The most efficient and logical method is to add a parallel action to the existing workflow. The notifications to the escalation team and the CISO are independent events that do not rely on each other for completion. For a critical detection, notifying all relevant parties simultaneously is crucial. A parallel action executes both email tasks concurrently, ensuring timely notification without introducing unnecessary delays. This approach contains all logic within a single, manageable workflow, adhering to best practices for automation design.

A. Clone the workflow and replace the existing email with your CISO's email

Cloning creates a redundant workflow, increasing complexity and maintenance overhead. Any future changes to the trigger condition would need to be applied in two separate places.

B. Add a sequential action to send a custom email to your CISO

A sequential action would force the CISO's notification to wait until the first email is sent. This introduces an unnecessary delay in notifying a key stakeholder about a critical event.

D. Add the CISO's email to the existing action

This would send the CISO the same message as the escalation team, failing to meet the specific requirement for a "customized message."

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1. van der Aalst

W. M. P. (2011). Process Mining: Discovery

Conformance and Enhancement of Business Processes. Springer.

Reference: Chapter 2

"Process Models

" Section 2.3.2

"Control-Flow Constructs."

Content: This academic textbook on business process management explains fundamental workflow patterns. It describes the "parallel split" (AND-split) construct

where a single thread of control splits into multiple threads that are executed concurrently. This directly corresponds to using a parallel action for two independent notification tasks that should run at the same time.

2. Palo Alto Networks. (2023). Cortex XSOAR Administrator's Guide.

Reference: Section on "Playbook Tasks

" subsection "Task Types."

Content: Official vendor documentation for a leading Security Orchestration

Automation

and Response (SOAR) platform explains that playbook tasks can be arranged sequentially or in parallel branches. It specifies that parallel paths are used for actions that can run concurrently and do not depend on each other's outputs

which is the ideal implementation for the scenario described.

3. Dumas

M.

La Rosa

M.

Mendling

J.

& Reijers

H. A. (2018). Fundamentals of Business Process Management. Springer.

Reference: Chapter 4

"Process Orchestration

" Section 4.3

"Parallel Gateway."

Content: This university-level textbook details the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard. It states

"A parallel gateway (or AND-gateway) provides a mechanism to synchronize parallel flows and to create parallel flows... When a parallel gateway is used to split a path... it is called an AND-split. The AND-split activates all outgoing branches concurrently." This principle directly supports using a parallel action. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56509-4