How to automatically start a process? (Timer Start Event)
Some processes need to be triggered periodically or at a specific time/date. What happens if the person responsible for triggering a process forgets to do so? Or if he/she is not available? Wouldn’t it be better to schedule the process so that it starts automatically? Well, now in Flokzu you can do just that by using a Timer Start Event.
Timer Start Events can be used instead of the traditional Start Event to set a specific date or cycle (e.g. every Monday at 9 a.m.) that will trigger the start of the process automatically.
There can be only one Timer Start Event per process. Despite the fact that the start of the process is programmed, you can still launch it manually at any time.
The Timer Start Event is configured in the process workflow. It’s one of the BPMN elements that can be included when modeling the diagram.
Keep in mind that this feature is only available for organizations subscribed to a Standard or Premium plan.
A Timer Start Event is visualized as a circle with an inner clock. To include a Timer Start Event in your diagram, modify the Start Event as shown in the image below:
Once you place the Timer Start Event in the diagram, double-click it to define its settings. The following configuration will display:
The first field is optional. You can use it to add a name below the diagram element.
Then select how often the process should be started. The options are: daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.
Daily: Select on which days the process should start automatically. Weekdays (Monday through Friday) will be selected by default.
Weekly: Select on which days the process should start automatically. No days will be selected by default.
Monthly: create combinations like the first Tuesday of the month, the third Friday or every 27th day of the month, etc.
Frequency: select between First, Second, Third, Fourth and Day.
Day: if you selected any of the first four options above, you can select a day between Monday to Sunday. If you selected ‘Day’ above, you can choose the day number.
Yearly: create combinations like the second Monday of March, the third Thursday of December or every 27th of June, etc.
Frequency: select between First, Second, Third, Fourth and Day/Month.
Day: if you selected any of the first four options above, you can select a day between Monday to Sunday. If you selected ‘Day’ above, you can choose the day number.
Month: choose an option between January to December, regardless of what you selected in Frequency.
The final step is to select the start time (24-hour format). Please enter the start time in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Keep in mind that converting your local time into UTC might affect the date as well. For example 23:00 PDT Tuesday translates to 06:00 UTC Wednesday.
A Timer Start Event is scheduled as soon as the process is deployed. The initiated process instances will have all its fields empty, so you should place a User Task after the Timer Start Event to fill in all the necessary information in the process form.
Timer Start Events can be used instead of the traditional Start Event to set a specific date or cycle (e.g. every Monday at 9 a.m.) that will trigger the start of the process automatically.
There can be only one Timer Start Event per process. Despite the fact that the start of the process is programmed, you can still launch it manually at any time.
Setting Up a Timer Start Event
The Timer Start Event is configured in the process workflow. It’s one of the BPMN elements that can be included when modeling the diagram.
Keep in mind that this feature is only available for organizations subscribed to a Standard or Premium plan.
A Timer Start Event is visualized as a circle with an inner clock. To include a Timer Start Event in your diagram, modify the Start Event as shown in the image below:
Once you place the Timer Start Event in the diagram, double-click it to define its settings. The following configuration will display:
The first field is optional. You can use it to add a name below the diagram element.
Then select how often the process should be started. The options are: daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.
Daily: Select on which days the process should start automatically. Weekdays (Monday through Friday) will be selected by default.
Weekly: Select on which days the process should start automatically. No days will be selected by default.
Monthly: create combinations like the first Tuesday of the month, the third Friday or every 27th day of the month, etc.
Frequency: select between First, Second, Third, Fourth and Day.
Day: if you selected any of the first four options above, you can select a day between Monday to Sunday. If you selected ‘Day’ above, you can choose the day number.
Yearly: create combinations like the second Monday of March, the third Thursday of December or every 27th of June, etc.
Frequency: select between First, Second, Third, Fourth and Day/Month.
Day: if you selected any of the first four options above, you can select a day between Monday to Sunday. If you selected ‘Day’ above, you can choose the day number.
Month: choose an option between January to December, regardless of what you selected in Frequency.
The final step is to select the start time (24-hour format). Please enter the start time in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Keep in mind that converting your local time into UTC might affect the date as well. For example 23:00 PDT Tuesday translates to 06:00 UTC Wednesday.
A Timer Start Event is scheduled as soon as the process is deployed. The initiated process instances will have all its fields empty, so you should place a User Task after the Timer Start Event to fill in all the necessary information in the process form.
Updated on: 24/10/2018
Thank you!