Actions

Actions are the smallest unit of work in process automation. Actions are similar to programming statements in a programming language. They can do things like:

• Assign a value to a data element.

• Invoke another task, a handler, or a subprocess.

• Route a form to a queue.

• Invoke a web service. Web services are remote services that are available on the Internet. They are easily accessible from computer applications for conducting various high-level transactions.

  Note: In the initial release, the system limits support for web services to non-HTTPS SOAP-based web services. Interaction Process Automation is designed to work well with web services that WCF creates.

An action can be part of a state, a task, another action, or can occur between work items.

IPA Designer checks actions for validity and indicates when actions are in error. For example, you can't add an End Process action anywhere but in a state, and you can't call End Process inside a task.

IPA Designer provides a toolbox containing actions you can use in a process.