EBZ303 Building Applications Using BizTalk Human Workflow Services Nagender Vedula Group Program Manager E-Business Server Group Microsoft Corporation

Agenda Problem Space Scenarios Demo HWS Architecture and APIs Administration Action Design Experience Wrap-up

Goals Adaptive workflow Integrates ad-hoc tasks, directed collaboration, and formal workflow Non-intrusive workflow Allows users to initiate, participate and track workflow Pervasive workflow Spans groupware, line-of-business, and system management applications

Ad-hoc Collaboration Directed Collaboration Business Process Mgmt Ad-hoc Directed Formal Business Process Task Project Mgmt Recruiting RFP Supply Cain Mgmt Contract Approval Order Management Marketing Campaigns Order To Cash Organize Event Fill Out Form Review Document “Process by observation” Tracking of Tasks Individuals “Process by doing it” Composition of Flows Teams “Process by design” Design of Models Organizations Problem Space

RFP Scenario Send this RFP to our vendors for review. Team of Experts I need a response from a team of experts on this RFP within a week. Account Manager (Jenny) Customer

RFP Scenario: Jenny receives an important RFP request. She wants a team to review this ASAP! Forwarding to a “RFP Approval” alias starts a review process with selected experts.

RFP Scenario: SmartDocs Task owner delegates to Kerri who is an expert on SAP integration Kerri gets a task notifying him of the delegation

RFP Scenario: Tracking Jenny wants to view the activities related to the RFP response

Directed Collaboration OK ? I need to have a team of experts review this RFP and get back to me within a week. Send this RFP to our vendors for review. OK Expert team reviews the RFP and gets back to Jenny with their response on the RFP. Account Manager (Jenny) Customer

Demo demo demo

Simple authoring of workflow by performing business actions Workflow responsive to task responses, business policy and organizational changes Real-time visibility into workflow activities HWS Workflow Services

Information Worker Workflow Life-Cycle Access Information Tasks People, Roles Absorb Tracking Resources Analysis Collaborate Assign, Confer Next Steps Review Take Action Accept, Reject Complete Task Delegate, Escalate Ad-hoc & Directed Collaboration

Key Requirements Focused on workflow for people Tracking of tasks, actions and processes Composition of actions into dynamically evolving processes Instantiation of Activity Models that are captured or predefined processes Integration of machine processes with human workflow

Workflow Building Blocks Task ActionActivity Model Action Activity Flow Task Activity Model Communication with Actor WF Services feature Composable at runtime WF Services feature A priori composition of Actions

Tasks, Actions & Practices Action Activity Model Task is a opaque WF primitive Tasks are not typed Task can be arranged into sequences User has to create and assign tasks Actions are composed of tasks Actions can be composed into flows (WorkFlows) Actions are typed and the system controls the composition Actions are instantiated by users who also provide runtime parameters Activity Models are compositions of Actions (design time) Activity Models are instantiated by users who provide runtime parameters Activity Models can be evolved at runtime Task Action Activity Model Task

Administration DB Activity Model Designer API HWS Web Service Model Discovery Workflow Guidance Activity Flow Queries Workflow Activation Tracking DB (Activity Flow) Activity Flow Tracking Service Composition Service (Actions and Activity Models) MsgBox/ XLANG Engine AD (Role, Org., …) Administration (MMC and API) Functional Architecture

HWS Web Service API Web Service API enables: Workflow Composition AddActionToActivityFlow, AddActivationBlockToActivityFlow, … Workflow guidance GetTargetList, GetActionParameters, … Workflow viewing GetActivityFlowInfo, GetTaskInfo, GetAllTasksForUser, … Workflow Interrupt InteruptAction

HWS Administration (MMC)

Anatomy of an Action Action Atomic unit of work with a particular shape Composable at runtime Communication with people or processes Responsive to people interaction at runtime Activation Task 1 Task N Interrupt Action logic (Orchestration: Rules, C#, VB.NET) Synchronization Tracking

Action Design Experience (VS.NET)

Wrap up BizTalk Human Workflow services: Enable dynamic composition of actions Enable workflow to be guided by constraints that can be adapted per organization Tracking of workflow activities Integration of formal processes with human workflow Flexible API set to enable a rich client experience

Appendix…

Community Resources Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Newsgroups Converse online with Microsoft Newsgroups, including Worldwide User Groups Meet and learn with your peers

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