AX1095

Starting or stopping a process

A process is only managed by the system if it has been started. Once a process is started, it will remain active until it is completed or stopped.

If you are starting or stopping a plan file process, see Starting and stopping plan file processes.

NOTE: Only administrators or process owners can start or stop a process.

Starting a process

Once you have completed a process definition and you are ready to work on the process, you can start it. When you start a process, Axiom Software does the following:

  • Creates a unique process instance to track the process steps and store the process details. Each activation of a particular process definition is stored separately, so that you can always see the historical details.
  • Activates the first step in the process and creates one or more tasks as appropriate.
  • Displays the activated process in the Process task pane. Administrators can see every activated process; other users will only see the process if they are the process owner or if they have a task for the currently active step.

To start a process:

  1. On the Axiom tab, in the Administration group, click Manage > Process Management > Process Definitions.

    This opens the Axiom Explorer dialog, showing the Process Definition Library. You can also access these definitions from the Explorer task pane.

  2. Open the process definition that you want to start, and then click Start Process in the top right-hand corner of the dialog.

    NOTE: The process definition cannot be started if it contains any missing or invalid settings. These validation errors will display at the bottom of the dialog if present. You can click the link to be taken to the tab or step that contains the error. Once all errors are resolved, you will be able to start the process.

  3. At the confirmation prompt, click OK.

The process is now active. Once a process has been activated, you can track its progress using the Process Manager (Manage > Process Management > Current Processes) or by clicking the View status link in the task pane.

Processes can also be started from the Process Manager dialog, and when viewing the historical details of a process.

Stopping a process

When you stop a process, all current tasks are deleted and the process status changes from Active to Aborted. If the process definition is later restarted, a new process instance will be created and the process will start over from the first step. There is no way to restart a particular process instance at the step it was on when it was stopped.

To stop a process:

  1. From the Process task pane, click View status for the applicable process.

  2. In the Process Status dialog, click Stop Process in the top right-hand corner of the dialog.

  3. At the confirmation prompt, click OK.

You can also stop processes using the Process Manager (Manage > Process Management > Current Processes).

Completing a process

A process will be automatically completed if all steps in the process are complete. Once a particular process instance is completed, that same instance cannot be restarted—if the process definition is later restarted, a new process instance will be created and the process will start over from the first step.

Axiom Software saves the process details for each activated instance of a process. Administrators and process owners can always go back and view the available history. For more information on viewing process history, see Viewing process history.

Scheduling a process

You can use the Scheduler task Start Process to automatically start a process at a specific point in time. The schedule can be one-time, or recurring.

If the process is already active when the Scheduler job executes, you can decide what to do with the current process. You can leave the current process running, or you can stop the current process and then start a new process.

If you use a recurring schedule to start the process, then the process steps should use relative due dates so that the due dates will adjust dynamically for each execution. If the due dates are specific calendar dates, then you must remember to edit the process definition before each scheduled execution for the new calendar dates.