Creating Exposed Process Values in IBM BPM

Introduction

In IBM® Process Designer, you can create exposed process values (EPVs) to define a set of variables you want to expose to specific users. These variables can be modified by the users while instances of a process are running. For example, if you create a process to handle expense reimbursement, you may want to enable supervisors to change the allowed amounts for daily expenditures, or the dollar amount that coincides with various levels of approvers. By creating EPVs, you can provide this type of flexibility, allowing users to adjust specific variable values as constants, thereby affecting the flow of all running process instances, task assignments, and so on.

Prerequisites

ü  IBM Process Designer

Implementation

1.      Open the Process Designer desktop editor.

2.      Expand Data and select Exposed Process Value. The New Exposed Process Value window opens.

3.      In the Name field, type a name for the value and click Finish. The EPV configuration view opens.

4.      Configure the EPV:

a)      In the Documentation field, enter a description of the EPV for the developers.

b)      To allow users to send feedback about this EPV, type an email address in the Feedback E-mail Contact field.

The Manage Exposed Process Values page in the Process Admin Console includes a feedback link that uses this email address.

c)      In the External Description field, enter a description of the EPV for the users. The description that you provide here is displayed in the Manage Exposed Process Values page in the Process Admin Console.

5.      Add one or several variables to the EPV by applying the following steps:

a)      In the Exposed Process Value Variables section, click Add to add a variable to this EPV.

For example, if you want to enable users to adjust the dollar amounts that correspond with various levels of approvers for an expense reimbursement process, add a variable for each available level.

b)      In the Variable Details section, in the External Name field, type the name of the variable for the users. This name appears in the Variable List for this EPV in the Process Admin Console.

c)      In the Variable Name field, type the name of the variable for internal processing.

Note: Variable names should start with a lowercase letter, with subsequent words capitalized like so: myVar. Do not use underscores or spaces in variable names. Variable names are case sensitive.

d)     In the External Description field, type the text to describe this variable to users. This description appears in the Variable List for this EPV in the Process Admin Console.

e)      Optional: In the Default Value text box, type a valid default for this variable.

f)       To enable in-progress tasks to use the updated value of this variable when users edits its value, select the In-Progress Tasks Use New Values check box.

g)      To select a variable type, click Select... and select a business object or click New to create a new custom business object (variable type).

6.      In the Exposing section, click Select to choose the team whose members can manage this EPV and adjust its variable values.

7.      Click Save in the main toolbar to save your changes.

Adding an exposed process value to a BPD

When you create an exposed process value (EPV), you can link it to a BPD or a service.

1.      Open the BPD or service to which you want to link this EPV.

2.      Click the Variables tab.

3.      Click Link EPV and select the EPV from the list.

When you run the BPD or service to which the EPV is linked, you can go to the Process Admin Console to manage the exposed process values.

Adding an exposed process value to a report

When you create an exposed process value (EPV), you can link it in a report.

The reporting functionality is deprecated in IBM® BPM V8; by default it is not enabled. To enable reporting, in Process Designer go to File > Preferences > IBM BPM > Capabilities, and enable the Backward Compatibility capabilities.

1.      Click the plus sign next to the Performance category in the library, and open the report to which you want to link this EPV.

2.      Click the Overview tab.

3.      In the Exposed Process Values section, click Link EPV and select the EPV from the list.

Now, users can adjust variable values directly from a report.

Conclusion

The EPV is created, you can link it to a BPD, service, or report.

You can reference the name of the EPV and its variables like so:

tw.epv.[epv_name].[epv_variable_name].

You can use the EPV in a decision gateway to control the flow of a process. You can also reference the EPV from any JavaScript code in a linked BPD, such as the code within a server script service component.

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