Flows
Process Modeler basics
Flows
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The Process Modeler provides features for creating and editing process flows.
Note: The Visio flow editor is deprecated beginning with Pega 7.1. If a flow was last saved using the Visio editor, an uneditable image of the flow appears. Click the Process Modeler button on the toolbar to convert the flow and open it with the Process Modeler.
Some flow diagrams are large. To work with a complex flow diagram, click the collapse arrow 
in the portal to temporarily hide the navigation panel. When done, click the expand arrow 
to redisplay the navigation panel. You can also zoom the view by using the right-click context menu on the canvas.
You may build flows horizontally or vertically. Your default orientation is configured as an operator preference.
The Process Modeler toolbar contains buttons that apply only to flows.
Button |
Description |
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Turn on or turn off draft mode. While the flow is in draft mode it is known as a flow model, and you can reference rules and flow actions that are not yet defined. You can save and run a flow in draft mode in systems where the production level is set to a value less than 5. See About System Settings Rules. |
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Display the Flow Shape palette. Click the flow shapes icon to open a window which contains all of the shapes you can add to your flow. This window remains open until you close it. Click |
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Open the properties panel for the selected shape. |
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Turn Select mode on. When Select mode is on, left-click a blank area of the canvas and drag to form a selection boundary. When you release the mouse button, the selected shapes will be highlighted. You can perform an action, such as move or delete, that affects all the shapes. You can also Ctrl-click or Shift-click to select or deselect specific shapes and connectors. Pan mode and Select mode are mutually exclusive. If you click Pan mode, you turn off Select mode. Click a selected shape in a group and drag to move the entire group as a unit. All connectors having both ends on shapes in the set will also move rigidly. Any connector having one end in the set and one end on a shape not in the set will stay connected but will reroute just as if only one of its two shapes were being moved individually. Right-click a selected shape to open a context menu relevant to that shape. For example, right-click a decision shape, and you can click Open Decision Rule in the drop-down menu. When more than one object is selected, right-click when hovering over one of the selected shapes to open a context menu relevant to the group of shapes. For example, you can perform various alignment functions that affect the selected shapes. Any click outside the grouping will deselect the selection and return you to normal editing. |
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Turn Pan mode on. While Pan mode is on, you can left-click a blank area of the canvas and drag to move the diagram as a whole relative to the viewable area in the window. Pan mode and Select mode are mutually exclusive. If you click Select mode, you turn off Pan mode. However, when in Pan mode, Ctrl-click or Shift-click a shape to temporarily enable Select mode. The pointer changes to the Select icon as long as you are holding down the Ctrl or Shift keys, and will change back to the Pan icon when you release the key. Note: When Pan mode is off (and Select mode is on), you can always right-click a blank area of the canvas to drag and move the diagram as a whole relative to the viewable area in the window. |
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Cut the selected shape(s) and connector(s). Cut differs from Delete in that cut shapes appear faded on the canvas until you paste them elsewhere. When pasted, the original cut shape(s) is deleted from the flow. Press the keyboard Esc key to clear the cut buffer. Cut is disabled when the flow is read-only, in a locked RuleSet, or checked out by another user. |
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Copy the selected shape(s) and connector(s). You can paste a copied shape multiple times within the current flow and in other flows within one user session. |
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Paste the cut or copied shape(s) and connector(s). The icon is disabled until you execute a copy or cut function. When a cut shape is pasted, it is deleted from the flow. You can paste a copied shape within the current flow and in other flows within one user session. Paste is disabled when the flow is read-only, in a locked RuleSet, or checked out by another user. |
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Delete the selected shape(s) and connector(s). |
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Turn on or turn off alignment snapping. In a newly created flow, alignment snapping is on by default. When you move a shape so that its center, top, bottom, right, or left edge is in alignment (either vertically or horizontally) to another shape's center, top, bottom, right or left edge, a gray dotted line appears to assist you in understanding the relative placement of the shape you are moving. When you release the mouse button, the shape will snap to the nearest alignment guideline. The alignment guide lines are separate from the grid lines. If the grid has never been turned off, then the alignment guides will correspond with grid lines. However, if the grid has been turned off, and you have moved a shape, the alignment guide lines for that shape will always be relative to the shape's position which may be different than a grid location. Even if grid snapping is turned back on, the shape will snap to the alignment guide line, which may not be in line with the grid line. Press the Ctrl key while you move a shape to temporarily turn off the alignment guide lines. Regardless of whether alignment snapping is on or off, you can press the Shift key to constrain the shape's horizontal and vertical movement so that it can only be moved in line with itself. |
