Human in Loop

Description

Use the Human-in-the-Loop process entry to create an approval task in the AutomationEdge portal (AE UI) for manual actions, such as approving or rejecting, before a workflow continues. The process entry functions identically irrespective of whether the process runs through an AutomationEdge Agent or directly from Process Studio.

Prerequisite:
A Task Template must exist in the AutomationEdge portal (AE UI) before configuring the process entry. For details, see Work with Tasks in the AutomationEdge User's Guide.

Process Studio Execution:
When a process runs directly from Process Studio instead of an Agent:

• Creating tasks from Process Studio requires the Manage Document Metadata and Task Templates permission.
• The Request ID (req id) of the created task sets to 0.
• The Process Studio workflow name applies directly to the workflow name field of the task.
• Process entry responses and workflow-pausing behavior remain identical to Agent-based execution.

Workflow Pausing:
If the selected task template has Pause Workflow enabled, the request state changes to Awaiting Input.

The process thread remains blocked and unavailable for other work until one of the following happens:

• The assigned approver completes the task.
• An administrator manually cancels the request.

Notes:

• Tasks do not auto-cancel. Administrators must plan for manual cancellations to keep system resources available.
• If a workflow containing a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) process entry stopped mid-execution in Process Studio, AE UI still creates the associated task. To remove the task, delete the task manually from AE UI.
• When you are running the entry in the context of the Process Studio, a task is created with the request ID 0, which is purged along with the other request IDs as per the purge schedule configured in AE. For details about purging, see Work with Purging in AE User's Guide

