Overview

PhixFlow Workflows model the steps of a business process from end to end, showing the actual components of your application that performs each activity. They visually depict a detailed sequence of activities and information flows needed to complete your business process. Workflows provide a live document outlining the structure of your application, providing direct access to each item, such as screens and other workflows. An application can contain any number of workflows.

The Workflow Window Layout

Swimlanes

Workflows are divided into sections called Swimlanes which separate the functions within your business process. For example, IT, Sales, and Legal. Swimlanes are added by right-clicking an existing swimlane and  adding a new one. See Workflow Swimlane.

Nodes

Nodes on a workflow represent items that either exist in your application or are place holders for future items. Place holders allow you to create workflows without having all of the items available at the time of design. 

See Adding Content to Workflow Models and Workflow Model Elements.

There are two kinds of node:

1. Internal, these represent activities and processes occurring within PhixFlow, such as displaying data on a screen and user interactions.
2. External, these represent activities and processes external to PhixFlow but relevant to the workflow. For example, a user receiving an email or an external system receiving data.

Adding Nodes

1. New: Drag the node icon from the toolbar onto the canvas to create a place holder node. Where a node is incomplete, a red exclamation icon will appear .
   1. This can be linked to an existing item by dragging the existing item over the node and dropping it.
   2. For Actionflows, a red exclamation icon will be present if the Actionflow is connected to another node on the Workflow while the Actionflow is not complete. See Understanding Actionflows.
   3. For screen, a red exclamation icon will be present if the screen contains an incomplete Actionflow.
2. Existing: To add an existing PhixFlow item, click the node icon on the toolbar to open a list of available items in the repository, for example,  Screen, and drag the item onto the workflow. See Adding Content to Workflow Models.

Connectors

Connectors link nodes together, depicting the type of relationship the nodes share. See Adding Content to Workflow Models and Workflow Model Elements. The Connector Types are:

1. Sequence Connector: defines the execution order of the activities within a workflow. Represented as a solid line.

2. Message Connector: indicates a flow of messages between nodes that send and receive them. Represented as a dashed line.

3. Association Connector: used to associate nonflow nodes with nodes participating directly in the workflow. Represented as a dotted line.

Connecting Nodes

1. Hover over a node, and click on the Workflow Connector arrow which appears.
2. Drag the arrow attached to the mouse cursor over the required node and click on it to create the connection.
   1. Dragging and clicking in space provides the option to create a new node. 

Set Connector Type

1. Click on a connector.
2. In the properties, set Type.
3. It is also possible to add a Label.
4.  Apply your changes.

Documenting an Existing Application

If you have a part of, or an entire application that is yet to be documented in a workflow, this can be easily created. See Adding Content to Workflow Models. 

1. Click on the node in the toolbar to list existing items of that type.
2. The list of existing items appears in the repository pane and can be dragged onto the workflow.

Example Workflow

The below illustration is an example of a customer onboarding workflow, click on the image to make it larger:

What next?

The PhixFlow Fundamentals course provides a practical guide to using PhixFlow, including the design and configuration of workflows.

Already started PhixFlow Fundamentals?

Return to Workflow Fundamentals

Further Reading

• Adding Content to Workflow Models
• Workflow Swimlane
• Workflow Model Elements