AEM provides several tools and resources for creating workflow models, developing workflow steps, and for programmatically interacting with workflows.
Workflows enable you to automate processes for managing resources and publishing content in your AEM environment. Workflows are composed of a series of steps, with each step accomplishing a discrete task. You can use logic and runtime data to decide when a process can continue and select the next step from one of multiple possible steps.
For example, business processes for creating and publishing web pages include approval and sign-off tasks by various participants. These processes can be modeled using AEM workflows and applied to specific content.
Key aspects are covered below, while the following pages cover further details:
For information about:
A WorkflowModel
represents a definition (model) of a workflow. It is made of WorkflowNodes
and WorkflowTransitions
. The transitions connect the nodes and define the flow. The Model always has a start node and an end node.
Workflow models are versioned. When you run a workflow instance, it uses and keeps the runtime model of the workflow, as available at the time the workflow was started.
A runtime model is generated when Sync is triggered in the workflow model editor.
Edits to the workflow model that occur, or runtime models that are generated, or both, after the specific instance was started are not applied to that instance.
The steps performed are defined by the runtime model, generated at the time the Sync action is triggered in the workflow model editor.
If the workflow model is changed after this point in time (without Sync being triggered), then the runtime instance does not reflect those changes. Only runtime models generated after the update reflect the changes. The exceptions are the underlying ECMA scripts, which are held only once so those changes are taken.
Each step accomplishes a discrete task. There are different types of workflow steps:
All the steps share the following common properties: Autoadvance
and Timeout
alerts (scriptable).
A WorkflowTransition
represents a transition between two WorkflowNodes
of a WorkflowModel
.
A WorkItem
is the unit that is passed through an Workflow
instance of a WorkflowModel
. It contains the WorkflowData
that the instance acts on and a reference to the WorkflowNode
that describes the underlying workflow step.
WorkItems
at the same time (depending on the workflow model).WorkItem
references the workflow instance.WorkItem
is stored below the workflow instance.References the resource that has to be advanced through a workflow.
The payload implementation references a resource in the repository (by path, UUID, or URL) or by a serialized Java™ object. Referencing a resource in the repository is flexible and, with sling productive. For example, the referenced node could be rendered as a form.
Is created when starting a new workflow (by choosing the respective workflow model and defining the payload) and ends when the end node is processed.
The following actions are possible on a workflow instance:
Completed and terminated instances are archived.
Each user account has its own workflow inbox in which the assigned WorkItems
are accessible.
The WorkItems
are assigned to either the user account directly or to the group to which they belong.
There are various types of workflow as indicated in the Workflow Models console:
Default
These types are the out-of-the-box workflows included in a standard AEM instance.
Custom workflows (no indicator in the console)
These workflows have been created as new, or from out-of-the-box workflows that have been overlaid with customizations.
Legacy
Workflows created in a prior version of AEM. These workflows can be retained during an upgrade, or exported as a workflow package from the prior version, then imported into the new version.
Standard workflows save runtime (history) information during their running. You can also define a workflow model as Transient to avoid such history being persisted. This workflow is used for performance tuning because it saves time and resources that are used for persisting the information.
Transient workflows can be used for any workflows that:
Transient workflows were introduced for loading many assets, where the asset information is important, but not the workflow runtime history.
See Creating a Transient Workflow for further details.
When a workflow model is flagged as Transient, there are a few scenarios when the runtime information, must still be persisted:
Within a transient workflow, you should not use a Goto Step.
The reason is because the Goto Step creates a sling job to continue the workflow at the goto
point. It defeats the purpose of making the workflow transient, and generates an error in the log file.
Use OR Split to make choices within a transient workflow.
See Best Practices for Assets for further information about how Transient Workflows impact Asset performance.
Activating Multi Resource Support for your workflow model means that a single workflow instance is started even when you select multiple resources. Each is attached as a package.
If Multi Resource Support is not activated for your workflow model and multiple resources are selected, then an individual workflow instance is started for each resource.
See Configuring a Workflow for Multi Resource Support for further details.
Workflow Stages help visualize the progress of a workflow when handling tasks. They can be used to provide an overview of how far the workflow is through processing. When the workflow runs, the user can view the progress described by Stage (as opposed to individual step).
As the individual step names can be specific and technical, the stage names can be defined to provide a conceptual view of the workflow progress.
For example, for a workflow with six steps and four stages:
Step Name | Stage (assigned to the step) |
---|---|
Step 1 | Create |
Step 2 | Create |
Step 3 | Review |
Step 4 | Approve |
Step 5 | Complete |
Step 6 | Complete |
When the workflow is run, the user can view the progress according to the Stage names (instead of the step names). The workflow progress is displayed in the WORKFLOW INFO tab of the task details window of the workflow item listed in the Inbox.
Typically, workflows are used to process form submissions in AEM. It can be with the core components form components available in a standard AEM instance, or with the AEM Forms solution.
When creating a form, the form submission can be easily associated with a workflow model. For example, to store the content in a particular location of the repository or to notify a user about the form submission and its content.
Workflows are also a part of the Translation process.