Workflow

Sistem poslovnog procesa omogućuje infrastrukturu za podešavanje, performance i nadgledanje definisanog niza zadataka, uredjenog kao aplikacija poslovnog procesa.

Postoji mnogo scenarija kada se zadaci korisnika moraju izvršavati po naručenom redosledu bazitanom nas specifičnim koracima, kako bi se zadovoljio skup osnovnih poslovnih pravila.  Poslovni proces se može koristiti za objedinjavanje zadataka i za koordiniranje koraka neophodnih za njegovo kompletiranje. Poslovni proces, takođe podržava zadatke koji zavise od informacija koje se obrađuju, poput podataka kojeje uneo korisnik ili dinamičnih poslovnih pravila koja definišu poslovni proces.

Šta je workflow

Workflow ili poslovni proces je dijagram izvršavanja zadataka

• Zadaci, prelazi i odluke definišu tok
• Zadaci mogu otvoriti forme, izvršiti kod, dati uputstva za rad koji treba obaviti

Svaki zadatak se izovdi kao instanca

• Automatsko izvršavanje zadataka i korisničkih zadataka
• Email notifikacija o prethodnom i sledećem koraku
• Izmene baze podataka
• Promena workflow definicije se ne odražaca na pokretanje instanci
• Workflow definicije se čuvaju u Pantheon bazi podataka

Terminologija  

Workflow (WF) definicija:

• Sadrži zapise o zadacima, linkove i odluke
• Sadrži promenljive i takođe, definisane vrednosti

Blok definicija (BD) (zadatak):

• Svaki blok može sadržati varijable povezane sa workflow varijablama
• Radnik ili grupu koja će obaviti zadatak
• Datume, periode
• Statusi
• svi oni elementi u workflow gde je u radu u kom se obavljaju i donose: odluke, zadaci, konektori, skripte, odobrenja...

Workflow instanca (WI)

• Kada se pokrene workflow, definiticija se kopira u instancu i pokreću se prvi zadaci
• Kada se workflow izvodi iz forme obrasca doklumenta, ključ dokumenta se čuva u promenljivoj koja instancu trajno čuva

Zadatak instance (TI)

• je kreiran kada je zadatak pokrenut iz workflow instance
• definiše koji se posao obavlja, konektore i odluke definišu proces.

Workflow funkcioniše sa dva glavna koncepta: workflow i zadaci. Workflow predstavlja poslovni proces. U Worklow-u, workflow koncept je delić dva ili više specifična koncepta: workflow definicija, koja je specifikacija poslovnog procesa, i workflow instance, što je tekući poslovni proces.

A task is a pending work for a user. In Workflow Studio, the task concept is split in two more specific concepts: task definition, which is the specification of a  task, and task instance, which is actually a existing pending task for a user.

Workflow definition

A workflow definition is the representation of a business process. For easy understanding, we can compare the workflow definition to a flowchart which specifies how the business process work. In a workflow definition you specify which actions are to be performed (update database, send e-mail, run a script and, more important, create a task), and in which order. If you are creating a workflow definition for order processing, for example, then you might want to check if the order amount is higher than 10 000. If not, then create an approval task for the local manager. If yes, create an approval task for the director. In any case of approval, send an e-mail for the financial department. You can use the workflow designer to visually build the flowchart for the workflow definition. All the workflow definitions are kept in the database. Each workflow definition receives a name that uniquely identifies it (for example, "order processing", "software deployment", "help desk support", etc.).

Workflow instance

A workflow instance is a running instance of a workflow definition . A single workflow definition will generate an unlimited number of workflow instances. For example, you can have a single workflow definition for order processing, and for each order, you will have a workflow instance. In a workflow definition you might have a variable named "Order number". Each workflow instance will have its own order number, and the variable "Order number" will have a different value. Each workflow instance will have its own state and internal variable values. A workflow instance can be started, running or finished. All workflow instance records are kept in the database, even the finished ones.

Task definition (concept)

A task definition specifies a task to be created for a user. It's not the task itself, but a specification for the task. In the task definition you specify the subject, task name, description, the user, a list of valid status, and other properties. A task definition is always "inside" a workflow definition. One of the actions you can define in a workflow definition is generating tasks, and the task definition is part of the action specification. For example, in a workflow definition for order processing, you might want to create a task for the manager to approve the order. In this case, the task definition would be something like this:
Subject: Order approval
Description: Please approve the order [OrderNo]
User: Manager
Valid Status: Waiting approval, approved, rejected

Task instance

A task instance is a task created for an user based on a  task definition. A single task definition can generate several task instances. A task instance is created when a workflow instance  is run and reaches to a point where a task must be created, based on a task definition. At that time, the task instance is created for a specified user. Each user has a list of his/her pending task instances. Once the task is finished it is removed from the list of pending tasks. There is still an option for listing the closed tasks, in the task list window. Each task instance has its own record in the database. Even if the task is closed, the record is not deleted.