Process Concepts

A process defines how work moves through a Lowgile application. Processes coordinate user tasks, automated activities, business rules, and data updates to guide a business transaction from initiation to completion.

Examples include:

purchase request approvals
stock issue requests
onboarding workflows
leave requests
incident management processes

A process provides the structure that determines who performs work, when work is performed, and how information moves between activities.

What Is a Process?

A process represents the lifecycle of a business transaction.

For example, a Purchase Request process may:

Receive a new purchase request.
Route the request for approval.
Collect vendor quotations.
Select a supplier.
Complete the purchasing activity.

Rather than implementing this logic inside screens, Lowgile stores the flow of work in a process definition.

Default Process Diagram

When you create a Process, the Process Editor opens with a default placeholder diagram containing:

one swimlane named Initiator
a Start Event
a Script Task named Hello World
an End Event

Default Process Editor showing the placeholder Process diagram

These elements provide a starting point for the Process definition. You can rename or replace them and add the swimlanes, activities, and routes required by the Process.

Activities and Tasks

Processes are composed of activities.

Activities represent individual units of work performed by users or the system.

Common activity types include:

User Tasks
Service Tasks
Script Tasks
Decision Points
Start Events
End Events

User Tasks typically display a screen and require a user to perform an action before the process can continue.

Process Variables

Processes maintain state through process variables.

Process variables store the data associated with a process instance and remain available throughout the lifetime of the process.

For example, a Purchase Request process may store:

the purchase request
approval decisions
selected quotations
supplier information

Process variables allow information to move between activities without requiring each activity to recreate or reload the data.

Routes and Flow Control

Routes determine how a process moves from one activity to another.

A route may:

always follow a fixed path
depend on business rules
depend on user decisions
depend on data stored in process variables

This allows processes to support both simple workflows and complex business scenarios.

Screens and Processes

Processes and screens work together.

A process controls the flow of work, while screens provide the user interface used to complete tasks.

For example:

Purchase Request Process
    ↓
Manager Approval Task
    ↓
Manager Approval Screen

When a user opens a task, the associated screen receives the process data through input variables.

Process Participants

Processes commonly involve multiple participants.

Examples include:

requestors
managers
procurement staff
finance users
system administrators

Task assignment rules determine which participant is responsible for each activity.

Process Runtime

Each time a process starts, Lowgile creates a process instance.

The process instance tracks:

the current activity
process variables
completed activities
pending tasks
process history

Multiple process instances can execute simultaneously while following the same process definition.

Screen Concepts

Understand how screens interact with processes and users.

Data Models

Understand how business data is structured and stored.