In IFS Cloud, there’s a new feature, Business Process Automation (BPA), that has integrated the Camunda workflow engine into the core product. This feature is helping to automate IFS in a way that used to be done through custom code written by a developer.
Whilst the functionality is not quite as simple as drag, drop and configure, that similar tools may offer, I think it has great potential to revolutionise the work of citizen developers and super users. Rather than paying for expensive developments to run your exact business process, the workflow engine can accomplish MOST scenarios that you throw at it…..but it may take you a little while to get the hang of it.
Here’s five things that I think you should know when looking at the BPA engine.
#1 You will fail. You will feel frustrated
As with any new product or feature, there is a learning curve to adjust to. With the IFS BPA tool, this initially seems like setting off to climb Mount Everest in your trainers and a onesie. (I saw someone do this on Ben Nevis…).
IFS have a lot of example workflows included in your solution, check these out as they can help you understand how to deal with various data types and how the workflow will come together. You can find these under “Solution Manager > Workflow Manager > Workflows”.
#2 Start small. Really small
My initial approach was to get carried away and try to create a workflow with several steps that would solve my problem. I failed (see point 1…). I changed approach and tried to create something basic so I could get my head around what was happening.
I designed a workflow to set the value of a field BEFORE the record was submitted. This was a game changer as previously you could not set client-side fields until AFTER the record was saved. This was a great starting point, I used some fixed values for the fields to verify that I could do something with this new tool.
#3 The version control could be improved
You save a version of your workflow and then publish it. However, if you make a mistake, or need to make a change, you can’t unpublish from the same screen. You also can’t unpublish at all if you only have ONE version of the flow.
You will need to go back out of the Workflow Designer page to create a new version of the workflow using the Clone option and then IFS will unpublish the previous version once this new one is published. So, it feels like a lot of clicking around, but I’m sure this process will become slicker in the future.
#4 Testing
The Camunda workflow has a feature where you can test the workflow prior to publishing it. This testing will rely on you understanding the names of the variables that are needed. This is where the IFS API Explorer comes in handy. The workflow engine will interact with the APIs for the screens you want to deal with. In the API definition, you will find the IDs of the fields you want to interact with for each API call that you may need to do in your flow.
Several APIs do some similar things or populate the database from a different screen. To understand what is going on, you can track the API calls in your browser (Press F12) and then perform your process and identify the APIs and the data requirements.
#5 Rely on your community
Many questions have been asked and answered on the IFS community forum (https://community.ifs.com). This certainly helped me work a few things out whilst trying to understand the IFS Documentation and looking for resources for the Camunda workflow product outside of the IFS Ecosystem.
I struggled along but stuck with my gut feeling that it would be worth it in the end. I have no doubt that this product will continue to evolve, and I can see the awesome potential it will bring to customer solutions. I haven’t got everything quite figured out yet, I’m still having an issue with Timestamp data – but it might be an environment thing.
If you do have questions on your workflow journey, please contact me and I may be able to help and guide you. Or, if you’d like to find out more about me and Techris Consulting then check out this blog post