Subprocesses

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Subprocesses

Business processes are often very complex and it is difficult to diagram the complete process in one process definition. You can create several smaller process definitions instead of one monolithic process definition. You can then call each process definition from another process definition, when necessary. When you call a process definition, the called process is known as a subprocess. Using subprocesses helps to make more readable process diagrams and you can reuse subprocesses across many process definitions.

Subprocesses cannot have process starters. That is, they must begin with the Start activity, not any activity that receives an event from an outside source.

To create and call a subprocess, follow this procedure:

1.

Create a process definition for the subprocess. See Developing Process Definitions for more information about creating process definitions.

2.

Specify the input, output, and any error schemas of the subprocess on the Start and End activities in the subprocess. See Start Activity and End Activity for more information about specifying the input, output, and error schemas of a process.

3.

Create a process definition that will call the subprocess.

4.

Place a Call Process activity (located on the General Activities palette) in the process definition.

The Call Process activity allows you to map input values into the called process, and optionally allows you to spawn the subprocess into another process instance.

You can call specific processes, or you can dynamically determine which process to call when the process instance executes. See TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Palette Reference for more information about dynamically calling subprocesses.

Normally, a subprocess executes in the same process instance as the calling process, and the output of the subprocess is available to all subsequent activities in the process. If you select the checkbox in the Spawn field of the configuration tab of the Call Process activity, the subprocess is spawned into a new process instance. When a subprocess spawns a new process instance, the parent process cannot access the called process’ output.

Figure 16 illustrates a main process calling a subprocess.

Figure 16 A main process calling a subprocess