Intalio|Designer - Process Modeling with Intalio|BPMS 5.0

Written by Jacques-Alexandre Gerber on Apr 04 2007

This guide describes Intalio|Designer modeling functionality introduced in Intalio|BPMS 5.0:

Diagram Assistant

Shapes can be added to a process model from the palette. However, there is another way to add shapes: when you stop your mouse over the diagram, you'll notice something can pop up: the Modeling Assistant:

This popup is context sensitive and will only show the shape that can be added where the mouse is. For example, outside a Pool the Modeling Assistant will show:

You can click on any of the shapes in the diagram assistant to add it to your process model. This provides the ability to model processes in full window without requiring the palette.

The diagram assistant can also be accessed by pressing Ctrl-Space.

The diagram assistant can be desactivated/activated from the preferences in Window > Preferences > BPMN Diagrams by checking/unchecking the "Show popup bars" check box.

Connecting shapes

Shapes can be connected by using the Flow Connector tool from the palette. It is also possible to create connections without using the palette: when you hover your mouse next to the left side or right side of a shape (a Task for example), you'll see a small connector pop out.

Click on it and without releasing the mouse, move your mouse onto the shape you want to establish a connection with, and release the mouse.

This allows creating flow connectors, message links and associations (for annotations).

Adding shapes when adding connectors

Using the small connector pop out, instead of releasing your mouse onto an existing shape, release it onto an empty space in your pool.

The menu contains the same list of shapes the Modeling Assistant would contain.

Alignment

There are several ways to align shapes. Alignment tools are accessible from Diagram > Align menu. The Alignment tools are also accessible from the toolbar.

Shapes can also be aligned in real time as moving shapes. While dragging a shape, you will notice blue lines that appear and disappear to highlight alignment points (edges or other shapes, centers, etc...).

Horizontal alignment:

Horizontal+ Vertical alignment guide:

The shape will snap to the blue lines when dropping it.

Changing Shape

Right click on any shape, and select "Change activity type to > ..." and select the desired type.

Documentation Links

To set an URL on a Task, select it, and enter theURL in the "Documentation" Property on "Process Execution" tab. Later, you can right click on that property and chose "Open in Browser" to show that page directly in Intalio|Designer.

To attach a document to a task, first, add that document to the workspace. Here you can just create a text file, but you could as well attach a Word Document, a PDF, ...

Now, simply drag that document onto a Task in your Diagram.