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Workflow Designer Toolbar Function
| Icon | Function |
|---|---|
 | Changes to the workflow are save periodically. The Save button saves the current changes made now. This does not make the current workflow active but simply saves the changes. The right hand side of the toolbar will indicate the workflow has been modified. |
 | The Publish button makes the current workflow the active workflow to be used by all relevant alarms raised after it has been published. In the event the workflow is not in a state that it can be published a list of errors will be displayed. Clicking on each error in turn will take you to the activity that requires correcting and where possible the offending variable will have a red border. |
 | Clear will remove all components from the current workflow effectively erasing the workflow with the exception of the required start and finish activities. |
 | The Discard button will remove your modified workflow completely and reload the workflow designer with a copy of the current published workflow. |
 | The Delete button deletes the complete workflow. Existing alarms currently being processed will continue to be processed however no workflow will be available for any alarms that are mapped to this workflow if it has been deleted. |
 | Exit will ask you to confirm you wish to exit the Workflow Designer application. If you select Yes you will be returned to the workflow definitions page. |
 | The Zoom In button will enable you to get a more detailed view of larger workflows. Zoom in will enlarge the workflow activities until a maximum size is reached. |
 | The Zoom Out button enables a more complete view of the overall workflow as opposed to individual activities. |
 | Auto scale will centralize and scale the workflow to an optimal width view as seen with the activity and property windows hidden. The activity and properties windows are hidden or displayed by clicking on the drawing pin icon. |
 | Select all selects all activities in the workflow. Click an activity to select it or hold the Shift key and click to select multiple activities. |
Workflow Activity Properties Summary
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The Days Until Expiry is output to a variable of type Integer. It contains the number of days until the contract expires.
Anchor GetTagDetails GetTagDetails
Get Tag Details
| GetTagDetails | |
| GetTagDetails |
Description
The Get Tag Details activity lists through a tag objects, and returns all key, value pairs associated with that tag. For example:
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
Input
Tag
This is the tag object. A tag object is a customizable identifier associated with a customer, location, or equipment. A tag object can be retrieved via the Get Tags activity.
Output Mapping
Category
The category name of the tag
Key
The Keys associated with the tag. A tag can have 0, 1, or several keys associated with it.
Value
The value of the key - each key can have an optional text value associated with it.
Anchor GetTags GetTags
Get Tags
| GetTags | |
| GetTags |
Description
The Get Tags activity retrieves all tags associated with an entity identifier, which can be a customer ID, Location ID, or Equipment ID. For example for an alarm, it might be the equipment ID the alarm was raised against - and this would then retrieve all tags associated with that equipment.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
Input
Tag Entity Level
This receives an ID, either customer, location, or equipment.
Include Inherited Tags
Tags are may be inherited downwards from Customer → Location → Equipment. This means a tag associated at the customer level, will typically also be associated with all locations for that customer, and all equipment under each of those locations. Checking this box will retrieve all inherited tags.
Output Mapping
Tag List
Produces a list of tags associated with the given ID, these may then be passed through to the Get Tag Details activity to retrieve specific information about the tag.
Logical Activities
Start Activity
Description
The start activity is required as the entry point to all activities. Here global variables are defined to be used throughout the workflow.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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A parameter is a variable that will be passed into the workflow by the triggering event such as an alarm. The alarm for example passes in a number variable parameters such as the alarm ID, alarm level, business partner id and customer id.
| Parameter Name | Parameter type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AdministeredId | String | The administered ID of the object that raised the alarm such as a circuit board location or a station number. |
| AlarmDescription | String | A long text description of the alarm that has been raised. |
| AlarmEventName | String | The text name of the alarm that has been raised. |
| AlarmId | GUID | A unique ID for this alarm. This GUID is used to reference this specific alarm such as in the Alarm Active activity to determine if the alarm is still active or has been resolved. |
| AlarmLevel | String | The alarm level provided by the alarming device: Information, minor, major, fatal |
| AlarmResponseId | String | |
| AlarmState | String | |
| BusinessPartnerId | GUID | A unique ID for a business partner. Note the Get Business Partner Details activity correctly uses the Customer ID to determine the appropriate business partners details to return. |
| CreatedDateTime | DateTime | The date and time the alarm was generated. |
| CustomerId | GUID | A unique ID for each customer. Used in both the Get Customer Details and Get Business Partner Details as the input parameter. |
| DisplayName | String | |
| EquipmentId | GUID | A unique ID for the equipment that generated the alarm. Used in the Get Equipment Details activity to return more information regarding the equipment. |
| LocationId | GUID | A unique ID for the location that generated the alarm. Used in the Get Location Details activity to return more information regarding the location. |
| OriginatingProbeName | String | For future use. Currently fixed to "Unknown" |
| OriginationProbeId | String | A unique identifier for the software probe that raised the alarm. For future use. |
| RecommendedAction | String | The recommended action for an alarm as defined in the alarm details. |
| Severity | Integer | The severity of the alarm raised. A value from 0 - 10. |
| SiteId | Integer | The numerical site ID. |
| SiteName | String | A text site name as defined |
| Vendor | String | The name of the vendor of the equipment that raised the alarm. |
| CalloutListId | GUID | A unique ID of the callout list that should be used in this workflow. The callout list is defined in the alarm rules that initiated this workflow. |
| ServerInstanceId | String | |
| ShortAlarmDescription | String | A text description of the alarm limited to a maximum of 50 characters. This is for use when including an alarm description within an SMS message with the intention that when combined with other message content the total length is less than 160 characters generating only a single SMS message. |
An icon above the variable will indicate whether the variable is a parameter or output as shown below for SiteID and NewOutput. The menu button to the left of the variable name enables you to set or unset the variable as parameter or output, or to delete the variable altogether. To add a new variable add a variable name to the empty entry at the bottom of the list. As you add a new variable, a new empty entry will automatically be added to the list.
