Abydos Designer User Guide

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Abydos Limited 2011This document is the property of Abydos Limited and the information contained herein is confidential. This document,either in whole or in part, must not be reproduced or disclosed to others or used for purposes other than that for which ithas been supplied, without Abydos' prior written permission, or, if any part hereof is furnished by virtue of a contract witha third party, as expressly authorised under that contract. Abydos shall not be liable for any errors or omissions.

Abydos Designer

User Guide

Version 8.3

April 2011


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Abydos Designer User Guide Version 8.3

Copyright Abydos Limited. All Rights Reserved. Page 3

About This Guide

IntroductionThe aim of this guide is to step through all the functional components of the

Abydos Designer client and its use in designing processes for BMC Remedy-based applications. This guide relates to release 8 and 8.x sub-releases of

Abydos Designer unless indicated otherwise.

Audience and Scope This document aims to provide an overall understanding of all functionality withinthe Abydos Designer client and how it how it can be used to support a new orexisting BMC Remedy-based application. It is aimed at any end-user thatwishes to use the product with BMC Remedy AR System and does not requireany prior technical knowledge.

This guide assumes the following prerequisites:

The instructions supplied in the Abydos Designer Installation Guide havebeen followed such that the product is fully installed and licensed.

It is also beneficial to have read the Abydos Designer Concepts Guidewhich explains the concepts and terminology used in this User Guide.

ConventionsThe following typographical conventions are used in this guide:

Item Convention Example

Key product terms InitialCapitals

The Process Template

A series of menu options > Choose File > Open Query


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Related DocumentationThe following guides provide additional information about the AbydosDesigner product:

Guide Description

Abydos DesignerConcepts Guide Version 8.0

Gives an overview of the basic conceptsrelating to Abydos Designer and its usewith BMC Remedy ARS applications.

Abydos DesignerIntegration User Guide

Provides an overview of how to use AbydosDesigner with BMC Remedy s ITSM 7 andSRM applications.

Abydos Des ignerConfiguration Guide

Details all the configuration options for Abydos Designer integration with Remedyand the BMC ITSM 7 and SRM applications.


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Starting Abydos Designer To start Abydos Designer click on your windows Start button, then select Program Files-> Abydos -> Abydos Designer 8, or simply click on the Abydos Designer 8 icon on yourdesktop.

This should launch Abydos Designer 8 and present you with a login screen:

Provide your BMC Remedy server name together with your login username andpassword. Optionally change the port number if your BMC Remedy server is notconfigured to use Port-Mapper.

Abydos Designer requires you to have previously configured a user on your BMCRemedy server as a member of either the Abydos Administrator or Abydos Sub

Administrator group. You may then login as one of these users.

If you are unsure of these details, please contact your BMC Remedy administrator forassistance.

You may also optionally enable logging via the Logging tab. When enabled, client activitywill be written into the log file displayed on the tab. Use the browse button (...) to changethe folder location where the file will be written to.


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Abydos Designer User Interface

Abydos Designer Explorer Abydos Designer 8 provides an explorer-style interface similar to Microsoft WindowsExplorer and provides a complete view of all process templates on the server currentlyconnected. The left hand p ane provides the explorer tree whereby items are listed asnodes. Where nodes have further items within them, they can be expanded by clickingon the button.

The top-most node is the currently connected server. Below this, the nodes are:

Processes Lists all Process Templates on the server.

Design Lists all Process Template s with a status of Design. This is the initialdefault status.

In Test Lists all Process Template s with a status of In Test.

Live Lists all Process Templates whi ch are Live and so available forselection from within BMC Remedy.


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Suspended Lists all Process Template s which have been Suspended and so made temporarily unavailable from selection in BMC Remedy.

Archived Lists all Process Templates with a sta tus of Archived.

Process nodes have a pop-up menu which will appear when selecting the node andpressing the right-click mouse button.

Creating Process TemplatesProcess Templates consist of Tasks. Dependency lines can be created to define therelationships between those tasks. By making a Dependency conditional, the Task can be set asa decision Task so the routing of the process can be made conditional. Within Tasks, actionscan be applied to automate some or all of the process while fields can be added for user input.

