BizCortex documentation

Drawing a process in the editor

Add and connect steps, name them, save, look at earlier revisions, and export or import .bpmn files.

Click a process in the overview to open the editor. The diagram fills the left side, the panel on the right shows the selected element or, when nothing is selected, the process itself. The editor is built on bpmn.io and stores real BPMN 2.0, so the files work in other BPMN tools. The bpmn.io logo in the corner of the diagram is required by its licence and stays visible.

The header holds "Save", "Revisions", "Export" and "Trace". As long as something is not saved, the note "Unsaved changes" appears below the header. Under "Process execution", the header also lets you choose the mode "Describe", "Track" or "Enforce".

Who can use this

  • Editing: Owner, Admin and Compliance
  • Every member with a built in role: Owner, Admin, Accountant, Sales, Purchase, HR Manager, Employee, Viewer and Compliance (read only)

Steps

  1. 1. Add an element

    Use the palette on the left edge of the diagram. It offers start, intermediate and end events, gateways, tasks, subprocesses, data objects, pools and groups, plus tools to move the view, select several elements, make space and connect elements. Drag an element onto the diagram.

  2. 2. Connect steps

    Click an element. A small menu appears next to it. Use it to append the next task, event or gateway directly, which also draws the sequence flow, or choose the arrow and click the element that should follow. The wrench in the same menu changes the type, for example from a task to a user task, and the bin removes the element.

  3. 3. Name a step

    Double click an element and type its name in the diagram, or select it and use "Name" in the panel. Press Enter or leave the field to apply the name.

  4. 4. Edit the process details

    Click an empty spot in the diagram. The panel shows "Process" with "Title", "Description", "Domain" and "Status".

  5. 5. Save

    Click "Save". The button is active only while there are changes. Each save of the diagram or the process details creates a new revision, and the message "Saved (revision n)" confirms it.

  6. 6. Look at earlier revisions

    Click "Revisions". The list shows every saved revision, newest first, with author and time; the current one is marked "current". Click "Restore" on an older revision to make it the newest one again. The older revisions stay in the list.

  7. 7. Export

    Click "Export" to download the process as a .bpmn file.

  8. 8. Delete a process

    Click an empty spot in the diagram and choose "Delete process" at the bottom of the panel. The process is archived and removed from the overview, and its connections in the knowledge graph are closed.

Fields and options

Read only

Shown instead of "Save" when you may not edit processes. You can still move and zoom the diagram, select steps, read their links, open "Revisions", export and open the trace.

Unsaved changes

Your diagram, the process details or the links differ from the saved state.

Revisions

One revision per save of the diagram or the process details. A restore saves the old diagram as a new revision.

Linked data badge

A small number on a step shows how many tables and fields are linked to it.

Open cases

In Track or Enforce mode, every step where cases currently stand carries a number on the diagram. It is red when some of these cases are stalled.

Tips

  • Links from the trace, from the usage lists and from the knowledge graph open the editor with the matching step selected and in view.
  • To import a diagram from another tool, use "Import BPMN" in the overview or on "New process". Choose a domain in the dialog, or leave the first option selected; the process is then filed under Other fields, and you can change the domain in the editor.

Good to know

  • If you leave the editor with unsaved changes, the dialog "Discard unsaved changes?" asks you to choose between "Keep editing" and "Discard and leave". Your browser also warns before you reload or close the page.
  • If someone else saved the process while you were editing it, "The process has changed in the meantime" appears. Click "Reload" to load the current version; your unsaved changes are lost.
  • Restoring a revision discards unsaved changes. A revision contains the diagram only: the title, description, domain, status and links stay as they are.
  • Imported files must be BPMN 2.0, at most about 500 KB, without a DTD, and every element id may appear only once. Pools, lanes, parallel gateways and subprocesses are all accepted.

Related

  • Running processes

    Choose the mode of a process and set under "Execution" what each step means in the app: an event, an approval, a task or a check.

  • Linking steps to data

    Say for each step which tables and fields it reads, writes, creates or approves, and deal with orphaned links.

  • Following a process with the trace

    Read a process from start to end with the data each step uses, find unreachable steps and see where data is used elsewhere.

  • The Processes app

    What a process, a domain, a table, a field and a link are, and the four starter processes every company gets.