Introduction

EnterWorks Process Exchange (EPX) is an object-oriented, Java-based automation tool that extends traditional process flow technology to business processes. Traditional process flow technology involves the passing of data or documents through a series of steps to accomplish a specific goal or complete a single process. EPX supports the integration of multiple processes, people, and systems to coordinate all the work within an enterprise.

This EPX Administration Guide details the functions that are necessary in managing your EPX installation, and all these functions are found in the Design Console.

Design Console

The EPX Design Console is the graphical user interface (GUI) used in managing the two major functional areas of EPX: Administration and Process Modeling. This guide discusses the administration tasks required to maintain EPX. Process Modeling is discussed in a separate guide.

Design Console allows you to create, retrieve, update, and delete business objects that are administered in EPX. Design Console provides for the administration of data in the following areas:

  • User and Group management
  • Security management
  • Audit logging
  • Import/export functionality
  • Process configuration parameters (SOAP service URL, work item properties persistence, file attachment settings)
  • BIC management
  • E-mail notification
  • LDAP services
  • Distributed networks
  • Work item priorities

Starting Design Console

Before starting Design Console, make sure that the services for the EPX Application Server and the BIC Manager (or Managers) are running.

Please refer to the Installation guide for information on starting these services, or contact your system administrator.

  1. Start and log into Design Console:
  • From the Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 desktop, click the Start button and select: Programs > Enterworks Process Exchange 3.1> EPX_instance > Design Console .
  • Alternatively, in Windows Explorer select: C:\Enterworks\EPX31\bin\DesignConsole.exe

Note: This directory path reflects the default installations for EPX on each platform. If EPX was installed to an alternate directory, launch EPX from the alternate path accordingly.

  1. Log into the EPX server by clicking on the expand button[+] next to the server name, in the Navigator pane. The Login prompt is displayed. The Login prompt will also be displayed if you double-click the EPX server name, or right-click on the name and click Login in the shortcut menu.
  2. Type your EPX administrator user name (the default administrator user name is “system”). Only users who are members of the Administration group will be able to perform all of the administrative functions.
  3. Type your administrator password and click OK.

Important: Any user imported from an earlier version of EPX (e.g., EPX 2.5.2) must use the imported user name as password to log in to the Design Console.

Frequently-used Editors

The majority of administrative tasks in EPX are performed via Design Console’s Server, User, and Group editors. These editors are accessed as detailed in the succeeding sections.

Server Editor

To open the Server editor for an instance of the EPX Application Server, right-click on the server name in the Navigator pane, then click Open in the shortcut menu.

User and Group Editors

To edit the properties of a user or group, open the Administration folder in the Navigator pane, either by double-clicking the folder or by clicking the folder’s expand button [+]. Next, use this same method to open the Users or Groups folder. Finally, right-click the name of the user group, and then click Open in the shortcut menu.

Changing the System User Password

The default password for EPX is system, you can change this password after logging in by doing the following:

  1. In the Users folder, right-click System Administrator, and then click Open in the shortcut menu.
  2. In the User editor, on the Details tab, click Password.
  3. Type the new password twice in the appropriate boxes, and then click OK.
  4. Click OK in the User editor to make the change permanent.

Refer to the Configuring the Secure Password Feature section of this guide for more information on creating a secure EPX user password.

Import/Export Utility

The Import/Export Utility included with EPX allows you to copy process flows and their components from one EPX server to another. This is especially useful if you have developed your EPX system on one server, and you want participants to connect to other servers and participate in process flows.

Objects that you can migrate include:

  • users
  • groups
  • roles
  • work item types
  • process flows
  • subflows
  • personal subflows