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Flow Orchestration Background Steps
A background step launches an active autolaunched flow and has no user interaction. You can control when a background step is ready to start.
Required Editions
| View supported editions for Flow Orchestration. |
Background Step Work Cycle
Background Step Processing
Each background step references an active autolaunched flow. When the orchestration runs, it automatically determines whether the step’s flow is run synchronously or asynchronously. An orchestration run processes a background step asynchronously when the step’s underlying flow contains 1 or more Action, Subflow, or Wait elements.
When a background step’s flow runs synchronously, the orchestration resumes when the flow is completed.
When a background step’s flow runs asynchronously, the step publishes a Flow Orchestration Event platform event. That event causes the orchestration run to evaluate the status of the current stage and each step with a status of Not Started or In Progress contained within the stage.
When to Start the Step
To control when a background step starts, select a condition.
| Step Condition | Requires |
|---|---|
| When the stage starts, the step starts | — |
| When another step is marked Completed, the step starts | The name of the step that must be completed before the step can start |
| When the specified requirements are met, the step starts | Up to 10 requirements that determine whether the step can start |
| When the specified evaluation flow returns True, the step starts | The name of the active evaluation flow that determines whether the step can start |
Running Context of an Action Called by a Background Step
For API version 60.0 and later, by default, an active autolaunched flow called by a background step runs in the context of the Automated Process User. To run a background step in the context of a different user, use the Select Who to Run the Action As section in the background step's Properties panel. To control the system context’s record-level access, use the How to Run the Flow advanced option of the autolaunched flow.
For API version 59.0 and earlier, an active autolaunched flow called by a background step runs in the same context that the orchestration runs in.
| Orchestration Runs In | Associated Flow Runs In |
|---|---|
| System context |
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| User context |
|
For API version 59.0 and earlier, the context that an active autolaunched flow called by an asynchronous background step runs in depends on the context of the parent orchestration run
| Orchestration Runs In | Associated Flow Runs In |
|---|---|
| System context |
|
| User context |
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