Creating a field

A field is a holding location for constant or variable data that has been retrieved by an event listener so it can be passed to and between workflow processes and their components. The field mappings you create define the relationships between the data retrieved and the values that need to be populated to enable workflows to proceed toward completion.

Fields are extremely versatile. The more you begin to take advantage of the power of Process Designer, the more uses you will find for them. A single field can be mapped to several external systems and reused in a variety of contexts.

Once you have mapped the data relationships, Process Manager will be able to populate the associated fields with the corresponding values. With the field mappings in place, you only need to create your workflow processes once, reusing the fields in different situations to support other workflow processes.

To create a field

1. From the main menu, click Configure | Fields.
2. Select a category from the list in the left panel, or click New category to assign a category name and a description, and click Apply.
3. On the Field details tab, click New field.
4. Assign a field name and a description.
5. Select a data type.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Yes.

To create a field that links to an external system

1. Perform steps 1-5 for creating a field (above).
2. Click the Event listener mappings tab.
3. Select the event listener you want to use to draw the data from to populate the field.
4. Click Insert event listener column and select the specific column to pull the value from, then click Insert.
5. (Optional) If you want to treat multiple columns as one value, select Treat mapping as a collection, then click in the Collection delimiter text box and type the character you want to use for a delimiter. For each new column you insert, type the delimiter character.
6. Click OK.

For more information, see "Field mapping" and "Field details".