Workflow Process Support in Windchill ProjectLink
The following table shows the workflow process support in Windchill ProjectLink.
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Feature
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Support Level
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Notes
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|---|---|---|
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Use of Workflow Template Administration interface
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Partial
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Site and organization administrators can see all templates in the context from which they launched the Workflow Template Administration utility and those inherited from ancestor contexts. In Windchill ProjectLink, you can launch the Workflow Template Administration utility from the Utilities page of the Organizations  and the Site  contexts. The Workflow Template Administration utility is not available in the Projects  or Programs  contexts to administrators of these contexts. From the Organization context, you will see the templates from the site and the organization context from which the utility was launched. From the organization context, the site templates can only be viewed or saved. |
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Use of workflow process editor interface
|
Full
|
The full capabilities of the process editor are exposed. There is no bootstrap capability with Windchill ProjectLink; therefore, a high bandwidth connection to the server is necessary to use the workflow process editor.
|
|
Default task choices
|
Partial
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Life cycle and default task types are supported. Change tasks are not supported.
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|
Email task delivery
|
Full
|
All tasks can be delivered by email, in addition to being added to the user’s Tasks table.
|
|
Ad hoc task support
|
None
|
There is no support for ad hoc workflow tasks.
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|
Custom task form used and definition
|
None
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Windchill ProjectLink default task forms are rendered as JSP pages. However, an administrator can create custom task forms. For more information, see Using Custom Task Form Templates.
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|
Electronic signature support
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Full
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Windchill ProjectLink requires additional authentication, as specified by the signature engine, for tasks generated from activities that require signing.
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Activity-based access control
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Partial
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Activity-based access control can be used for the primary business object only. Access right can only be added to the rights currently defined for the object. Access rights cannot be removed.
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Variable support
|
Partial
|
All standard variables are supported. Variables that represent Windchill classes can be defined and used, but will not be rendered in the task.
|
|
Routing
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Full
|
Exclusive and nonexclusive manual routing is supported. Automatic routing is supported via expressions. Routing selections are displayed only for required roles.
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|
Robots
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Full
|
Notification, set state, timer, execution, and expression robots are all supported.
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Connectors
|
Full
|
Start, stop, and, or, and threshold connectors are all supported.
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|
Process references
|
Full
|
Only processes defined for the organization associated with the logged-in user may be referenced.
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Blocks
|
Full
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A block represents a group of activities, connectors, or robots. Reduce process complexity by creating blocks of activities that can be expanded when needed.
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Transition conditions
|
Full
|
Transition is movement from one internal state to another within a workflow template. This movement reflects a change in the workflow status. Conditions are defined on the Transitions tab for an activity.
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Roles
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Partial
|
Roles that are referenced must be satisfied in the project or program instance associated with the process instance.
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|
Voting
|
Full
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Voting support is limited to Review and Promote activity types.
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Variable substitution
|
Full
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Variable support is limited. Variables representing Windchill classes can be defined and used, but will not be displayed in the task pages.
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|
Import/export
|
Partial
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Process templates can be exported to XML format. There is no organization association with the imported or exported template so the workflow import/export folder should be cleared between uses.
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|
Process initiation
|
Partial
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Within Windchill ProjectLink, a workflow process cannot be explicitly initiated by an end user. A workflow process may be instantiated indirectly only by creating a life cycle managed object or by initiating a routing action. Through a customization, it is also possible that a workflow process could be initiated within a project.
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Participation identification
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Partial
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Participation in a downstream task can be accomplished through the use of user and group variables that are satisfied by an assignee in a task form. You can add or remove assignees from a running process by updating the route participants. The change applies to unstarted started activities, it will not affect tasks that are currently running. There is no support for the setup participants capability.
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|
Content holder access
|
None
|
There is no workflow content holder exposed in a workflow task.
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Ad hoc tasks
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None
|
Ad hoc tasks cannot be created from a parent task.
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|
Access to primary business object
|
Partial
|
A link to the subject is provided.
|
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Adding comments
|
Partial
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A link to the subject’s discussion forum is available in the task form. Comments can also be added to a string variable.
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Task actions
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Partial
|
A user can open and reassign tasks, but there is no capability to delegate them or to access a user calendar. When tasks are reassigned, the assignee pool is the project or program team.
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Tasks customization
|
None
|
The Tasks tables support multiple predefined views. There is no capability to further define custom views.
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|
Project or Program tasks view
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Full
|
There is a specific view of all tasks in a project or program.
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Access to the Workflow Process Manager
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Partial
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There is no access to the process manager for a general workflow user.
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Access to workflow participation or execution history
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Partial
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Windchill ProjectLink exposes no explicit access to workflow participation or history information for non-administrators. However, individual task forms can accumulate information regarding participation and disposition. Comment history can be captured in a discussion forum associated with the primary business object.
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Local search support for process information
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None
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There is no support for searching running or completed processes.
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Workflow process management
|
Partial
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