Kuali Enterprise Workflow Ryan Kirkendall (Indiana University) Brian McGough (Indiana University)

KEW Core features User Work Queue (Action List) Document Searching Document Audit Trail (Route Log) Flexible process definition –Splits, Joins, Parallel branches, Sub processes, Dynamic process generation Basic User and Group support –Can be overridden and customizable to plug into Institutional user and groups solutions Business Rules Notification

KEW Core features Notes with attachments Wide array of pluggable components to customize routing by process –Where to route document –Indexing of document data for searching – Notification Customization –Customization of Action List –Customization of Business Rules EDocLite –Framework for creating simple documents quickly

KEW Core features Client APIs available through web services Programmed against open standards that allow KEW to run in any J2EE appserver –No stack buy in Can run in Servlet Container –Can use JTOM JTA to participate in JTA transactions in non-J2EE environment –All processing is transactional

Supports Agile Business process Runtime changing of business process –Upload of process definition –Changing of business rules –Re-resolution of Roles –Re-resolution of Workgroup(s) –Re-deployment of routing components

Upload of process definition XML Defined process –Who to route to –What business rules/roles to use during routing –What code/XML to use to during routing –How to contact client application during routing –How to index business data during routing Determines how documents route Can be changed at runtime When changed, all new documents follow new process Currently routing document follow old process definition

Changing of Business Rules & Roles KEW Supports Business rules out of the box –Written by programmers –For use by functional users –Reusable across processes within Institution When Business rules change all documents affected by those rules reflect the change –Documents are re-evaluated against the new rule data Roles routed to can be dynamically re-resolved at the request of applications –All routing documents reflect the change

Re-resolving Workgroups All routing documents are dynamically re- resolved that are affected by the change Action List (Work Queue) of new and removed members updated Notifications of document arrival sent to new members based on notification preferences

Re-deploying routing components Components that interact with workflow engine to determine documents’ routing defined in XML and Java XML can be uploaded to change process at runtime Java components live in ‘Plugin’ space that is a self contained environment for application and institutional code –Plugins can be hot deployed at runtime –Changes to one application’s components do not impact the entire Institution

Re-deploying routing components Processes defined to use the newly deployed components will immediately change to the new definitions

Head-to-Head Comparison Head-to-HeadComparison of KEW to OSWorkflow and JBoss jBPM Done using documentation provided with each product. These are all flexible open source projects that can conceivably do ANYTHING with enough work. We are looking for concerns specifically addressed in the documentation - not possibilities. FeatureKEWOSWjBPM Process definition in XML*** GUI Process Designerx** Runtime modifiable process definitions*xx Splits (parallelism)*** Joins*** Conditionals***

Head-to-Head Comparison FeatureKEWOSWjBPM Loopsxxx Dynamic (on-the-fly) Process Generation*xx Sub-Processes*x* Pluggable Nodes/Steps in Process*** GUI for process searching* jBPM has a web console piece with no documentation *x? GUI for accessing process audit trail jBPM has a web console piece with no documentation *x? User Work Queue*x* Native support for people processes*x* Flexible Business Rules Engine*xx Remote Client APIs**x

Head-to-Head Comparison FeatureKEWOSWjBPM Out-of-the-box Notification**x Re-resolution of documents/processes*xx Ability to run as a centrally-managed service **x Concept of Plugins*xx Embeddable within Applicationx** Scripting Language Supportx** Out-of-the-box Process Statuses**x Customizable Process Statusesx** Application Defined Process State***

KEW = Workflow fast Designed with people based processes in mind from the beginning Many of the hard parts solved –Work Queue –Audit Trail (this is big) –Searching –Decentralized process management through business rules, workgroups, and delegation Simpler configuration than many workflow solutions

KEW = Workflow fast No stack buy in –Run in servlet container of your choice –Web service interfaces for non java clients –XML components for processes without java EDocLite for fast and easy routing without investment in new applications XML based routing content and flexibility of configuration make integrating existing application into routing easy.

Future Enhancements Embedding workflow directly in application –No need to contact workflow as a remotely available service in applications Service Bus at core of workflow –All clients running embedded workflow can publish and consume services from the bus –Services Published on bus can participate in processes defined in workflow –All Services can be called Synchronously or Asynchronously

Future Enhancements JMX –KEW Managed by JMX –Client applications can publish MBeans over the bus –Client JVMs can be monitored via JConsole or KEW GUI Improved overriding of KEW Services by implementing institutions