Import a process

Processes can be imported in several formats to give you a head start on creating your Nintex Process Manager process. You can import the text of a process directly, or Nintex Process Manager can be configured to allow importing XML files from Microsoft Visio and iGrafx or another Nintex Process Manager site. Check with your Promaster A Nintex Promapp system administrator who administers a Nintex Promapp site and has rights to view and edit all areas of a Nintex Promapp site. if these options are enabled.

Note: 

You can move a process from one process group to another by exporting the process definition from the source process group and then creating a process in the destination process group and importing that process definition.

For more information on exporting a process see Print or Export a process.

On this page:

Process import configuration

Promaster A Nintex Promapp system administrator who administers a Nintex Promapp site and has rights to view and edit all areas of a Nintex Promapp site. privilege is required.

  • Go to Admin > Configure > Print, Import and Export and enable the following settings:

    • Enable process import from third party tools (Visio, iGrafx) (Default: Off)

    • Enable process import/export to BPMN/XPDL (Default: Off)

    • Enable process import/export to XML (Default: Off)

Import process text

  1. Create a process.
  2. Click settings on the top right of the process toolbar and then click Import > Import Procedure Text.
  1. Copy and paste the text into the box, formatted according to the guidelines mentioned in the Import Procedure Text dialog box.
  2. Click Import.

The procedure text is imported and displayed in the process Edit tab. For more information, see Edit a process.

Import from XML

You can import from XML either from a process or process group.

Import from XML to a process

  1. Create a process.
  2. Click settings on the top right of the process toolbar and then click Import > Import From File.
  3. Click Choose File and then select the required file.
  4. Click Import.

The procedure text is imported and displayed in the process Edit tab. For more information, see Edit a process.

Import from XML to a process group

  1. Right-click on a process group and then click Import/Export > Import from Xml.

  1. Click Choose File and then select the required file.

  2. Click Import.

The process is imported and displayed. For more information, see Edit a process.

Import from Microsoft Visio/iGrafx XML

You can import from a valid Microsoft Visio (.vsdx only) or iGrafx (.xml) file.

Before you start  Promaster A Nintex Promapp system administrator who administers a Nintex Promapp site and has rights to view and edit all areas of a Nintex Promapp site. privilege is required.. Enable the Admin > Configure > Print, Import and Export > Enable process import from third party tools (Visio, iGrafx) (Default: Off) setting.

Note: 

You can import .xml files including those from IGrafx and Microsoft Visio diagrams saved in .vsdx format.This format is supported in Microsoft Visio 2013 or above.

Currently the last active diagram will be imported by Nintex Process Manager, that is, the diagram displayed when you open the Microsoft Visio file.

  • The order is determined based on the connected elements of the diagram. The first item is the first discovered to have only outgoing connections.
  • If there are forks (for example, parallel or decisions), one path will be followed completely before the second path is followed to complete the ordering.
  • Items which are not connected (for example, headers, swimlanes, or floating text) will be listed last.

If the BPMN stencil provided by Microsoft Visio has been used to create the diagram then some of the shapes can be determined. Sub-processes and gateways will have these prefixes added so it makes it easy for you to determine which activities in the imported process need to be converted after importing the text.

  1. Create a process.
  2. Click settings on the top right of the process toolbar and then click Import > Import From File (Visio, iGrafx XML).
  3. Click Choose File and select the file.
  4. Click Import.
  5. In the Import From File (Vision,iGrafx XML) dialog box, all elements of the diagram that were part of a flow (connected to other elements) will be included first followed by any other elements that contained text. Verify the displayed text and make any required changes.
    6. Note: 

    Import rules:

    • Each line will create an activity.
    • Each indented(tabbed) line will create a task.
    • Starting a line with NOTE: will create a note.
    • Text after NOTE: is the heading.
    • The next line below NOTE: is the body of the note.
    • Type [ROLE NAME] after the activity name to assign a role or responsibility, e.g. Pour coffee [Coffee Maker].
    • System tags can be used alongside roles to assign a tag to an activity, e.g. Order coffee [ERP].
    • To insert a Web Link indent a line and type in [Web Link] followed by title to be displayed. Indent the next line and enter the web link starting with http:// followed by the URL
    • Process Links, Decisions, and Conditional Processes will be created as Activities. Documents will be created as tasks.
  1. Click Import.

The text is imported and displayed. For more information, see Edit a process.

Considerations

When importing a process XML from another Process Manager tenant, Process Manager will import the base content of the process, but the owner and expert users must be updated to the user definitions on the target tenant, and any document links, tags, etc. must also be updated.