EBZ303Building Applications Using BizTalk Human Workflow ServicesNagender VedulaGroup Program ManagerE-Business Server GroupMicrosoft Corporation

AgendaProblem SpaceScenariosDemoHWS Architecture and APIsAdministrationAction Design ExperienceWrap-up

GoalsAdaptive workflow

Integrates ad-hoc tasks, directed collaboration, and formal workflow

Non-intrusive workflowAllows users to initiate, participate and track workflow

Pervasive workflow Spans groupware, line-of-business, and system management applications

Ad-hocCollaboration

Directed Collaboration

BusinessProcess 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 FormReview 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: E-mail

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: SmartDocsTask owner delegates to

Kerri who is an expert on SAP

integration

Kerri gets a task notifying him of the delegation

RFP Scenario: TrackingJenny 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

DemoDemo

demodemo

Simple authoring of workflow by performing business actionsWorkflow responsive to task responses, business policy and organizational changesReal-time visibility into workflow activities

Activity Flow

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 RequirementsFocused on workflow for people

Tracking of tasks, actions and processesComposition 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

Task Action Activity Model

Action

Action

Action

Activity Flow

Task

Task

Task

Activity Model• Communication with Actor

• WF Servicesfeature

• Composableat runtime

• WF Servicesfeature

• 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 M

odel Designer

AP

I

HWS Web Service

ModelDiscovery

WorkflowGuidance

Activity FlowQueries

WorkflowActivation

TrackingDB

(Activity Flow)

Activity FlowTrackingService

Composition Service(Actions and Activity Models)

MsgBox/XLANG Engine

AD(Role,

Org., …)

Adm

inistration(M

MC

and AP

I)

Functional Architecture

HWS Web Service APIWeb Service API enables:

Workflow CompositionAddActionToActivityFlow, AddActivationBlockToActivityFlow, …

Workflow guidanceGetTargetList, GetActionParameters, …

Workflow viewingGetActivityFlowInfo, GetTaskInfo, GetAllTasksForUser, …

Workflow InterruptInteruptAction

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

Inte

rrup

t

Action logic

(Orchestration: Rules, C#, VB.NET)

Sync

hron

izat

ion

Trac

king

Action Design Experience (VS.NET)

Wrap upBizTalk Human Workflow services:

Enable dynamic composition of actionsEnable workflow to be guided by constraints that can be adapted per organizationTracking of workflow activities

Integration of formal processes with human workflowFlexible API set to enable a rich client experience

Appendix…Appendix…

Community Resources

Community Resourceshttp://www.microsoft.com/communities/default.mspx

Most Valuable Professional (MVP)http://www.mvp.support.microsoft.com/

NewsgroupsConverse online with Microsoft Newsgroups, including Worldwidehttp://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx

User GroupsMeet and learn with your peershttp://www.microsoft.com/communities/usergroups/default.mspx

evaluationsevaluations

© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.