Configurations

No.	Field Name	Description
1	Process Entry name	Specify the unique process entry name for the workflow.
	General Tab
1	Task template name	Specify the task template name created in the AE UI. Or, Click the picker icon () next to the field to select an available template. A warning icon () appears next to the field if the template cache or document metadata cache is empty (typically after restarting Process Studio). Hover over the icon for details, open the picker, and click Sync to clear the warning. The field accepts variable or static values and is mandatory. Notes: • The task template name is case-sensitive. Specify it exactly as defined in AE UI. • While creating the task, the AE UI refers to the specified template and displays the action buttons on the approval page. • Based on the selected template, the AE UI also determines whether workflow execution pauses until the task request is approved.
1.1	Select Task Template ()	Click the picker icon () next to the Task template name field to open the Select Task Template pop-up. The pop-up displays details including Name, Version, Description, and Last Updated date. The picker includes the following behaviours and features: • Lists Human-in-Loop templates only. • Filter: Type a name or description in the filter box to narrow down the template list. • Sync: Click Sync to load templates from the AutomationEdge server into Process Studio's local cache. Subsequent opens reuse this cached list until you sync again. • Sync Status: The picker displays the last sync time or indicates if a sync has never occurred. • Shared Cache: The task template and document metadata pickers share a single sync action. Clicking Sync in either picker refreshes both caches for the remainder of the Process Studio session. • Cache Clearing: The local cache empties automatically after a Process Studio restart. Note: You must have the Manage Document Metadata and Task Templates permission to sync the caches. • Tooltips: Hover over a truncated description or column name to view the full text. • Column Mapping: Selecting a template automatically applies its column labels in the Custom Columns tab - Selecting a template automatically performs the following actions: - Populates the Key dropdown values in the Approval Data tab. The action sets the available keys but does not add rows. Click the Populate button to add rows. - Applies the column labels in the Custom Columns tab. Hover over truncated column name to view the full text.
2	Task title	Specify the title for the task. The field accepts variable or static values. Note: If specified, AE UI creates the task with specified title; otherwise, it uses the default title defined in the template.
3	Action deadline (Duration)	Specify the duration for the task in minutes (m), hours (h), or days (d). For example: • 30m or 1h or 1d OR • 2d 20h 10m The duration sets the deadline for approvers to take action on the assigned task. The field accepts variable or static values and is mandatory Notes: • Approvers can view the remaining time in Pending Tasks in the AE UI. • If no action is taken within the specified duration, the approver sees an Overdue tag on the Pending Tasks page. For more information, see Work with Tasks in the AutomationEdge User's Guide.
4	Approvers	Specify a valid AE user's group, valid AE user's, or both to send the request. Specify approvers as: A single user, A single user group, Multiple users, Multiple user groups, or A combination of users and groups (separated by commas). One of these fields is required. The field accepts variable or static values and is mandatory. Notes: • In the current plugin version, manually enter the exact username (used to log in to the AE UI) or the group name (for groups). • The task is completed when any nominated user or any member of a nominated group takes an action. After that, the task is marked as Completed and appears in History under the Tasks tab. The task is resolved on a first-come basis. • All valid AE users in the selected group or AE users receive the task in their Pending Tasks list. For more information, see Pending Tasks in the AutomationEdge User's Guide.
4.1	Approver (Groups)	Specify one or more valid AE user groups to assign the task. Separate multiple groups with commas.
4.2	Approver (Users)	Specify one or more valid AE usernames used to log in to the AE UI) to assign the task. Separate multiple usernames with commas.
	Task group Config tab:	Use the Task Group Config tab to link the HITL task to a task group created by a HITL Task Group Starter. Once linked, the task is listed under the matching group on the Task Group tab, letting reviewers process related work together.
1	Part of the Task Group	Select the checkbox to make this HITL task part of a task group. When it is selected, the task is routed to the task group specified below. Leave it cleared if the task does not belong to any group.
2	Task Group Id	Specify or select the task group ID produced by a HITL Task Group Starter. The task is added to this group. The field accepts static or variable value.
3	Task Group Level	Select the task's level within the group. The level sets the task order inside the group - 0 is the first task, 1 is the second, and so on. Allowed range: 0 to 4
	Custom Columns tab:	Use the tab to provide a runtime value to the additional columns defined in the task template. Example — Utility Bill Payment workflow An Admin team uses an invoice-processing template with fields for Account Number, Amount, and Due Date. By mapping these template fields to Column 1, Column 2, and Column 3. Approvers can see and verify the extracted value directly on the Pending Task table. For more understanding, see section Templates from AutomationEdge User's Guide.
1	Column	Select the required column from the list. Note: You can select any of the 6 columns. Column 1 represents the first column defined in the task template and so on.
2	Value From Variable	Specify the workflow variable (e.g., ${status}) to set the column value.
	Approval data mapping Tab	Use this tab to map the data that will be available when the pending task is created.
1	Template metadata type	Select the template metadata type from the list. 1. Use template metadata defined at server: Select to use data fields defined in the Task Template. For more information, see section Work with Tasks in AutomationEdge User's guide. 2. Use Server Compatible Metadata generated at Runtime: Select to define Meta JSON at runtime. You can pass either the field name or a variable that contains the JSON. The field is mandatory.
1.1	Key-Value tabular field table	Specify the key and value to be displayed on the pending task. Note: The tabular field is available only if the Template Metadata Type is set to Use template metadata defined on the server. Or, Click to fill the table rows with the exact field keys defined in the task data of the selected template. The button applies different behaviors depending on the template status: • Different template selected: The process entry clears and rebuilds the table with one row per field key from the new template. If the table currently contains data, a prompt requests confirmation before discarding existing rows and values. • Same template, re-synced: The table updates in place. The process entry adds new fields, removes fields no longer present on the server, and retains entered values for existing keys. If the update requires removing rows, a confirmation prompt appears first. Note: Selecting a template using the Task template picker automatically populates the Key dropdown with the associated field keys but does not add or change table rows. Rows update only after clicking .
	Key	Specify unique key associated with a specific attribute defined in the template metadata on the server.
	Value	Specify the value associate with the key.
1.2	Meta json (Field/Variable)	Specify a JSON field or variable that contains the JSON data used to generate server-compatible metadata at runtime. Note: Field is enabled only if the Template Metadata Type is set to Use server-compatible metadata generated at runtime. It is disabled when you select Use server-compatible metadata generated at runtime. The field accepts variable or static values.
	Output Tab
1	Task ID (Output variable name)	If Pause Workflow is unchecked in the selected template, this process entry returns the task ID of the created task. You can use the task ID to perform further actions. Notes: • Can be either local or global Process Studio (PS) variables. • PS variable name should start with Local or Global.
2	Task response (Output variable name)	If Pause Workflow is checked in the selected template, this process entry returns the task response of the created task and waits until an action is taken. Notes: • Can be either local or global Process Studio (PS) variables. • PS variable name should start with Local or Global.