Only when the Process Template is set to the Live status will the Process Template beavailable to BMC Remedy for the Abydos Remedy Integration (ARI) to construct the Tasks andso on for your BMC Remedy request.

For a more detailed explanation on this and related topics, please refer to the AbydosDesigner Concepts Guide.

You create a new Process Template by clicking on the button on the toolbar atwhich point you will be immediately prompted to enter these details.


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Field Descriptions:

Field Description

Name The name of the Process (must be unique)

Type The Type (classification) for the new Process.This is an arbitrary value which can be used togroup processes of the same type.

SLA (Optional) Select an existing SLA or enter a new one. Notethat this is the SLA for the end-to-end processrather than task-specific.

Notes (Optional) Free text to enter any notes about this ProcessTemplate.

Request (Optional) Default parent request type for the Process usedto pre-populate the Request field for UpdateParent Request and Set Field actions.

Process Group or Company(Optional)

For non-ITSM 7 servers, select a Remedy groupto assign the process to. For ITSM 7 servers,select a Company to assign the process to.

Audit (Optional) Flag the Process and any Requests createdfrom it for audit reporting.

Maintain Layout in Abydos RequestTracker When checked, Abydos Request Tracker willdisplay an executed instance of the process withthe same layout as designed. When unchecked,an automatic layout algorithm will be used.

Abydos Designer makes use of the Business Time forms within BMC Remedy tocalculate target completion times. For more details on defining the SLA, please refer to the

Abydos Designer Configuration Guide.

If you are running Abydos Designer on a server with BMC Remedy ITSM 7 and/or SRMapplications then you can assign the process to a company. Then only process designerswho are defined within the people of the Company may access the process. If left blank,the process is effectively -Global-.

Similarly, if you are not using the BMC applications, you can assign the process to astandard Remedy group and the process will then be restricted to users within that group.If left blank, then the process will remain Public.

The button can be used to provide a quicker and easier method of locating the formfor selection.


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Clicking OK on the new process dialog will create the Process Template in the right-handpane, ready to be populated with Tasks.

Designing Process TemplatesWhen a Process diagram is opened, the Tasks and Dependency lines are drawnautomatically. (If this is a new Process Template, then the drawing will be blank.)

To add new Tasks to the Process, simply select from the Palette and drag-and-drop ontothe diagram pane. Dependency lines can be drawn using the mouse to link the two tasks,starting from the first task and drawing the line to its dependant task.

To remove Tasks and Dependencies from the Process Template, simply select them anddelete them using the Delete key.

To save changes to the Process Template, click the button or right-clickthe diagram and select the Update Process option from the pop-up menu.

When updated, the version number of the Process Template will be increased to identify

the version.

PaletteThe following palette items are available for the construction of and updates to existingprocesses. To add an item to the process, simply click and drag it onto the drawing page.

Action icons can only be dropped onto existing tasks.

Palette Item Description

This icon is used for creating standardunconditional tasks.


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Palette Item Description

This icon is used for creating conditional tasks,i.e. those that have one or more possibleoutcome.

This icon is used to create a sub-process taskwhich references a sub-process of the currentprocess.

This icon is used where the outcome isdetermined by a sub-process of the currentprocess.

The Run Process command can be used to runprocesses/executables on your BMC Remedyserver.

You should use the full path in the Run ProcessCommand Field up to and including the processthat you wish to execute.There are no return values for this option.

This Action will use the output from thecommand executed on your BMC Remedyserver as the outcome of the Task.You should use the full path in the Run Process

Command Field up to and including the processthat you wish to execute.

Direct SQL can be used to perform SQLoperations direct on the database where theSQL does not return a value.

Set Outcome SQL can be used to perform anSQL query that will return a value which is usedto set in the Task Outcome value.The value returned should be one of theconditional outcomes on the dependencies thatrelate to the task for which the action is defined.

If more than one record is returned, then onlythe first record is used.

The Send Notification action can be used tonotify a defined group or individual. Thosebeing notified will receive their notificationthrough the default mechanism as specified intheir user record.Change groups only apply to BMC Remedy sChange Management application.


