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<h2>Workflow Conceptual Guide</h2>
By <a href="http://www.pinds.com/lars">Lars Pind</a> on 27 July 2000.
<p>
<a href="/doc/">OpenACS Documentation</a> : <a href="">Workflow</a> :
Workflow Conceptual Guide
<hr>
Who should read this? (a) <strong>Managers</strong> who want
to know what the workflow package can do for your business. (b)
<strong>Developers</strong> who want to learn how the workflow package
can make your application easier to develop.
<h3>The Quick Basics</h3>
The workflow packages <strong>coordinates the work of multiple people
dealing with the same project in a fixed process</strong>.
<p>
That project could be the <strong>fulfillment of orders on an
ecommerce website</strong>. The process would include billing the
credit card, packing and shipment. If we can't bill the customer's
credit card, we'd spam him and ask him to come back and change his
billing information. If some items are on back order, we may put the
packaging on hold until all the items are there, or we may ship an
incomplete shipment. Eventually, the order will be fulfilled (unless
it was canceled during the processing).
<p>
<h3>More Examples Of Workflows</h3>
<ul>
<li><b>Publishing</b>: Someone authors the article, the editor edits
it, the article goes back to the author for revision, the editor reads
it again, marks it off for the publisher to decide when it should be
published.
<p>
<li><b>Expense approval</b>: An employee asks for permission to buy
something. The manager must approve it. If it's more than a certain
amount, the manager's manager must approve it, too. Once it's been
approved, it's routed to accounting to write a check.
<p>
<li><b>Bug tracking</b>: A user submits a bug report. A
bug-list-maintainer looks it over and decides how to when and who
should fix it. The developer then fixes it, or he might send it back
to the submitter for more information. Eventually the bug is
fixed, and the submitter must come back and verify that the fix works
as expected.
</ul>
<h3>What the Workflow Package Does for You</h3>
The workflow engine provides <strong>one-stop shopping for handling
the project</strong>.
<ul>
<li>Each user gets <strong>a personal in-box</strong> listing the
tasks that they're assigned to do, helping them prioritize their time
according to the business needs.
<p>
<li>The customer-service department gets <strong>an overview of the
individual project</strong>. The workflow package keeps track of all
activity on the project, i.e. what was done when and by whom. The
users working on the project can also consult this log when performing
a task.
<p>
<li>The manager gets <strong>an overview of the entire
process</strong>, to pin-point bottlenecks and evaluate the
performance of the process.
<p>
<li>The manager also gets an <strong>interface for defining
and refining the workflow process</strong> to be used for specific
projects.
</ul>
<hr>
<address><a href="mailto:lars@pinds.com">lars@pinds.com</a></address>
<table align=right><tr><td>Last Modified: $Date: 2002/07/09 17:35:01 $</td></tr></table>
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