Parallel Transitions
Some workflows require multiple transitions before they can move to the next stage. For example, when a customer purchases your product, several teams might be involved in processing the order, such as Finance, Legal, and Sales. The purchase can only be completed after the order is approved by all these teams.
Here, all three transitions— Generate finance invoice, Generate legal agreement, and Generate sale closure document—need to be executed before the workflow can progress to the next stage. But there are no constraints in the order in which the transitions are executed.
If your business case requires more than one transition for a single stage to progress, you can use parallel transitions.
Create parallel transition
- Navigate to and select Orchestration from the menu.
- Click on an existing orchestration or create a new one. Learn how to create an orchestration.
- Navigate to Step 2: Design Blueprint.
- Mouse over a transition name and click to view a pop-up.
- Enable the button next to Parallel Transition.
- Enter the transition name and click Save.
- To add more parallel transitions click Add.
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Save the blueprint.
- You can add up to four parallel transitions between two stages.
- Only one set of parallel transitions can be created between two stages.
- Only two sets of parallel transitions are allowed from the same stage.
Convert independent transitions to parallel transitions
You can only create one set of parallel transitions between two stages but any number of independent transitions can be created. You can also convert independent transitions into parallel transitions.
- Mouse over an existing parallel transition and click to view a pop-up.
- Click Associate.
- Choose the required independent transition names from the dropdown.
- Save the blueprint.
The selected transitions will be added to the existing parallel transitions.
To convert parallel transitions into independent transitions, disable the button next to Parallel Transition.
Business scenarios
Case 1:
Helen is searching for an optimum solution to speed up employee onboarding in her organization. The process requires multiple transitions to be carried out by different teams at once. Helen executes parallel transitions to solve her business case.
Each transition can be associated with a specific team. Here, the transition Initiate bank account is assigned to the Finance team, Initiate insurance plan is assigned to the Insurance team, and Request email account is assigned to the HR team.
When hiring a candidate, a new card is created. When this card reaches the stage Process initiated, the associated parallel transitions will be visible to the assigned teams. The card can only move to the next stage when all three parallel transitions are completed.
Case 2:
Steve is automating the organization’s employee exit process. When a user initiates the exit process, the parallel transitions are triggered. Steve also adds an independent transition named Emergency Termination to handle rare emergency terminations.
When a card is mapped to this blueprint, the user can either perform all the parallel transitions or perform the independent transition to move to the next stage.
Common Transition
A transition that can be accessed from multiple stages in a blueprint is called a common transition.
Create common transition
To create a common transition:
- Navigate to and select Orchestration from the menu.
- Click on an existing orchestration or create a new one.
- Navigate to Step 2: Design Blueprint.
- Mouse over a transition name and click to view a pop-up. Enable the button next to Common Transition.
- Select the stages that can pass through the common transition from the dropdown.
- Save the blueprint.
- A parallel transition cannot be a common transition.
- Stages associated with a common transition cannot be deleted unless the transition is rerouted.
Business cases
- ‘Cancel order’ can be a common transition for online shopping workflows.
- 'Plant inspection for safety precautions' common transition can be performed anytime in a manufacturing workflow.
- 'Cancel subscription' common transition can be done at any given time on cloud products or OTT platforms.
- 'Donor available' can be a common transition to be done any time a patient awaits a donor.
- 'Maintenance for solar panels' common transition can be done anytime once the customer has purchased the panels (within 5 years warranty).