A workflow is constructed by sequentially connecting the various Bizweaver tools. This is done in the Workflow Design pane. For this discussion, this area will be called the “design pane.”
Start the process with an empty design pane. Click the file option in the menu bar, then a new workflow. You can also use the shortcut Ctrl-N anywhere in the Bizweaver main application.
. Will open a new window, clicking “X” will close the window and save all options. Clicking cancel will discard all changes.Workflows are constructed using drag-and-drop functionality. Click and hold the left mouse button on the tool icon you want to place on the design pane. Drag the icon to the point where you want it and release the mouse button to “drop” it in place. This same process is used to re-order icons in a workflow on the canvas.
The tools used to construct Bizweaver workflows are found in this area. They are added to a workflow by dragging them from the Tools area into the Design area. See the Workflow Tools page for descriptions of the tools.
To save a workflow, click the Save button in the bottom right corner of the design pane.
When a workflow is saved (or duplicated), a new window is displayed. Details about the save process are displayed as various validations, of each step take place. An example of a successful save is shown below. Note that all rows show a green checkbox on a successful save.
For the most part, the information displayed is not of interest to the user, except when an error is encountered. However, when an error is encountered, the results will assist with identifying the issue. Following is an example of the error handling process.
This is the workflow saved. In this case, the LoopEnd step is missing.
The response now indicates that error(s) were encountered. Points where an error was found, are highlighted in red.
The first error is typical very general in nature. The error points further down in the listing will help identify the issue.
Click on an error row to display the details. Note that the yellow and red sections in the image are for illustration only. The actual output will not display these colors.
A general description of the error is displayed in the area at the top of the “Build” section (marked in yellow in the image). This will oftentimes point you to the issue that needs to be fixed.
The remaining information is shown (starting with the area marked in red in the image) is encrypted process information that can only be viewed by Third Wave support personnel. For support purposes, you may be requested to use the Copy Details to Clipboard link at the bottom of the display area. This will copy the information to your clipboard, where it can be copied to a file or the body of an email. Having this information will allow support personnel to see more detail about the issue.
Duplicating a workflow allows a user to take an active workflow and copy it to the same location or another location that is specified by the user. The workflow name will be suffixed with the word “Copy” and a new id will be assigned.
You can also duplicate a workflow from the main Bizweaver application by selecting the desired workflow. In the menu bar, select File then copy. This will then display the folder menu; just select a folder to save it to, and the workflow will save to that folder then open.
Hover over the step and right-click on the small, blue link icon found at the lower right corner.
“Links Info” shows the source (incoming) step(s) into the current step and the target (outgoing) step from the current step. This can help diagnose errors where links seem to be in place but are not functioning.
“Reset Links” will clear any links coming into the current step. Again, this can be helpful if “ghost” link lines are appearing in the design area. Keep in mind that if you use this function, you will need to recreate the links.
On some occasions, it is necessary to view the workflow steps in a hierarchical view rather than the design (canvas) view. This is done on the “List View” tab. This tab is found on the top of the design area.
Click the “List View” tab to switch the view. You can switch between the two views at any time. However, you can only make changes to the workflow on the design canvas.
Here is a simple workflow on the design canvas.
Here is the same workflow in the ListView tab.
In this view, the workflow steps are presented in the sequence in which they will be executed.
Continue on error if selected will allow a workflow to process past a step that had an error.