Variables:

Process Variables tab allows you to specify user-defined process variables for the process definition and You can assign a
value to the process variables with the Assign activity.
The Partners tab allows you to define partners for the process definition. The partner can be either be located inside the
same project or it can be an external service that can be invoked over the Internet by way of SOAP protocol.
Process variables are not able accessible in sub process.
An activitys output is placed into a process variable with the same name as the activity.
Predefined Process Variables:
$_globalVariables : Only global variables that have the Deployment option checked
$_processContext : contains general information about the process, such as the process ID, the project name, whether the
process was restarted from a checkpoint, and so on.
$_error process variable: When an error occurs in a process, the data pertaining to the error is placed into
process variables.
User-Defined Process Variables: Process variables are defined on the Process Variables tab of
the Process Definition resource.

You can then

specify a new
value for the
process variable
in the Input tab of
the Assign activity.
All process
variables in a running process instance are stored in memory and therefore consume system resources. Memory saving
mode allows memory used by a process variable to be released if any subsequent activities in the process not refer to the
variable.
By default, memory saving mode is disabled, but you can enable memory saving mode for specific process instances by
setting the EnableMemorySavingMode.<processname> property to true. You can enable
memory saving mode for all process instances by setting the EnableMemorySavingMode property to true.
A Shared Variable resource allows you to share data across process instances. All process instances can read and update
the data stored in a shared variable
Before you retrieve the value of a shared variable, you must either set an initial value in the variables configuration or use
the Set Shared Variable activity to set the variable value.

A Job Shared Variable resource is similar to a Shared Variable, but its scope is limited to the current job. A copy of the
variable is created for each new process instance. This type of shared variable is useful for passing data to and from subprocesses without creating an input or output schema for the called process
You can use the Get Shared Variable and Set Shared Variable activities to access the data instead of mapping data to a
called processes input or output schemas. New process instances receive a copy of the Job Shared Variable, so data
cannot be shared across process instances. Therefore, if a called process has the Spawn configuration field checked, a new
process instance is created and the process
instance receives a new copy of the Job Shared Variable
The current value of the shared variable is stored in memory for efficient access by process instances. However, if a process
engine crashes, the current state of the shared variable may be lost. To preserve the current state of a Shared Variable
resource, you can check the Persistent field on the Configuration tab.
When a shared variable is persistet, its current state is written to the process engine storage location (either the file system
or a database depending upon how the process engine was deployed when the value of the variable changes.
The Persistent & Multi-Engine field is not available on Job Shared Variable resources.