AX1102

Performing process steps in parallel

In general, the order of steps in your process definition determines the order in which tasks for the process can be completed.

When the process is started, the individual steps are made active in the order they are listed. By default, each step is dependent on the prior step being completed (sequential steps). So if step 1 is the currently active step, step 2 is not made active and cannot be completed until step 1 is marked as complete. Once step 1 is completed, step 2 becomes active, and so on.

However, you may have some steps in your process that are not dependent on each other and can be completed in any order. These steps are known as parallel steps, meaning they can all be active at the same time.

To configure parallel steps, you must use a Parallel Subprocess step, and then define the parallel steps as sub-steps of the subprocess. This tells Axiom Software that the sub-steps of the subprocess can be completed in any order.

When the Parallel Subprocess step becomes the active step, all sub-steps are also made active. Once all sub-steps in the subprocess are completed, then the Parallel Subprocess step is automatically marked as completed, and the process moves to the next step.

Imagine that step 2 of a process is a Parallel Subprocess step, and the subprocess has 5 sub-steps. Once step 1 is completed, then step 2 becomes active as well as all 5 of its sub-steps. The owners of the sub-steps can work on these steps and complete them in any order. Once all 5 of the sub-steps are completed, step 2 is automatically completed, and then step 3 of the process becomes the active step.

NOTE: The Multiple Approvals Process Step is a special type of Parallel Subprocess. It can only contain Approval Process Steps as sub-steps, but otherwise its behavior is the same as the Parallel Subprocess.