Lesson 2: Get started with Design mode

In this lesson, use the car loan application diagram from lesson 1 as the starting point for a basic car loan application workflow. The descriptions and other information in the diagram guides the Business Analyst in implementing the workflow.

To implement the car loan application workflow:

1. In Process Designer, select Settings > Mode > Design.
2. Click File > Open and locate CarLoanApplication.pep.
3. Consider the data parameters and participants who process this workflow as follows:
   1. Data:
      • The applicant name and tax ID to check the credit
      • The loan amount
      • The down payment amount
   2. Activity Type:
      • For this fictitious business, some steps (CheckCredit and VerifyIncome) are processed by any one of a number of credit clerks.
      • Other steps are processed by specific participants.

   You do not need to identify all of the possible items that are needed for this workflow because you can create them as you go along.

4. For the steps that can be processed by any one of a number of users, create a work queue to hold the work until a clerk selects it for processing. The following steps show how to create a work queue.
   1. On the View menu, click Configuration.

      The configuration window provides access to the isolated region settings where you can configure queue, rosters, event logs, exposed data fields, and other options. An isolated region is a logical subdivision of the workflow database that contains the queues for the work items, event logs, rosters, and other configuration information. It also contains all transferred workflows and running work items.

   2. In the tree, click the isolated region to display items such as work queues, component queues, and user queues.
   3. Click Work Queues to display existing queues.

      Right-click Work Queues and click New.

      Enter Queue Name: Credit. Click Create.

   4. Right-click the new Credit queue and click Properties.

      The Queue Properties window opens. For this queue, you define the exposed fields that are used in searching for and sorting workflow tasks. Exposed fields also help to standardize field definitions across multiple workflows.

      Select the Data Fields tab and double-click in the first empty field name to define the following fields:

      Field Name	Field Type	Length
      ApplicantName	String	25
      TaxID	String	9
      LoanAmount	Integer
      DownPayment	Integer

      When you are finished defining the exposed fields, click OK to close the Queue Properties window.

   5. Click Commit changes on the Action bar to save your configuration changes.
   6. When the queue creation is complete, click the CarLoanApplication tab to return to the workflow map.
5. On the Action menu, click Workflow Properties to configure the data fields, attachments, and workflow groups that are used in this workflow.
   1. On the General tab, note the name of this workflow, CarLoanApplication, as specified in Lesson 1.

      Enter a Subject for this workflow: CarLoan. When the workflow is running, the subject appears in the list of work items that the participant can select.

   2. Click the Data Fields tab and then click Exposed Data Fields to display the data fields that are exposed in this isolated region.

      Select and move the fields that you created to the Selected Fields column. This action defines these fields in the current workflow definition. Click OK to save the selected data fields.

   3. Although you can assign specific users to process a step, it is more convenient to use workflow groups so that it is easier to change actual users when necessary. For this lesson, you can assign yourself to process most of the steps in this workflow.
      1. On the Workflow Groups tab, double-click in the empty Name field (under F_Trackers) and enter CreditClerks.
      2. On the Participants bar, click Modify to select users who are to be members of the CreditClerks Workflow Group. The Participant Selection dialog displays.
      3. On the Participant Selection dialog, select Users and in the Starts with field, enter the first few letters of your user name and click Search. Move your name to the Selected Users column for this workflow group and click OK.
      4. Use the same procedure to add Approver and assign yourself.
6. Click the LaunchStep on the map and complete the following steps to configure this step. At run time, the LaunchStep displays instructions for the launch user to enter any initial data values that are required for the workflow.
   1. In the Properties pane on the General tab, enter instructions for the person who launches this workflow. For this lesson, the instructions tell the user to enter their name, tax ID, loan amount, down payment amount, and specify themselves as a Tracker for this workflow.
   2. Specify the data fields that are to be available at this step.

      From the list, select ApplicantName, DownPayment, LoanAmount, and TaxID and move them to the Selected Parameters column.

7. Click the CheckCredit step. This step is to be processed by one of several credit clerks who all have access to work in the Credit queue.
   1. In the Properties pane on the General tab under Activity Type, click Work Queue and select the Credit queue.
   2. Click the Parameters tab and select ApplicantName and TaxID and add them to the list of parameters to be used in this step to check the credit of the applicant.
   3. Another data field is needed to hold the credit score. On the Selected Parameters bar:

      Add CreditScore, with the Type of Integer and with Read/Write access. Click the Expression field and select CreditScore to create the data field. Click Close.