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The following fields should be entered on the Classification Tab:

Field Description

Category If you have already used the Task Category itwill be available for selection from the dropdown menu otherwise a new name can beentered.

Type If an existing Task Category has beenchosen then all available Task Types for itwill appear on the drop down menu or a newname can be entered.

A new Task Type name will need to be

entered if a new Task Category has beendefined.

Name The Task Name should be unique for theTask Category and Type selected.

Description (optional) A free text description of the task (up to 255characters).

Sub Process (check box) Indicates whether this task represents a sub-process or not.

Process Name The name of the sub-process to which thistask relates. This field will only appear if thesub-process check-box is selected.


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Field Description

Version The version of the sub-process to use.

Audit Flags the Task and any Request Tasks inBMC Remedy created from it for auditreporting.

The following fields should be entered on the Details Tab:

Field Description

OLA Name (optional) The Operating Level Agreement that the taskmust be completed against.

If you already have your own OLA/SLAfunctionality and don t need to monitor the progress of tasks, then this field can beignored.

Assigned To Group*(optional)

Drop down menu with Active BusinessGroups, populated with data from the BMCRemedy Group form. Select a value from themenu to associate with the Task.

Assignment Rule (optional) Specify an assignment rule with a condition

to be met for the task to progress.List Position The task s list position within the process.

This must be unique and can usually be leftas the default, as the system will auto-generate and update as necessary.

Note that the list position does not affect theorder in which the tasks are processed.

Starting Task Indicates whether Abydos Designer shouldtreat this as a starting task in the currentprocess. Starting Tasks are always assignedwhen processing begins, even if they dependon the completion of earlier tasks.

When you add the first Task to your ProcessTemplate, you will be asked whether youwant that Task to be a Starting Task.Selecting Yes will automatically set this.

Return to Parent Only required for sub-processes to indicatewhether completion of this task should passcontrol back to the process that called it.

Outcome Field If you wish to pre-set a process task field asthe outcome of the task when the task is

created in Remedy then select the field here.Wizard Outcome Label Label text for the Abydos Wizard Outcome


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Note: If a conditional dependency line is moved to another task, the task previouslyconnected to it may become a standard task if it now has no conditional dependenciesconnected to it, and the new task connected may change from standard to conditional.However, the task(s) will not change visually unless their dependencies are updated or the

process is updated and re-loaded.

Double-clicking the Dependency line will bring up the following window:

Here, the dependency can be created (and modified) with the following details:

Field Description

First The first task in the dependency.

Dependent This is the task that is dependent upon thecompletion of the First Task.

Dependency Type (Either OR orAND )

Determines whether the Dependent Task isassigned on the completion of the First Task(OR), or on completion of all other linked tasks

with the same AND dependency. Conditional Outcome (optional) The condition that must be met at the completion

of the First Task before the Dependent Task canstart.

Entering a new one here will create a newOutcome Code when the tasks are created in theBMC Remedy application.

Restart Task If this field is set to Yes it will automatically setthe status of the dependent task back toAssigned if it has already completed or has beencancelled.


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In the above example, the task titled Repeating Task will be assigned 4 times as definedby the qualification on the depen dency from the task titled Repeat Loop. The otherdependency from this task should have the condition set to [Else] to continue out of theloop.

Copying and PastingIt is possible, using Edit > Copy or Ctrl-C, to copy individual tasks, sections of the processor even the whole process (using Edit > Select All or Ctrl-A) to paste either into the sameprocess or another process which you have open. Using Edit > Paste or Ctrl-V, all pastedtasks will also contain copies of any fields or actions from the original tasks.

Auto-Layout Abydos Designer can automatically layout your process Diagram, with four optionsava ilable; Centered, Cascading, Radial and Flowchart . To auto-layout the process,

select a blank area of the diagram and right-click to open the popup menu. Then selectthe layout option you prefer.

Note that once the process diagram is altered, it cannot be undone. You will need to closethe process and not save changes (update the process) to revert back to the originallayout.

