Start Event Shapes

A start event triggers the start of a process. Start shapes are used to represent start events. XTRAC Process Designer includes the following shapes for start events:

None Start

The none start shape is represented as an empty green circle:

The none start label indicates that the process does not receive or retrieve data from any source.

Use the none start when you don't need to specify the start of a process.

None Start Configuration

Because a none start event does not receive or retrieve data, there is no configuration associated with it.

The Start Event Properties panel lets you rename the shape and add a description.

See Configuring Process Properties for more information.

Message Start

The message start shape is represented as a green envelope inside a green circle:

Use a message start event when a message triggers the start of a process. For example, a message may alert an operator to start a background check on a new employee.

To execute a process with a message start, the message must contain the data inputs which map directly to the message start inputs defined in the properties panel.

After the process has been configured and validated, the process can be deployed into valid process execution environments. During the deployment, the process with the message start now has a listening interface that can be called and discovered.

Process Manager supports a true BPMN 2.0 compliant message start event with the following limitations:

• Does not support message start events in a re-usable process (call activity).
• Supports message start event payloads encoded with Extensible Markup Language (XML) or Jason for payload message request from an external system.
• Only supports mapping of similar data types to each other. No associations can be made if the data types are different. For example, you can't map boolean to a float, or DateTime to a String.

Timer Start

The timer start shape is represented as a green stop watch inside a green circle:

A timer start event signifies a time, a date, or a recurring time or date triggers the start of the process. The start event should be labeled to indicate the schedule, such as "Monthly". It also reveals the meaning of the process instance; each instance represents one of those scheduled starts.

Note: This shape is not executable in this release.

Signal Start

The signal start shape is represented as a green triangle inside a green circle:

This shapes listens for a signal before starting the process. The signal is broadcast rather than targeted at a particular process or process instance. It loosely couples the thrower and catchers. This behavior, known as publish-subscribe integration, allows a process or system to announce an event, such as the addition of a new employee, without having to know about all the processes that might be triggered by the event.

Note: This shape is not executable in this release.

Error Start

The error start shape is represented by a green lightning bolt inside a green circle:

This shape listens for an error broadcast signal to start the process. This shape is useful when you want to handle error handling with a specialized process.

Note: This shape is not executable in this release.