webMethods Task Engine 10.2 | Understanding webMethods Tasks | Task Overview | About Tasks and Task Types
 
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 My webMethods user must complete before the business process can proceed. Tasks are started from task types that are published to My webMethods Server from Software AG Designer. My webMethods users interact with task types and tasks in the following ways:
*Users with administrator privileges can manage, modify, and delete task types using the Task Engine Administration portions of My webMethods.
*Users who interact with individual tasks do so in the task inboxes that are available in My webMethods. Regardless of whether a task is started by an automated process or manually by a My webMethods administrator or other user, the task is assigned to one or more My webMethods 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 (also called task views) that present information to My webMethods 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, the task type developer 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). These task views are presented in a started task in My webMethods as tabs and panels 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).
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 manager 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 two thing happens:
*If the task was started as part of an automated process, the process takes the task results and continues on 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.

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