Introduction to VertiGIS Studio Workflow

Welcome to VertiGIS Studio Workflow, the easy way to automate your business processes so you can use them in web mapping applications.

VertiGIS Studio Workflow allows you to integrate geographic information and processing with other business tasks to create sophisticated functionality for your applications. For example, you could create a workflow that produces a tax parcel report for the user, or you could create a workflow that gets information about the geology and nearby features of a survey location specified by the user. The possibilities are endless—from automated reporting, to complex spatial analytics, to specific and tailored search experiences, you can use VertiGIS Studio Workflow for almost any process that you want to streamline and automate for your users.

Workflows are authored using a web-based tool called VertiGIS Studio Workflow Designer. Workflow Designer includes a library of pre-built activities that you use to build your workflows. Each activity represents a unit of work, for example, one activity sets the visibility of a layer, while another activity adds a new feature to a feature layer. Workflow Designer's activities include many specialized web mapping and GIS tasks, like buffering, geocoding, querying, geoprocessing, and routing activities, as well as activities to make decisions, repeat actions, gather user input, and more.

Gathering user input is central to VertiGIS Studio Workflow—the primary use of Workflow is to automate processes that require user input. Create custom web forms using Workflow Designer's pre-built form elements like auto-complete boxes and date pickers, or ask the user to draw on a map or select a feature from a list, and then use this information in the workflow to guide the user through the task.

To build a workflow, you drag activities onto the design surface, configure the activities' settings, and connect the activities into a flowchart. Workflows save to your ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS account.

As you build a workflow, use Workflow Designer's validation feedback to correct design-time errors. Run the workflow in VertiGIS Studio Workflow's built-in test environment, the Sandbox, before taking it live.

You can run workflows in a variety of different client applications, such as VertiGIS Studio Web and ArcGIS Web AppBuilder. With VertiGIS Studio Mobile, workflows can run on mobile devices when network connectivity is intermittent or absent.

Key Characteristics

Some of the most important characteristics of VertiGIS Studio Workflow are:

Built Using Modern Web Patterns: The VertiGIS Studio Workflow engine is built on JavaScript. Workflows are saved as JSON files and run in the end user's browser, making them very fast. Being built on JavaScript also makes it easy for developers to extend VertiGIS Studio Workflow.
Available in cloud or on-premises versions: VertiGIS Studio Workflow is available in the cloud as a standalone Software as a Service (SaaS), so there's nothing to install. Alternatively, install VertiGIS Studio Workflow on premises and use it with your native Portal for ArcGIS installation.
Easy-to-Use Design Tool: VertiGIS Studio Workflow Designer's drag-and-drop interface makes creating workflows quick and easy.
Pre-Built Activities: VertiGIS Studio Workflow Designer includes a library of pre-built activities that you use to build your workflows. You can also create custom activities.
Custom Forms: Create custom forms to gather user input. Workflow Designer provides pre-built form elements like Drop Down Lists and Number Sliders. Drag form elements onto the design surface to create custom forms.
No Programming: VertiGIS Studio Workflow provides a configuration approach to automating business logic in applications—drag predefined activities to the design surface, configure their settings, and connect them into a flowchart. Save the workflow and it is ready to run from a web application.
Works with VertiGIS Studio Applications: You can run workflows in VertiGIS Studio Web and VertiGIS Studio Mobile apps, and in HTML5 Viewer. Workflows can run VertiGIS Studio reports and VertiGIS Studio prints.
Works with ArcGIS Web AppBuilder Apps: You can run workflows in applications created using Esri's Web AppBuilder (Developer Edition or Web AppBuilder in Portal for ArcGIS).
Works with Intermittent Connectivity: Workflows can run in VertiGIS Studio Mobile when the device has intermittent connectivity to the network. For example, when a user is in the field using a mobile device like an iPad or an Android device and there's no wireless or 3G connectivity.
Save to ArcGIS: VertiGIS Studio Workflow uses Portal for ArcGIS or ArcGIS Online for storage and sharing of workflows. You can also save workflows locally.
Upwardly Compatible: Workflows are upwardly compatible, so you don't need to worry about versioning. A workflow that works in this version of the Geocortex Viewer for HTML5 or ArcGIS Web AppBuilder will work in future versions.
Works with Geocortex Analytics: You can use Geocortex Analytics to collect usage data from your workflows.
Extend VertiGIS Inline: Extend the functionality of VertiGIS Inline by creating workflows that the user can run as custom actions.

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