Create Update Activity

Overview

The Create Update Activity enrichment inserts a new activity into your process whenever a specific "update" activity fires and the value of a monitored event attribute has changed since the last time it was seen. This is the enrichment to reach for when you have one activity that should be modifying a particular attribute (an "Update" step) and you want to make it explicit in the process map only when that step actually changed something.

For example, in an approval workflow you might have a generic "Update Status" activity that runs at several points. Sometimes it changes the order status, sometimes it just records that the user clicked Save without making a real change. This enrichment lets you create a "Status Changed" activity that fires only when "Update Status" actually changed the OrderStatus attribute -- the no-op runs do not produce one.

Common Uses

Insert a "Status Changed" activity whenever an "Update Status" step actually modifies the order status
Insert a "Priority Changed" activity whenever an "Edit Ticket" step actually changes the priority value
Insert an "Owner Reassigned" activity whenever a "Reassign Case" step actually picks a new owner

Settings

New Activity Name: The name of the activity that will be inserted. This name appears in process maps and activity lists. Pick something descriptive of what the change represents (for example, "Status Changed", "Priority Updated").

Event Attribute: The event attribute whose value is monitored. The enrichment compares this attribute's value at the current event against its value at the previous event from the Change Activities list.

Update Activity: The single activity that triggers a new activity to be inserted. A new activity is created only when an event with this activity name occurs and the monitored attribute's value has changed since the previous tracked event. The Update Activity must also be one of the entries in Change Activities.

Change Activities: The set of activities to consider as "tracking points" when looking at the attribute's value history. The enrichment scans events whose Activity matches one of these names, remembers the most recent value of the monitored attribute, and compares against it when an Update Activity event arrives.

Ignore Case: Controls how null (blank) values are treated when comparing. When enabled (the default), a null is treated as a value of its own, so a transition from null to "Approved" is considered a change. When disabled, events whose monitored attribute is null are skipped over and do not participate in the comparison at all.

Examples

Example 1: Distinguishing Real Status Changes from No-Op Saves

Scenario: An order management process has a generic "Update Status" activity that runs whenever a user clicks Save on the order screen. You only want a "Status Changed" activity in the process map when "Update Status" actually changed the OrderStatus -- routine saves that don't change the status shouldn't clutter the map.

Settings:

New Activity Name: Status Changed
Event Attribute: OrderStatus
Update Activity: Update Status
Change Activities: Create Order, Update Status, Close Order
Ignore Case: True

Walkthrough on one case:

Create Order (OrderStatus = "Pending") -- tracked, no new activity (no previous tracked event)
Update Status (OrderStatus = "Pending") -- tracked, no new activity (Update Status fired, but value is unchanged)
Update Status (OrderStatus = "Approved") -- tracked, new "Status Changed" activity inserted (Update Status fired and the value changed from "Pending" to "Approved")
Close Order (OrderStatus = "Approved") -- tracked, no new activity (Close Order is not the Update Activity)

Only the meaningful Update Status events produce a "Status Changed" activity.

Example 2: Approval Step that Actually Approves

Scenario: A procurement workflow has a recurring "Manager Review" activity. Sometimes a manager only adds a comment without advancing the ApprovalStage; sometimes they actually approve. You want a "Stage Advanced" activity to mark only the reviews that changed the ApprovalStage.

Settings:

New Activity Name: Stage Advanced
Event Attribute: ApprovalStage
Update Activity: Manager Review
Change Activities: Submit, Manager Review, Director Review, Final Approval
Ignore Case: True

A "Stage Advanced" activity will be inserted only after a Manager Review event whose ApprovalStage value differs from the most recent prior Submit / Manager Review / Director Review / Final Approval event. Manager Reviews that don't change the stage (comment-only saves) won't produce one.

Output

The Create Update Activity enrichment generates new event rows in the event log, creating activities that represent attribute value changes. These new activities integrate seamlessly into the existing process flow and appear in all process analysis tools.

Activity Properties:

Activity Name: Matches the "New Activity Name" setting
Timestamp: Inherited from the event where the attribute change occurred
Case ID: Same as the original event (activities are added to the same case)
Event Attributes: All event attributes from the original event are copied to the new activity
Activity Type: Standard activity that appears in process maps and activity lists

Creation Logic:

A new activity is inserted only when all three conditions are met for an event:
1. The event's Activity matches the configured Update Activity
2. A prior event in the case had an Activity in the Change Activities list (so there is a previous tracked value to compare against)
3. The monitored attribute's value at the current event differs from the value at the prior tracked event
The very first tracked event in a case never produces a new activity, because there is no prior value to compare against
Events whose Activity is not in Change Activities are ignored entirely
When Ignore Case is disabled, events whose monitored attribute is null are skipped over and do not participate in the comparison

Integration Points:

New activities appear in process maps showing the flow of attribute changes
Available in activity filters for selecting cases with specific change patterns
Can be used in subsequent enrichments like duration calculations
Visible in variant analysis to identify different change sequences
Included in activity frequency statistics and performance metrics
Appear in event log exports with all original event attributes

Process Map Visualization: The new activities create additional nodes in process maps, showing the paths of attribute changes. This makes previously hidden state transitions visible and analyzable alongside regular process activities.

Performance Considerations:

The enrichment processes all events in selected activities to detect changes
For large datasets, consider limiting Change Activities to only those where changes are expected
New activities increase the event count, which may affect process map complexity
Use filters to focus analysis on specific types of changes if needed