Import process automation dependencies

When you import a process automation, you might encounter some issues where the import might not work as intended. This topic describes scenarios on how to successfully import a process automation.

Import process automation scenarios

For these scenarios, a Parent process automation has dependencies with a Child process automation and a Test form, and needs to import from Environment A to Environment B. The goal is to successfully import from Environment A to Environment B.

Scenario parameters

  • Parent process automation uses the Child process automation and both use the Test form in Environment A.
  • The export Child-only zip file contains the Child process automation and the Test form.
    Note: You have to manually export the proper files.
  • The export Parent-only zip file contains the Parent process automation and the Test form.
  • The export Parent-and-Child zip file contains the Parent process automation, the Child process automation, and the Test form.

Scenario A (Best case)

  1. Environment B has no files.
  2. Import Child-only zip file into Environment B. The files of Child process automation and Test form will now exist in the repository.

    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of Child process automation and Test form files, and a new process automation called Child Process is successfully created.

  3. Import Parent-only zip file into Environment B. The files of Parent process automaton and Test form will now exist in the repository.

    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of Parent process automation and Test form files. Because Child Process exists in Automation Co-Pilot, the Parent Process is successfully created.

  4. Your import is successful because the Child Process and Parent Process are created in Automation Co-Pilot.

In this scenario, the import from Environment A to Environment B was successful because the Child-only zip file was imported before the Parent-only zip file, therefore the Child Process and Parent Process were successfully created in Automation Co-Pilot.

This is the best case scenario for a successful import.

Scenario B (Conditional case)

  1. Environment B has no files.
  2. Import Parent-only zip file into Environment B. The files of Parent process automation and Test form will now exist in the repository.

    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of Parent process automation and Test form files. Because Child Process does not exist, this failed to created a Parent Process.

  3. Import Child-only zip file into Environment B. The files of Child process automation and Test form will now exist in the repository.

    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of Child process automation and Test form files. A new process called Child Process is successfully created.

  4. Import Parent-only zip file again with Overwrite existing files into option selected to Environment B. The files of Parent process automation and Test form will be overwritten in the repository.
    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of Parent process automation and Test form files. Because Child Process now exists in Automation Co-Pilot, Parent Process is now successfully created.
    Important: If the Overwrite existing files into is not selected, then no bulk import event is generated because files of Parent process automation and Test form already exists in repository. Therefore, Parent Process cannot be created in Automation Co-Pilot.
  5. Your import is successful because the Child Process and Parent Process are created in Automation Co-Pilot.

In this scenario, the import from Environment A to Environment B can fail if the Parent-only zip file was imported before the Child-only zip file. Since the Parent Process can only be created if the required dependencies from the Child Process exist, and the Child Process did not exist in the repository, then the Parent Process could not be created.

As a workaround to successfully create the Parent Process, you can import the Parent-only zip file again by selecting the Overwrite existing files into option to overwrite the existing repository (only after the Child Process was created). This workaround succeeds conditionally only if you selected the Overwrite existing files into option. If you did not select this option, then the Parent Process cannot be created.

To avoid this issue, you should use Scenario A for a successful import experience.

Scenario C (Worst case)

  1. Environment B has no files.
  2. Import Parent-and-Child zip file into Environment B. The files that contain the Parent process automation, Child process automation, and Test form will now exist in the repository.

    Automation Co-Pilot receives a bulk import event of the Parent process automation, Child process automation, and Test form files. However, because the Parent process automation and Child process automation relations are not known from the bulk import event, the Parent process automation might be processed first. Since the Child Process does not exist, then this failed to created a Parent Process.

  3. Your import failed because the Child Process and Parent Process were not created in Automation Co-Pilot.

In this scenario, the import from Environment A to Environment B failed because the Parent-and-Child zip file was imported. The bulk import event does not understand the relation between the Parent process automation and the Child process automation, and might process the Parent process automation before the Child process automation. As a result, the Parent Process cannot be created because the Child Process does not exist; therefore, no new process automation is created in Automation Co-Pilot.

To avoid this issue, you should use Scenario A for a successful import experience.