The Assignment Service shape moves a case to the next step only after receiving a response from the external system. The Assignment Service tasks support asynchronous coordination with external systems, in contrast to Integrator tasks, which support synchronous connections.

For more information, see Connecting a process to an external application and Asynchronous integration.

1. Add the Assignment Service shape to your process.
   1. In the navigation pane of Dev Studio, click App.
   2. On the Classes tab, expand the case type for which you want to add the assignment, and then click ProcessFlow.
   3. In the list of process instances, double-click a process that you want to open.
   4. On the Flow form, on the Diagram tab, click the Flow shapes icon, and then click Advanced ShapesAssignment Service.
   5. Drag the Assignment Service shape to a position on the flow diagram based on the order of events in the process.
   6. Connect the Assignment Service shape by dragging connector end points to connection points on different shapes in the process.
2. Modify the Assignment Service shape to send a request from a process to an external application.
   1. Double-click the Assignment Service shape to open the property pane.
   1. In the Assignment Service field, enter a name for the shape.
      Choose a name that is meaningful to users who see the name on the work object history display, the breadcrumbs control (for entry points), and inside the Assignment Service shape on the Diagram tab.

      The task name does not affect run-time processing of the flow.

   2. In the Type field, press the Down arrow key, and then select the name of a connect activity.
   3. If the activity accepts input parameters, enter parameter values in the list that is displayed.
   4. Optional: To associate a service-level agreement with the Assignment Service shape that is independent from service-level agreements set on a flow or case type, press the Down arrow key, and then select the name of a service-level agreement that you want to apply.
      For example: You can set a service level for the task to begin escalation processing when the application fails to get a response from the external system after 60 seconds (which might indicate that the external system is unavailable or that other technical problems are present). For more information, see Errors returned by a connector and Handling connector exceptions.
   5. Optional: To control the text of instances that are added to the work item history when flow processing completes this shape, in the Audit Note field, enter or select the name of a Rule-Message rule.
   6. Optional: To update the status of a case on this shape, in the Work status field, press the Down arrow key, and then select a value that you want to apply.
      For more information, see Changing case statuses.
   7. Optional: To activate a ticket in a flow that detects an exception, error flow, or event, in the Tickets section, in the Ticket name and the Display name fields, press the Down arrow key, and then provide values that you want to apply.
      Note: You can use more tickets by adding a row for each ticket. If a shape has more than one ticket associated with it, then the processing of the task continues only after all tickets are set.

      For more information, see Responding to business exceptions in a flow.
3. Click Submit.
4. Click Save.