orchestrator

2022.4

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Orchestrator User Guide

DELIVERY:

Automation Cloud Automation Cloud Public Sector Automation Suite Standalone

Last updated Oct 17, 2024

About Processes

A process represents a package version linked to a particular folder. When you deploy a new process, it becomes available for all accounts that have access to that folder.

The Processes page enables you to deploy an uploaded package as a new process, manage previously created processes, keep all your processes up to date with the most recent package versions, and directly start a job using the desired process. This helps you distribute packages across all accounts in your organization and execute processes faster whether from the Processes or Jobs page.

In addition to executing processes from the Processes and Jobs pages, you can also configure any process to automatically start when the Robot agent is launched. As an administrator, this enables you to ensure that necessary processes are launched without delay or failure from the machine user, for example, to ensure adherence to company IT policies.

The table below contains field descriptions for the Processes page.

Field	Description
Name	The display name of the process. The process type is illustrated with an icon displayed alongside the version. The icon represents the type of that specific process version. Requires User Interface Background Process You can sort the processes list by Name.
Package Name	The name of the package that was deployed. Not visible by default. To display the column, select it from the Columns menu. You can sort the processes list by Package Name.
Version	The number of the package version currently being used in a given process. The icon next to this field indicates that you are not using the latest available version. If the package version associated with a process is no longer available in the configured NuGet repository, it is indicated with the following icon . If you are using the latest available version, the following icon is displayed.
Environment	Available only for classic folders. The name of the environment assigned to a given package.
Job priority	The priority of the job. Click here for details about the job prioritization mechanism. You can sort and filter the processes list by Job priority.
Scope	The scope of a project, set at design time in Studio. The following options are available: Process - displayed for Studio projects of type Processor Library Testing - displayed for Studio projects of type Test Automation You can filter the processes list by Scope. Not visible by default. To display the column, select it from the Columns menu.
Execution type	The type of the process execution. Linked to the Attended Automation project setting in Studio: if you turn on the toggle, the process is executed in an Attended context if the toggle is off, the process is executed in an Unattended context The Unspecified value is displayed for packages published prior to the 2021.10.3 Studio version. Click here for details about the Attended Automation.
Compatibility	The compatible operating system for the underlying target framework of the automation project.
Entry point	The workflow file used to start the execution of the process. By default, the `Main.xml` file is set as the entry point. If your project contains multiple entry points, the one selected at process creation is displayed.
Description	A custom description for the process. It is recommended that you populate this field, especially when dealing with multiple users and processes in Orchestrator.
Labels	The list of all labels associated with the process.
Properties	The list of all key-value pairs associated with the process.
Retention action	The retention policy outcome at the end of the retention duration.
Retention (days)	The duration of the retention policy.

Runtime Arguments

Entry Points

There are cases when your automation projects consist of multiple workflows. For such projects, it is a good practice to hold your project's main workflow in the Main.xaml file. All other automation .xaml files included in the project should be linked to the Main.xaml through the Invoke Workflow File activity since in typical scenarios only the Main.xaml file is executed when you run a job, it being the default entry point of any automation project. Learn more about project organization and design principles in Studio.

You can change the entry point of an automation project, i.e. change its execution "gate" by changing the main .xaml file. Similarly, you can add multiple entry points for your RPA processes, which enables you to execute only a certain branch of your automation project.

You can change the main .xaml file or add multiple entry points in RPA processes in Studio by right-clicking a different .xaml file and setting it as main or adding it as an entry point.

Say you build a workflow that checks invoices. The invoice could be downloaded from cloud storage or it could be located on your device.

You design two workflows inside the project and set them both as entry points:

DownloadInvoiceFromStorage.xaml — workflow that downloads the invoice from an external storage
GetInvoiceFromLocal.xaml — workflow that gets the invoice from your device.

At run time in Orchestrator, you select as an entry point the workflow that corresponds to your scenario. If the invoice is already on your local device, you set GetInvoiceFromLocal.xaml as an entry point. This starts the execution beginning with that step and continues with the invoice checking workflow (the Main.xaml file).

Note:

For packages published before July 2020, Orchestrator cannot determine the main entry point, hence no entry point is selected by default. You need to select the entry point from the drop-down manually.
If the process doesn't support multiple entry points, Orchestrator displays Default in the Entry point drop-down, and the field is disabled.

In, Out, In/Out Arguments

Designing your project in Studio to accept In or Out arguments enables you to use them in other third-party apps or Orchestrator. This means that any process you create can receive input arguments through the Orchestrator API or interface.

In Orchestrator, arguments and related information are displayed in multiple places: at the process level, job level, and trigger level in the dedicated arguments sections (Runtime Arguments or Arguments tab).

You can specify values for any input arguments. For more info on input and output arguments in Orchestrator, please visit this page.

1 - Select the entry point. Only enabled if multiple entry points are available.

2 - Filter the displayed arguments according to their direction (Input, Output, All).

3 - See arguments and related information for the.xaml set as the entry point.

Note: Default values provided for In arguments in Studio are not displayed in Orchestrator, at any level.

Background Vs Foreground Processes

This section describes existing process types according to the user interface requirements. The process type is configured in Studio on the Project Settings window and illustrated accordingly in Orchestrator after publishing the project.

There are two types of processes, according to the user interface requirements:

Background Process - Does not require a user interface, nor user intervention to get executed. For this reason, you can execute multiple such jobs in unattended mode on the same user simultaneously. Each execution requires an Unattended/NonProduction license. Unattended robots handle background processes in Session 0, under NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE, which has no UI and cannot interact with a user session.

Learn more about background process automation in Studio.
Foreground Process - Requires user interface as the execution needs the UI to be generated, or the process contains interactive activities, such as Click. You can only execute one such process on a user at a time.

Note: The same user can execute multiple background processes and a singular foreground at the same time.

The following table shows the UiPath® Robot version required to run foreground/background processes according to the robot credential considerations.

Process type	Credential considerations	Robot version
Background	Robot with credentials	Any
Foreground	Robot with credentials	Any
Background	Robot without credentials	2021.10+
Foreground	Robot without credentials	Invalid configuration! Jobs cannot be executed.

Process Compatibility

When creating an automation project in Studio, developers must configure a compatibility attribute that impacts the underlying target framework of the automation project and the compatible operating system.

The following table shows the UiPath Robot version required to execute processes according to their target frameworks and OS compatibility considerations.

Target framework	Operating system	Robot version
.NET Framework 4.6.1	Windows - Legacy	Any
.NET 5.0+	Windows	21.8+
.NET 5.0+	Cross-platform	21.8+

Version Management

If a new version of a package is available in Orchestrator (you published a new version from Studio), it is indicated with the icon next to the process it is part of.

You may update processes to the latest available version individually, on the corresponding View Processes window, or you may update them in bulk, by selecting multiple of them and clicking the global Use Latest button.

If a package version associated with a process is no longer available in the configured NuGet repository, it is indicated with the icon.

If you are using the latest available version of a package in a specific process, the icon is displayed next to the process.