A configuration element is a list of attributes you can use to configure constants across a whole Orchestrator server deployment.

All the workflows, actions, policies, and Web views running in a particular Orchestrator server can use the attributes you set in a configuration element. Setting attributes in configuration elements allows you to make the same attribute values available to all the workflows, actions, policies, and Web views running in the Orchestrator server.

If you create a package containing a workflow, action, policy, or Web view that uses an attribute from a configuration element, Orchestrator automatically includes the configuration element in the package, but not its value. If you import a package containing a configuration element into another Orchestrator server, the configuration element attribute values are not set. You must set the attributes with values appropriate to the server in which you have imported the package. For example, if you create a workflow that requires attribute values that depend on the Orchestrator server on which it runs, setting those attributes in a configuration element allows you to export that workflow so that another Orchestrator server can use it. If you set the server-specific attributes directly in the workflow, the workflow might not work if you import it into another server, because it might not find the attribute values it requires. Because the attribute values in an imported configuration element are not set, you have to set them with values appropriate to the new server. Configuration elements therefore allow you to exchange workflows, actions, policies and Web views between servers more easily.