You can use the Task Assignment rule wizard to schedule algorithms to automatically assign tasks of Available status for worksteps performed by any of the members of a group. You can also use this rule wizard to exclude a specific performer from a work assignment, to activate a rule immediately or at a specified date, and to perform specified actions upon assignment of the task.
You can invoke this rule wizard to define task assignment policies for different worksteps in the same process template.
You can only apply the Task Assignment rule to a human-performed workstep where the performer is ANY member in a group:
1. From the Task Management category, drag the Task Assignment () icon to the Activity workstep of the process template to which the rule is to be applied, to open the Task Assignment wizard.
2. From the Description page, review the description of the rule wizard, then click Next to continue. Click Cancel, at any time, to exit the wizard.
3. From the Name Definition / Time Constraints page, you can assign a name and set the time constraint for the defined rule.
a. Enter the name for the rule template you want to create in the Name box. Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge creates a rule file that has the prefix "TA" appended to the workstep name.
b. Select the appropriate Rule filter condition option to set the rule filter condition by filtering for process template name (filters for a specific process) or for application name (filters for all versions of an application).
c. Select either of the following options to set the Time Constraint for the rule, which is the period when the task assignment rules are active:
Indefinite option to immediately start the task assignment on rule execution and to continue indefinitely.
Period option to set the starting and ending date (and time) for the period of validity. as discussed in 2.b.
d. Click Next to continue.
4. From the Scheduling page, you can set parameters such as the duration of task assignment delay, and the task scheduling algorithm for the workitems.
a. To define the delay for task assignment, click the ellipsis button provided in the Delay Task assignment by section, opening the Duration dialog box. Specify the time the task will wait before being assigned to a performer, depending on the option selected in the Task Scheduling Algorithm section.
The Delay for Task Assignment is not applicable for the Single Task algorithm.
b. From the Task Scheduling Algorithm section, select any of the following options from the drop-down list provided, then click Add.
Random Scheduling: Each workitem is randomly assigned to a group member (or an individual user from multiple users).
Round-robin Scheduling: Each subsequent workitem is assigned to the next user in the user list for the group. The last assigned user is stored in an Infopad for persistence.
Exclude User Scheduling: Excludes a user who was the performer of another workstep or is linked to a dataslot from performing the current workitem. From the Exclude User Scheduling dialog box, you can select the workstep that the excluded user performs, or the dataslot that the excluded user is linked to. This option is based on the Four-eyes Principle and allows for peer level reviews.
External Scheduling: Each subsequent workitem is assigned to a user-specified class that can be invoked for scheduling. This class must implement a special interface, which will be invoked by the rules when the task becomes available. Ensure that the specified class name is a fully qualified class name.
Task Load Balancing: Business Process Portal generates a load count (a count of all the items assigned to a user) based on the total number of workitems in a user’s task list, and the user with the minimum load count is assigned the next item. For new applications, the checkbox in the Task Load Balancing dialog box can remain cleared. For applications that have been running, select the checkbox to balance the task load from the current status.
Single-Task Scheduling: Each subsequent workitem is assigned to the next user in the group at a rate of one task at a time from the available pool of workitems. The group member only works on one task at a time. When that task is completed, another is assigned to the member. This option is not applicable to the Delay for Task Assignment.
c. From the User Information Update section, you can provide connection options and user refresh mechanism to the user management system. Use any of the following connection options to update the user management system when a user is added or removed:
Direct Connection. Connects to the user management system continuously and gets the updated list of users before performing task assignment.
Periodically. Connects to the user management system and gets periodic updates of user information. You can specify the period using the Duration dialog box. If you select the Business time checkbox, ensure that a system calendar is set before publishing this process.
Only Once (At Deployment) Connect to the user management system only when the rule becomes active.
d. Select the Re-assign Removed User’s Task checkbox to reassign tasks assigned to the removed user to other group members.
e. Click Next to continue the rule wizard.
5. From the Post Task Assignment Actions page, you can specify the actions to be taken after the task has been assigned. You can define as many actions as required, or proceed to the next page without specifying any action. The procedure for all these actions are similar to as described in Step 5 for Process Path Wizard.
6. From the Summary page, review the summary of the parameters you have selected for the Task Assignment rule wizard. Click Next to continue, or click Back to return to previous pages if you need to return to previous pages and make corrections.
7. From the Save As page, modify (if required) the name of the rule file in the File name box, or click the adjoining ellipsis button to change the location of the rule file.
8. Click Finish to create the new Task Assignment rule file in the specified location. The rule wizard also creates another rule file in the same folder with the name of TA_<WS_Name>_param.rtp. Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge automatically compiles the rule file and creates a *.bpo file when you click Finish. You must, however, separately install the compiled rule file on the BPM Events server before it becomes active.
) icon to the Activity workstep of the process template to which the rule is to be applied, to open the Task Assignment wizard.
Indefinite option to immediately start the task assignment on rule execution and to continue indefinitely.