Granularity of persistence on a persistent workflow

Persistence is at the sub-process level meaning a sub-process that has been completed will not re-start. However any sub-process that was incomplete at the time of re-start will be run from the beginning.

Here is the explanation from our local expert:

A persistent workflow can be stopped and restarted. All workflows are stopped when the server is stopped; persistent workflows are restartable when the server is restarted. A workflow definition can be marked as "Automatically restart instances of this workflow on server start" (default is false). These instances will be restarted during the Start phase of the Workflow Domain SP. Otherwise, instances will need to be manually restarted using the Workflow Instances display.

Workflow instances persist when a subprocess is completed. When a workflow instance is stopped, the current subprocess is canceled and the PostSubprocess, PostProcess, and Unload activities are executed. When the workflow instance is restarted, it will run through the Load, PreProcess, and PrSubprocess activities and then execute from the beginning of the subprocess following the last completed subprocess. Or, in other words, from the beginning of the subprocess that was in progress.