terms of the amount of process related data that is recorded to the workflow database.

There is no direct relationship between audit level at the Process Template level and AgileShape level. Audit level at the Process Template level does not explicitly over write the audit level at AgileShape level. Deletion of database records at the AgileShape level happens first, then followed by deletion at the Process Template level.

If the audit level for a manual activity is set to high, and the audit level of a Process Template is set to low, then after leaving the manual activity, all the records of manual work items will be kept, then later when the whole process is completed, the manual work items with status of ‘New’ and ‘Removed’ will be deleted.

This property can be set to the following specific values:

• High
  This value indicates that AgilePoint will record all data about the activity or process to the database. If the audit level is set to high, all records will be kept once the process completes (for process template level) or when an activity is exited (for activity level). This audit level feature can’t guarantee the records are kept forever, as there might be other reasons/behaviors (for example, if you have a custom AgileConnector that deletes the records) that cause the records to be deleted later.
• Low
  This value indicates that AgilePoint will only allow a certain amount of data to be recorded to the database. This option provides a level of control over the granularity of AgilePoint process-related data that is stored in the AgilePoint workflow database, giving some flexibility in the audit trail records by filtering out unnecessary data.

Audit level at Process Template level

• Manual activity (Generic manual activity and AgileWork)
  After the process is completed (reaches ‘STOP’ activity):
  
  If audit level is set to high all records will be kept at the movement of process completion. If audit level is set to low, the records for manual work items with status of ‘Removed’ and ‘New’ will be deleted from the database. After leaving the manual activity, the manual work items with status of ‘Removed’ will be deleted first, then after the whole process is completed, the manual work items with status of ‘New’ will be deleted. Also the records for unreached activity instances will be deleted from the database. For example, this is useful if you assign a group to this manual activity. Manual work items with status of ‘Removed’ and ‘New’ are not meaningful data after the process completed.
  
  
• Automatic activity
  Not supported for now. No action will be taken.

• Manual activity (Generic manual activity and AgileWork)
  If audit level is set to high, all records will be kept at the movement of leaving the activity. Note: one manual activity can have multiple work items at a time.
• Automatic activity (AgilePart only, not including AgileStub)
  If audit level is set to high, all records will be kept at the movement of leaving the activity. If audit level is set to low, the record of auto work item will be deleted from database after leaving the activity. No record will be kept for this particular activity. For example, this is useful if you have a ‘Delay’ AgilePart that goes through a large number of loops. Usually customers are not interested in the information about the ‘Delay’ AgilePart, so setting the audit level for ‘Delay’ AgilePart to low, will delete the record immediately and the database size will not grow as fast.
  
  

Wait All Incoming

NOTE: This property is ignored at runtime unless the AgileShape has multiple In-Connectors.

Default value: False

When an AgileShape has multiple direct predecessors (i.e. it has multiple In-Connectors leading directly from other AgileShapes), this property determines how many of the predecessor AgileShapes must be exited (at runtime) before this AgileShape can be entered (at runtime). This property can be set to the following specific values:

• False
  This value indicates that the AgileShape will be entered (at runtime) as soon as any one of the AgileShape’s direct predecessors are exited (at runtime).
  
  NOTE: This value is functionally equivalent to using the Or AgileShape (with Exclusive property set to False) between this AgileShape and its direct predecessors.

• True (Dynamic)
  This value indicates that the AgileShape will be entered (at runtime) only after all of the AgileShape’s “enterable” direct predecessors are exited (at runtime). If any of the direct predecessors are un-enterable (e.g. they will never be entered in this process instance because conditional logic in the process bypassed them) and therefore un-exitable, then those predecessors are not required to be exited before this AgileShape is entered.
  
  NOTE: This value is functionally equivalent to using the And AgileShape (with the Dynamic property set to True) between this AgileShape and its direct predecessors.

• True (Static)
  This value indicates that the AgileShape will be entered (at runtime) only after all of the AgileShape’s direct predecessors are exited (at runtime).
  
  NOTE: This value is functionally equivalent to using the And AgileShape (with the Dynamic property set to False) between this AgileShape and its direct predecessors.
  
  NOTE: If any of the direct predecessors are un-enterable (see above), then this AgileShape will never be entered, and the process instance may be permanently delayed at this AgileShape.