📖 Definitions

Here main Stackflows platform definitions you need to know

Process definitions

Definition	Description
Process Engine	Provides access to all the services that expose the BPM and workflow operations. Engine executes and operates process models (including diagram)
Process Diagram (BPMN)	A two-dimensional (definition, digital structure) representation of a business process A business process notation diagram, or BPMN diagram for short, is used to build easy-to-read business process model flowcharts BPMN diagram symbols are categorized into four main groups: flow objects, connecting objects, swimlanes, and artefacts. Sample
Process Model (BPMN)	A three-dimensional (definition, digital structure, changes in time aka revisions) description of a business process The model contains different versions which are received after each model (diagram) deployment. The model always contains the latest version which is up and running in the process engine Each process model version contains a process diagram (BPMN) A process model can be executed by a trigger (action-based or time-based) The latest version contains activity instance statistics. Sample Each version could contain a heatmap. Sample
Decision Model (DMN)	A three-dimensional (definition, digital structure, changes in time aka revisions) description of a business decision. Sample
Decision Diagram (DMN)	A two-dimensional (definition, digital structure) representation of a business decision Sample
Process Instance	A particular digitalized business event that follows rules described by a process model One started/running/finished execution of a Process Model A process model can contain unlimited process instances running at the same time
Tenant	Currently, Stackflows are running a single the process engineProce instance All customers (companies) are split by tenant ID, which means, that each Process Model has a tenant ID.
Process versions and statuses	If the latest version is 5.0 when the new version (called “Experiment”) is being created Each model has the status draft published All running processes, including old ones, can be modified, but starting building a draft version and Re-deployed to the same version Old versions with no running instances are being marked as NOT ACTIVE and not able for updates.
Process Log	Any kind of log or message retrieved while executing or trying to execute a process model
Business key	A business key is a domain-specific identifier of a process instance. Compare this to the process instance id, which is a StackFlows-generated UUID. The business key is special for two reasons: Performance: Querying by business key is often more efficient than querying by a variable value. For example, it does not require a join with the variables table. Visibility: The business key is displayed prominently in applications like Stackflows user area.

Product definitions

Definitions	Description
Engine	Currently, Stackflows are running our own process engine and “Camunda”, but the concept is to support different BPMN engines in the long-term.
Environment	Basically, environment ID is equal to tenant ID, which means that each model can be deployed to the engine with tenant ID and that will indicate which environment is related to One company can have many environments More about environments
Business (organization) unit	An organizational unit is a construct used to represent an organizational structure. Looking technically it’s just an ID, a Name, and a relation to another organization unit. It’s like organization structure, but it can include anything the organization wants - roles, departments, teams. More about organization units
Categories	A tree of free-form entries whose main purpose is to group models together that have similar qualities or belong to similar groups Stackflows supports category tree, which allows user to put one process model into one or another category If process models under one business process have the same goal, so category helps to categorize models by: Departments Type Other Read more about categories