Guides· 3 min read· Updated November 2026

End a Task with an Error Status

Flower is human-driven BPM: the work items of your process are done by people in Jira. Sometimes a task cannot be done as planned. The order is cancelled, the request is rejected, the delivery has failed. In BPMN this is an error: the task ends without its normal result, and the process takes another path.

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Reference: BPMN Error Events explains the error event in the BPMN standard, with all its positions.

Available from Flower 3.7.0.

A person resolves the work item as Cancelled; the error boundary event takes the process to the refund instead of the shipment.

With Flower, a person throws the error by resolving the work item in an error status, for example Cancelled. An error boundary event on the task catches it.

How It Works

The activity has an error boundary event with a Jira status, for example Cancelled.
A person resolves the work item in this status. The workflow of the work type must offer it.
Flower ends the activity and takes the path of the error event instead of the normal outgoing flow.

If the work item is resolved in any other status, the process takes the normal outgoing flow.

An error boundary event is always interrupting: the activity ends with the error.

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Flower checks the status when the work item is resolved. A status without a resolution, for example an On Hold status in the middle of the workflow, does not trigger the event. Make sure the error status is a done status, or that the transition to it sets a resolution.

Model the Event in the Editor

Drag an intermediate event onto the edge of the activity.
Use the wrench icon to change it into an error boundary event.
Give it a label, for example Cancelled.
In the properties panel, open Error and select the Jira status. The list shows the statuses of the work type of the activity. If the activity has no work type, the one of its swimlane or of the Flower settings is used.
Connect the event to the activity that should follow, for example Refund.

In the BPMN file, the status is a BPMN error: its name and error code are the name of the status. Flower compares the names without case, accents, and apostrophes, so Won’t Do and WONT DO are the same.

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An error boundary event without a status never fires. The model validator shows a warning for it.

Error Event or Conditional Event?

Both take another path when a work item is resolved.

	Error boundary event	Conditional boundary event
Trigger	The work item is resolved in the selected status	A condition (expression) is true when the work item is resolved
Configuration	Select a status	Write an expression on any field
Meaning in the diagram	The task failed	Any outcome
Interrupting	Always	Interrupting or non-interrupting

Use the error event when a person ends the task as failed or cancelled. Use the conditional event for other outcomes, such as a resolution, a priority, or a field of a form.

What’s Next?

BPMN Error Events: The error event in the BPMN standard, with all its positions.
Escalate a Task with a Jira Status: Call for help while the task stays open.
Conditional Boundary Events: Branch on any outcome of a task.
Make Approval Steps: Approvals with a gateway or a boundary event.
BPMN Events: All events Flower executes.