What is a workflow template

In Data Mover, a workflow template visually represents a business process as a diagram. It can be used in any contract and configured with specific variables to meet each actor's needs. Essentially, the workflow template indicates the action to take after an event, while the contract specifies where to perform that action.

Workflow templates utilize the BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) standard, providing a visual flowchart representation to model business processes. This flexible design accommodates modifications based on specific parameters, allowing a single flowchart to be used in multiple contracts and to meet diverse partner needs and configurations.

The BPMN process execution lifecycle involves these key steps:

  1. Drawing the process in an editor, which generates a BPMN representation as an XML file.

  2. Deploying the process, which involves persisting the process on a database and installing it on the engine.

  3. Initiating the process definition by activating the engine, using APIs or other methods. This results in the creation of a process instance that is fully handled by the engine.

In a BPMN process, service tasks are fundamental elements. Essentially, a BPMN model represents a flowchart of a sequence of service tasks.

The workflow template designed with BPMN incorporates three key features:

  1. Triggers: they represent the occurrence of a specific event that initiates the workflow instance.

  2. Service tasks: they define the actions available in the BPMN designer and drawn in the workflow template.

  3. Variables: they allow the same workflow template to be reused. Workflow templates function differently depending on the variables given.

Workflow templates are fundamental when defining contracts. Different types of workflow templates exist:

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