What are Phases?

Actionflows process data one record at a time. However, sometimes you may want to process all records up to a point, before moving onto the next process.  Phases allow this to happen by acting as an internal break in the Actionflow. 

Phases are useful in the following scenarios:

• To check all data coming out of one Actionflow before starting another Actionflow
• Where one phase reads records into the Actionflow and checks them one at a time, then once all records have been checked, the Actionflow can move to the next phase, where records are updated
• Where the Actionflow requires the user to make a choice as part of the Actionflow, such as confirmation messages

Creating Phases

Using a Phase Action from the Toolbar

1. Click and drag a  Start Phase icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. Click the  Add Phase option that appears
   1. Enter a name and optional description for the Phase, then select Create Action
3. The Phase action will show on the canvas and a new phase will be added next to the Processing Phase 

Using the Phases Tabs

1. Every Actionflow contains a Processing Phase; click the  button next to the Processing Phase
2. Choose to  Add Phase before or  Add Phase after
   1.  
   2. Enter a name and optional description for the Phase, then select Confirm
3. To map to the Phase, click and drag a  Start Phase icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
4. The newly created phase can be selected

Moving Action Nodes Between Phases

To move action nodes between phases, the phases must first be created.

1. Create a new phase using the steps above in Creating Phases: Using the Phases Tabs
2. Disconnect ( Remove Connector) the action nodes that are to be moved
3. Select the action nodes to be moved, right-click and choose  Change Phase
4. Select the Phase to move the action nodes to 

Example Setup

This is an example of a  Phase being used to initiate a separate Actionflow after a successful sync to a CRM system .

Worked Example

A worked example of setting up a phase can be found below, this example is taken from 1.13 Confirmation Message Configuration and uses the School Data (available from the Learning Centre), but this example can also be followed using the Retail Data (available from the Learning Centre).

Confirmation Screens

Confirmation messages require two screens: 

• An initiator screen where the required action (e.g. delete) is initiated from
• A confirmation screen that contains the confirmation message, plus buttons to confirm/proceed or cancel/go back
  • the button for confirm/proceed must be set up with an Action Type of Confirmation
  • the button for cancel/go back must be set up with an Action Type of Close Screen

• The Serene Grey palette contains a template confirmation screen with preconfigured Confirm and Cancel buttons

See Creating or Opening a Screen.

Creating Confirmation Messages

1. On the confirmation screen, click on the Confirm button to open its  Properties, then click on the  Actions tab
2. In the Action Settings, set:
   1. Action Method: choose Other
   2. Action Type: choose Confirmation
      1. this setup allows the Confirm button to trigger the next phase in the Actionflow
3. On the initiator screen, set up the Actionflow for the required action, e.g. Delete
4. Open the Actionflow for the required action, and above the Actionflow canvas, click the  icon next to the Processing  Phase
5. Choose Add Phase Before to set up the confirmation phase
6. On the confirmation phase, select Click to Connect and choose the Input of On Click
7. From the Actionflow toolbar, click  Open Screen to open the list of available screens
   1. Drag the confirmation screen onto the Actionflow to create an  Open Screen action node
8.  Drag the  icon from Connections onto the Open Confirmation Screen action node to connect them 
9. To allow the confirmation screen to trigger the next  Phase phase in the Actionflow, drag a   Phase action node from the toolbar onto the canvas and in the popup select the Processing  Phase
10. Hover over the  Open Screen action node and click , then click the  Phase action node to connect them.