Workflow Management Kap. 1. Organizing Workflows Wil van der Aalst has copyrights to almost all figures in the following slideshow made by Lars Frank.

What are the relationships between KM, Workflows and ERP? Knowledge Management (KM): Provide the way to share and organize strategies, research and development of current systems Work Management: Assist in day-to-day production work, enhance productivity and quality of work Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Applications for traditional business activities like accounting, inventory, logistics, sales etc. Source: Martin Ader (2000) Technologies for the Virtual Enterprise

Which management levels can use WFMS?

Routing types example: Routing rules are used to integrate activities and places Routing types example: Settlement = skadesopgørelse. Proceeding = Gå videre. What routing types are missing in the dataflow diagram?

Workflows may be nested. If C is outsourced it is viewed as atomic and its parts are not interesting. Can an e-commerce system be viewed as an outsourced atomic activity?

Example of a Contract tree A principal can outsource a subprocess to a contractor.

Three types of processes/tokens Senere vises at support- og styringsprocesser undertiden kan styres med triggers. The managerial/support process is integrated in the primary process! In the following example you have a human token that manages the primary process. A database state record with the information ”compensatable”, ”pivot”, or ”retriable” is an example of a support process/state.

Petri net with one support/managerial resource: In the example you have a human token that manages the primary process in such a way that the primary process can only handle one token at a time! The managerial process is integrated in the primary process! How can the capacity be extended by using more human pay assistents? Who desides whether the claim is rejected or payed? (Correct the error).

Overview of Process modeling techniques:

Today´s situation (2003):

Activity Execution Activity description Process prog in out

Each workflow activity may use resources Workflow Technology Activity Synch 1 2 Business Process 3 4 5 Decision Does a workflow manage human ressources or can the human ressources manage the workflow?

Workflow versus groupware: Structured processes CSCW Unstructured processes

Grouping of “workflow” applications: High Volume Low Individual Processes Routine/Repeatable Software Development Collaborative Process Management Insurance Claims Production Static Structure Administrative Document Processing Non-critical Groupware Ad hoc Human Intervention Ad-hoc workflows do not have a well-defined process model to follow. The execution path is more or less determined at runtime, and is basically controlled by humans. These are generally not mission critical, and accomplish the flow of information among people within the organization. Production workflows are also predictable and repetitive. They have well defined process models. These usually involve a number of information systems that may be heterogeneous and distributed. Production workflow management systems are thus, more complex and critical than ad-hoc or administrative. Administrative workflows are based on simple, repetitive and predictable processes. The ordering and coordination of tasks can thus be automated. However, these too, like ad-hoc workflows, do not involve complex information processing systems, and are generally not mission critical. Collaborative workflows are characterized by high mission criticality. They are mostly controlled by humans, and lack a well-defined process model. Thus most of the task ordering and coordination is determined at runtime by the workflow participants.

Workflow and groupware products:

Groupware versus Transaction processing:

Aspects of workflow and workgroup computing:

WF Management subsystems: Workflow Management System Build Time Run Time Semantics Syntax Workflow Model Workflow Language Build Time Tools Editor Simulator Animator Debugger Work List EndUser Tools Monitor Analyser Administrator Configurator Functional Components Run Time Tools Implementation Architecture Implementation Model Processes Databases Communication Source: Jablonski and Bussler, 1996

Workflow Implementation Process Business Process Engineering Implementing WF Test System Project Pre-phase Workflow Conceptual Design Developing WF Interfaces Strategic Planning Implementing Production System Production Phase Maintenance Improvement Application Integration Workflow Test Run Source: Scheer, 2000

Workflows is not a new idea, why now? CPI = continuous process improuvement XML

End of session Thank you !!!

Factors and Technologies Workflow Management Email Special DB Communication Systems Video Conferencing Bulletin Board Shared Data spaces Distributed Hypertext Workgroup Computing Planning System Meeting Support Group Editor Coordination Collaboration

Business Activities Any (business) activity has 3 dimensions: Intelligence (< 20 % of total costs) market segmentation; competitive positioning; pricing strategy; service quality benchmarking; identifying potential customers, BI. Operational (~ 10 % of total costs) core business tasks; invoicing; sales transactions; accounting; purchasing; inventory control Production (Up to 85 % of total costs) Handling insurance claims; reviewing applications; meeting with potential customers; writing proposals; ordering goods and services  Knowledge Management  Enterprise Resource Planning  Workflow Management Source: Martin Ader (2000) Technologies for the Virtual Enterprise

Dataflow diagrams: In dataflow diagrams, routing rules that illustrate papallel executinon are missing. In the following the roting rules are described.

Workflow Routing Types B A Begin Sequence And Split E C D Fork And Join Or Split Synchronizer G F Choice Or Join S Merge Do L While Nesting End Synchronizer Iteration Termination