dynamic workflow changes: a metadata approach

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Pergamon Computers ind. Engng Vol.35. Nos 1-2, pp. 125-128, 1998 © 1998ElsevierScienceLtd. All rights reserved Printed in GreatBritain PII: S0360-8352(98)00036-9 0360-8352/98 $19.00+ 0.00 DYNAMIC WORKFLOW CHANGES: A METADATA APPROACH DAN ZIEGLER, DENNIS MARKOPOULOS, LISA STEFFENS, and TONY CHOU 3002 Rosemont Dr. Landenberg, PA 19350 ABSTRACT In many businesses, information systems must be able to respond quickly and effectively to changing conditions so that productivity is maintained and potential losses are avoided. A metadata approach is proposed that dynamically assigns work according to the skill level of account managers. A prototype user interface is presented. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS Metadata; dynamic workflow; business operations; business models BACKGROUND To achieve their objectives and meet customer needs, many businesses must be able to reach out to their customers using computers, telephones, and mail systems since they rarely if ever meet customers face to face. For example, an account manager may be assigned to call customers to make payment arrangements. This seemingly straightforward activity can be quite complex when there are many different kinds of products and customers. To service an account correctly, the account manager must have knowledge that matches the details of that account. With a large number of customers having payments due and a limited number of account managers, assigning accounts to the appropriate account manager is critical to achieving an efficient payment process. One approach to this problem is to sort account records using a set of business strategies and associate particular business strategies with account managers' queues. Account managers only have to deal with accounts for which they have the necessary knowledge. For example, a simple strategy might state that "Product A" accounts are grouped into the Product A queue and all other accounts are grouped to the non-Product A queue. A more complicated strategy could divide the Product A queue into high and low balance queues. Business strategies that are coded statically in routing software delay changes in the business environment. Slow response may lead to decreased productivity and lost profits. Ideally, the routing of account records into different queues should be done in a dynamic, systematic way with considerations of scalability and ease of maintenance. 125

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Page 1: Dynamic workflow changes: A metadata approach

Pergamon Computers ind. Engng Vol. 35. Nos 1-2, pp. 125-128, 1998

© 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain

PII: S0360-8352(98)00036-9 0360-8352/98 $19.00 + 0.00

DYNAMIC WORKFLOW CHANGES: A METADATA APPROACH

DAN ZIEGLER, DENNIS MARKOPOULOS, LISA STEFFENS, and TONY CHOU

3002 Rosemont Dr. Landenberg, PA 19350

ABSTRACT

In many businesses, information systems must be able to respond quickly and effectively to changing conditions so that productivity is maintained and potential losses are avoided. A metadata approach is proposed that dynamically assigns work according to the skill level of account managers. A prototype user interface is presented. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS

Metadata; dynamic workflow; business operations; business models

BACKGROUND

To achieve their objectives and meet customer needs, many businesses must be able to reach out to their customers using computers, telephones, and mail systems since they rarely if ever meet customers face to face. For example, an account manager may be assigned to call customers to make payment arrangements.

This seemingly straightforward activity can be quite complex when there are many different kinds of products and customers. To service an account correctly, the account manager must have knowledge that matches the details of that account. With a large number of customers having payments due and a limited number of account managers, assigning accounts to the appropriate account manager is critical to achieving an efficient payment process.

One approach to this problem is to sort account records using a set of business strategies and associate particular business strategies with account managers' queues. Account managers only have to deal with accounts for which they have the necessary knowledge.

For example, a simple strategy might state that "Product A" accounts are grouped into the Product A queue and all other accounts are grouped to the non-Product A queue. A more complicated strategy could divide the Product A queue into high and low balance queues.

Business strategies that are coded statically in routing software delay changes in the business environment. Slow response may lead to decreased productivity and lost profits. Ideally, the routing of account records into different queues should be done in a dynamic, systematic way with considerations of scalability and ease of maintenance.

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Page 2: Dynamic workflow changes: A metadata approach

126 23rd International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering

PROPOSED APPROACH

Metadata is simply defined as data about data. Metadata provides a framework that can be used to derive relationships between data and the underlying business model. Using metadata, a business model can be defined as a set of objects, attributes, relationships, methods, templates, filters, and strategies. In this context, an object is analogous to a class in many object-oriented methodologies. Many attributes can be used to define different categories of accounts.

The process for defining a business model is similar to the process and thought pattern one would use during traditional object-oriented analysis. One business model could be the set of strategies for routing account records to account managers.

For example, the [Product A East Region !] strategy uses demographic data to determine which customers to call. The object is defined as the class of accounts that involve Product A. It has two attributes: account balance and phone number. Account managers assigned to use this strategy initially make calls to customers who meet the following set of conditions:

I. Account balance ranges from $300 to $2,500 inclusive

2. Home phone number falls in the region (Delaware, New Jersey)

The following filters make up the routing strategy:

(account balance >= 300) and (account balance <= 2,500) (area code = 302) or (area code = 609)

For each account record, a data instance is created with values of the two attributes filled. Then the instance is run through the filters to test its outcome. When the outcome evaluates true, the record is routed to the [Product A East Region 1] queue; otherwise the record is not routed to this queue.

The filters are part of the metadata and are loaded into memory dynamically. If there is a business change, only the corresponding filter condition must be changed. The current values of all the filter conditions are stored in a table, which is transparent to account managers.

USER INTERFACE

The user interface is an important element in the success of the metadata approach. It should allow users to work in a business-oriented manner. We propose the following guidelines for the user interface:

1. Present the model in a way that users comprehend easily.

2. Minimize the time required to define models.

3. Be sure the business model is relatively easy to maintain.

4. Make the front-end fault tolerant.

This paper does not discuss how to optimize each of the above guidelines, as each one deserves its own research. The first three guidelines are relatively easy to address, but the fourth one is more difficult because it implies semantics checking for the business model, which can be very challenging.

Page 3: Dynamic workflow changes: A metadata approach

23rd International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering

Figure 1 shows a prototype user interface built using Visual C++ 5.0 on a Microsoft Windows NT workstation platform.

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Fig. 1. Graphical user interface

There are five panes in the user interface. The first pane shows a hierarchical display of the underlying business model. It not only lets users define each business model in a point-and-click way, but has standard functions such as copy, cut, paste, and undo to make model entry and editing easy. The second pane is the data definition pane. It displays all objects and attributes defined in the business model.

The third pane is the condition/strategy entry pane, where the users define the criterion for making a filter condition. The fourth pane displays the text of the selected condition or strategy from the first pane. The fifth pane is the control pane, which allows users to save and test a selected condition/strategy based on given data.

As shown in Fig. 2, each business model is associated with a queue (pane 3). By assigning each account manager to work a particular queue, his or her manager can ensure that account managers service only those accounts with attributes meeting their knowledge level. This system, working through the association between queues and business models, ensures that account managers always call only customers whose account characteristics match their expertise.

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128 23rd International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering

~ D C u ~ o r n ~ . ~ b , ~ >- 300 Cusiorn~.Accou~_~ <. 2500

cu~otn~ iql La~t..name First_name Accourd_ba~e~ce

~ ) At, couP_ flak,~ Horn_phone

0 R o d ~ A

. . . . i ~ | Slrake,~: Product A Ead Region 1 | ~ | O e s i ~ a Quaue - PmduclA East Re,on 1

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Fig. 2. Graphical user interface showing a queue associated with a business model

CONCLUSION

Preliminary results with a prototype support the feasibility of this approach.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Ms. Louisa Frank for her support and Mr. Haydon Rochester, Jr. for his assistance in editing the manuscript.