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Create a workflow

A workflow in OpCon Continuum is a set of jobs that run in a defined order, on a schedule. You build one by adding jobs, telling each what to do, where to run, when it's eligible, and what it depends on. This page covers creating a workflow and adding a job; the related pages cover ordering, scheduling, and responding to outcomes.

What this solves

Business processes are made of many steps that must run in the right order, at the right time, and only when their inputs are ready. Done by hand or with scattered scripts, the order drifts, steps get missed, and no one can see the whole process in one place.

Add a job to a workflow​

To create a workflow and add its first job, complete the following steps:

  1. Go to Workflows and open the workflow you want to edit (or create a new one).
  2. Add a job: on an empty workflow select First Job, otherwise select New Job from the Job Tools panel.
  3. Enter a name for the job.
  4. On the Job Definition tab, select Show Job Types and choose the job type the job should run, then set its parameters. See the Job type catalog for each job type.
  5. Set the job's agent assignment: a specific agent (with optional failover), or an agent pool.
  6. Select Save & Close. The job is added to the workflow.

Repeat for each job the workflow needs.

note

Finish each job before you version the workflow. A job left without a job type, an agent assignment, or a required parameter is outlined in red on the canvas and blocks Create Version for the whole workflow — see If Create Version is greyed out.

Next: shape the workflow​

Once your jobs exist, use the other tabs in the job editor and the related pages to finish the design:

Good to know
  • A job runs a job type: the same connectors documented for each kind of work (commands, scripts, SQL, file waits, and more).
  • Jobs can run on a specific agent (with failover) or across an agent pool.
  • Turn a job's Disabled switch on to keep it in the design without building it into any run — scheduled, automatic or as a container's sub-workflow. A disabled job is skipped before its frequencies are even looked at, its dependents treat it as absent for the date, and a workflow whose every job is disabled doesn't build at all. An Operator can still add it to a run by hand.
  • Need the diagram outside the editor — for a change record or a review? SVG Image in the Canvas Tools panel downloads the whole graph as a file. See Export the canvas as an SVG image.
  • A crowded canvas is a filter away from a readable one. The panel down the left of the editor finds a job, hides whole categories of card, and moves the view around — including a minimap and a Re-layout control for when cards end up overlapping. See The workflow editor tool panel.
  • Check what would build before you commit. The Forecast switch redraws the canvas as the build for a date you pick, using your unsaved edits — so you can see which jobs would run, and when, before versioning anything. See Forecast view.

Related topics