Aligning TasksIf you wish to align tasks horizontally or vertically, select multiple tasks using the Ctrl keyand then click either the button to align them horizontally, or to align them vertically.

All selected tasks will then be aligned to the first task shape selected.


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Applying Actions to Tasks

Task Actions are especially useful for automating parts or even all of your Process, suchas the conditional routing based on the value of a field on the Process s request or thespawning of a command process to initiate external processing.

The result of the Action can be used to update the Task status and thereby controlactivation of dependent Tasks in the Process.

Actions can be applied to Tasks by selecting the action item from the palette and droppingit onto the required Task. For example, dropping the Notification Action item onto a Taskwill cause this window to be presented for completion:

Field Descriptions:

Field Description

Task Name The name of the task to which this action relates.

Trigger Task Status The status of the task that will trigger the action.

Trigger Outcome The outcome of the task that will trigger the action. (Onlyapplies when task status value is Complete.)

Post-Action Task Status The status that the task should be set to when the actionis completed.

Post-Action Outcome The outcome that should be set on the task when theaction is completed (only applies when the post-actionstatus is set to Complete )


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Field Description

Action Specific Fields These will appear depending on the action type selected.Complete as indicated.

Once an action has been created, it forms part of the process definition and will beinherited by any requests that are based on that process.

Actions can reference fields which will then be substituted with the actual values whenexecuted within the request in your Remedy application. For example, within an Emailmessage text.

Select where you wish to insert the field and then click on the button. A pop-up list will appear presenting a list of any Abydos related fields within the process andfields on the Process s request form (if selected within the Process definition).

The list also includes references to the request identifier (p_request_id) and the taskidentifier (p_task_id). These are reserved words which will also be substituted within theaction when executed.

To modify an existing one, modify the Task and then select the Actions tab. Select the Action that you want to update, and then click on the View button. To delete an Action, select the one that you want to del ete, and then click on the Delete button.


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When an Action is applied to a Task, the shape reflects the action applied to it. If you have

multiple actions applied to the same Task, then the icon displayed will be that of the Action whichsets the Task to auto-complete. Only one Action can auto-complete the Task.

If you wish to display the Task name below a Task with an Action applied, select it and resize it:


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General Points on SQL statements within Actions

All SQL commands are run as the BMC Remedy database user (default ARAdmin)

No semi-colon is required at the end of the SQL statement. The command can include any Abydos or Remedy fields.

To update the current task use the reserved word p_task_id to identify the record. E.g:

UPDATE abyd_t ask set action_taken = Job Done where task_id = p_task_id

To update the current request, use the reserved word p_request_id to identify the record.E.g:

UPDATE ABYD_Sample_F orm set short_description = Software Problem

where request_id = p_request_id

As the SQL statement is run from within a BMC Remedy filter, any errors resulting fromthe SQL statement will be visible from the BMC Remedy filter and/or SQL log files.

Email Actions

The Email action utilises the BMC Remedy Email Engine which must be pre-configured foryour email server. Please refer to the BMC Remedy manual Email Engine Guide formore information.

Email Destination

The Email destination field on the Email action can be set to one of four pre-definedvalues or to any text string that you may want to use to control the setting of the emailaddress:

Destination Description

Defined Address Sends the email to the address provided in theDefined Address field. To send to more than oneaddress, use a semi-colon to separate addresses.

Assignee Sends the email to the assignee of the current task.

Example Uses the example filter (SAM:TAA-SM-480-GetExampleEmailAddress), to send the email to theaddress specified on the sample form.

Any Text String Define your own text string to be referenced from thecorresponding BMC Remedy filter to retrieve theemail address from the specified location. Use theExample filter above and modify accordingly.

Creating an Email action with a defined email address will send an email to that addressusing the subject and text defined in the action. The defined email address, subject andtext can include any number of Abydos or Remedy fields as described above. The valueof any field used will then be substituted when the process is executed in Remedy.


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Notification Action

The Notify Text can include any Abydos or Remedy fields. The recipient can also be set tothe value of a field on the parent request by setting the Notification Type to RequestField. (This requires that the parent request form be specified in the Process definition forthis option to be available).

