In particular, use these functions when you want one VI or part of a block diagram to wait until another VI or part of a block diagram finishes a task without forcing LabVIEW to poll.

You can perform the same task using global variables, with one loop polling the global variable until its value changes. However, global variables use more overhead because the loop that waits uses execution time. With occurrences, the second loop becomes idle and does not use processor time. When the first loop sets the occurrence, LabVIEW activates the second loop and any other block diagrams that wait for the specified occurrence.