Connectors determine the order of activities and events in the process. Naming connectors improves the readability of the flow chart. If a connector goes out of a Task activity, its name will be the same as the name of the corresponding transition button on the task form.
For example, the task Fill in leave request has two outgoing connectors, Send for approval and End process.
On the task form, the transition buttons have the same names as these connectors:
Creating and setting up a connector
To connect two activities, hover over the first one, click one of the crosses on its edges, hold down the left mouse button, and draw a connection line.
To open a connector’s settings, double-click on it in the process diagram.
On the General tab in the settings, you can rename the connector and add its description.
For connectors that go out of Tasks, you will also see an additional tab, Transition Button. Connectors going out of gateways are configured on the Conditions tab.
General tab
- Name. It is recommended to give a connector a short and clear name since it will be displayed on the transition button on the task form.
- Description. In this field, enter the text of the tooltip that will be shown on the task form.
Connector going out of a standard task
For connectors going out of Tasks, you can choose the transition button’s color, set up data validation, or add a confirmation dialog box.
Transition Button tab
- Transition button color. Select the color of the button that will be displayed on the task form.
- Transition validation. Select a validation option. The task will be validated when the user clicks on the transition button.
- Validate task form. The user will not be able to finish the task without filling out all required fields on the task form.
- Check for active subtasks. The user will not be able to finish the task if there are unfinished subtasks associated with it.
You can select both options or disable form validation entirely.
- Confirmation. You can set up a confirmation dialog box that will appear when the user clicks on the transition button. Select one of the following options:
- Without confirmation. The task will be finished as soon as the user clicks on the transition button, without confirmation.
- Confirmation dialog box. Select the size of the dialog box and enter the confirmation text. When the user clicks on the transition button, a pop-up window will appear, allowing him or her to cancel the action or to confirm it.
- Form. Set up a complex confirmation form and add process context variables to it. For example, you can ask a user to leave a comment before finishing the task. Select the dialog box, specify the confirmation text, and click the Configure form button to add new fields to the form.
On the tab that opens, on the left, select variables from the process’s context or add a new one.
Connector going out of a gateway or a multiple instance task
For connectors that go out of gateways or multiple instance tasks, the Conditions button becomes available. The process will go down one path or another depending on the connector’s conditions.
Conditions tab
- Logical Operator is used to determine how several conditions are checked. If the result evaluates to True, the process continues down this connector:
- AND. The result is True if both conditions that this operator connects are met.
- OR. The result is True if at least one of the conditions that this operator connects is met.
- OR NOT. The result is True if the first condition is met and does not correspond with the second condition.
- AND NOT. The result is True if one condition is met or the other one is not met.
Please note that the conditions are checked in the order they are listed in the connector’s settings.
Operand 1, 2. In these fields you can specify a process context variable or a specific value.
Operation. Specify a comparison operator based on which the condition is checked.
In multiple instance tasks, conditions are checked each time one of the executors completes the task.
If you don’t specify conditions for the connectors going out of a gateway or a multiple instance task, you will see a warning at the bottom of the page when validating the process.
Example 1. Configuring a connector going out of a gateway
Let's consider the Leave request process. It consists of the following steps:
The gateway Annual paid leave/Leave of absence controls the flow and splits it into 2 alternative paths. To select one path or another, the system evaluates conditions set on the connectors. When the HR specialist completes the Receive request form task, ELMA365 will check the condition and perform one of the alternative actions: it will either complete the process or assign the task to the accountant. Since only one condition must be met (request type = leave of absence), we do not use a Logical operator. The Leave of absence connector will have the following settings:
In the gateway settings, you need to specify the default connector. In our example, this is Annual paid leave. If the condition is not met, the process will continue down the default connector. |
Example 2. Configuring a connector going out of a multiple instance task
Let's have a look at the Agreement approval process. It consists of the following stages:
For the multiple instance task Approve agreement we chose the option executed sequentially. When modeling a process, we should cover the situation when someone approves the agreement, someone asks for amendments, and someone rejects it. How should the system behave in this case? The behavior will be determined by the connectors settings. For a start, let's set up the Decline connector. Suppose that one of the approvers, for example, a lawyer, believes that the agreement cannot be signed and chooses the option Decline. In this case, the other performers do not need to go through the document and spend time on this task. The system will check the conditions each time one of the executors completes the task. If we specify a percentage of transitions > 0, then as soon as someone clicks Decline, the system cancels the task for all other approvers and the process ends. In the connectors settings, this logic will be reflected as follows:
The logic of the Make amendments connector is represented in a similar manner. If at least one of the approvers considers that the agreement should be refined, then the initiator will be assigned with the task to make changes.
Finally, consider the Approve connector. In the settings of the Approve agreement task, we specify that this is the default connector. This means that if no one chooses the options Decline or Make amendments, then the process must go down the Approve connector.
There is no need to specify any condition for the connector’s settings window. |
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