Finish Activity
Description
The finish activity is added automatically to all workflows when they are created. It has a Name and Description but no other properties or functions other than terminating the work flow.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
Assign Activity
Description
The Assign activity is used to perform an operation on parameter 1 using parameter 2. The available operators are Plus, Minus, Multiply, Divide and Mod. The operators available to select from will be dependent on the type of parameter selected. For example when the parameter 1 is of a type string the only operator available will be 'Plus' in which case parameter 1 will be concatenated with parameter 2.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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- Plus - Numeric addition when operating on numerical values. Concatenation when operating on strings.
- Minus - Numeric subtraction when applied to numerical values. Returns the result of Parameter 1 minus Parameter 2.
- Multiply - Numeric multiplication when operating on numerical values.
- Divide - Numeric division when applied to numeric values. Returns the result of Parameter 1 divided by Parameter 2.
- Mod - Numeric modulus when applied to numeric values. Returns the remainder when Parameter 1 is divided by Parameter 2.
For Each Activity
Description
The For Each activity takes a collection such as a call out list as an input and will iterate through until it reaches the end of the collection. The For Each activity has two outputs. While the activity has items in the collection to process, the workflow will follow the True branch passing the item to the next activity. This branch should then loop back to the For Each so that the next item may be processed. When the collection is exhausted the For Each activity will follow the False branch enabling the workflow to exit the loop.
Each item passed from the For Each activity may be used for further processing. An example of this would be to get a call out list for an alarm and pass that to the For Each activity. The For Each activity will then pass each item in the call out list where each item is an engineers details, to a GetCalloutDetails activity which retrieves the email address for the engineer item being passed. An email is sent to the engineer and the process loops back to the For Each activity. In this way an email is sent to all users in the call out list before exiting at the end of the collection.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
Input
Collection
The input collection will most likely be provided by a defined list of items such as a list of call out details of engineers generated by the GetCalloutList activity for example. The output from the GetCalloutList is fed into the ForEach activity and then iterated through. The items available for input selection as a collection will only contain those items that are of type collection which will require population as part of the workflow.
Output Mapping
Item
The Item output mapping from a For Each is one item from the collection received at the input. Each iteration through the For Each activity will output the next item in the collection until all items in the collection have been processed.
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Note:Note: The transition criteria properties window is only visible while the output branch is selected
If Activity
Description
The If activity enables you to test an input parameter against another parameter using an appropriate operator. The activity has two output branches, 'true' and 'false' depending in the results of the test.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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Note:Note: The transition criteria properties window is only visible while the output branch is selected
While Activity
Description
The While loop will execute a branch in the workflow until condition in activity tests false at which time the false branch will be followed. The condition tests parameter 1 against parameter 2 using appropriate operators for the parameter types selected.
The While activity accepts two inputs where one is the initial entry point and the second is the point at which the looping branch re-enters the loop.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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- Equals - Parameter 1 is equal to parameter 2
- Less Than - Parameter 1 is less than parameter 2
- Greater Than - Parameter 1 is greater than parameter 2
- Less Than Or Equals - Parameter 1 is less than or equal to parameter 2
- Greater Than Or Equals - Parameter 1 is greater than or equal to parameter 2
- Not Equals - Parameter 1 is not equal to parameter 2
Split Activity
Description
The Split activity enables you to perform activities in parallel such as send emails to two different destinations at the same time instead of doing this sequentially. One reason for this may be that the email activity is required to wait for a confirmation response before proceeding which would delay the sending of the second email if processed sequentially. The split activity has no output properties.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
Merge Activity
Description
The Merge activity brings together a number of branches of the workflow. The workflow may pause at this point depending on the 'Wait For' synchronization requirement to be met. The synchronization setting will cause the merge activity to proceed when any one branch is complete, X number of branches are complete or all branches are complete.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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Messaging Activities
Email Activity
Description
The Email activity performs the email send function. It combines the results of the email subject and email body activities and attempts to send the complete email. The result of sending an email may be used in further workflow activities. For example if sending the email returns 'sent OK' that may be the end of the workflow, however if this is not received within a set time an attempt to resend the email could be performed. Similarlyafter sending an email, if a reply to that email is received, then the workflow is completed otherwise an escalation path may be followed.
Properties
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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When Wait For Reply has been checked, the workflow will wait for a reply for a defined number of seconds. Once that time has been exceeded the workflow will continue. If a reply is received the workflow will continue immediately on receipt and if configured it will set the Reply Received variable to True
Output Mapping
Email sent
The activity will return true or false as to whether the message was sent successfully but not necessarily that it was received at the far end. This output may be mapped to a variable which can then be used to determine if additional workflow activity is required such a sending the message again or an alternative message type if the send failed.
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When sending a message either email or SMS a reply timeout may be set. If a reply to the message is received within the timeout period then true will be mapped to the configured variable. If the time out occurs before a reply is received then false will be mapped. These outputs may then be tested to determine any subsequent workflow activities that may be required.
SMS Activity
Description
The Send SMS activity sends an SMS using fixed content or destination and message content defined earlier in the workflow. Outputs from the SMS activity include whether the send was successful or not and if a reply has been received within a defined period.
General
Name
This is a name given to this activity that is displayed within the workflow. Ideally the name would provide some relevance when looking at the overall workflow design.
Description
While the name of an activity should provide relevance when looking at the overall workflow, the description can provide much more information regarding the purpose of the activity. The description is visible in the properties window when the activity is selected.
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