Workflow: Connecting People and Processes

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Workflow Connecting People and Processes

• Maxim Vershinin

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Goals of this Presentation

• Briefly describe what Ensemble is
• Briefly describe the architecture of Ensemble
  Workflow
• Ensemble workflow production demonstration
• Development and configuration tools
• Runtime user interaction and system monitoring
• Reporting

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What Is Ensemble ?

• Ensemble  is a comprehensive platform for rapidly
  developing, deploying, and monitoring enterprise
  application integration solutions connected
  apps.
• Ensemble makes it possible to rapidly leverage
  enterprise applications, legacy data, and
  disparate information technologies in a wide
  variety of new ways
• Data Coordination
• Business Process Orchestration
• Composite Application Development
• Business Activity Monitoring

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Four Aspects of Integration
Composite Applications
ApplicationIntegration
Business Process / Work Flow
Ensemble Universal Integration Platform
Technology
Data
Application
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Ensemble Architecture
Rules Engine
Workflow Engine
Persistent Object Engine
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What Is Workflow ?

• Workflow makes it possible to incorporate human
  interaction into automated business processes.
• Workflow within the enterprise might include
  order entry, order fulfilment, contract approval,
  or help desk activities.

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Workflow is a Seamless Part of Ensemble

• Completely embedded in Ensemble
• Automatic integration with business processes
• Automatic integration with composite applications
• Ease of management (monitored, controlled and
  reportable)
• There is no difference between Workflow
  production and non Workflow production within
  Ensemble
• Ease of development and customization

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Workflow Engine Features

• Fully integrated with Ensembles BPM engine
• Fully integrated with Ensembles composite
  application development environment
• Can call out to external systems to notify them
  of events within the human workflow, or to obtain
  additional information needed by the human
  workflow.
• Leverages Ensemble persistent storage to support
  long-running business processes

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Workflow Engine Architecture
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Workflow Life Cycle

• Business process sends a task request to workflow
  operation
• Workflow operation receives that task request and
  creates a task for an appropriate workflow role
• The Workflow Engine distributes tasks among
  workflow users
• Workflow user accepts and completes the task
• Workflow engine sends a task response object back
  to the business process

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Workflow Tasks

• A  Workflow Task  is an item of work that is
  performed offline in support of an ongoing
  business process
• Workflow task is a special task request message
  object inside Ensemble
• Ensemble uses a special business operation to
  send task request to the Workflow Engine
• Ensemble workflow tasks can be exposed in a
  variety of ways, for example via XML documents,
  Web services, .NET, Java, C objects, or as
  relational structures

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Task Request

• Provides the information that the Workflow Engine
  needs to process the task
• Defines a common set of properties
• Defines a set of actions which can be performed
  on the task
• Defines fields which user needs to fill to
  complete the task
• Can specify how the task has to be distributed,
  e.g. assign task to a particular user

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Task Response

• The Workflow Engine instantiates a task response
  object as soon as it receives a task request, to
  
• Preserve instructions provided in the task
  request
• Provide class methods that control task
  distribution
• Record response values

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Workflow Task Management

• All tasks are sent as messages, so their status
  can be viewed using the Visual Trace message
  tracing tool
• Tasks can expire, be reassigned or be cancelled
  either manually or automatically
• The Workflow Engine oversees task distribution
  and ensures that a task response is returned to
  the caller
• The Workflow Portal allows workflow users to
  accept and complete workflow tasks
• The Workflow Engine API allows manage tasks
  programmatically

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Workflow Task Distribution Strategies

• There is a work list for each user
• Assignment by user role
• First come, first served
• Assignment by user name
• Assignment by a user-defined ranking
• Assignment by current user workload
• Custom strategies

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Workflow Users and Roles

• Workflow users are Ensemble Users (Workflow users
  must first be defined as Ensemble users)
• Workflow user must have the same name as Ensemble
  user
• A Workflow Role is a list of users that can
  fulfill a certain task
• Roles can be created
• Programmatically
• Automatically, by configuring the associated
  Workflow Operation
• Manually, using the Workflow Portal

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Workflow Portal

• The Workflow Portal is a completely browser based
• Allows to define workflow roles and users
• Allows to view and accept tasks
• Allows workflow users to update and complete
  tasks
• Allows reassign tasks to different users

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Workflow Portal Customization

• The Workflow Portal is highly customizable
• Portal pages are generated from metadata, which
  may be contained within reusable template files
  or defined at runtime
• Supports both default and user-defined forms in
  workflow screens
• The portal is easily styled to match corporate
  standards
• It is possible to create a complete custom UI

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Development Productivity Features

• Ensemble Studio is used for development
• Workflow can be easily included into business
  processes, using the BPL Visual Editor to update
  a business process diagram
• It is easy to create corporate dashboards and
  event triggers to display current workflow status
  using Ensembles BAM (Business Activity
  Monitoring) tools
• All tasks are sent as messages, so system
  administrators can view the status of tasks using
  the Visual Trace message tracing tool

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The Workflow Engine API

• The Workflow Engine API is expressed as the set
  of class methods of EnsLib.Workflow.Engine
• Methods fall into categories
• Task management (e.g. assign tasks, complete
  tasks, send task to a particular role, etc.)
• Metric collection (e.g. calculate active load for
  role, calculate active tasks, calculate tasks
  durations (max, min, avg), etc.)
• Informative (e.g. list roles for a particular
  user, list all tasks for the user, list all users
  and roles, etc.)

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How to get further assistance

• Using Workflow with Ensemble in Documentation
• Class Documentation (EnsLib.Workflow.Engine,
  etc.)
• HelpDesk and other samples in ENSDEMO
• Ask the friendly folks from InterSystems o)

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Workflow Connecting People and Processes
Maxim Vershinin (Maxim.Vershinin_at_InterSystems.com)