Process Flow Methodology

In this section:

You can create a process flow either with or without a data flow. You can open a data flow from within a process flow by right-clicking it and selecting Open.


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Creating a Process Flow With a Data Flow

Although you can build a simple process flow as an extension to an existing data flow, it is recommended that you create and save each flow and procedure separately. With this modular approach, individual flows (both data and process flows) and procedures can be executed from more than one process flow, and a process flow can be modified as needed and used to incorporate different data flow and procedure objects. A change to a data flow or procedure automatically affects all of the process flows that use it.

If you click the Text View tab in a process flow created with this method, any data flows or procedures used in the process flow appear as EX procedure_name. If you want to view or edit the underlying code for an individual procedure, you can right-click the object and select Edit as Text.

However, if you want to add a few process flow objects, such as a schedule or an email, to a data flow, and do not require the advantages of a modular design, save the data flow and click the Process Flow tab, then add the process flow components to the existing data flow.

Note: If you click the Text View tab in a process flow created with this method, the underlying data flow and process flow code appears fully, since it is part of the same procedure.


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Creating a Process Flow Without a Data Flow

Normally, process flows manage extraction, transformation, and load processing. However, process flows are not limited to this implementation. Under some circumstances, you may wish to create process flows that do not contain any data flows.

Using the same set of design tools, you can, for example, create a process flow that launches a series of reporting procedures on a defined schedule and then sends email messages to appropriate recipients when the procedures are complete.


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