Task schemas determine the identity and behavior of their task groups. To create workflow Task schemas, you must configure a Tasks table and an Outputs table to standardize its task requests and fulfillment. Flowcharts are workflow Task schemas that extend this functionality by compiling multiple tasks together either in a strict order or in parallel into a complete process that is executed from beginning to end.

This article explains how to configure the flowchart steps on your Task schema and map the transitions between all flowchart steps. 

To create a flowchart Task schema or to learn more about creating direct- and entry-execution Task schemas, visit Configuring Task schemas.

Getting started

To create and configure Task schemas, you must:

• Have Admin permissions for your organization to create and configure Task schemas
• More than one Task schema to configure into a flowchart

Configure the flowchart steps

After creating the Task schema, complete the flowchart configuration section. This section is unique to flowcharts and inserts other Task schemas as steps between the flowchart’s Task and Output.

To add Task schemas to the flowchart:

1. Click Edit on the flowchart Task schema.
2. In the Task Schemas tab, click + to add new steps between the flowchart’s Task and Output.
3. Select the applicable Task schema(s) from the drop-down menu. 
4. After adding the flowchart steps, configure mapping between flowchart tasks in the Transitions tab.

Configure mapping between flowchart tasks

After configuring the flowchart steps, you need to configure how data is passed from one step to the next. This process, called mapping, moves users smoothly through flowcharts by connecting data between tasks, automatically launching the next task when the previous one is completed. Mapping must be completed for each flowchart step and all possible transitions.

To configure flowchart mapping:

1. In the Transitions tab of the flowchart configuration section, click Edit and then + Add Transition. Here you select desired source and target Task schemas for mapping.
   • Note: Multiple source tasks can map per a given target task. Mapping multiple source tasks to a single target task vs. separate source-to-target task mappings may be determined on whether both mappings are required or not.
2. Once all source-to-target Task schemas are selected in the Transitions tab, click Configure to open the modal for mapping fields.
3. “Under “Source Schema”, select the mapping data source from the Task or Output table of the previous task. 
   • Note: For the step immediately following the flowchart task, only Task is available to select.
4. In the Configure Mapping modal, you will select a lookup object in the target task and attribute the source data it will map from.
   • Note: Generally, the lookup object is a field on the previous Task or Output table, and the attribute is the field value. You can also choose to map any value from the flowchart’s Task table, by selecting Flowchart task as the lookup object.
   • For more on Benchling’s lookup functionality, visit Lookup columns and tables.
5. When all fields are configured, click Finish.
6. Repeat this process for each task associated with the flowchart.
7. Click the Template Flowchart tab of the flowchart configuration section and click Open flowchart editor to build the flowchart diagram.
8. On the right hand side of the panel, you will see all mapped Task schemas. Drag and drop the Task schemas onto the flowchart diagram and connect the mappings based on the transitions you’ve just configured in the previous tab. 
   • Note: If conditional logic is to be used for the mappings (based on dropdown fields between source and target tasks), drag the diamond shaped icon for a new Router into the mapping lineage between those tasks. See more on configuring Routers here. 
9. Once the template flowchart is assembled to match the transitions mapping, click Submit.
10. To save all changes to the flowchart configuration click Submit!

Next steps

When your flowchart Task schema has been configured and its steps mapped, you can start creating flowcharts and executing tasks.