About Tasks and Task Types
It is important to understand the difference between tasks and task types. Analysts and developers use Software AG Designer to create task types. Each task type serves as a template that addresses a particular kind of human activity that must be carried out to complete a business requirement— for example, approving an order or configuring a new employee's computer.
These task types can be used within an automated process developed in Designer and can also be used on a stand-alone basis outside of an automated process.
A task (sometimes referred to as a task instance) represents human interaction in a business process, a unit of work that a user must complete before the business process can proceed. Tasks are started from task types that are deployed to My webMethods Server or Integration Server. Users interact with task types and tasks in the following ways:
Users with administrator privileges can manage, modify, and delete task types using the administrative interfaces in
My webMethods.
Users interact with individual tasks in the task inboxes that are available in
My webMethods or
Business Console. Regardless of whether a task is started by an automated process or manually by a user, the task is assigned to one or more users, groups, or roles for completion. Each user views and interacts with the tasks assigned to them in one or more task inboxes.
Task types (and tasks) consist of the following elements:
User interface panels that present information to users. These panels also enable users to enter data and interact with the task in many other ways, such as attaching documents, setting status, and providing comments.
Event and assignment definitions that define how the
Task Engine processes the task.
The information (custom task business data) contained within the task.
When creating a task type in Designer, the task developer also creates a user interface containing task views that represent the business logic within a process (for example, the criteria used to approve an insurance claim and the actions to take after the claim is approved). When you start a task in My webMethods or Business Console, these tasks views are presented as user interfaces that enable you to:
View information in text fields or tables, or in attached documents
Supply information by selecting items from drop-down lists, selecting options, selecting check boxes, typing data in text fields, attaching documents, or by clicking standard buttons (for example,
Submit or
Approve).
In My webMethods, each task type can present differing sets of user interface elements or actions based on criteria specified by the task developer, such as the role of the My webMethods user. For example, a task type can be designed to display all account information to a user in managerial role, but to display only a limited set of account information to a user in a subordinate role. Similarly, a senior customer service representative role may be enabled to attach and read documents, but a junior customer service representative role may be enabled only to read attachments.
After a user accepts and completes a task, one of the following happens:
If the task was started as part of an automated process, the process takes the task results and continues to the next process step.
If the task was started manually outside of a process, the completion of the task effectively ends the task.
In both cases, the task is marked with a status of Completed.