Introduction to Process Automation › Phase II: Design and Implementation › Configure Operators and Steps

Configure Operators and Steps

After you identify operators for each step, define their properties. Think about the types of data they need and the source of that data. Some operator properties are common to all operators and others are limited to specific types of operators. For example, a database operator requires parameters for the type of database, the database name, a valid user name, and password.

You can set the value of a property to a literal entity such as 5 or Australia or to an expression such as Var1.quantity or GetCountry. Expressions often include variables or functions. A variable stores a value. For example, a variable can contain a password or a threshold setting. A function inspects some logical statement and returns a value. For example, a function can get or set a field value.

Expressions can include any of the following items:

• User and system variables
• Functions
• Literal values
• Logical, string, arithmetic, and comparison operators
• JavaScript expressions

Some fields accept only literal values. The labels for these fields appear in italics. Most fields support calculated expressions.

Note: Previous versions of CA Process Automation identify fields that accept calculated expressions with an asterisk (*).

Operators also share the following common properties:

• Execution target: Where should this operator run?
• Time-out settings: What should happen when the operator takes too long to run?

To learn more about the functionality and properties of each operator, see the Content Designer Reference.

Datasets store CA Process Automation variables. You can add and edit variables in any of the three dataset types:

• Named Datasets: The dataset objects that you create and maintain in the Library Browser.
• Process Datasets: The dataset for each process.
• Operator Datasets: The dataset for each operator in a process.

Additionally, the read-only system dataset makes system data available to any expression. Use variables and more complicated expressions to define values that can change, such as user credentials. You can assign values for expressions and variables globally or dynamically change a value in code. Use literal values to configure parameters only if the values are unlikely to change.