Modifying a Subflow

A subflow is a flow that can be reused within other flows. Subflows are useful if you want to create a reusable process that can be easily incorporated into multiple flows. When subflows are used extensively, it can be difficult to keep track of which flows use each subflow. This can be a problem if you want to modify a subflow, because you need to make sure that the modification does not cause undesirable results in the flows that use it. Using the Lineage & Impact Analysis feature in Metadata Insights, you can find all the flows that use a particular subflow so that you can be fully aware of the impact of changes you make to a subflow.

To view the flows that use a subflow:

  1. In a web browser, go to:

    http://server:port/metadata-insights

    Where server is the server name or IP address of your Spectrum™ Technology Platform server and port is the HTTP port. By default, the HTTP port is 8080.

  2. Click the Select Entity button .
  3. Click Stages.
  4. Select the subflow you want then click OK.

The resulting diagram shows all the flows that use the subflow.

Example

You have a subflow named Deduplication. It contains logic for identifying duplicate records in your customer data. You use this subflow in multiple flows. You want to make a change to the deduplication logic and need to make sure that you test the effects of the change in all the flows that use the subflow. So, you use Lineage & Impact Analysis to view the impact of the Deduplicaton subflow:



The Lineage & Impact Analysis diagram shows that the Deduplication subflow is used in two flows: ValidateNewCustomerAddresses and GeocodingFlow. When you make your change you can check these flows in Enterprise Designer to confirm that you are getting the results you want.