Flow Orchestration stages, steps, conditions and work item assignment
Key Takeaway
Stages run one at a time and hold the steps. An interactive step creates a work item that a user, group, or queue completes in the Orchestration Work Guide on the record page.
Flow Orchestration joins multiple flows into a single workflow made of stages and steps. Decision elements route the run down different paths. Conditions and requirements decide when steps start and when interactive steps and stages are complete. One orchestration can combine automated actions with manual work items for different people and teams, so any business process that involves multiple roles and functions is a good fit.
Building blocks of orchestrations
Stages and steps are the building blocks of an orchestration. A stage groups related steps into a logical phase. An orchestration must contain at least one stage. Stages run sequentially. Only one stage in an orchestration can be in progress at a time.
Steps are grouped in stages. Inside a stage, steps can run sequentially or concurrently, so one stage can hold parallel workstreams. The step type decides what the step runs and whether a person is involved.
| Step type | What it runs | User interaction |
|---|---|---|
| Interactive step | An active screen flow that an assigned person, group, or queue completes | Required |
| Background step | An active autolaunched flow, synchronously or asynchronously | None |
| MuleSoft step | An action imported from a MuleSoft operation | None |
Orchestrations can also contain Decision elements. A Decision element evaluates a set of conditions and routes users through the orchestration based on the outcomes, like an if-then statement. Connectors define the paths an orchestration can take at run time. The path taken depends on which Decision element outcome has its criteria met.
A bank builds a mortgage orchestration with Application, Underwriting, and Closing stages. In Underwriting, a background step requests the appraisal while an interactive step asks a loan processor to collect documents from the title company. Both steps run at the same time inside the stage. Closing can't begin while Underwriting is still in progress, because only one stage runs at a time. After Underwriting, a Decision element sends approved loans to Closing and declined loans to a stage that notifies the applicant.