About Task Assignment
Task assignment results from manual assignment of a task by a My webMethods user or as a result of a task's assignment rule evaluation applied by the Task Engine. In the latter case, the conditions that trigger the task assignment and the results of the assignment action are defined within the task. When a task type developer creates a task type, the designer typically configures the task type for automatic assignment when the task is started.
Assignment simply means the task appears in a user's task inbox results list. A task can be assigned to more than one user, group, or role. Although a task can be assigned to a user, group, or role, assignment of the task does not result in acceptance of the task.
For example, your business model may call for each customer service request to be reviewed by a manager and then assigned by the manager to an available customer service representative. This can be accomplished by creating the task type with an assignment rule that assigns the task to the CS Manager role when the task is started. The customer service manager can then manually assign the task to an available customer service representative.
Note: This is a very basic example. It would be more efficient for the task developer to include logic in the task to monitor the task for an approval by a member of the CS Manager role and then use the task distribution capability of the Task Engine to automatically assign the task to the next available customer service representative.
Similarly, an incoming customer service request can trigger a customer service task, which can then be assigned to the Customer Service role. In this case, the new task appears in the My Inbox list of every member user of the Customer Service role. From this location, the new task can be accepted by any role member.
After a task is assigned to a role, group, or user, it remains assigned to that role, group, or user until it is manually or programmatically reassigned, deleted by a user, or otherwise removed from the task inbox results list. With proper permissions, you can set a task assignment to an empty value to make an assigned task into an unassigned task.
In addition to automated assignment by Task Engine evaluation, tasks can be manually assigned from the following locations, with appropriate permissions:
Task List Management Page—The
Assign To button on this page enables you to assign the task to any available user, group, or role in
My webMethods. When modified, this assignment list replaces any and all assignments made from My Inbox or a task type inbox.
Details Page—If the task type developer has configured the task type to include task assignment, the
Assign to Users button on the
Data View tab of the Details page enables you to assign a task to any available user, group, or role in
My webMethods. Assignments made here are added to the existing assignment list.
Additional rules can be contained in a task type to assign it to a different role, group, or user when a particular condition is matched, such as a change in the task status. For more information about how to view the assignment rules contained in a task type, see
Viewing Task Type Rules in My webMethods.