This section provides a brief summary of the life cycle of an Interaction, with an emphasis on the role of management and the Interaction Server.
A typical simplified workflow for an Interaction life cycle is illustrated in the following figure:
Using the Interaction Designer, a designer creates a new Interaction, or modifies an existing one based on feedback from colleagues, administrators, and/or other reviewers. |
The designer publishes the Interaction to a specific account on the web server. The Interaction is assigned a status of Draft, and is listed on the Interactions page of the relevant account. When an updated version of an Interaction is published, the new version automatically overwrites the previous version. The new version number is assigned transparently by the system. |
Administrators and/or other users with management credentials run the Interaction from the server for reviewing and testing purposes. If necessary, the designer modifies the Interaction (in the Interaction Designer), and republishes it to the server. |
The Interaction goes through the approval process. For details, refer to Changing Interaction Status. |
After an Interaction has been in use for some time, reports can be generated and reviewed. These reports show patterns of actual Interaction element flow and real time measurements of Interaction workflows. If the reports reflect a need for improvement (e.g., the time spent on a certain Interaction element is longer than expected), change requests can be sent back to the designer. After the Interaction is edited (in the Designer), it is republished, tested and approved. |