Workflow Automation Engine

Workflow Automation Engine: Design and Implementation Introduction The initial project scope is to produce a Workflow Automation Engine with adequate fundamental features to meet company requirement in automating workflow. The complete workflow automation engine later, to be classified as a workflow automation solution, will have the following key features: • A means of designing workflow maps, preferably graphical. • The ability to incorporate external applications as part of the workflow automation. • The ability to link electronic forms to enterprise databases. • The ability to design workflow maps with conditional routing and functions based on complex business rules, preferably without programming. • The ability to route the information gathered at each step to subsequent steps based upon job functions, user names, or reporting relationships. • The ability to monitor the status of workflow. • The ability to measure workflow. • The ability to simulate and test the behavior of workflow First implementation will be done on the Leave and Travel Booking processes. This document is not complete and will be expanded as various additional features will be reviewed and implemented. In this present form the document is intended to identify overall scope and to identify the first group of work products required to deliver a fully featured working workflow automation solution.

Background There are a very large number of business activities in organization which fall in the workflow category, for example: purchase orders, capital appropriation requests, employee performance reviews, weekly time sheets, loan approvals, claims processing, etc. These workflow activities are currently manually implemented. The major problems with manual workflow are: • High dependence on paper • Labor intensive • Susceptible to tasks "falling through the cracks" • No easy way of tracking status • No means of measuring process time and cost statistics. Automation to this manual workflow is seen to be required.

Purpose The purpose is to establish a workflow automation engine as the basic infrastructure in building and providing workflow automation solutions. The produced workflow automation should improve efficiency and increase throughput. The discipline that is enforced by a workflow engine should also result in more predictable system behavior since things don’t fall through the cracks. It will

reduce costs, streamline processes, and result in better process management and tracking.

Design The content specified represents our preliminary ideas which are to be used for the prototyping.

Architecture Workflow Automation Solution consists of three main components: 1. Workflow Designer Used to design new business workflow processes or modify existing processes. 2. Workflow Engine Execute the workflow process: performing housekeeping, decision-making, and routing functions required for the execution of workflow. 3. Workflow Administrator Manage workflow configuration and monitor the workflow processes.

Increment 1 – Deliverables Deliverables

Increment 2 To be identified at the completion of increment 1.

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Version 0.1 Tung Ning November 29, 2001