Artifact Shapes

Self-documenting processes.

To enhance the visual presentation of Processes, a few purely documentational shapes are included to better visualize and explain Process functionality, similarly to comments in general programming languages. While they are a part of each Process and can be connected to any shape at any point in the Process using data or message flows, artifacts do not participate in the Process execution in any way.

Artifacts can be used to annotate the Process for clarity and developer comments.

Data Object Reference

Data object references are used to visualize a data object being sent or received from an external system. While it takes the form of a document page or file, implying binary data, in common practice it is used to display that a set of any data is being received or delivered, with a name or description for that object.

Data Store Reference

Data store reference is used to visually display a source or target system, where an action is connected to. While it takes the shape of database visually, it can also be used to mean an API, website or other data sources as well, giving the system itself a name, instead of the specific data object being sent to that system.

Group

Group shape can be used to visually tie together shapes in the process, to separate functionality into logical parts within the Process, optionally giving each group a name or description. While sharing a lot of similarities to a Scope shape, group shape is purely visual element and cannot be used for error handling, obtaining a named result, or disposing the data after the scope ends, unlike Scope shape.

Text Annotation

Text annotation is the standard comment shape that can be used to describe or give additional information about a single shape in the Process. Unlike Group shape, which is better used to name and describe a set of shapes, Text annotation is best used to comment a single shape in the Process, giving more information to either developers or support personnel to identify common/known issues or on how to continue developing the Process if it's still in development.