Running Processes

The Run Process and Set Outcome Process Actions can both be used to invoke anexecutable file or script on the machine running AR Server. The permissions on the file orscript must allow execution by the operating system user running the BMC Remedy ARSserver. The command can include any Abydos or Remedy fields.

Set Field action

The Set Field action sets the value of a process related field to outcome of the task or tothat of a field value from any Remedy form on your server.

By default, the Request Form will be set to the process s parent request form. You canselect an alternative form, although if you do, you should provide a query to obtain therecord from which you wish to retrieve the field s value.

Click the Edit... button to define the query.


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The query can be built from a combination of the form s fields and also process relatedfields. The p_request_id and p_task_id keywords can be used to query the form based onthe current requests request_id or current task id respectively.

Create New Request action

Within the process you can add an Action to create a new request in any named formwithin your Remedy system.

If you are creating an ITSM request (Incident, Problem Investigation, Change Request orWork Order) then you can select this from the drop down:

Click on the Details... button to open up the wizard which will assist in obtaining all of thefield data required to successfully create the request.


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This stage prompts for the remaining mandatory details required to create the specify typeof request you wish to create. Therefore, if you create an Incident for example, you willsee Incident specific details here. Again these will be pre-populated from the template ifyou selected one on the previous stage.

Click Next to progress to the final stage.

Here you can optionally also provide the Operational and Product categorizations to beset on the new request. Again these will be pre-populated if the categorization values areset on a template if selected previously.

If you have Abydos processes mapped against categorizations in your Remedy serverthen the process which will be triggered for the request will be displayed whencategorizations are selected from the drop-down list here. Alternatively, you can click theSelect from Process Mapping... button to see all current mappings.


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If you select one of the mappings and click OK, the categorizations will be set to thoseselected. This will also confirm the Abydos process which will be trigged when the requestis created in Remedy.

Click OK to confirm all the details. You can also see all the fields for the request byclicking the Full Field List... button.

Here you can then populate any additional fields you wish. The fields can be populatedwith values from the originating request (for example the service request) which is runningthe process


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The field values can be typed or selected from the drop-down list of Task Related Fields,Remedy Keywords or the variables p_request_id or p_task_id.

Update Parent Request action

The Update Request action allows you to update the Task s paren t request with valuesspecified in the list, in the same way in which you specify values in the Create NewRequest action as shown above.

Start New Process action

This action will trigger another pre-defined Process to be initiated. The existing Processwill still progress as usual, running concurrently with the new Process. Unlike sub-processes, the tasks within the Process defined within this action will not be created untilthe action is triggered.

Approval Action

This action allows you to select an approval process and specify an individual approver forthe request. The approver can also be defined from a process related field, making therequest s approver completely dynamic at run -time.

The approval action can only be used with processes defined for Service Requests (SRM)and Change Requests (Change Management). Please see the Abydos DesignerConfiguration Guide for more details.


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Adding Fields to Tasks

Fields can be added to tasks to support the business process without physically addingfields to forms within BMC Remedy and also reduce the need to create workflow to hide orshow the fields based on the status of the Process.

Fields can be applied to Tasks by selecting the Fields tab on the Task definition form.To create a new field, click on th e New button. This will open the Field form. Tomodify an existing field, select the field that you want to update, and then click on theEdit button. To delete a field, select the field that you want to delete, and then click onthe Delete butt on.

Within the Field definition, you must specify the field name and the type. The type offield is a subset of the main field types supported within BMC Remedy. Setting theoption to indicate that the field is mandatory will prevent the user from completing theTask in Remedy unless the field is populated.

A default value can optionally be specified which can be based on a relevant BMC

Remedy keyword. For example, a date/time field can be set to be the current$TIMESTAMP$. Default values will be set once the Task is assigned.


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A minimum and maximum value can enforce either minimum and/or maximum length of acharacter or diary field, or minimum/maximum values for integer and real number field

types. A description can be entered to provide help text to the user when entering the field svalue from within the request s T ask in BMC Remedy.

Character field types can also have a menu attached that has been pre-defined withinBMC Remedy Administrator tool or BMC Developer Studio.

