Phases in an orchestration

Note: Orchestrations is currently in beta. For more information, see the Nintex Beta terms document.

After creating an orchestration, you can add one or more phases. A phase represents a stage in the orchestration and is used to group one or more activities. Each phase has defined progression conditions that determine how and when the orchestration moves to the next stage. The activities within the phase perform the tasks required to complete the stage.

If you delete an activity or table that's used in an orchestration, the orchestration configuration becomes invalid. A warning message appears in the configuration panel of the orchestration start or the affected phase.

Jump to:

Add a phase

  1. Go to Orchestrations > All orchestrations.

  2. Open the orchestration you want.

  3. Click Add phase to add a new phase.

  4. Click the phase tile to add the configuration for the phase.

  5. Name the phase in the Title and enter a Description.

  6. In the Activities section, click Add activity to add activities and select the activity to run in this phase.

    Note: 

    • You must select at least one activity for each phase.

    • Phases run sequentially. Parallel execution isn’t supported.

  7. Select the Activity type:

    • Orchestration workflow: Published workflows with an Orchestration workflow start event. For more information, see Nintex - Orchestration.

    • Component workflow: Published workflows with a Component workflow start event. Draft workflows and workflows in containers are not available for selection. For more information, see Nintex - Component workflow.

    • Agentflow: Coordinates and executes agent actions. For more information, see Agents

  8. In the next field, select the Workflow or Agentflow to run from the drop-down list.

    Note: 

    • Draft workflows are not available for selection.

    • When building an orchestration inside a solution, only workflows in that solution are available for selection.

    • When building an orchestration outside a solution, workflows inside solutions are not available for selection.

    • For orchestration workflows, only workflows configured with the same table as the orchestration are available for selection.

  9. If the selected workflow has start data to configure, specify those in the Inputs section.

  10. Click Add to add the workflow to the phase.

  11. Click Add activity to add additional workflows.

  12. Click Add condition to set progression conditions that determine how the orchestration moves between phases.

    1. Select the When, Operator, and Value fields of the condition and click Add to add more conditions. For more information about the conditions builder, see Condition builder.

    2. In the Then field, select what should happen when the condition is met:

      • Go to phase: Move to the phase you define.

      • Restart phase: Restart the same phase.

      • End orchestration: End the orchestration.

    3. Click Close to close the condition builder.

      Note: You can create multiple progression conditions, including multiple and nested conditions.

  13. In the If no conditions are met field, select what should happen when none of the specified conditions are met:

    • Go to phase: Move to the phase you define.

    • Restart phase: Restart the current phase.

      Note: Maximum restart limit is 10.

    • End orchestration: End the orchestration.

Delete a phase

Deleting a phase deletes the associated activities and conditions.

  1. In the phase header, click next to the phase name.

  2. On the options menu, click Delete.

  3. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Disable or enable a phase

Disabled phases appear greyed out on the orchestration canvas and are skipped when the orchestration runs. Disabled phases cannot be selected in the progression conditions of other phases. If another phase already references a disabled phase, a warning message is displayed in that phase’s configuration panel.

  1. In the phase header, click next to the phase name.

  2. On the options menu, click Disable or Enable.

Change phase order

The order of phases in an orchestration determines the sequence in which the orchestration is executed. While you can change the order of phases, doing so can affect how progression conditions are evaluated and how the orchestration behaves.

  • Phases in an orchestration run sequentially (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, etc.).

  • Any progression conditions referencing other phases may be affected if the referenced phase is moved. For example, if you move Phase 2 to the first position, it becomes Phase 1.

Best practices when reordering phases

  • Check all progression conditions that reference the phase being moved.

  • Update conditions as needed to reflect the new logical order.

  • Use descriptive phase names to make it easier to track and manage progression conditions.

Change phase order

  • Click and drag the phase the into the new position on the canvas.