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AVEVA™ Work Tasks

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Start Activity

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  • Last UpdatedJul 02, 2025
  • 7 minute read

Activity Description

The Start Activity is the first activity in a workflow. The icon corresponding to this activity is displayed by default in the Design Area. The Contents and Variables used in the execution of the workflow are declared here. The starting point for redirection can also be set in this activity. This will enable redirection at the beginning of the workflow until it is turned off later in the workflow.

Note: Workflow utilizes CDATA sections exclusively and nesting is not allowed in CDATA section. So, while passing Variables in workflow, CDATA should be avoided.

Activity Properties

The Start activity has to be configured by specifying appropriate values for the different properties in the Activity Properties area. The Activity Properties can be accessed by clicking the Activity Properties tool in the tool bar or by selecting the appropriate option from the right-click menu for the Start activity.

Note: Every time you input a value for a property, ensure to save the data. Click the Save button on the Activity Properties window. You need to save the property so that the subsequent properties in the activity can inherit the required information.

The Activity Properties are organized under the following groups of related properties. The properties under each group are described in this topic.

Name & Description

You can use these properties to specify the name and description of the activity.

Name - This property can be used to specify a name for the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Description - This property specifies a brief description to be displayed for the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

 

Configuration

You can use these properties to specify the web service details.

Variables - The variables used in the workflow, including Local Variables, can be specified using this property.

Property Type: Optional (Set this property only if needed.)

Steps to set the variable property

  1. To specify the variables, click the button for the 'Variables' property to open the property window.

  2. Enter the variable name in the Workflow Variables field. Prefix the variable name with '@' if it is a local variable.

  3. Select the corresponding variable type from the Type drop down field.

  4. After entering the variable details, click Add Row to add this variable and to display a new row for entering another variable.

  5. Remove rows if necessary by selecting them and clicking Remove Selected.

  6. After entering all the variables, click Update.

Steps to set Variable for Queue Action user

  1. To specify the variable, right-click the Start activity icon in the workflow and select Activity Properties.

  2. To declare the variable, click the icon near Variables property.

  3. In the Workflow Variables, define the variable in the following format:

    ^+CurrentActivityName+'QueueActingUsers'

    For example, ^HRFormQueueActingUsers

    HRForm is the activity name.

  4. Select the Type as "Array".

  5. Click Update to save the variable.

  6. Click Save in the Activity properties pane to save all the data entered.
    The value of the user who acts on the HRForm activity will be stored in the variable. The Approval1 task will be assigned to the same user.

    See Start - Variables for a detailed description of the Variables property window.

    Contents - The contents that can be passed to the workflow can be specified using this property.

    Property Type: Optional (Set this property only if needed.)

    Steps to set the Contents property

    1. To specify the content, click the button for the 'Content' property to open the property window.

    2. Enter the content description in the Content Description field.

    3. Select the content type from the Type drop down field.

    4. Enter the XPath expression in the XPath Expression field.

    5. Enter the attribute name in the Attribute Name Blank for InnerString field. This parameter is optional and needs to be set only if necessary.

    6. After entering the content details, click Add Row to add this content and display a new row for entering another content.

    7. Remove rows if necessary, by selecting them and clicking Remove Selected.

    8. After specifying the contents, click Update.

      See Start - Contents for a detailed description of the Contents property window.

      XML Variables - The XML Variables used in the workflow can be specified using this property.

      Property Type: Optional (Set this property only if necessary.)

      Steps to set the XML Variables property

      1. To specify the XML Variables, click the button for the 'XML Variables' property to open the XML Variables window.

      2. Click New Variable to add a new variable.

      3. This will enable the Variable Name field. Enter the name of the new XML Variable in this field and a description in the Description field.

      4. Now select the XML Variable type from Type drop down. You can select from either XMLDocument or XMLIterator.

      5. Click the Schema tab caption 'Schema' to specify the schema for the XML variable.

        • If XMLDocument was selected in Step 4, clicking this tab will display the corresponding set of controls.

          • You can select Variable or Content as the option for internal storage from Use [ ] for Internal Storage drop down field.

          • Specify a file name or browse for the file containing XML Data. Click the Load button to load the contents of the file. The XMLschema corresponding to the loaded file is displayed in the configuration area.
            You can also build the schema from scratch within this area.

        • If XMLIterator was selected in Step 4, clicking this tab will display the corresponding set of controls.

          • You can select the XML Variable from which you can extract the node to be set as the XML Iterator.

          • Select the node to be set from the Select Node drop down field. The XML schema corresponding to the selected node is displayed in the configuration area.
            You can also build the schema from scratch within this area.

          1. Click the Save Variable button, to save the new XML Variable.

          2. Click Close to close the Property window.

          See XML Variables for a detailed description of the XML Variables window.

          Analyst's Process Model Filename for Execution View - This property is used to specify the file name of the Process Model, which has been saved as the Business Analyst's view. This view will be displayed to the Analyst as the Process Execution view. You can specify this property by entering the file name in the text box for the property or by building an expression for the file name using the Expression Editor, which you can open by clicking the Expression Editor icon next to the property name.

          Property Type: Optional (Set this property only if necessary.)

          SOA Object Instances - This property is not applicable.

          Property Type: Not applicable

           

          Exception Behavior

          Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output? – This property can be configured to raise an error if the output is not linked to the next activity in the workflow.

          Property type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary)

          The Configurable values for this property are Default [Backward Compatible],Yes and No. If the value is set as Default [Backward Compatible], then the workflow will behave as per the existing behavior.

          Scenario

          Telematics Organization maintains different workflows like Invoice Workflow and Leave Workflow under the Telematics repository for their HR and Accounts Payable Processes. John has designed a workflow using the Human Activities and has assigned the human activities to the actors. When the activities are getting executed, if a particular actor is not found, then the Workflow Engine will give the output as 'Not Enough Resources to Acknowledge'. If this output is not linked to the next activity, then the workflow will finish successfully. However, if 'Yes' is selected for the Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output property, the workflow will raise errors at finish.

          Steps to set the Raise Error on unhandled linked output

          • Select Yes or No from the Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output drop-down list.

          Each activity has the Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output property. If you click on it, all the default configured mapped error outputs in red with the respective check boxes selected will be displayed.

          Mapped Error Outputs

          The Mapped Error Outputs list contains the error outputs (shown in red) that cause the workflow to complete abruptly. This can happen if the error outputs are not linked to the next activity in the workflow. To change the mapped error outputs, check or uncheck the relevant options and click Ok.

          Workflow Behavior for Error Outputs

          If the error outputs are not linked to the next activity in the workflow, and if the 'Stop with Error' option is selected, the workflow will complete with errors. Similarly, if the 'Exit Activity with Error Output' option is selected, the workflow will not finish with errors but will give an Error Encountered output.

          Note: The changes made to this property will take effect only if you set the value for Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output to Yes in the Start Activity.

          Property type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary)

          The Exception Mail Template and Users at the repository level are configured from the Central Configuration site section.

          You can configure Exception Email Templates for two groups - Group A and Group B, both at the workflow level.

          It is not mandatory to set both Users Groups A and B.

          For example Administrator type of users can be configured under Group A and Normal type of users can be configured under Group B.

          Email Templates can be configured through two modes – one is by selecting an existing predefined Default or Sample template, and the other is by using an editor.

          Based on the Exception Mail Configuration, the members of each group will receive mails.

          The Template file has to be placed in the folder 'Exception Template' under the 'Workflow elements' folder. In the Template file, we can place the Variables, Contents and XMLVariables Placeholders in the html file.

          Scenario

          John has designed a workflow using Human Activities and assigned these activities to the actors. When the activities are getting executed, if a particular actor is not found, then the Workflow Engine will give the output as 'Not Enough Resources to Acknowledge'. If this output is not linked to the next activity, the workflow will finish successfully. However, if the Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output property is selected as 'Yes', then the workflow will raise errors at finish.

          There should be a notification to the users about the Exception occurred in an activity. These users should be configurable and the template for the exception mails should be configurable.

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