Working with Process maps

A process map is a planning and management tool that visually describes the flow of work. It visually shows who and what is involved in a process and can be used in any business or organisation and can reveal areas where a process should be improved.

1. How to read a process map

A process map can consist of various elements. Below is a visual representation of each element, together with the meaning for each.

1.1 Activity

An activity is the basic building block of a process. A process consists of multiple activities. An activity is typically drawn as shown below:

Constraints of an activity:

• An activity can at most have 2 connections going from an activity. It may only have 1 connection of type ALWAYS or DEFAULT, and an optional EXCEPTION.
• A loop activity is the exception to the previous rule, where a loop activity must have 1 ALWAYS or DEFAULT connections, and a FALSE connection.
• An activity can not have a connection that goes from the activity, to the same activity (loop)

1.2 Connection

A connection shows the flow / order in a process. It is important to know that not all connections are created equal. There are different types of connections (only) in RPA, which have specific meaning:

• ALWAYS: This connection overwrites all other connections. Regardless if the RPA bot encountered an expected or unexpected result, it will follow this connection.
• DEFAULT / TRUE: This connection will be followed by default (if no exception occurred), or in the case a condition returned a TRUE result.
• FALSE: This connection will only be followed if a condition returned a FALSE result.
• EXCEPTION: This connection catches all exceptions and will be followed when such an exception occurred.

For other processes, one can still use these special connections to indicate when a connection will be followed.

1.3 Condition

Also known as a decision, a condition is a type of an activity within the process, where a decision needs to be made. Whatever the decision may be, there should be more than one connection to other activities in the process. One connection should show what should happen if the condition is met / TRUE, and the other connection if the condition is not met / FALSE. Conditions are drawn as shown below:

1.4 Trigger

A trigger is something that actions / starts / triggers a process to start. Typically a trigger can be something like another process ending, a task being created, edited or removed, or an approval being given, etc. A trigger is depicted as shown below:

1.5 Gateway

A gateway is a branch point that decides which path to follow using simple AND or OR logic, rather than a written condition. Use OR when any one of several paths is enough to continue, and AND when all paths must be satisfied first. Gateways and junctions are covered in detail in Gateways and junctions.

1.6 Sub process

A sub process is a previously defined process, being referred to in another process. This is how we "reuse" processes. Instead of drawing the same process multiple times, we can extract the part we want to map only once, and then refer to it as a sub process. Below is how we indicate a sub process:

1.7 Junction

A junction is a simple merge point. Several connections can flow into it and a single connection flows out – whichever path arrives, the flow continues out the other side. A junction has no logic of its own; it exists to keep busy maps tidy by gathering many paths into one instead of crossing arrows. See Gateways and junctions.

1.8 Try-Catch

A Try-Catch is a container that makes a group of steps resilient. Steps in its Try zone run normally; if any of them fail, the steps in the Catch zone run instead, and an optional Finally zone runs afterwards either way. This is how you recover from errors gracefully – see Error handling and Try-Catch.

1.9 Input file

An input file attaches a data file (for example a spreadsheet of records) to the process so steps can work through it. An input file is linked to an activity rather than connected in the flow.

1.10 Note

A note is a comment you place on the canvas to document or explain part of a process. It is purely for the reader – it has no connections and does nothing when the process runs.

2. A process

A process is a collection of all of the afore mention components, logically grouped together, to form a process. A process is a higher level collection of activities, connections, conditions, triggers and sub processes. A typical process on our platform can look as follow:

{{processmap:a5f1bdb3-5f33-48c7-9afd-b00ff250cb79}}

2.1 Vertical vs Horizontal process maps

There are many ways to depict a process. When drawing a process horizontally, it is best practise to use swim lanes (something we haven't discussed). But how we use processes here, makes it logical to draw them vertically.

3. Creating a process

Apart from creating an RPA process (more on this can be read Working with the RPA Bot), other processes can be created as follow:

1. Click on {{menu:library}} on the left menu
2. Scroll down until you find "Processes". Click on "Processes"
3. Create a new process by clicking on the green button {{buttons:processes/add}}
4. This will show the following popup {{popups:processes/add}}
5. Complete the form and click "Add"
6. You have now created an "empty" process. Next, we need to create activities within the process. Click on the green button again {{buttons:processes/add}}
7. The same popup will appear {{popups:processes/add}}
8. Instead of just adding one process at a time, in the name field, add multiple activities by pressing "Enter" after each (thus separating them with a new line)
9. Click "Add" once you are done
10. You have created a new process.
11. Click on the {{icons:process}} icon top right
12. This will show the process map