Add a Human Task in BPEL but it shows as an Auto Task in BPA

Question

Hi, all,
I create a BPMN flow in BPA and mapping to BPEL. And I add a Human Task in jDeveloper, and saved back to BPA server. But the problem is the updated BPMN flow shows that I added a Auto Task in BPA. Could you help me on that? Thanks in advance.
Best Regards,
Bill

Answer 1

Hi Bill,
Prefatory a quick intro on the basic idea of the BPA concept and a few personal recommendations. In general all changes on the control flow should be initiated top-down from the business process, which means your requirement becomes relevant only in certain cases. If the refinement of the BPEL process is going beyond the technical implementation, then the BPMN diagram itself needs to be corrected. That being said, in certain cases it may be sensible to make use of the improvement proposal feature (e.g. the IT developer recognizes the need of an additional service invocation, so that the control flow of the business process has to be refined).
Referring to your issue these changes are displayed as Automated Activities (abstract) in the superior business process (in BPA). For this reason some activities require a different approach when it comes to accepting or rejecting by the business users. The description below provides an overview about how-to add activities in BPEL subsequently (as improvement proposals) and how they will be represented in the superior business process after synchronization (personal recommendations).
Control flow
Email, Fax, Pager, Pager, SMS, Voice+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Encapsulate within a separate Abstract activity - choose a name, which helps to identify that this should be a Notification activity (define naming conventions in the conventions handbook).
Business process (BP Architect)+
By default represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Open the improvement proposal model and select the new activity. Go to Format/Representation and select 'Notification' in the Symbol-dropdown list - the object appearance changes.
Important: double-click the new activity and specify all the required parameters. Share the blueprint with IT.
Note: The attributes of the abstract Automated Activity still appear in the attributes view.
Invoke+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Encapsulate within Abstract activities.
Business process (BP Architect)+
If encapsulated within an existing scope in BPEL - not visible in the superior process.
If encapsulated within an Abstract activity in BPEL - represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Human Task+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Encapsulate with an a separate Abstract activity - choose a name, which helps to identify that this should be a Human Task activity (define naming conventions in the conventions handbook). Ignore the Switch activity that will be added below the Human Task.
Business process (BP Architect)+
By default represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Open the improvement proposal model and select the new activity. Go to Format/Representation and select 'Human Task' in the Symbol-dropdown list - the object appearance changes.
Important: double-click the new activity and specify all the required parameters. Share the blueprint with IT.
Note: The attributes of the abstract Automated Activity still appear in the attributes view.
Receive, Reply+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Encapsulate within Abstract activities.
Business process (BP Architect)+
If encapsulated within an existing scope in BPEL - not visible in the superior process.
If encapsulated within an Abstract activity in BPEL - represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Decide+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Add a new Abstract scope - choose a name, which helps to identify that this should be a Business Rule activity (define naming conventions in the conventions handbook). Place an Empty activity inside the scope.
Business process (BP Architect)+
By default represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Open the improvement proposal model and select the new activity. Go to Format/Representation and select 'Business rule function' in the Symbol-dropdown list - the object appearance does change.
Important: double-click the new activity and specify all the required parameters. Share the blueprint with IT.
Note: The attributes of the abstract Automated Activity still appear in the attributes view.
Flow, Switch, Pick+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Only new branches within existing activities can be added subsequently. Each branch should contain at least one Abstract activity.
Business process (BP Architect)+
New activities should be defined in the superior business process.
Displayed as gateways (AND, XOR <event-based>, XOR <data-type>, OR) - the definition of these activities should be initiated in the business process.
While+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Only within existing scopes. Loops should be defined in the superior business process.
Business process (BP Architect)+
If not encapsulated within a scope in BPEL - will be represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
If encapsulated within an existing scope in BPEL - not visible in the superior process after synchronization.
If encapsulated within an Abstract in BPEL - will be represented as Automated Activity (abstract).
Implementation
Assign, Transform, Throw+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Only within existing scopes.
Business process (BP Architect)+
Not visible.
Wait, Terminate+
BPEL process (JDeveloper)+
Not recommended to add them subsequently - should be defined in the superior business process via Intermediate events (BPMN).
Business process (BP Architect)+
Displayed as intermediate event - the definition of these activities should be initiated in the business process.
Kind regards,
Danilo