Decision nodes maximum 3 outputs

[Melissa Gurney]

Hi, we have quite a few different priority levels that all have separate SLAs. When trying to set this up in the business process, I realised that decision nodes can only have a maximum of 3 outcomes. This means that in order to include all of our different priorities, we would need decision node after decision node. This makes the business process an awful lot more complicated than necessary.

Is the number of possible decision node outcomes something that could be changed in the future?

Thanks,

Melissa

[Gerry]

Hello Melissa,

We have done this on purpose to keep the BPM diagram understandable.   However, we did anticipate this need and you can solve your problem by cascading decision nodes, each decision node that is entered from a previous decision node inherits all of the possible outcomes from the prior non-decision node.  The effect is you can branch on any number of outcomes, but the flow diagram is still readable and looks good on paper.  Give it a try, I am sure you will find it makes sense. 

[edit] Just re-read and seen you already know this can be done.  I am afraid we are not likely to change the number of exit points on a decision node, its a diamond shape with four points, one in and three out, any more lines would make the diagram look strange.  Out of curiosity, how many different priorities do you have out of interest?

Gerry

[Melissa Gurney]

Thanks for the reply Gerry.

We have 9 in total as we provide support for a separate organisation. As you can imagine, being restricted to 3 outputs and having multiple nodes does make the business process slightly more complicated. I appreciate that 9 outputs from one node would be excessive, however being limited to 3 does restrict things somewhat.

Melissa

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Melissa,

On a slightly separate topic from having 3 outputs on a decision node, in your original post you mentioned that this is a result of having to manage several scenarios to do with your service levels.  We are currently working on improvements with the Service Levels and you may find that once this is available you may be able to simplify your workflow.  We don't have an exact date for the availability of this, but it is not too far away.

Regards,

James

[Melissa Gurney]

Thank you James.

Melissa

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Melissa,

I had mentioned in my previous comment that we were looking to provide additional functionality with the Service Levels.  These new features have been released.  The documentation along with a link to a video can be found here.

You may find that the new features, such as the Service Level rules builder will reduce the need for the decision nodes in your BPM workflow.

Regards,

James

[Melissa Gurney]

Hi James,

I will keep my eye out for this change.

Thanks,

Melissa