Work with the workflow designer and application developer

During the workflow design phase, the workflow designer, application developer, and workflow administrator typically work together to provide workflow definition and isolated region configuration information. The workflow designer creates a workflow definition that automates a business process. The application developer creates and integrates the custom applications necessary to complete the workflow cycle. The workflow administrator defines and configures the necessary pieces that the application developer and workflow designer require.

The workflow designer and the application developer typically work together during this time to ensure that the Process application is consistent with the workflow definition. Several details of the workflow definition must match those in the Process application code. Various APIs can reference the names of class components.

The following table shows the steps in a typical workflow development process and the information that would commonly be provided by each person.

For this step... The workflow administrator... The workflow designer... The application developer...
Determine the work area Determines if the workflow processes can use an existing isolated region, and initializes the region if necessary using Process Configuration Console.    
Determine necessary data fields

 

Determines the data fields used by the workflow, and provides this information to the application developer.

 

Exposes the fields in the workflow rosters, work and user queues, and event logs using Process Configuration Console. This makes the data fields available for searches, indexes, or historical event logs.    
    Can access the data fields using the Process APIs.
Determine information to be logged

Provides the workflow designer with the event logging options for each isolated region. This information defines which events are recorded in the event log database. The workflow administrator specifies the event logging options for each isolated region using Process Configuration Console.

Works within the framework set up by the workflow administrator, or tells the workflow administrator when additional logging needs to be enabled.

 

Determine application performance requirements   Tells the workflow administrator what indexes his application needs in order to function efficiently.  
Creates the indexes using Process Configuration Console.  
Specify access privileges

Specifies the security settings for each workflow roster, work queue, and user queue, and provides this information to the workflow designer. The workflow administrator sets security levels using Process Configuration Console.

 

 

Determine what functionality or customization is required for any step processors

 

Determines if any additional functionality is required, and provides the requirements to the application developer.

Uses the necessary development tools to create a custom step processor, then configures and deploys it using Process Configuration Console.

Determine if any external processes are required

 

Determines if any external processes are required, and provides the requirements to the application developer.

Creates a custom component, and configures and deploys it using Process Configuration Console and Process Task Manager.

Create and add business rules for use in workflow steps

Creates and deploys business rules. The workflow administrator uses Rules Engine software from another software vendor to create business rules.

   

Determine if any customized web applications are required

 

Determines if any customized web applications are required, and provides the requirements to the application developer.

Creates a custom web application, and configures and deploys it using Process Configuration Console and Process Task Manager.

Create a workflow

  Creates a workflow definition using all of the above, using Process Designer.
  • Specify user-defined fields from available list, create additional as needed
  • Select a workflow roster and event log
  • Define steps
    • Select a step processor
    • Specify a work queue, component queue, or step participants
  • Specify rule sets