Celonis Product Documentation

The Action Flow inputs feature allows everyone to run Action Flows by just filling in Action Flow inputs.

Action Flow inputs allow you to pass data with a predefined structure to an Action Flow every time you run it. First, you define the expected data structure. Then, whenever you run the Action Flow, Celonis platform shows a form where you enter the data. The data from your Action Flow input is then made available to all modules in the Action Flow.

Imagine a new employee is about to start working in your company. You may need to create new accounts for your new employee in several different systems (e.g. JIRA, Slack, Email, Miro, etc). To create these accounts, you need the new employee’s name, email, employee ID, and maybe some other personal information. Without this data, you cannot proceed with the account creation. Once you have all the necessary information, you can start setting up the accounts for the new employee.

To automate this action, you can set up a Action Flow that will create new accounts for your new employee in all the different systems you need. Use the Action Flow inputs feature to define the input structure as the starting point of your Action Flow. You can use the name, email, and employee ID as your Action Flow inputs. Once you enter and save the employee information to the Action Flow, the Action Flow runs and makes all the accounts so your new employee is good to go! The Action Flow cannot proceed unless it has all the data you define as required.

Moreover, you don't need to know all the complex Action Flow logic behind it and how the accounts are created in different systems.

Some other cases in which you might use Action Flow inputs:

Define the Action Flow input structure

Action Flow inputs allow you to pass data with a predefined structure to a Action Flow every time you run it. First, define the expected data structure necessary to start your Action Flow. Then, whenever you run the Action Flow with defined Action Flow inputs,Celonis platform shows a form where you enter the required data. You can use the data from your Action Flow input in all modules in the Action Flow.

Notice

You can define Action Flow inputs for your Action Flow before or after adding your modules.

1. In the Action Flow editor, click the Action Flow input icon.

2. Click Add item.

3. Enter the Name. This field is mandatory.

   Warning

   • You cannot use spaces or special characters in the name. You can use letters, numbers, and the underscore symbol (_).

   • You can only start with a letter or underscore.

4. Select the input data type from the dropdown menu.

5. In Required, select whether this input is required or not to start your Action Flow.

   • If you select Yes, your Action Flow cannot run unless you provide the required input.

     Warning

     If you have Required inputs, your Action Flow scheduling type must be On-demand. 

   • If you select No, the Action Flow can run without the specific input.

6. Repeat the process if you need to add more items.

7. Click Save.

   Important

   Clicking Save in the Action Flow inputs form interface does not save the inputs. You still need to save your whole Action Flow.

   

8. Click the save icon to save your Action Flow.

You can use the Action Flow inputs as mappable values in your Action Flows. You can find them under the Variables tab in the mapping dialog.

Tip

You can also define the expected structure of the Action Flow inputs via an API call.

This might be useful, for example, if a third party integrates Celonis platform in their product and wants to generate a form for their users to pass data to the Action Flow.

Using Action Flow inputs

Once you define your Action Flow inputs, your defined Action Flow inputs appear as mappable values under the Variables tab in the mapping dialog. You can use Action Flow input mappable values in your Action Flows.

With defined Action Flow inputs, every time you trigger a Action Flow (via Run Once or via API), the Action Flow inputs window pops up.

The Action Flow with Action Flow inputs can run only if you fill in all the required fields with the correct data types.

Delete items in the Action Flow input structure

Warning

Deleting the input structure item(s) in the active Action Flow might lead to data inconsistencies and Action Flow failure.

1. To delete an item from an input structure, navigate to the Action Flow input icon in the Action Flow editor.

2. Find an item you want to delete.

3. Click X to delete the item.

   To delete all items, click X for all of the items.

4. Click Save to save your changes.