Glossary

Core Terms

Workflow

A state machine-based system for modeling and executing business processes. A workflow definition serves as a template for creating workflow instances.

Workflow Definition

The template that describes the structure of a business process, including state machines, states, transitions, and ETL integration. Stored in the workflow database.

Workflow Instance

A specific execution of a workflow definition with its own state and data. Each instance has a unique ID and is stored in the configured database collection.

State Machine

A computational model consisting of states, transitions, and events. A workflow can contain one or more state machines that execute in parallel.

State

A discrete stage or condition in a business process. States represent where a workflow instance currently is in its lifecycle.

Transition

A path between two states. Transitions define how a workflow progresses from one state to another, triggered by events.

Event

A message sent to a workflow instance to trigger state transitions. Events can come from REST API calls, ETL chains, or scheduled timers.

State Types

Start State

The initial state of every workflow. Automatically created and cannot be deleted. Represented by a grey circle with a dark inner circle.

Stop State

The final state of every workflow. Automatically created and cannot be deleted. Represented by a grey circle with a dark inner square.

Regular State

A user-defined state representing a stage in the business process. Can be added, deleted, and configured.

Super State

A state that contains other states (sub-states). Used to create nested state machines and reduce duplication through inheritance.

History State

A special state that remembers which sub-state was active when exiting a super state, allowing the workflow to resume at that sub-state on re-entry.

State Properties

OnEntry

An ETL chain executed when entering a state. Common uses: send notifications, initialize data, update external systems.

OnExit

An ETL chain executed when leaving a state. Common uses: cleanup, validation, logging.

OnAfter

A deferred event scheduled to fire after a specified time upon entering a state. Used for timeouts, reminders, and escalations.

Super State (Property)

Declares that a state is a sub-state of another state, creating a nested relationship.

History (Property)

Marks a state as a history state that remembers the last active sub-state.

Transition Properties

Event (Transition)

The event name that triggers this transition. If empty, any event can trigger the transition.

Guard

A condition that must evaluate to true for the transition to fire. Can be an ETL chain or a state machine condition.

OnTransition

An ETL chain executed during the transition, after OnExit and before OnEntry.

Guard Types

ETL Chain Guard

A guard condition implemented as an ETL chain. The transition fires only if the chain completes successfully.

State Machine Guard

A guard condition that checks if another state machine is in a specific state. The transition fires only if the condition is met.

Guard Endpoint

A special ETL step (workflow.GuardEndPoint) that marks the end of a guard chain evaluation.

Data Fields

elxPublic

Data shared with the browser/client application. Visible to end users. Use for form data, display information, and non-sensitive business data.

elxPrivate

Server-side only data, never sent to the browser. Use for sensitive information, internal processing data, and system-generated values.

elxHistory

Audit trail of all state transitions. Array of history entries containing user, timestamps, states, and events.

elxRedirect

Controls browser navigation after workflow operations. Set by ETL chains to redirect users to specific pages.

elxEvent

Current event data being processed. Present during event processing, removed after completion.

elxAppId

Application context identifier. Used for multi-tenant applications and context preservation.

Workflow Components

Workflow Designer

Visual tool for creating and editing workflow definitions. Provides drag-and-drop interface for states and transitions.

Workflow Engine

Runtime system that processes events, evaluates transitions, executes ETL chains, and updates workflow instance state.

Workflow Manager

UI for managing workflow definitions: create, edit, delete, enable/disable, upload/download, set roles and workgroups.

Chainset

A collection of ETL chains associated with a workflow. Provides the ETL chains used in OnEntry, OnExit, OnTransition, and Guard properties.

ETL Integration

ETL Chain

A data transformation pipeline that can be executed at various points in the workflow lifecycle.

ETL Step

An individual operation within an ETL chain. The workflow module provides 18 workflow-specific ETL steps.

Guard Endpoint

An ETL step that marks the evaluation point for guard conditions. Must be present in guard chains.

Database Terms

Workflow Database

The database where workflow definitions are stored. Configured at the system level.

Instance Database

The database where workflow instances are stored. Configured per workflow definition.

Instance Collection

The MongoDB collection where instances of a specific workflow are stored. Configured per workflow definition.

Access Control

Workgroup

A group of users who can access specific workflows. Workflows can be associated with one or more workgroups.

Role

A permission set that grants access to workflows. Workflows can require specific roles for access.

Privileges

System-level permissions required to access workflow features: - mod-workflows - Access Workflows management page - mod-workflows-edit - Edit workflow metadata - mod-workflow - Access Workflow Designer - mod-workflow-edit - Edit workflow definitions

Advanced Concepts

Deferred Event

An event scheduled to fire at a future time, configured via the OnAfter property. Managed by the Agenda system.

Agenda

The scheduling system that manages deferred events. Fires events at the specified time.

Multiple State Machines

A workflow containing more than one state machine. All state machines process the same events in parallel.

Loop Transition

A transition where the source and target states are the same. Used for re-processing or retry logic.

Nested States

States contained within a super state. Inherit transitions from the super state.

State Machine Coordination

Using state machine guards to create dependencies between parallel state machines.

Instance Lifecycle

Instance Creation

Creating a new workflow instance from a workflow definition, typically via REST API or ETL chain.

Event Processing

The workflow engine receiving an event, evaluating transitions, and executing state changes.

State Transition

Moving from one state to another, executing OnExit, OnTransition, and OnEntry chains.

Instance Completion

Reaching the Stop state, marking the workflow instance as complete.

Instance Archival

Moving completed instances to archive storage or deleting them for cleanup.

Operations

Auto-save

The Workflow Designer automatically saves changes without requiring manual save actions.

Upload/Download

Exporting workflow definitions as JSON files or importing them from files or zip archives.

Enable/Disable

Controlling whether a workflow can be opened and executed. Disabled workflows cannot create new instances.

Audit Logging

Recording changes to workflow instance data (public and/or private) in the Audit Log module.

See Also