As part of the series of product updates on AgilePoint NX v8.0 Software Update 2 release, the next one I would like to share is about a feature which helps you document your process activities. This functionality can benefit both app designers and end users.

All activities in the Process Designer have been updated to allow the developer to upload web links and documents which provides a way for process owners to collaborate during the process discovery phase. These uploads become part of the applications assets and can also be seen in the folder structure of the app. This is extremely useful in case new app designers join the team and can know what was the logic associate with that particular step in the process. The document upload supports most of the commonly used formats such as PDF, JPEG, GIF, Word, Excel and more. These files inherit the access restrictions defined on the app.

When the app designer exports the application from one environment to another, the associated documents are also included in the export package. Hence, they are automatically available as soon as the app package is imported into another environment.

It is highly recommended to keep the size of each uploaded document below 2 MB and also it is recommended to use links rather than document uploads to keep the app contents lean. Bigger app packages with lots of uploaded documents would eventually mean more time would be needed to import the app.

Finally coming to runtime, the files and links can be accessed from the process viewer. This provides ability to set user level operating instructions for individual steps while executing individual process instances and can even act as training document for new joinees.

Note: Please note that this video is recorded while this feature is in beta version. Some of the labels and icons might change by the time it goes GA but the general concept of configuring these activities would remains the same. 

Let’s look at this feature in action.