Workflow Model User Interface

Customer Contacts:

Primary Contact
Mark Bergman { mbergman@ics.uci.edu } http://www.ics.uci.edu/~mbergman/ ICS2 Room 276 Availability: E-mail or by appointment

Secondary Contact
Art Hitomi { ahitomi@ics.uci.edu } http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ahitomi/ ICS2 Room 237 Office Phone: 824-4101 Availability: 10am-5pm or by appointment

Overview

Workflow modeling can be used to represent and/or augment a current workflow activity network. A workflow activity network is a fancy name for people working together in an organization. A workflow model can be represented by a network of tasks (work nodes) and flows (directed arcs between tasks). A task is defined as a person (or group) using a tool (or toolset) while following a process to produce a useful output (artifact(s) and/or data) from an input (artifact(s) and/or data). A task consists 3 main nodes, person/role, tool, and process, and directed links (arcs) between these nodes. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Task Diagram Model

Figure 1 Note: For clarity, the links from the Input to the internal task nodes and from these nodes to the Output have been omitted. These should be available, if a designer wants to use them.

A flow is a set of connections (directed arcs) from one task to another. The arcs that make up a flow are seen in Figure 2. A flow can be considered a bus representation of these arcs between the task nodes.

Figure 2: Flow Bus

Figure 2 Note: Although these links look disconnected, they are actually connections between the stated nodes via the In/Out connectors.

There are subnetworks that are represented within a workflow network. The 3 main subnetworks are the social network (people to people), the technical network (tool to tool) and the process network (process to process). These subnetworks should be viewable individually as well. Arcs for these subnetworks can exist and connect without going through an In/Out connector pair.

Project Requirements

This project is focused on creating an editor which can be used to construct workflow models. The general functions of there editor are:

• Identifying and classifying all of the workflow components: nodes, arcs, encapsulation and input/output connectors, artifacts & data
  • Identification should include (but is not limited to): unique, easily identifiable object shapes, text tags, hyperlink references, colors, and mouse rollover popup information and menu choices
  • Nodes and arcs should be open and extensible (i.e. able to be connected to lower and alternative levels of detail, but have these connection be specified at a later time)
    • Minimally, nodes and arcs should be able to point to underlying text details. This can include hyperlinking or equivalent.
  • Arc & Flow Control
    • All arcs and flows are single directed
      • Dual directed arcs can be represented by a bundled/grouped pair of single directed arcs
    • Arcs can be (but do not have to be) bundled into flows (See Figure 2, above)
    • Arcs & flows need to able to be split and joined (split and join can be control components)
    • (Optional) Other control components - loops, conditionals, case-switch blocks, etc.
  • Inputs & Outputs
    • Contain a list of required artifacts, data and/or text based requirements need to enter or leave a task node
• Editing (add, copy, cut, paste, delete, modify, move) workflow components
• Encapsulation, i.e. grouping, of tasks, flows, subworkflows and other subnetworks
• Routing of arcs between nodes (autorouting is preferred)
• Viewing
  • Navigation through encapsulation levels
  • Choosing which type of network or subnetwork (task, social, tool, process) to view
  • Zooming (in & out) and scrolling (via a "view window") through workflow networks
  • Path Selection: The ability to "light up a path" between any two, or more selected nodes
• Storage and retrieval of models
  • Models are to be stored in a flat file XML format
  • Storage means "Save" and "Save As…" model files
  • The ability for a single model to link across multiple files models
  • (Optional) The ability to "Include" files within a model

The model is to be general enough to represent any kind of observed workflow, yet have the capability to show increasing levels of workflow details, i.e. encapsulation.

Finally, the editor should be able to be treated as a plug-in/applet into a Web browser (Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer).

Technologies and References

Java 2 (JDK 1.2.2 and SWING): http://java.sun.com/
XML: http://java.sun.com/xml/tutorial_intro.html, http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/xml/toc.htm, http://www.xml.com/xml/pub/98/10/guide0.html
Web Browser: http://www.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
HTTP Server (Optional) http://jserv.javasoft.com/, http://jserv.apache.org/

If you have any questions, requests, or comments concerning this project, please contact Mark Bergman (mbergman@ics.uci.edu) for more information.
 
 

More Info

ICS125 WQ00 Project Opportunities
ICS125 WQ00
David F. Redmiles ­ Home Page
Department of Information and Computer Science
University of California, Irvine CA 92717-3425