      Notice that you can create data fields when necessary.

   There are no conditions for the route from the CheckCredit step to the DownPayment step.

8. Click the DownPayment step.
   1. In the Properties pane on the General tab, leave the Activity Type blank. This step is processed by the workflow system server.
   2. There are two possible routes from the DownPayment step. Use the following steps to specify the conditions for taking one route or the other.
      1. Select the first route (1 Yes) from DownPayment to the SetRate step. (This route must be identified as 1, the first route you created from this step. Workflow system evaluates the routes in sequential order.)
      2. In the Properties pane under Routing, specify the following conditions for taking this route.

         Field: CreditScore, Operator: is greater than, Value: 650. Click Add. Click OK.

         Field: DownPayment, Operator: is greater than, Value 1000. Click Add.

      3. If a route is not identified with the appropriate route sequence (that is, 2 instead of 1), you can change the routing sequence by doing the following steps:
         1. Select the Activity step from which the routes begin. In this case, click the DownPayment step.
         2. In the Properties pane, click the Routing tab.
         3. For Outgoing Routing Information, select First true conditions and change the sequence of the routes by selecting a route and clicking the up or down arrow.

      There is no need to specify the condition for route 2 from DownPayment to the VerifyIncome step because workflow system checks route 1 first. Any items that do not meet the conditions of the first route are directed to the second route. This routing means that any application that has a low credit score or no down payment is directed to the VerifyIncome step.

9. Click the VerifyIncome step. This submap step calls the submap CheckIncome. At runtime, when processing of the submap is complete, the workflow returns to the main map and continues as specified by the routing from the submap step.
   1. On the maps section of the toolbar, select CheckIncome.
   2. On the CheckIncome submap, click the ContactEmployer step.
   3. On the General tab under Activity Type, select Work Queue and Credit. The clerks with access to the Credit queue process this step.
   4. On the Parameters tab, select ApplicantName and IncomeAmount as parameters for this step.

      If IncomeAmount does not exist, you can create this data field as instructed in Step 7c.

   5. The following additional information is needed from the applicant for this step: the source of income. Open Workflow Properties (on the Action menu) and create the data field IncomeSource of Type string.

      This information is needed from the applicant at the launch step. On the Workflow Properties, click Field Usage in the Data Fields tab and add LaunchStep. Close Field Usage.

   6. On the maps section of the toolbar, select Workflow (Main Map) to return to the main workflow.
10. On the main map, select the first route (1 Hi) from VerifyIncome to SetRate to specify the conditions for taking the first route.
    1. On the Properties pane, click the Data Fields tab.
    2. Select Field: CreditScore, Operator: is greater than, Value: 650. Click Add. Click OK.
    3. Select Field: IncomeAmount, Operator: is greater than, Value: 50000. Click Add.

    There is no need to specify the condition for the second route from VerifyIncome. Any application that has a low credit score or low income (and no down payment) is rejected.

11. Click the SetRate step and specify the activity type and parameters:
    1. On the General tab, select Participants: Approver.
    2. For Parameters, select ApplicantName, CreditScore, DownPayment, and IncomeAmount.
12. Click the DenyApp step and specify the activity type and parameters:
    1. On the General tab, select Participants: Approver.
    2. For Parameters, select all of the parameters.

       Both the SetRate and DenyApp steps can be performed by an automated process (such as one that sends out a form letter). In this lesson, however, it is helpful to be able to open these steps in your inbox. In this way, you can confirm that the workflow ran as you expected. It might be helpful to add all of the data fields as parameters for these two steps so that you can see the data.

13. Click File > Save to save the workflow definition in your local file system.
14. To prepare the workflow for launch (in lesson 3), do the following steps:
    1. On the File menu, click Validate Workflow Collection. If errors are detected, click each error to highlight the step where the error was discovered. Correct all errors.
    2. On the File menu, click Transfer Workflow Collection. This action creates an executable binary version of this workflow definition in the isolated region on the workflow system server.