Workflow Service overview
Overview#
The Workflow Service is a robust workflow engine that streamlines workflow creation and management, making it easier for application developers to build, orchestrate, and monitor complex processes.
It is fully integrated with Platform services and components and leverages the Platform's authentication and authorization for secure operations across applications.
In addition, the Workflow Service offers flexible custom tasks to connect with third-party systems, enabling seamless end-to-end automation within the Platform.
Workflow Service concepts#
Refer to the table below for the most important Workflow Service terms:
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Workflow | A workflow is a business process or job that the Workflow Service will execute. When you start a workflow, the Workflow Service creates a workflow instance and tracks its progress until it completes or fails. |
| WorkflowDef | A WorkflowDef is a blueprint that defines the sequence, structure, and rules for the execution of a workflow and includes tasks, input/output parameters, decision points, and error handling. |
| Task | A task represents one unit of work and is one step in a workflow. It will have its own status values such as scheduled, in progress, completed, or failed. A task also has input/output payloads. |
| TaskDef | A TaskDef defines a task's name, type, retry policies, time-outs, and more. |
| Workflow worker | A Workflow worker picks up a task from the task queue and runs that task. It then reports back on the task result and status. |