Running the Process

Although our process at this point is still limited in what it can do, you can nevertheless run it to get an early sense of the design and simulation cycle.

You interact with a process using Oracle BPM WorkSpace, a Web-based application for user interaction with business processes. Because WorkSpace is an end-user application, some of the wording in the UI differs from the terms used in Studio. The main difference you need to be aware of is that in WorkSpace instances are known as Work Items. We use both words interchangeably here.

To run the ExpenseReport process:

Before running the process, it is a good habit to save your project, so click File > Save All (). If Save All is not enabled, it means all the files of your project are already saved, and you can skip this step.
To run the process, click the Start Engine icon () to start Studio's built-in process execution engine. The Start Engine dialog appears.
Check both the Delete Process Instances and Delete Log Files options, and click OK. The Progress Information box will appear during the startup of the process engine, which takes some time to complete. Once the engine has started, the box closes and, on the toolbar, the Stop button () replaces the Run button.
Click the Launch WorkSpace () button. The Oracle BPM WorkSpace login page appears in your default Web browser.
In the Username field, enter Peter Jones. The WorkSpace main page appears for user Peter Jones. Note that in the Applications panel there is a single entry called Create Expense Report. This executes the global creation activity we previously added to the Employee role. It appears on the list because Peter Jones has this role.
In the WorkSpace Applications panel, click Create Expense Report . An Expense Report instance is created. Since our process contains no activities, the instance goes directly to the End activity and it looks like nothing has happened.
To see the instance you have created, in the Work Items panel, click Show Filters. The Filter by section of the Work Items panel opens.
In the Processes pane, select Expense Report from the Available Processes list, and click the right arrow () to move it to the Selected Processes list.
In the Work Items pane, select the Completed option, and click Apply Filter. The Work Items panel displays the instance you created in step 6. Note it shows the Activity as End, and the Status as Completed ().
You can create more instances by clicking on Create Expense Report as in step 6. The instances appear automatically in the Work Items panel, because it is now showing completed instances.
Log out of WorkSpace by clicking Logout in the upper right of the page. The logout page appears.
Log in as Paul Smith, the supervisor by clicking Re-Login and then in the Username field, entering Paul Smith. The WorkSpace session for Paul Smith appears. Note that the Create Expense Report link is absent from the Applications panel. This is because Paul has the role of Supervisor, and there is no global activity in that swim lane. In fact there is no activity at all in the Supervisor swim lane, so Paul can't do anything at this point.
Log out of WorkSpace, close the browser window or tab where WorkSpace is, and go back to Studio.
Stop the Studio process execution engine by clicking the Stop button (). The process execution engine stops, and the Run button replaces the Stop button.

After completing this task, you should begin to grasp how process design relates to process execution.