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Turn on or turn off grid snapping. In a newly created flow, grid snapping is on by default. When you add or move a shape, a connector on the shape is aligned with a grid point, both horizontally and vertically. When grid snapping is off, you can place or move the shape anywhere on the canvas. The alignment guide lines are separate from the grid lines. If the grid has never been turned off, then the alignment guides will correspond with grid lines. However, if the grid has been turned off, and you have moved a shape, the alignment guide lines for that shape will always be relative to the shape's position which may be different than a grid location. Even if grid snapping is turned back on, the shape will snap to the alignment guide line, which may not be in line with the grid line. Regardless of whether grid snapping is on or off, you can press the Shift key to constrain the shape's horizontal and vertical movement so that it can only be moved in line with itself. |
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Set the horizontal or vertical orientation of swimlanes in the flow. These buttons will not appear in screen flows. When a swimlane is added to a flow, the orientation setting is established, and both of these buttons are disabled. To enable them again, delete all the swimlanes and the router pool from your flow, then reset the orientation. |
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Preview harness of selected Start or Assignment shape. |
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Turn on or turn off the display of likelihood percentage on connectors in the flow. |
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Use the Overlay drop-down menu to display metrics associated with the flow, such as:
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Appears only when the process flow was last saved using Visio. Click to convert, then view and edit, the flow using the Process Modeler. Visio is no longer an editing option. |
Hover the mouse pointer over an empty area on the canvas and right click to open a context menu that provides the following options.
Button |
Description |
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Display the Flow Shape palette. You can also access the Add function from the Process Modeler toolbar as described previously. |
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Adjust the orientation of the current flow diagram on the canvas. Select:
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Select all the shapes in the diagram. When in Pan mode, this is a useful alternative to selecting every shape in the diagram for copy and paste actions. |
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Open the Specification Properties dialog for the flow rule. By default, the specification is of type Entire Flow. When you save your edits, the system adds the specification to the For Entire Flow array on the Specifications tab. See Flow form — Working with the Specifications tab and Working with specifications in Process Modeler and Case Designer. |
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Adjust the size of the flow diagram to suit your editing needs. |
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Paste the cut or copied shape(s) and connector(s). You can also access the Paste function in the Process Modeler toolbar as described previously. |
The Process Modeler stencil, or set of shapes, is based on traditional PRPC shapes as well as Business Process and Model Notation (BPMN) and symbols. The symbols add meaning to help identify and differentiate the shapes. Each shape has a descriptive text name that may contain letters, digits, spaces, and even other character sets.
The shapes identify types of tasks with parameters and behaviors. Each shape has a corresponding properties panel. After you add the shape to the canvas, you can open the property panel by double-clicking the shape, or by selecting the shape and clicking the View Properties icon on the toolbar. As you complete a panel, you can reference parameters to this flow using the notation param.name, where name is the parameter name on the Parameters tab.
Shape |
Description |
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Assignment — Creates an assignment at runtime associated with a work item in a workbasket or worklist. See Assignment shapes. As you enter an assignment shape, you can assign routing for the work item using the Router tab. Optionally, as you define the assignment shape, you can associate a service-level agreement, also known as an SLA, with it. A clock
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Decision — Identifies an activity that can make an automated decision about the progress of the work item through this flow. See Decision shape.
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Subprocess — Creates a new process by branching to another flow without returning or calling another flow with a return. Optionally,
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Utility — Specifies an activity to run at that point in the flow to perform automated processing without any user assignment. See Utility shape.
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Start — Identifies the start of this flow. See Start shape. |
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End — Marks the end of the flow. See End shape.
