Workflow System Capabilities

This is a text viewgraph presentation that has been converted to HTML. It outlines a generic taxonomy of workflow products systems, and provides a framework by which workflow system features may be evaluated.

Workflow Product Facilities

• The industry offers standard solutions to workflow management problems

• Product features can be organized into groups that are provided by most vendors

• Various solutions differ in architecture, maturity, scalability, API availability, and performance

Workflow Product Facilities

• Queue Services

• Content Services

• Workset Selection Services

• Delivery Services

• Route Management Services

• Resource Management Services

• Programming Services

• Other Services

Workflow Facilities - Queue Services

• Queues are the core concept in workflow

• There are multiple queue types

  • Individual (Personal)
  • Group (function, department, or team)
  • System (print, fax, batch entry, transfer, etc..)

• Products provide standard interserver and intersite queue transfers

  • IBM APPC (Advanced Program to Program Communications),
  • TCP/IP, or
  • IBM MQSeries (High performance assured delivery of messages among heterogeneous systems)

Workflow Facilities - Content Services

• Defines the content of what is being routed

  • Used by business application
  • Used for routing and inbox item list

• Multiple fields per workitem

  • Strings, Integers, Floating Point Values
  • Arrays (Tables)
  • Examples: Policy number, insured, agency, date due, image id, and folder id

• Standard tools provided to define fields

• Folder is common routing container

Workflow Facilities - Workset Selection Services

• Predefined and named filters

  • Select subset of a queue
  • Sort by priority or other data value sequence
  • May be called workset or workbasket

• Supervisor assigns one or more to each user

• User can select individual workset by name to access a particular type of work

• Get-next and Select-from-list modes

Workflow Facilities - Delivery Services

• Multiple ways to select next queue

• Ad hoc routing (manual selection)

  • To individuals
  • To group queues

• Rule-Based routing (automatic selection)

  • Rules based on content data rules
  • Comparisons and boolean logic
  • Lists and ranges

Workflow Facilities - Route Management Services

• Graphic user-friendly tools

  • Define queues, worksets, and rules
  • Graphically manipulate, analyze, and print route
  • Maintain route independently of application code

• Auto-foldering facilities

• Suspension and new work matching facilities

• Parallel workflow - split and merge

Workflow Facilities - Resource Management Services

• Define resources which utilize system

  • Individuals
  • Robots
  • Teams

• Passwords

• Queue and workset access control

• Tool and function access control

Workflow Facilities - Programming Services

• APIs to create workitems and access their contents

• APIs to list and access worksets in get-next as well as list-and-select modes

• APIs for administration of queues

• APIs for security and access control

• API sets for host, servers, and workstations

Workflow Facilities - Other Services

• Logging of Activity for Audit/Maintenance

  • Queue movement
  • Resource activity (logon/logoff)
  • Errors and exceptions

• Work Statistics for management and sizing

  • Work-in-process (WIP) and Completed

• Local server data and workset caching for better performance

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Copyright © 1997-2000 by Gary M. Gershon. All rights reserved.

Last Changed: 08/19/00

Comments to: Gary Gershon (Gershon@Celsus.Net)