You can also select an existing field from another task in the same process. When theprocess is running in Remedy all fields of the same name will have the same value.

Adding Diagram Notes

Notes can be added to the Process diagram to aid documentation by moving the cursor toan empty point on the diagram and dragging the cursor to draw the note at your requiredsize.


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Double-click the note to add or change the text within it.

All diagram notes are saved with the Process.

Maintaining Process Templates

Changing the status of a Process TemplateProcess Templates are initially created with a status of Design. This allows you to add,remove or change its Tasks, Dependencies, etc. If you wish to make changes to aProcess Template but keep a backup of the previous version, set the status of theProcess Template to In Test and re-open it for designing.

To set the Process Template s status select the Process Template in the tree and selectPromote to Test from the right -click menu.

Once the status change is confirmed, these menu options will be changed to reflect thenew status. The Process Template will be moved in the tree to within the node for the newstatus.

To make use of a Process Template for requests in BMC Remedy, its status must be setto Live. Note that when a Process T emplate is either Live, Suspended or Archived, itcannot be updated. Tasks, Dependencies, Actions and Fields can be viewed but are read-only.

When promoting a Process Template to Live, a check is made to ensure there is notalready another version of it Live. If there is, you will be promoted to confirm whether you

wish to replace the current Live version or not. If you do, the previous version will beautomatically set to the status of Archived.


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Note that you must be a member of the Abydos Administrator group in Remedy beforeyou can promote a Process Template to Live status.

Amending a Process TemplateIt is possible to amend the details of the Process Template which were entered when itwas initially created by selecting its node in the tr ee and selecting Properties from theright-click menu.

When selected, the Process Template form will appear with the current details. Click OKto confirm your changes.

Making changes to a Live Process Template As a Live Process Template is availabl e for use for requests created in BMC Remedy, it isprotected against any updates and can only be viewed read-only in Abydos Designer .Should you need to make changes to a Process Template with a status of Live, you cancreate an In Test copy of it an d then replace it once you are happy with your changes.

To do this, perform the following steps:-

1. Select the node for the Process Template in the tree or the list (if you have selectedthe Live node in the tree). From the right -click menu, select Create Test Copy.


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Select the process Templates that you wish to import or use the Select All button to selectthem all.

If the Process Template already exists with the same version number then you can specifythe option to import it as a new version of the process. If the existing process is in theLive or Suspended state, then the imported version can be set to In Test.

Importing XPDL FilesThe XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) file format allows the transfer of businessprocesses between alternate process modelling tools. If you are currently using a tool formodelling your business processes that exports to the XPDL format, you can then importthese format files into Abydos Designer. The processes can then be executed in yourBMC Remedy application like any other Designer process.

To import from an XPDL file, select File -> Import... from the toolbar menu and then select

the file with the .xpdl file extension. Abydos Designer will scan the file for the package andworkflow processes included.


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Click OK to confirm that you wish to import the processes from the file. Abydos Designersupports the following features of XPDL:

Workflow Processes

Activities

Transitions (including conditions)

Data Fields

Data Types (including String, Float, Integer, DateTime, Boolean and enumeration values)


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Setting OptionsThe options available from the Tools->Options menu are as follows:

Colours

The colours of the shapes within the Process diagrams are fully configurable. The shapesconsist of two colours (referred to as the Primary and Secondary), with one blending intothe other. Clicking the colours on the form allows you to pick an alternative colour. Thepreview will update to indicate how the shape will look.

Click the Designer Classic button should you wish to set the colours to those used for Abydos Designer 7.

Should you make any changes, these will not be fully reflected until Abydos Designer isrestarted.

LoggingEnable logging and specify the location of the Abydos Designer.log file on your client tolog all client activity. Logging will continue until you disable logging or close Designer.

MiscNew Actions auto-complete Tasks

Set this option on to default new task actions to auto-complete the task that they areapplied to.

Show Gridlines on startup

Set this option for gridlines to be set on for diagrams when starting Abydos Designer.


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END OF DOCUMENT

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Abydos Designer User Guide