Symphony

Symphony in Enterprise Orchestrator is a top-level orchestration model in the Infor OS ecosystem.

An Enterprise Orchestrator Symphony coordinates and automates a sequence of activities across multiple Infor applications to form a complete, end‑to‑end business process. Each activity performs a specific, well‑defined action and can pass its output to subsequent activities. This approach enables data and control to flow seamlessly through the orchestration.

Enterprise Orchestrator manages orchestration at runtime and provides monitoring tools to track progress and view logs.

Designing a Symphony

You can model a Symphony by dragging and connecting states in the user interface.

Use these practices when designing a Symphony:

  • Use clear, unique names for states on the canvas.
  • Design modular flows for reuse and clarity.
  • Use switch constructs for clean conditional logic.

Roles and relationships of flows, activities, and states in a Symphony

Flows: Executable logic

A flow defines a business or integration process. It specifies the logic that the system executes, such as:

  • Triggering ION Workflow
  • Running ION Data Flow
  • Executing RPA bot

A flow is implemented within activity. The activity type determines the execution context of the flow, for example:

  • ION Workflow
  • ION Data Flow
  • RPA
  • Documentation Flow

The flow defines what system does within that activity.

Sending an invoice to en ERP system is an example of a flow implemented within an ION Workflow activity and orchestrated as part of s Symphony.

Activities: Execution containers

An activity wraps a flow and defines how and when it runs. Each activity connects to an Infor application. You can configure input and output variables, timeouts, retries, and error handling for each activity.

On the Symphony canvas, you place and link activities to define the orchestration.

States: Execution steps

Each activity placed on the Symphony canvas is treated as a state. A state is a point in the execution path. States define the orchestration flow through transitions and decision logic.

States can represent start and end points, activities, decisions, and error handlers.

Example

A state labeled Wait for Approval might represent an activity that pauses for user input.

Example

This sequence demonstrates how a Symphony orchestrates multiple activities and uses their outputs to drive the logic and processing the next steps in the orchestration.

  1. An ION Data Flow activity retrieves a file from an FTP location using a file Connection Point (Connector).
    • The file is transformed into a Business Object Document (BOD), such as an invoice.
    • The BOD is routed to the appropriate ERP application.
  2. An ION Workflow activity is triggered to involve you in review or decision‑making.
  3. Based on your response, a subsequent ION Data Flow activity runs.
    • The activity applies filters or additional transformations.
    • The activity uses both the original data and your input from the previous step.

Flows, activities, states comparison

Flows, activities, states comparison

This table summarizes the differences between flows, activities, and states:

Concept Description Role Defined In Example
Flow A specific configuration inside the activity. As part of the activity configuration, you can select an appropriate flow that is triggered when the activity is executed. Executable logic Inside an activity Send invoice
Activity An adopter integration that is represented on the canvas with a specific icon. An activity can have multiple flows. Container for a flow Symphony canvas ION Workflow
State A step in the symphony. It includes activities and constructs. Execution step Symphony orchestration Switch construct

Symphony version stages and lifecycle rules

This table describes Symphony version stages and lifecycle rules:

Stage Version Status Symphony Status Purpose How Created Action
DRAFT DRAFT Inactive Work-in-progress version Created a new version (before it is approved) or editing an existing version. Approve the changes
APPROVED APPROVED Inactive Validated version ready for activation Approved after passing validation. Activate and execute
ACTIVE APPROVED Active Live executable version Activated through the user interface. Schedule or run
ARCHIVED ARCHIVED n/a Historical version for reference Replaced by a newer version. View or restore