Workflow Systems (WFS) Lecture 5 PDF

Lecture 5  A Workflow is defined as the automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules. 2 5. W...

Lecture 5  A Workflow is defined as the automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules. 2 5. WFS  Flow of work (workflow) already exists in most business processes … nothing new.  Integration of the critical factors of an enterprise: people, infrastructure, processes... already recognized.  Binding the “Islands of Automation” … next logical step after advances in computing power, connectivity and global shift towards integrated solutions.  Workflow systems provide a “Process-Centric” approach which introduces a new quality in workflow management. 3 5. WFS  DBMS takes data management functionality out of application programs.  WFMS takes process logic out of application logic. 4 5. WFS  Material Processes ◦ Move , store, transform, measure and assemble physical objects ◦ Implement Manual tasks  Information Processes ◦ Create, process, manage and provide information ◦ Implement automated and partially automated tasks  Business Processes ◦ Fulfil a business contract or satisfy a specific customer need. ◦ Description of an organization’s activities implemented (primarily) as information processes. 5 5. WFS  “Workflow software is designed to improve business processes by providing the technology enabler for automating these aspects of the workflow: routing work in the proper sequence, providing access to the data and documents required by the individual work performers, and tracking all aspects of the process execution.”  “The main purpose of a workflow tool is to allow the process logic to be modified separately from the task logic embedded in the user applications.” 6 5. WFS  A Workflow Management System has been defined as a system that completely defines, manages and executes workflows through the execution of software whose order of execution is driven by a computer representation of the workflow logic. 7 5. WFS  Office Automation  Database Management  E-Mail  Document Management  Software Process Management  Business Process Modelling  Enterprise Modelling and Architecture 8 5. WFS  Insurance policy/claims  Advertising campaign processing management  Loan request handling  New product development  Travel expense approvals  Healthcare claims  Order management (Microsoft)  Bug reporting and resolution  Business licensing Software  Project proposal preparation process management  System monitoring and exception handling  System administration (e.g., DBA activities) Not just business  Call centre management processes ! 9 5. WFS 10 5. WFS 11 5. WFS   Workflow Systems incorporate many technologies ◦ Database management ◦ Client server computing ◦ Distributed computing ◦ Mobile computing ◦ Graphical user interfaces ◦ Application (legacy and new) and subsystem integration ◦ Messaging ◦ Document management 12 5. WFS   Provide a mechanism to support process modifications allowing for collaborative style of work  Consider collaboration between heterogeneous systems at the process level and WFMS level  Provide better monitoring functions and tools to oversee many different views on the process  Consider novel applications for web based information systems with business process 13 5. WFS   Reliability  Scalability (# of clients, # of processes, # of instances,)  Cultural and human aspects 14 5. WFS   Knowledge Management (KM) - Provide the way to share and organize strategies, research and development 15 5. WFS   Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - Applications for traditional business activities like accounting, inventory, procurement, sales etc.  Work Management - Assist in day-to-day production work, enhance productivity and quality of work 16 5. WFS   Workflow Model  Workflow Instance  Workflow Management System (WFMS)  Workflow Activity  Workflow Participant  Workflow State 17 5. WFS   A business process model is a description of an organization’s activities in terms of tasks, agents, rules and procedures and is engineered to fulfill a business goal  A workflow model is a mapping of the business process into a form which supports automated manipulation. 18 5. WFS   The workflow model is a definition of the tasks, ordering, data, resources, temporal, and other aspects of the process.  Most, if not all, workflow models are defined as graphs which depict the flow or ordering of the tasks involved in the process, together with a description of other task properties.  A workflow model is defined in a workflow modelling tool. Also known as process definition tool.  A given tool will support a given workflow definition language 19 5. WFS   A workflow instance, denotes a particular occurrence of the business process as defined by the workflow model.  For example, we can define an admission workflow that handles student admission applications in a university. A particular application for admission represents an instance of the admission workflow. 20 5. WFS   Different instances of the same workflow may perform a different subset of workflow tasks, i.e. they may have different execution paths in the workflow graph.  An instance type is the set of instances that follow the same execution path through the workflow model. 21 5. WFS   Workflow execution refers to ◦ The creation of workflow instances ◦ The scheduling of workflow activities ◦ The invocation of workflow applications  Terms associated with workflow execution ◦ Workflow Management System ◦ Workflow Engine ◦ Workflow Scheduler ◦ Workflow Enactment Service 22 5. WFS   A system that defines, creates and manages the execution of workflows through the use of software, running on one or more workflow engines, which is able to interpret the process definition, interact with workflow participants and, where required, invoke the use of IT tools and applications. 23 5. WFS 24 5. WFS 25 5. WFS   Process Definition  Workflow Control Data  Workflow Relevant Data  Workflow Application Data  Organizational Data  Audit Data 26 5. WFS   Description of a unit of work that forms a logical step within a process ◦ Manual Activity (send an email , dispatch items, visit a site, …) ◦ Automated Activity (execute a database transaction, invoke application, …)  The WFMS initiates the workflow activity  The workflow activity notifies the WFMS upon completion  What the activity actually does is beyond the scope of the WFMS 27 5. WFS   A resource that performs the work represented by a workflow activity  Generally applied to human resource, but may also refer to a machine based resource, such as an underlying application 28 5. WFS   The representation of the work to be processed by an activity within a workflow instance. ◦ Once initiated within an instance, an activity becomes a work item ◦ Activity and work item are representations of the same unit of work but at build and run time respectively ◦ An activity may generate one or more work items which together represent the work to be undertaken  Related terms: ◦ Work list ◦ Work list Handler 29 5. WFS  A representation of the internal conditions defining the status of a process instance at a particular point in time  WFMS maintains this status as part of the workflow control data 30 5. WFS  A representation of the internal conditions defining the status of an activity instance at a particular point in time  Also maintained by WFMS as part of the workflow control data 31 5. WFS   A movement from one internal state (of a process or activity instance) to another within a workflow, reflecting a change in the status of the workflow.  A state transition may be in response to an external event, a user call, a routing decision, …  State transitions are recorded in the workflow logs and represent data useful for audit, archiving & process improvement 32 5. WFS 33 5. WFS   Merging of process management methods ◦ Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) ◦ Total Quality Management (TQM) ◦ Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) Closer integration of business process management with process support systems 34 5. WFS  Business mission, strategy, and goals Business process Information Systems Presentation Application logic Data management 35 5. WFS   A methodology for process (re)design ◦ Frame the process ◦ Understand the current (as-is) process ◦ Design the new (to-be) process ◦ Develop use-case scenarios 36 5. WFS   What are the factors that will help a process ◦ achieve intended results ◦ meet performance targets ◦ within application constraints Business Issues! 37 5. WFS Workflow Modelling