Creating a Report of Process Folder Flow States

Last Updated: 08/11/2016 Introduced in Verision: 2.0

Process folders allow process states, files and other flow data to be stored persistently in a way that is easy to manage through the portal. Processes that are expected to run for an extended period of time can be monitored and measured with process state reports.

A process state report can be created in the Report Designer by selecting the Folder Data Source and Flow Tracking Folder Data components as report sources, then selecting columns to be included in the report.

Folder Data Source can be found in the Toolbox panel, under the category Data Sources > Common Data Sources > Folder Data Source. Flow Tracking Folder Data can be found in the Toolbox panel, under the category Data Sources > Add extensions data. The list of reportable columns is dependent on the selected report sources and can be found in the Toolbox panel, under the category Columns.

Example

Our example report will list our system processes, grouped by process state, including each process’s name and process type name. It will also include a pie chart describing what percentage of our flows are in each state (eg, completed, done, approved, denied, etc.)

runningReport

 
 
Begin building our report in the portal by navigating to a Designer Folder, and selecting Create Report > Create Report.
createReport
 
 

In the resulting pop-up, name the new report ProcessesByState, and click OK to open the Report Designer.

nameReport

 

To build the report, it is necessary to define its data sources, columns to report, and any special display features, such as charts.

First, define the report’s data sources. Because the details and data of our processes are stored in folders, drag the Folder Data Source component from the Toolbox panel to the Sources list. It is under the category Data Sources > Common Data Sources.
 dragFolderDataSource
 

In addition to the information inside of our process folders we also want to track information about our process folders, such as which flow they belong to. To do this, drag the Flow Tracking Folder Data component from the Toolbox panel to the Sources list. It is under the category Data Sources > Add extensions data.

dargTrackingFlow

 
 
Note that if you want the results to respect the permissions of the current user running the report, add the Respect Permissions filter to the Filters panel.

Now that we’ve defined the data sources for our report, we can define the columns of data to include in our report. To choose a column, simply drag and drop it from the Columns category in the Toolbox panel to the Results tab. Or, use the Quick Add Column option to select the column, then click Create.

The first column we’ll select is Entity Name.

addEntityNameColumn

 

Because we want to measure the various states of our processes, also drag in State. To group the processes in the Results tab according to their present states, hover over the new State column heading, click the arrow that indicates a sub-menu and select the option Group.

groupByState

 

Now the entities in our process report are grouped according to their present states.

entitysGrouped

 

We can also report which flow (or process type) is at the heart of each process by dragging the Process Type Name column into our report.  As you can see, the same flow can be instantiated multiple times, creating multiple processes. Depending on the data, timing and other circumstances, these processes can result in very different states.

To fulfill the last requirement of our example – a pie chart illustrating the percentage of processes that are in each available state – drag the Pie component from the Toolbox panel, under the category Charts to the Results tab.

In the resulting pop-up, give our chart the name “by state”, and define its fields as a count of all items, organized by “state.” Click Add chart to add it to our report.

addPie

 
A new tab – Processes By State – is added to our report. In it, we’ll find a pie chart describing the percentage of processes that fall into each category of state. In other examples, we’ll show how charts like this one can be labeled and annotated to make the data more understandable.
 
Here is a sample of what it could resemble:
 pieChartProcessesByState
 

This completes our report on the state of our processes. We can now save it for later review, or for placement on a portal page or dashboard.

Additional Resources