Gateway Shapes

Gateway shapes are used to indicate when parallel processing can and cannot occur in the workflow as well as what path the workflow takes depending on specific conditions.

The following Gateway shapes are included in the Toolbox:

Gateway shapes


Fork

This Gateway shape allows you to indicate the start of parallel processing of the workflows.
The Name property of this shape defaults to Fork.

Join

This Gateway shape allows you to indicate that waiting is required until parallel workflows complete before proceeding to the next action.
The Name property of this shape defaults to Join.

Decision

This Gateway shape allows you to determine what the next step is based on a specific condition being true or false.
The following table describes the shape's properties.

Property

Description

Property

Description

Name

Defaults is Decision.

Condition

 


Decision Shape has the following usage best practices:

  1. The branches of the Decision shape should not converge later, but should represent independent execution paths leading to the ‘end’ shape.

The example of a WRONG scenario below merges the two branches into one shape :

Decision Shape wrong scenario workflow image

The CORRECT way to do this is to duplicate the second decision shape, as shown in the next picture:

Decision Shape correct scenario workflow image

      2. Neither branch of the Decision shape should lead directly to the “End” shape. For such scenario it is better to use “Condition To Execute” property of the shape, and get rid of the Decision shape altogether.

WRONG:

Example of incorrect gateway shapes

CORRECT:

Example of correct gateway shapes