These subprocesses can be fully functional processes, and output from one process can be passed to the input of another process. In this manner, just as in modular programming, users can start by developing and debugging known, simpler department-level processes and link them together to create complex, businesswide processes. Extensibility is important in process-modeling tools because every business is subtly different. Because process designers eac h use different computer tools, the product's strength here is important. As already noted, Process 98 lets users create new attributes for each step and perform calculations based on these attributes.
Users can create new process symbols and import input object data from external databases.
Another area of extensibility is what actions one can perform for each process step. Process 98 lets users attach actions, such as launch an external application, enable or disable other areas of the process, or execute a scripted program to perform a complicated action within Process 98. Once you specify all the attributes and process information, you run the simulation. The program runs the simulation either in single-step mode or at any speed you like. As the simulation executes, the process steps and connection lines in the diagram change color to indicate their state for each step.