Case artifacts and the IBM BPM content store

Case management functions are only available if you have IBM BPM Advanced with the Basic Case Management feature installed.

Case artifacts are created or updated in the IBM BPM content store in the following ways:

When a playback occurs, that is, a case starts or a document is created in Process Portal. This takes place in the Process Center.
When a TWX file is imported into the Process Center.
When a snapshot is taken in the Process Center.
When a snapshot is installed on the Process Server.
When the document type is used in either a Content Integration step or event subscription that target the IBM BPM content store. The selection of the document type in the Process Center causes the update.

Behavior of the IBM BPM content store

In IBM Business Process Manager, a business process definition or a case starts from the tip or a named snapshot. However, a case not only consists of the activities that are run like a business process definition, but a case also has a case folder. The case folder is a separate artifact that is created in the IBM BPM content store for each case instance. For each case type, there is also a case folder definition in the IBM BPM content store. It is kept in synchronization with the case folder properties defined in the case type.

Unlike the IBM Business Process Manager repository, the IBM BPM content store does not save different versions of a case folder definition. Instead, all case folder properties that are defined in all snapshots and the tip are available in one case folder definition. At run time, changes to variables that are made in activities that use case folder properties are automatically synchronized to the case folder instance. Changes to the properties on the case folder instance are automatically synchronized back to the case instance, potentially causing a precondition change.

For document types, there is one document class definition in the IBM BPM content store that has all properties that are defined on all snapshots and the tip.

Cleaning up properties and removing case folder instances

For both case types and document types, a property might still be available in the deployed definition in the IBM BPM content store although it is not available in any snapshot or tip. This situation can happen if you deleted snapshots. It can also happen if you had a property on a tip and then deleted the property without taking a snapshot. For example, you have a snapshot that contains two case type properties. You continue to develop your application that is now on the tip. You remove one of the properties but do not take a snapshot. The property that you removed is still available in the corresponding IBM BPM content store artifact definition. To clean up these properties, use the cleanupDocumentStoreProperties command. See the related links at the end of the topic.

While a case folder is automatically created when a case instance is started, it is not cleaned up when the instance is finished and deleted. The case folder, its properties, and contained documents are kept for archival purposes. You need to explicitly remove them, for example, by using the IBM Administration Console for Content Platform Engine. The only exception to this rule is the removal of a process application in the Process Center. With the removal of the process application, all case folders and documents that belong to that process application are removed.