Workflows and runs¶

The Workflows page has two tabs: Workflows lists the workflows in the project, and Runs lists every run of them.

The Workflows tab¶

Each workflow shows its name, its description, how many nodes and connections it has, and when it was last changed. Search by name or description, and switch between tiles and a table.

Press a workflow to open it on the canvas.
New Workflow opens an empty canvas.
Import workflow reads a workflow file someone downloaded from SCMotif. If some of its inputs could not be connected to files in this project, SCMotif lists the nodes whose inputs you need to choose again.
On each workflow, Download workflow saves it as a file, Duplicate workflow makes a copy, and Delete workflow removes it.

The canvas¶

The canvas shows a workflow's nodes and the connections between them. Data flows along the connections, from each node's outputs into the inputs of the next.

Add node opens the list of nodes, grouped as Data, Transform, Map Data, Scenario, Analyze and Optimize. Select one to read what it does, then press Add to canvas.
Drag from a node's output to another node's input to connect them.
Select a node to open its Properties: its name, a description, its settings, and its Connections. Open reference shows the node's page from the node reference beside the canvas.
Fit view brings the whole workflow into view.

Name and describe each step¶

A node's name is its title on the canvas, and its description is shown beneath it. Press the name in Properties to change it, and Add a description… to describe the node. Give each step a name that says what it does, such as Estimate missing freight costs, and a description that says how and with which assumptions, so that someone reviewing the workflow can follow it without opening each node.

This matters most for a step that runs its own code, such as a Script. Validate reports a warning for such a step when it has no name of its own or no description. The warning does not stop the workflow from running. An agent building a workflow for you sets the same name and description.

Changes are saved as you make them; the header says Saving… and then Saved. There is no save button. If a change cannot be saved, the header says why and offers Retry.

Validate and run¶

Validate checks the workflow without running it, for example for a node with an input that is not connected, or a setting that is missing. The report lists Errors, Warnings and Info.
Run starts a run. While it runs, a bar at the bottom of the canvas shows the elapsed time and a Cancel button. When it ends, the bar says whether it completed, for example Completed · Scenario saved, and View Report opens what the run found.

After a run fails, the node where it stopped says so in its properties, with a link to the report.

A workflow produces a scenario through its Create Scenario node. Running the workflow again adds a new version of that same scenario. To keep the current scenario as it is and send future runs to a new one, press Save future runs as… on the Create Scenario node and give the new scenario a name.

The Runs tab¶

Each run shows its workflow, its status (Queued, Running, Completed, Failed or Cancelled), when it started and ended, how long it took, and how many errors and warnings it reported. Filter by status or search by workflow name. A run that has not ended yet has a Cancel button.

A run waits as Queued until there is capacity to start it. When the reason is known, the run says why it is waiting.

A run's page¶

Press a run to open its page. Its address stays valid, so you can leave and come back, or send the link to a colleague.

While the run is active, the page shows each node's progress and a Cancel button. Once it ends, the page shows the Execution Report:

a summary: All checks passed, Completed with N diagnostics, Failed or Run cancelled;
the findings, under Errors, Warnings and Info. Each finding names the node it is about and what happened, and What this means opens its page in the messages reference. Some offer a button that takes you straight to the setting to change;
Copy Report, to paste the report somewhere else.

The run also keeps the workflow as it was when it started. View snapshot shows that version on a read-only canvas, together with the run's Run provenance: the exact inputs it read, and the version of SCMotif that ran it.

See find what an earlier run used to trace those inputs and understand what the run keeps after a source changes or is deleted.

Run again starts a new run of the workflow as it is now.
Save as new workflow turns the snapshot into a workflow of its own, so you can go back to how an earlier run was set up.
View workflow opens the current workflow on the canvas.

When a run stops¶

An error is what stopped the run, or what a check refused before it started. The run ends as Failed, and the node it stopped at says so. Warnings and Info do not stop a run: they tell you what it did with your data on the way, for example a row it left out.

Every message belongs to one of five groups, by what you change to clear it:

About a node: one node's settings, or the data reaching it, such as a column the node names that is not in its input. Each node's page in the node reference lists the messages it can show.
About the scenario: how the tables of a scenario fit together, such as two rows for the same location. Create Scenario checks them, and the fix is usually in the data or the Map node that made one of the tables.
Checks before a run: the canvas itself, such as an input that is not connected. Validate shows them, and a workflow with one of these errors does not start.
Run limits and failures: the run's own limits and anything that is not about your data.
Refused actions: an action refused before it changed anything, such as deleting a scenario a dashboard still shows.

Each node has a time limit, which its page in the node reference names. A node that runs longer stops the run.

Cancel asks a running run to stop. The report records who asked and when, and the run ends as Cancelled. A run that is still queued is cancelled at once.