Whether you have used the BPM Design Editor or Human Task editor to define the Human Task, you need to check the Data associations and make sure they are correct. The application knows what Data object types are in the Human Task and will list them for you in the center area, but you may need to specify exactly which Data objects should be mapped to each type as input and output.
Data associations are used to pass the information stored in Data objects in the following contexts:
- To and from another process or service invoked from a BPMN process
- In a Human Task service, to and from an Oracle Business Rule
- To and from a script task
You are doing it here for a Human Task. You use Data associations to define the input and output from a flow object (like Human Task) to an external service or process.
The Data associations' editor enables you to configure the input and output values passed between a flow object and its implementation. The editor contains an input section, flow object interface (it lists the expected input arguments for the service or process implemented), output section, and a Data object display section. You can create Data associations to configure values as follows:
- Launch BPM Studio.
- Navigate to the BPM Project navigator.
- Click the SalesToContract process.
- Right click the Enter Quote task and click Properties.
- Go to the Implementation tab and then the Data Association section.
- Check Use Association and click on the pencil icon to its right.
- You will reach the Data Associations editor.
- Drag the quote from the Data objects section to the Output box to the right of Enter Quote | quoteRequest.
- You can keep the Input association empty for the moment; as we have two options to initiate/trigger the process SalesToContract—either by using Scripts or the y Sales Representative role with Initiate task.
- Click OK twice.
- When you have finished following these steps, click Save.
When the BPMN Service Engine runs the User task implementation, it invokes the Human Workflow Service with the parameters defined in the Data association of the User task. When the Human Workflow Service finishes running the Human Tasks, it provides the results to the BPMN Service Engine using the defined Data association.
While creating Human Tasks directly from our Interactive tasks, the Data associations are completed automatically for Business Analyst Review and Finalize Contract tasks. Our other Interactive tasks (Approve Deal and Approve Terms) were associated with the existing Approve Quote task, so we'll have to create the Data associations for these manually.
Follow the ensuing steps to check Data associations:
- Right-click Business Analyst Review or Finalize Contract task.
- Choose the Properties | Implementation tab.
- Go to the Data Association section.
- You can find that Data Association is already created for both the tasks.
- Click on the pencil icon used for editing to the right of Data Association to check the association for the respective tasks.
- When you have finished following the preceding steps, click Save.
The Interactive (Approve Deal and Approve Terms) activities were associated with the existing ApproveQuote task, so we'll have to create the data associations for these manually.
- Right-click on the Approve Deal activity, choose Properties, and go to the Implementation tab.
- Check Use Associations and click the pencil icon.
- Drag the Data object quote from the Data object display panel on the right to both the Input and Output boxes on the left panel.
- Click OK.
- Repeat the same steps for Approve Terms.
- When you have finished following the preceding steps, click Save.