Workflows

A workflow is defined as a pre-determined series of steps involving a single component and one or more actions that are performed on it in sequence.

Certain activities associated with APA construction involve a series of steps that are performed one after the other in a set order, and if the activity is ever repeated, the steps must be performed in exactly the same order each time. An example of this is the assembly of complete APAs from their constituent components, along with any measurements and other QA/QC checks to be performed on each component along the way - each APA must be assembled identically to all others, and the same measurements and QA/QC checks must be performed on each one during construction. It therefore makes sense for the entire series of steps to be pre-determined, and to allow users to either continue where the previous iteration of the activity was left off, or start a new iteration of the activity from the first step in sequence.

In the database, a workflow always begins with the creation of a component, the type of which is dependent on the expected outcome of the workflow, i.e. the workflow type. For example, a workflow dealing with the assembly of an APA will begin with the creation of an 'APA frame' type component, as this is the most basic underlying component in the entire APA, onto which all other components are assembled. Further steps in the workflow then correspond to the various actions that will be performed on the starting component.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if a component or action is to be associated with a particular workflow, it must be created or performed via the workflow itself, instead of as a standalone entity. It is not possible to associate pre-existing standalone components or actions with a workflow.

In contrast to components, but similarly to actions, workflows only have a single identifier - the ID. This is a 24 character alphanumeric string that is generated automatically by the database when the workflow is first created. The ID remains uniquely associated with the workflow regardless of any later changes made to the workflow's information (i.e. it is the same across all versions of a single workflow), and it cannot be changed after it has been generated and associated with the workflow.