Clear State

The Clear State activity resets the visual status of specified workflow activities from green (completed) back to gray (pending).

Purpose

Use the Clear State activity to:

• Reset activity states when looping back in workflows
• Visually indicate that activities need to be re-executed
• Improve workflow visualization after rejection or retry scenarios

Configuration

Activity Selection

• Select one or more activities whose state should be reset
• Activities are referenced by their names
• Can reset multiple activities at once

Behavior

• Visual Only: This is purely a visual change in the workflow diagram
• No Functional Impact: The workflow logic continues to work without this activity
• Status Change: Changes activity color from green (done) to gray (pending)
• Execution: The activities will need to be completed again as the workflow progresses

Common Use Case: Approval Rejection Loop

Without Clear State

Data Load ──> Approval ──[Rejected]──> Correction Action ──> Loop back to Data Load

Problem: When looping back, Data Load and Approval still show green even though they need to be redone.

With Clear State

Data Load ──> Approval ──[Rejected]──> Clear State (reset Data Load, Approval) ──> Correction Action ──> Loop back

Benefit: Data Load and Approval turn gray, clearly indicating they must be completed again.

Example Configuration

Scenario

1. Data Load activity completes → Green
2. Approval activity completes → Green (but rejected)
3. Clear State activity executes → Data Load and Approval reset to Gray
4. Workflow loops back to Data Load
5. User can see that both activities need to be redone

Activities to Reset

Typically reset:

• The activities that need to be re-executed
• Any activities between the Clear State and the loop target

Usage Notes

• Purely Visual: Does not affect workflow execution logic
• User Experience: Improves clarity for users working through workflows
• Audit Trail: Actual execution history is preserved; only current visualization changes
• Optional: Workflows function correctly without it, but are less clear visually
• Loop Scenarios: Most useful in workflows with loops and retry logic

Best Practices

• Use in rejection and retry scenarios
• Reset all activities that genuinely need re-execution
• Place Clear State activity before looping back
• Don't overuse - only reset activities that will actually be re-executed
• Consider user experience when deciding which activities to reset

Technical Note

The workflow maintains two separate concepts:

1. Execution History: Permanent record of what was executed (preserved)
2. Current State: Visual representation for active workflow (modified by Clear State)

Clear State only affects the current state visualization, not the execution history.

JSON Reference

{
  "discriminator": "ClearStateWorkflowActivity",
  "activityId": "<uuid>",
  "name": "Clear State",
  "positionX": 0,
  "positionY": 0,
  "advanceRule": 2,
  "activityNames": ["Data Load", "Approval"]
}

Property	Type	Description
activityNames	string[]	Corresponds to the Activity Selection list. Array of activity names (by their name property) whose runtime status is reset to NotStarted.