Text Annotation and Association Elements

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Add, delete, and configure Text Annotation and Association elements in your Process model.

Add a Text Annotation Element to the Process Model

Don't Know What a Text Annotation Element Is?

See Process Modeling Element Descriptions for a description of the Text Annotation element.

Permissions

  • Processes: Edit Processes

  • Processes: View Processes

See the Process permissions or ask your Administrator for assistance.

Your user account or group membership must have the following permissions to configure a Text Annotation or Association element in the Process model unless your user account has the Make this user a Super Admin setting selected:

Processes: Edit Processes

Processes: View Processes

See the Process permissions or ask your Administrator for assistance.

Add a Text Annotation element from one of the following locations in Process Modeler:

  • Object Panel: Located to the left of the Process Modeler canvas, the Object Panel contains various process model objects.

  • Object Bar: Located at the bottom of the Process Modeler canvas, the Object Bar contains pinned Process model objects for quick access.

Follow these steps to add a Text Annotation element from the Object panel to the Process model:

  1. Ensure that the Object panel is visible. If not, click the Add icon from the Object bar at the bottom.

  2. Click the Text Annotation object from one of the following sections:

    • Pinned Objects: The Text Annotation object appears in the Pinned Objects section when it is pinned.

    • Object Category: The Text Annotation object appears in the Object Category section when it is not pinned.

  3. Click the location in the Process model to place this element. If a Pool element is in your Process model, the Text Annotation element cannot be placed outside of the Pool element.  

Follow these steps to add a Text Annotation element from the Object bar to the Process model:

  1. Ensure that the Text Annotation object is pinned to the Object bar. If not, pin it.

  2. Click the Text Annotation object's icon. This object's icon displays adjacent to the mouse icon to indicate this element type may be placed into the Process model.

  3. Click the location in the Process model to place this element. If a Pool element is in your Process model, the Text Annotation element cannot be placed outside of the Pool element.

Text Annotation Element Settings

The Text Annotation element has the following panels that contain settings:

Configuration Panel Settings

Edit the Annotation Description

Process Modeler automatically assigns a default value to a new Text Annotation element. However, change the annotation description to provide context to your Process model.

Follow these steps to edit the annotation description for a Text Annotation element:

  1. Select the Text Annotation element from the Process model in which to edit its name.

  2. Ensure that the Configuration panel displays. If not, show it. The Text to Show setting displays.

  3. In the Text to Show setting, edit the selected Text Annotation element's text to display in the Process model and then press Enter.

Documentation Panel Settings

Edit the Element's Description Displayed in Process Documentation

Describe the element's purpose and how it functions in the Process. This description does not affect Requests for the Process, but may be useful for Process model maintenance such as how the element is configured. Edit information by using the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) rich text editor.

A Process's entered documentation displays by selecting the View Documentation icon for that Process.

Follow these steps to edit the description for an element:

  1. Select the element from the Process model in which to edit its description.

  2. Panels to configure this elemeEnsure that the Configuration panel displays. If not, show it.

  3. Expand the Documentation panel if it is not presently expanded. The Description setting displays.

  4. In the Description setting, edit the information to display when viewing documentation for this element and then press Enter. Alternatively, use the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) rich text editor to stylize your text by clicking the More icon.

    Follow these guidelines to use the WYSIWYG rich text editor to stylize your text:

    • Undo changes: Click on theicon to undo the last action.

    • Redo changes: Click on theicon to redo the last undone action.

    • Insert/Edit Link: Click on theicon to convert the selected text into a hyperlink. Follow these steps to create a hyperlink:

      1. Select the required text from the Rich Text control.

      2. Click on theicon. The Insert/Edit Link screen displays.  

      3. In the URL setting, enter the destination URL.

      4. In the Text to display setting, edit or enter the text displayed in the Rich Text control.

      5. In the Title setting, enter the text to display when a user hovers over the displayed text.

      6. From Open link in… drop-down menu, select one of these options:

        • New window: Select this option to open the destination page in a new browser window.

        • Current window: Select this option to open the destination page in the current browser window.

    • Insert/Edit Image: Click on the Insert/Edit Image iconto insert an image. Follow these guidelines:

      1. Click on the Insert/Edit Image icon.

      2. The Insert/Edit Image screen displays:  

      3. In the Source setting, enter a URL for the image.

      4. In the Alternative Description setting, enter the text to display if the source URL of the image is not accessible.

      5. In the Width setting, enter the maximum width for the image.

      6. In the Height setting, enter the maximum height for the image.

      7. Toggle the Constrain Proportions iconto maintain the width-height ratio of the image to its original proportion.

      8. Click Save.

    • Insert Page Break for PDF: Click on the Insert Page Break for PDF iconto insert a page break when a PDF document is created for this documentation if your browser supports this feature.

    • Format text: Follow these guidelines to format text:

      • Headings: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Headings and then select a heading size.

      • Bold: Do one of the following:

        • From the editor toolbar, select theicon.

        • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Bold.

      • Italics: Do one of the following:

        • From the editor toolbar, select theicon.

        • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Italic.

      • Underline: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Underline.

      • Strikethrough: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Strikethrough.

      • Superscript: From the Paragraph/ Formats menu, select Inline and then Superscript.

      • Subscript: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Subscript.

      • Code: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Inline and then Code.

      • Paragraph: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Blocks and then Paragraph.

      • Blockquote: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Blocks and then Blockquote.

      • Division: From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Blocks and then Div.

      • Preformatted:  From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Blocks and then Pre.

      • Change text color: Use the Text Color drop-down to change text color. Click on theicon. The color palette displays. Do one of the following:

        • Select one of the color swatches from the color palette. The selected text changes to that color.

          • Click theicon to select a custom color from the Color Picker.

          • Click theicon to reset the text to its default color.

      • Align text: Follow these guidelines to align text:

        • Left align: Do one of the following:

          • From the editor toolbar, use theicon to left-align text.

          • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Align and then Left.

        • Center align: Do one of the following:

          • From the editor toolbar, use theicon to center-align text.

          • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Align and then Center.

        • Right align: Do one of the following:

          • From the editor toolbar, use theicon to right-align text.

          • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Align and then Right.

        • Justify: Do one of the following:

          • From the editor toolbar, use theicon to justify text.

          • From the Paragraph/Formats menu, select Align and then Justify.

      • Insert a bullet list: Use theicon to format text as a bulleted list.

      • Insert a numbered list:  Use theicon to format text as a numbered list.

      • Indent text: Click on theicon to increase text indenting.

      • Outdent text: Click on theicon to decrease text indenting.

Advanced Panel Settings

Edit the Node's Identifier Value

Process Modeler automatically assigns a unique value to each Process node added to a Process model. However, a node's identifier value can be changed if it is unique to all other nodes in the Process model, including the Process model's identifier value.

All identifier values for all nodes in the Process model must be unique.

Follow these steps to edit the identifier value for a Text Annotation element:

  1. Select the Text Annotation element from the Process model in which to edit its identifier value.

  2. Ensure that the Configuration panel displays. If not, show it. Panels to configure this element display.

  3. Expand the Advanced panel if it is not presently expanded. The Node Identifier setting displays. This is a required setting.

  4. In the Node Identifier setting, edit the Text Annotation element's identifier to a unique value from all nodes in the Process model and then press Enter.

Add an Association Element

Don't Know What an Association Element Is?

See Process Modeling Element Descriptions for a description of the Association element.

Permissions

  • Processes: Edit Processes

  • Processes: View Processes

See the Process permissions or ask your Administrator for assistance.

Your user account or group membership must have the following permissions to configure a Text Annotation or Association element in the Process model unless your user account has the Make this user a Super Admin setting selected:

Processes: Edit Processes

Processes: View Processes

See the Process permissions or ask your Administrator for assistance.

Follow these steps to add an Association element to the Process model:

  1. Add a Text Annotation element to the Process model.

  2. Select the Text Annotation element from which you want to add an Association element. Available options display to the right of the selected element.  

  3. Click the Association Flow icon.

  4. Click the Process model element to which the Text Annotation element describes. The Annotation element is placed.  

  5. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to reference another Process model element that the Text Annotation element describes as necessary.

Association Element Settings

The Association element has the following panels that contain settings:

Configuration Panel Settings

Edit the Element's Identifier Value

Process Modeler automatically assigns a unique value to each Process element added to a Process model. However, an element's identifier value can be changed if it is unique to all other elements in the Process model, including the Process model's identifier value.

All identifier values for all elements in the Process model must be unique.

Follow these steps to edit the identifier value for an Association element:

  1. Select the Association element from the Text Annotation element in which to edit its identifier value.

  2. Ensure that the Configuration panel displays. If not, show it. The Node Identifier setting displays. This is a required setting.  

  3. In the Node Identifier setting, edit the Text Annotation element's identifier to a unique value from all elements in the Process model and then press Enter.

Edit the Direction of the Text Annotation Element's Reference

Use the Annotation element to place a directional arrow that points between the Text Annotation element and the element it describes.

Follow these steps to edit the directional arrow that points between the Text Annotation element and the element it describes:

  1. Select the Association element from the Text Annotation element in which to edit its annotation description.

  2. Ensure that the Configuration panel displays. If not, show it. Panels to configure this element display.

  3. Expand the Configuration panel if it is not presently expanded, and then locate the Direction setting.  

  4. From the Direction drop-down menu, select the direction in which the arrow points between the Text Annotation element and the element it describes. Select one of the following options:

    • None: Select the None option to not display an arrow that indicates the reference between the Text Annotation element and the element it describes.  

    • One: Select the One option to display an arrow that points from the Text Annotation element to the element it describes. This is the default option.  

    • Both: Select the Both option to display arrows to and from the Text Annotation element's  referencing element.