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Smart Shapes — Presents a menu of pre-configured utilities and subprocesses designed to speed the creation of commonly-used functions. See the Smart Shapes table below and Smart Shapes topic. |
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Advanced Shapes — Presents a menu of shapes that are commonly used in more complex applications. See the Advanced Shapes table below. |
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Annotation — Adds explanatory text comments anywhere on the flow diagram. Annotations do not affect execution of the flow. See Annotation shape. |
Smart Shapes provide application developers with pre-configured utilities and subprocesses that speed the creation of commonly-used functions.
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Description |
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Attach Content — Attaches a file, URL, or note. |
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Change Stage — Allows user to go to next stage or select a stage. |
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Create Case(s) — Creates a top case, or one or more subcases. |
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Create PDF — Generates a PDF file, optionally associated with an attachment category. |
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Persist Case — Allows user to change a case from temporary to permanent in the database. |
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Post to Pulse — Posts a message to the PegaPulse social stream. |
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Send Email — Sends an email to an address or to a Party on the case. |
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Update a Case — Updates a single case, or all child cases and descendants. |
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Cascading Approvals — Creates approvals based on reporting structure or authority matrix. |
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Duplicate Search — Defines matching and weighted case criteria to determine possible duplicate cases. |
The shapes on this palette are typically useful in more advanced applications.
Shape |
Description |
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Split For Each — Performs an operation or test on each element in a repeating group. See Split For Each shape.
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Split Join — Sends the work item to two or more other flows, both of which must complete before the current flow resumes. See Split Join shape.
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Integrator — Identifies an activity that can connect to an external system to send or receive data. See Integrator shape.
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Assignment Service — Waits for an external callback from an external system using Service BPEL rules. See Assignment-Service shape.
Important: The rule type Rule-Service-BPEL is deprecated. As appropriate, migrate to Service SOAP rules. |
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Pools and Swimlanes — Identifies and groups shapes performed by separate organizational units. See Swimlane shape. |
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Wait — Specifies that a process should wait for a specified time or a case dependency before progressing forward. The waiting process is routed to a workbasket. See Wait shape. |
Associate shapes in the flow using connectors. Connectors leaving assignment shapes may be flow actions. Connectors leaving other shapes may be When conditions. See Connectors and Flow Actions.
The connectors between two shapes can either be anchored to a specific connection point, or be unanchored.
To create an anchored connection using specific points, hover over a shape to display its connector points which appear as gray dots around the shape. Click and drag to draw a connector from a connector point on one shape to a connector point on another.
To create an unanchored connection between two shapes, hover over a shape and see the gray arrows on the four sides of the shape. Click and drag from one of the gray arrows on the shape. Complete the connection by either connecting to a specific connection point on the destination shape, or by dropping the connection when the entire shape is highlighted for an unanchored connection.
On the Set Properties tab, optionally indicate how you want to set properties for work items as they advance over this connector. You can set properties explicitly or apply a data transform rule. A clipboard icon appears on the connector if you assign properties or a data transform on the connector.
A status indicator appears on connectors to shapes that change a work item status. For example, if the shape status is set to Pending-External, the connector to that shape will display a small red flag. All transitions connecting to the shape will display the status indicator. Following are the status indicators for the four status prefixes.
New
Open
Pending
Resolved
You can set Status on a work item using an activity, a Utility shape, or the Status tab on a shape.
The mini-map view in the lower right corner facilitates panning and zooming. When you open a flow, the mini-map is collapsed. Click 
to expand the mini-map.
See the Zoom in and out and Pan the process flow sections below for addition pan and zoom methods.
Zoom in and out of the process flow:
Pan the process flow using the mini-map in the lower right corner of your window. The mini-map displays a small version of your process flow surrounded by a blue, rectangular box. Click and drag the rectangle over the mini-map to pan your flow.
When in Pan mode, you can also right-click or left-click anywhere on the canvas, then drag the flow to the desired position. Note that if you are in Select Mode, you can only use right-click.
Consider these tips as you complete the flow:
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Flows — Concepts and terms |
to display a drop-down menu that allows you to click and drag a shape to add it to the canvas.
If you have implemented the Process Optimization tool in your application, the 
appears on the diagram when an SLA is applied to the assignment. See 
indicates that one or more 
indicates that one or more notifications are generated from this assignment.
may appear on the Subprocess to indicate that this is a Spinoff flow. See 
