IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Get started with IBM BPM > Key concepts > BPEL processes and human tasks > Human tasks overview
Task instances
A task instance is a runtime occurrence of a task template.
Generally, a task instance inherits all of its properties from the corresponding task template with the following exceptions:
Column name in TASK_TEMPL view Inherited by task instance Comments VALID_FROM No Not needed by the task instance. CONTAINMENT_CTX_ID No Task instances are deleted according to a different set of rules than their corresponding task templates. IS_AD_HOC No Not needed by the task instance:
- An ad hoc task template creates a task instance that is not ad hoc.
- An ad hoc task instance does not have a task template.
IS_INLINE Usually The property is not inherited in the following situations:
- A subtask instance cannot be inline, even if its template is defined as inline.
- A follow-on task instance cannot be inline, even if its template is defined as inline.
- A human task activity instance is always related to an inline task instance.
STATE No A task template must be in the STATE_STARTED state to create and start task instances. The instances are then in the STATE_READY state. In addition, all of the custom properties of a task template (TASK_TEMPL_CPROP view) are inherited by the custom property instances of a task instance (TASK_CPROP view). The multilingual description of a task template (TASK_TEMPL_DESC view) has a row for each locale. A task instance (TASK_DESC view) inherits these rows.
- Modification of task instance properties at run time
At run time, the properties of a task instance, such as its name, who can work on the task, and its duration settings are copied from its template. Typically, a task instance keeps the predefined values of these properties throughout its lifecycle. However, sometimes you might need to override these predefined values at run time in response to your business needs.