Business process concepts
Business process applications
A business process application is an application that people use to manage the flow of tasks and information required to achieve a business goal.
The Travel Request, in which an employee requests approval to take a business trip, is a good example of a business process application. Such an application typically consists of a business process definition created using WebSphere Integration Developer and custom portlets that render and/or assist the individual human tasks contained in the business process definition. The business process definition of the business process application captures the possible flow of tasks using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).
The business process definition is deployed as an EAR to the WebSphere Process Server. The corresponding portlets that render the user interfaces for the human tasks are deployed to the portal as WAR files.
Processes
Process models are specified using process templates. Users control their business process instances by going to...
My Processes page | Manage Processes portlet
...performing any of the following actions...
- Create new process instances from process templates installed on the WebSphere Process Server
- Analyze running process instances with respect to their current state, for example, which tasks have already been completed
- Terminate running process instances
- Delete completed or terminated process instances
Process Management
The Manage Processes portlet displayed on the My Processes page, lists all of the process and task templates installed on the WebSphere Process Server. New process instances can be launched, running process instances can be analyzed and terminated or deleted as appropriate.
Tasks
Every business process has tasks that must be performed and completed, either automated tasks performed by the system or human tasks performed by users working with the application. Each task is a component of the business process that combines human activities with automated service calls, creating a complete workflow solution.
Just as processes are defined by process templates, individual tasks are defined by a corresponding task template that is used to create new task instances as required during process execution. Within the workflow of a business process application, different people might work on a particular human task. Therefore, a user first needs to claim a task prior to working on it to prevent concurrent access by other users. Locking a claimed task avoids redundant work and Save conflicts among teammates working with the business process application. A user can release a claimed task to let another person claim and work on the task.
In WebSphere Portal with business process integration, human tasks are displayed on task pages, which can be managed to contain the full set of portlets required for completing particular tasks. The portlets placed on the task pages can be developed to display and update the state of the corresponding process instance as modeled within the business process definition. In addition, WebSphere Portal now provides a generic Task Processing portlet that can be used to render and operate human tasks of any type without the need for custom coding by rendering a generic form user interface for the input and output data of the tasks.
Task page
Each human task template can contain a reference to a portal task page definition that shall be used to render task instances of this task template.
If no such reference is contained in the task template, the portal uses a default task page identified by the custom unique name...
ibm.portal.DefaultTaskPage
The task page definition for a task template specifies all of the portlets that are required to complete the work associated with the corresponding task. Portal administrators can use any existing portal page as a task page definition and use the portal page customization portlets or xmlaccess to manage the layout and content of the task pages.
Administrators can also customize the layout and content of the default task page in the same way. At application runtime, whenever a user opens a task in the Task List portlet, a task page instance is dynamically created from the corresponding task page definition.
For example, in the Travel Request scenario, the Administrative Assistant opens the Schedule Flight task and a corresponding task page instance displays. A task page remains open until the user completes the task, closes the task page, or ends the portal session.
The dynamically created task page instances appear as dynamic child pages underneath a specific page identified by the custom unique name ibm.portal.MyTasks. This location can be modified using the configuration mode of the task list portlet that opens the task page. A business user can open one or more task pages and interact in parallel with multiple instances of a task for a single business process.
For example, a user's task page might display a Task List with three tasks assigned that belong to different business processes:
- Travel Request
- Purchase Request
- Project Planner
Task List
The Task List portlet, displayed on the My Tasks page, displays all of the tasks assigned to the current user. Users can filter the list to show...
- all tasks
- claimed tasks
- tasks not claimed
By default, the list identifies each task by...
- name
- description
- due date
- creation date
- assigner
- priority
- status
The Details icon displays additional information about the task. When a user claims a task and clicks the name link of a task, the task page instance for the task opens. If the template for the task does not specify a specific task page definition, the default task page containing the generic Task Processing portlet is opened for the task.
Users in a Manager role on the Task List portlet can open the Task List in configuration mode to specify...
- Parent page under which all task page instances are opened
- Maximum number of tasks retrieved from the process server
- Number of tasks displayed on each page of the task list
- Filters that are available for task filtering when retrieving tasks from the process server
- Task properties that appear as column labels in the Task List
Task Processing
Users can add the generic Task Processing portlet to task pages to show a generic user interface for tasks by displaying a form user interface for the BPEL input and output messages of the task.
Line of business users typically appreciate a more dedicated user interface for working with tasks. However, this portlet provides a convenient testing and debugging facility for skilled users to work with tasks on the portal without the need for any customization or custom programming.
While the input message of a task is displayed as read-only, the output message of the task can be modified. Users can enter values in the output message fields to specify the data output required by the task for its processing.
Users can also complete, save, or release the task. When the task is completed or released, the portlet closes the task page and redirects the user back to the Task List portlet. Other portlets that support the processing of the task might also appear on a task page.
These additional portlets might be developed as components of the business process application, but they do not necessarily have to use the Task API to complete the task or save the output message.
For example, in the Travel Request scenario, the Administrative Assistant uses the Select Flight portlet to gather the flight information and the Book Flight portlet to complete the task. The Book Flight portlet is the Task Processing portlet and the Select Flight portlet provides supporting information.
Parent topic:
Process integration concepts
Related tasks
Business process scenario: Travel request and approval