Default Limit Workflows

Atoti Limits provides a few workflows out of the box with Activiti. The complete tutorial of Activiti can be found on the Activiti website.

This section shows you how to use the out-of-box workflows.

You can find the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) files in the limits-starter/src/main/resources/processes folder. bpmn files are in the XML format, however, we recommend that you install the Activiti Diagram Editor plugin in your IDE, such as Intellij or Eclipse, to edit and read the bpmn files in a nice UI workflow representation.

The events that trigger a workflow are:

  • Limit change: a new limit is created or amended through the UI.
  • An exception (breach or warning) occurs after the limit evaluation.

You can set up workflows for each of these events.

limit-process-four-eyes.bpmn

This workflow requires one approval. By default, one user creates the limit, and another approves it. Alternatively, if the limits.workflow-rules.can-approver-be-same-as-creator property in application.yml is enabled, the creator of the limit can also approve it.

note

See Section:limit workflow in the application.yml configuration file on configuring the workflow. The workflow names must match the process ID in the bpmn:

application.yml:

limits:
  limitWorkflows:
    FourEyes: 
      key: limit-process-instance.four-eyes

limit-process-four-eyes.bpmn:

<process id="limit-process-instance.four-eyes ...>"

All serviceTasks need to have the associated Bean defined in the LimitsProcessInstanceWorkflowService.java or a delegate service:

Location: limits-activeviam/src/main/java/com/activeviam/limits/workflow/instance
File name: DeleteDelegateService.java

FourEyes Workflow Diagram

The possible actions in each of the actionable states are:

Start state Action End state
Create Initialized
Initialized Approve Approved
Initialized Reject Initialized
Approved Edit Edit
Approved Delete Pending Deletion
Approved Expire Expired
Edit Approve Approved
Edit Delete Pending Deletion
Edit Expire Expired
Edit Reject Edit
Pending Deletion Approve Deleted
Pending Deletion Reject Approved
Deleted System End
Expired System End

limit-process-six-eyes.bpmn

This workflow requires two approvals. One user creates the limit, and two others need to approve it.

note

See Section:limit in the application.yml configuration file on configuring the workflow. The workflow names must match the process ID in the bpmn:

application.yml:

limits:
  limitWorkflows:
    SixEyes: 
      key: limit-process-instance.six-eyes

limit-process-six-eyes.bpmn:

<process id="limit-process-instance.six-eyes" ...>"

All serviceTasks need to have the associated Bean defined in the java file: Location: limits-activeviam/src/main/java/com/activeviam/limits/workflow/instance File name: LimitsProcessInstanceWorkflowService.java

limit-process-straight-through.bpmn

This workflow doesn’t require an approval. The limit is created in approved state. Limits created via DLC and Limit file upload use the Straight through workflow.

note

See Section:limit in the application.yml configuration file on configuring the workflow. The workflow names must match the process ID in the bpmn:

application.yml:

limits:
  limitWorkflows:
    StraightThrough:
      key: limit-process-instance.straight-through

limit-process-straight-through.bpmn:

<process id="limit-process-instance.straight-through ...>"

limit-process-exception.bpmn

This workflow handles breaches and warnings.

note

Please note the section of limits/workflow-types in application.yml, the workflow names need to match the process ID in the bpmn.

application.yml: limits: exceptionWorkflows: Exception: key: limit-process-instance.exception

limit-process-exception.bpmn:
<process id="limit-process-instance.exception ...>"

note

See Section:limit in the application.yml configuration file on configuring the workflow. The workflow names must match the process ID in the bpmn:

application.yml:

limits:
  exceptionWorkflows:
    Exception:
      key: limit-process-instance.exception

limit-process-exception.bpmn:

<process id="limit-process-instance.exception ...>"

All serviceTasks need to have the associated Bean defined in the java file: Location: limits-activeviam/src/main/java/com/activeviam/limits/workflow/instance File name: LimitsProcessInstanceWorkflowService.java

The following diagram represents the various possible states and actions in the Exception workflow:

Exception Workflow Diagram

Start state Action End state
None System Eval Warning
Breached Email
Breached Email System Eval Breached
Breached User Review Reviewed
Breached System Eval Breached
Resolved
Warning
Reviewed System Eval Breached Email
Warning
Resolved
Resolved System Eval Warning
Breached Email
Resolved
Warning System Eval Breached Email
Warning
Resolved

Configuring breach email notifications

When a limit is breached, Atoti Limits notifies the specified users by email. Here’s how to configure the email:

In the limit-process-exception.bpmn, you can find the following BreachEmail section and configure the “to”, “from”, and “subject” fields, and the email body.

note

By default this implementation will not send emails. See Extending the Mail provider section below.

 <serviceTask id="mailtask1" name="BreachEmail" activiti:class="com.activeviam.limits.workflow.service.instance.activity.impl.TestMailActivityBehavior">
      <extensionElements>
        <activiti:field name="to">
          <activiti:string><![CDATA[bas.email.demo.test@gmail.com]]></activiti:string>
        </activiti:field>
        <activiti:field name="from">
          <activiti:string><![CDATA[breach@activeviam.com]]></activiti:string>
        </activiti:field>
        <activiti:field name="subject">
          <activiti:expression><![CDATA[Breach Notification - ${limitsName}]]></activiti:expression>
        </activiti:field>
        <activiti:field name="html">
          <activiti:expression><![CDATA[<html>
<head>
<style>
h3 {text-align: center;background-color:DodgerBlue;color:FloralWhite}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h3>Breach Notification</h3>
<p>Dear Limit Controller, </p>


<p>Limit, ${limitsName}, with limit value, ${limitsValue}, is breached. Please investigate below:
<a href=${url}>Limits Inventory</a>
</p>

<p>
Thank you.
</p>

</body>
</html>]]></activiti:expression>
        </activiti:field>
      </extensionElements>
    </serviceTask>

note

Breach emails use out-of-the-box functionality from Activiti, which causes a performance decrease in the workflow. To avoid this, disable the breach email by removing the “BreachEmail” element from the bpmn file. Make sure that the paths to the “Breach Email” go to the “BREACHED” node after the change.

Extending the mail provider

If you’d like to use the default Activiti mail provider, replace the activiti:class="package.to.CustomClass" in the <serviceTask> description with activiti:type="mail"

Note in the service task description the element activiti:class="com.activeviam.limits.workflow.service.instance.activity.impl.TestMailActivityBehavior". This is a way of providing a custom Java delegator to override the default MailActivityBehavior.

This is an Activiti feature that can be used to provide extra functionality to your project. For example, to avoid sending emails in a test environment, you can do the following:

public class TestMailActivityBehavior extends MailActivityBehavior {

    protected static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TestMailActivityBehavior.class.getSimpleName());

    @Override
    public void execute(DelegateExecution execution) {
        LOGGER.info("Sending test email for execution: " + execution);
        leave(execution);
    }
}

Uploading a limit already in a workflow state

When uploading limits in bulk, some limits may already be present in the module and in progress in one of the workflows. Here’s how the state of the affected limit changes when this happens:

FourEyes Workflow:
  • “Pending Approval” becomes “Approved”.
  • “Pending Deletion” becomes “Deleted”.
Straight-through:

A limit in the “Approved” state stays “Approved”.