Persistent and Transient Workflows

When a workflow is started, an instance of a workflow is initiated (see Structure of Workflows for more information). It has inherited information from the metaworkflow, but also information specific to that instance (i.e. Status, data, dates, times, etc).

Persistent Workflows

Such an instance is normally also saved to the database, which allows you to assign and transfer tasks (i.e. some of the nodes) between users of Valuemation, including the values saved in the intermediate steps. Such a workflow is called persistent. A workflow can be called persistent if it has at least one node which is persistent (i.e. stored in the database).

Transient Workflows

Some workflows perform very simple tasks which would never be shared between users (e.g. close window). Such workflows are called transient and once an instance has been started, their nodes are only held in the memory of the computer where they are run. The nodes of such workflows cannot be assigned to other users and these workflows don't appear in the Agenda.

Rules for transient workflows:

• We refer to the whole workflow as transient only if all of its nodes are transient.
• A transient workflow has to start with a transient section – if the beginning of a workflow is persistent, the whole workflow must be persistent.
• Moreover, after the end of the first transient section, no more transient nodes are permitted.

In Valuemation, there is a mechanism which checks these rules when a workflow is saved. If an inconsistency is detected, all nodes preceding the last transient node are also made transient (after user confirmation).

Note: The node that follows a transient node and is executed in the same transaction (Keep current transaction flag on the transition is set to TRUE) is also made transient automatically, to maintain consistency.