Subprocess Concepts
You can create a subprocess in your process model and populate the subprocess with steps and other process components. You can also create a subprocess within a subprocess. Two subprocess types are supported, although one of them is deprecated:
BPMN subprocess. When you add a subprocess to a process model, it as added as a BPMN subprocess. That is, the subprocess implements BPMN 2.0 notation and supports a number of BPMN behaviors that were not available in the webMethods subprocess used in previous releases.
webMethods subprocess. Support for the subprocess behavior used in previous releases is retained, although this subprocess type is deprecated and support will be withdrawn in a future release.
Although webMethods subprocesses will continue to work as expected, there are several changes in subprocess behavior that you must be aware of when you change a webMethods subprocess to a BPMN subprocess.
For more information, see
Recommendations On Changing the
Subprocess Type and
About Changing webMethods Subprocesses
to BPMN Subprocesses. For a summary of the behavior of these two type of subprocess and the differences between them, see
About Subprocess Types.
A subprocess exists only within a process model and cannot be run outside the model or referenced from another model. Be sure not to confuse a subprocess with a callable process or a referenced process, both of which represent a separate process model that exists outside of the current process model.
The primary advantage of a subprocess is that regardless of the number or complexity of the steps contained within it, the subprocess is treated as a single step in the process. You can configure joins and transitions into and out of a subprocess just as you would for a process step, and you can configure a subprocess for standard looping, as described in
About Standard Looping.
For more information about subprocesses, see:
