AgileShapes

This section provides detailed information on the features, functionality, purpose, and intended usage of the AgileShape components included in the AgilePoint BPMS Suite. "AgileShape" is the collective term applied to all of the shapes (e.g. activities, conditions, end points, etc.) that can be used in an AgilePoint business process to represent an activity. AgilePoint Envision comes with several built-in AgileShapes for common business activities that can be grouped into three different categories; Basic, AgileParts, and AgileWorks.

The Basic AgileShapes are special activities that are used for modeling certain portions of business processes that are common among most (or all) process templates. These include Start and Stop points, conditional shapes (i.e. branching and decision flow shapes), etc.

An AgilePart is an AgileShape (either built-in or custom) that represents a specific automatic activity (e.g. Web Service, Insert Database, Copy Files, etc). It implements specific design-time features and runtime functionality that allows AgilePoint Server to perform (or cause to be performed via interaction with another server or system) the actual work represented by the AgileShape. In addition to the built-in AgileParts, you can also create your own custom AgileParts using the AgilePart project template included as part of AgilePoint Developer. Custom AgileParts allow application developers the extensibility framework to implement more complex process and application logic, and develop domain specific extensions.

An AgileWork is an AgileShape (either built-in or custom) that represents a specific Manual Activity (e.g. Manual, Web form, Vote, etc.). It implements specific design-time features and runtime functionality that allows AgilePoint Server to properly handle (e.g. assign, reassign, monitor, display, etc.) the actual task(s) represented by the AgileShape. In addition to the built-in AgileWorks, you can also create your own custom AgileWorks using the AgileWork project template included as part of AgilePoint Developer. Custom AgileWorks allow application developers the extensibility framework to implement more complex process and application logic, and develop domain specific extensions. An AgileWork is similar to an AgilePart, but for a Manual Activity instead of an Automatic Activity. The main differences between AgileParts and AgileWorks are the same as the differences between any automatic and manual activity. For example, Manual activities are usually assigned to participants, so AgileWork components have additional properties and functionality related to participants, participant reassignment, etc. that AgilePart components do not have.

The AgileShapes will be defined in accordance with the Visio Stencil Pane for which the AgileShape is associated.