Defining Process Context

In a process, data is transported and changed by events and activities. This data is stored in the process context. Therefore, the process context is the sum of all data including the roles information. In SAP Business Process Management (BPM), process context is represented by a data structure defined in an XSD file. Before you create an XSD file, you have to define the necessary data in the business process.

To add the process context and import all the data types that are needed, you need to import an XSD file. An XSD file defines the data types you assign to data objects. You use data objects to define input and output data, which is mapped to an activity in the process you modeled. To track the data changes, you need to define input and output mapping. Process Composer mapping does not support all data types.

The figure illustrates the data model of the process used in the exercises of this course.

If you choose the exclusive choice gateway type, you have to define the condition evaluation order. To do that, choose Condition Evaluation in the Properties view. The condition you place on top has the highest priority and is evaluated first.

The exclusive choice gateway controls the sequence flow between activities. It is like a question that is asked at that point in the process. The question has a defined set of alternative answers, that is the gates. You define a condition for each gate based on a boolean expression. The expressions use the values of process data to determine which path has to be taken. Each gate has an outgoing sequence flow.

The figure shows the usage of the data object in a notification step.