When the data you are displaying in an OmniScript step takes time to prepare – retrieve available options from an external system, check the status of user’s application and so on – consider getting this work completed ahead of time. This way you are not making your user stare at a spinner waiting.
There are many ways to get this implemented, but running an Integration Procedure in a non-blocking mode may be one of the easiest. And its quite impressive how the OmniStudio does all the work for you in the background, so the information is available and can be used at a future OmniScript steps at the right time.
Let’s look at an example. We have a sample OmniScript where we’re calling an Integration Procedure right at the beginning. It will be doing the background work required to prepare the information that a user will needs to see when they arrive on Step 2 – see screenshot below:
The Integration Procedure Action property has one additional configuration option selected in addition to the minimum configuration that any Integration Procedure Action would have. We have selected the Non-Blocking option in the Invoke Mode field, which causes our Integration Procedure to run asynchronously, while the user can continue interacting the Step 1 of our OmniScript without any delays.
Once our Integration Procedure work is complete, the data JSON will be updated to reflect the results. In our example, the Integration Procedure updated the value of the “result” node:
If your Integration Procedure can complete its work within the time you have before the user arrives at the step where this information is needed, the Non-Blocking Invoke Mode is a great tool to push some processing off to the background quickly and easily.
Looking forward to hearing about you using this tool on your projects to make end-user experience more enjoyable. And if you need a hand on your project – new code or clearing off technical debt – don’t hesitate to reach out.
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