Pattern 25 (Resource-Determined Work Queue Content)

FLASH animation of Resource-Determined Work Queue Content pattern

Description

The ability for resources to specify the format and content of work items listed in the work queue for execution.

Example

The Coordinator resource has a work list ordered by time of receival.

Motivation

Enabling resources to specify the format, content and ordering of their work queue provides them with a greater degree of flexibility in both the selection of offered work items for execution and also in how they tackle work items which they have committed to execute or have been allocated to them.

Overview

Typically this pattern manifests itself as the availability of a range of sorting and filtering options that resources can access to tailor the format of their work list. These options may be either transient views that they can request or alternately can take the form of permanent configuration options for their work lists.

Context

There are no specific context conditions associated with this pattern.

Implementation

For those offerings which provide a client application for resources to interact with the PAIS, the ability to be able to sort and filter work items is relatively commonplace. Staffware, WebSphere MQ and Oracle BPEL allow any work item attribute to be used as the basis of the sort criterion or for filtering the work items that are displayed. FLOWer goes a step further and allows the user to specify "case queries" which define the type of cases that are retrieved into their work tray. COSA allows multiple views of available work to be defined and used at the resource level and includes support for the filtering of work items and specification of worklist queries.

Issues

None identified.

Solutions

N/A.

Evaluation Criteria

An offering achieves full support if it satisfies the description for 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

Version

Score

Motivation
Staffware 9 + Directly supported through resource-specific work queue customisation and filtering
Websphere MQ Workflow 3.4 + Work queues can be sorted or filtered on any work item attribute at the discretion of individual resources
FLOWer 3.0 + Distinct work trays can be configured for users
COSA 4 + A series of options are provided for configuring views in the worklist handler
iPlanet 3.1 - Not supported
BPMN 1.0 - Not supported
UML 2.0 - Not supported
Oracle BPEL 10.1.2 + Oracle BPEL PM supports this pattern directly. The user is able to format the work items listed in his worklist based on the task id, priority and other parameters. In addition, Oracle ships a JSP based sample worklist application that can be customized to list specific content on the worklist application
jBPM 3.1.4 - jBPM does not support this pattern.
OpenWFE 1.7.3 - OpenWFE does not support this pattern.
Enhydra Shark 2 - Enhydra Shark does not support this pattern.

Summary of Evaluation

+ Rating

+/- Rating
  1. Each resource is able to impose a filtering and/or an ordering sequence on the work items appearing in its work queue.
  1. The extent of the ordering sequence is limited
  2. Filtering of work items is supported by not reordering.