Kuali Enterprise Workflow Presented at ITANA October 2009 Eric Westfall – Kuali Rice Project Manager

KEW Overview Provides a content-based routing engine. −Documents created from process definitions (Document Types) and submitted to the workflow engine for routing −Routing decisions made based on the XML content of the Document Traditionally used for business transactions in the form of electronic documents that require approval from multiple parties. For example: −Transfer of Funds −Hire/Terminate Employee −Timesheet −Drop Course Composed of a set of services, APIs, and GUIs KEW is just one piece of the Kuali Rice architecture

Kuali Rice Architecture

KEW – Core Features Action List (User’s Work List) Document Searching Document Audit Trail (Route Log) Flexible process definition (Document Type) −Splits, Joins, Parallel branches, Sub processes, Dynamic process generation Rules Engine Notification

KEW – Core Features Wide array of pluggable components to customize routing and other pieces of the system eDocLite −Framework for creating simple documents quickly Workflow Engine can be embedded into client application or used remotely as a service Plug-in Architecture −Packaging and deployment of routing components to the Rice Server at runtime

Document Search Screen

Action List Screen

Route Log Screen

KEW Service Architecture KEW provides 2 main services that client applications can interact with −Document Actions – allows for creation of documents, submission to the workflow engine, approving documents, taking other actions, etc. −Workflow Utility – the service provides read-only operations including querying about document state, running simulations against the workflow engine and much more Most document actions that are invoked in the system result in the document getting submitted to the workflow engine for processing (processing happens asynchronously) The workflow engine orchestrates the document through a series of nodes and transitions it’s status from state to state The engine also calls out to a Post Processor which can react to node transitions and status changes −Commonly used to “commit” the business transaction after all approvals have been submitted

KEW Service Architecture

KEW Process Definitions In KEW, Document Types are defined which are used to identify a specific type of business transaction The Document Type has a business process definition associated with it This process definition is defined in XML and specifies the various nodes that the process should be orchestrated through. I also defines the configuration for those nodes There are standard node implementations available, by they are also pluggable

KEW Process Definitions One of the main goals of the Kuali workflow engine is to generate action requests which go into user’s Action List for review The requested actions will typically be requesting approval, acknowledgement or will just be an FYI The process definitions for KEW allow for various ways to accomplish this. We will look at a couple examples of document type XML definitions for these: −Integration with the KEW Routing Rules engine −Integration with Kuali Identity Management roles and responsibilities

KEW – Example Process Definition One of the main goals of the Kuali workflow engine is to generate action requests which go into user’s Action List for review The requested actions will typically be requesting approval, acknowledgement or will just be an FYI The process definitions for KEW allow for various ways to accomplish this. We will look at a couple of these. PreTravelAuthorization … … TravelRequest-DestinationRouting TravelRequest-TravelerRouting …

KEW – Example Process Definition One of the main goals of the Kuali workflow engine is to generate action requests which go into user’s Action List for review The requested actions will typically be requesting approval, acknowledgement or will just be an FYI The process definitions for KEW allow for various ways to accomplish this. We will look at a couple of these. KFSM KFS FinancialSystemComplexMaintenanceDocument DataDictionaryQualifierResolver