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Naming conventions

Naming conventions

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These are recommendations. Your organization may adapt the conventions to its needs.

Each BPMN workflow has an ID, as does each node in the workflow. Rhize recommends adopting a set of conventions about how you name these elements. Standardizing BPMN names across an environment has multiple benefits:

  • Consistent workflow naming conventions help you filter and find workflows in the process list.
  • Well-named nodes make the workflow behavior easier to understand at a glance.
  • These names provide discovery and context when debugging and tracing a workflow.

The following list describes our default naming conventions.

BPMN processes

Name BPMN Processes according to the following convention:

<INVOCATION_TYPE>_<CONTRACT_ID>_<PURPOSE>

Where:

  • <INVOCATION_TYPE> describes how the BPMN is expected to be triggered

  • <CONTRACT_ID> Links to the ID supplied in the sequence diagram (if applicable)

  • <PURPOSE> describes what the workflow does

InvocationTypesDescription
NATSInvoked when a message is received in the Rhize NATS broker
APIExpects to be called from the API using createAndRunBPMNSync or createAndRunBPMN mutations
RULEInvocation is expected from the rule engine
FUNCInternal functions to be invoked as helpers

Examples:

  • NATS_ProcessOrderV1TransformAndPersist
  • NATS_PLMMaterialMasterV2TransformPersistAndPublish
  • RULE_ChangeOEEStatusOfCNCEquipment
  • API_WST04_GetNextLibreBatchNumber
  • API_WAT01_CloseOpenJobOrders

BPMN Nodes

Name nodes in a workflow according to the following convention:

  • <TYPE>_<SUB_TYPE>_<DETAIL>

Where:

  • <TYPE> is the type of node
  • <SUB_TYPE> further categorizes the node
  • <DETAIL> describes the node behavior.

Start Events

For start events, use the name to describe each trigger according to the following convention:

START_<SUB_TYPE>_<DESCRIPTION>

For message starts, include the topics. For timers, indicate the frequency.

SubTypeDescription
APIManual start via API
MSGMessage Start
TIMERTimer start

Examples:

  • START_MSG_InboundOrders
  • START_API
  • START_TIMER_EveryTenMinutes

Query task

Runs a GraphQL .

Prefix: Q.

SubTypesDescription
GETGet query. Expected to return one item
QUERYQuery operation. May return multiple items
AGGAggregate query

Examples:

  • Q_GET_OperationsScheduleByOperationId
  • Q_QUERY_JobOrdersByOperationsRequestId

Mutation task

Runs a GraphQL mutation.

Prefix: M

SubTypesDescription
ADDAdds a new record
UPDATEUpdates existing
UPSERTUpdates existing or adds new if not found
DELETEDeletes a record

Examples:

  • M_UPSERT_ProcessOrder
  • M_ADD_UnitOfMeasure

JSONata transform task

Prefix: J

SubTypeDescription
INITInitialising some new variables
INDEXUpdating an index variable
MAPMapping one entity to another
TRANSFORMUpdates existing or adds new if not found
DIFFCalculating the difference between entities
CLEANUPDeletes the record
CALCPerforming some calculation

Examples:

  • J_INDEX_CreateLoop1
  • J_TRANSFORM_PO_to_JO
  • J_INIT_ProcessingLimits

REST task

REST nodes should also indicate the target system and endpoints, according to the following naming convention:

REST_<SYSTEM>_<SUB_TYPE>_<ENDPOINT>_<DETAIL>

Where:

  • SYSTEM abbreviates the system being called, for example SAP.
SubTypeDescription
GETInitialising some new variables
POSTUpdating an index variable
PUTMapping one entity to another
PATCHUpdates existing or adds new if not found
DELETECalculating the difference between entities

Examples:

  • REST_SAP_POST_bill-material-bom
  • REST_EWM_GET_serial-number-by-object-v1_RingSerialNumbers

Gateway

Prefix = GW

SubTypeDescription
X_SPLITExclusive gateway split
X_JOINParallel gateway join
P_SPLITParallel gateway split
P_JOINParallel gateway join

Examples:

  • GW_X_SPLIT_DifferenceLoop01
  • GW_P_JOIN_DifferenceLoop01

Sequence Flows

Only name sequence flows that have conditions. If a sequence flow carries a condition, indicate the condition in the naming as follows:

F_<CONDITION_DESCRIPTION>

Examples:

  • F_NoNewEquipment
  • F_AbandonFlagTrue

End Events

If a workflow has multiple end events, indicate their number according to this convention:

  • END_<NUMBER>

Examples:

  • END_01
  • END_02

Response Field Naming

When nodes generate a response, give the response field the same name as its node.

Special variablesBPMN learning resources