Pattern 40 (Configurable Unallocated Work Item Visibility)

FLASH animation of Configurable Unallocated Work Item Visibility pattern

Description

The ability to configure the visibility of unallocated work items by process participants.

Example

The Process Worker can only see the unallocated work items that may be subsequently allocated to them or they can volunteer to undertake.

Motivation

The pattern denotes the ability of a PAIS to limit the visibility of unallocated work items - either to potential resources to which they may subsequently be offered or allocated, or to completely shield knowledge of created but not yet allocated work items from all resources.

Overview

The ability to view unallocated work items is usually implemented as a configurable option on a per-user basis. Of most interest is the ability to view work items in an offered state.

Context

There are no specific context conditions associated with this pattern.

Implementation

None of the offering examined support this pattern. It is included in this taxonomy as it constitutes a useful variation of the Configurable Allocated Work Item Visibility pattern.

Issues

None identified.

Solutions

N/A.

Evaluation Criteria

An offering achieves full support if it satisfies the description of the pattern.

Product Evaluation

To achieve a + rating (direct support) or a +/- rating (partial support) the product should satisfy the corresponding evaluation criterion of the pattern. Otherwise a - rating (no support) is assigned.

Product/Language

Version

Score

Motivation
Staffware 9 - Not supported
Websphere MQ Workflow 3.4 - Not supported
FLOWer 3.0 - Not supported
COSA 4 - Not supported
iPlanet 3.1 - Not supported
BPMN 1.0 - Not supported
UML 2.0 - Not supported
Oracle BPEL 10.1.2 - Oracle BPEL PM offers no support for this pattern, since any user can see all unallocated work items and there is no option to limit the visibility of unallocated items
jBPM 3.1.4 - jBPM does not support this pattern.
OpenWFE 1.7.3 +/- OpenWFE provides limited support for this pattern. When a user is defined, the privileges they have to access different stores are specified. "read" privileges to a user for a store implies that they wll be able to see both unallocated and started (i.e. allocated) work items in that store. This configuration can only be done by the workflow administrator. It is not possible to configure the visibility so that only unallocated (and not started) items get visible. Hence the degree of support is considered to be partial.
Enhydra Shark 2 - Enhydra Shark does not support this pattern.

Summary of Evaluation

+ Rating

+/- Rating
  1. The workflow engine provides the ability to configure the extent to which knowledge of unallocated work items is accessible to workflow users.

  1. The presence of limited ability to configure the visibility of unallocated work items by process participants. (One observed limitation is the ability to configure the visibility of unallocated work items among process participants playing the same role in a process.)