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RE: XML design for workflow management?

• From: "Michael Kay" <mike@s...>
• To: "'Costello, Roger L.'" <costello@m...>,<xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:41:27 +0100

From experience, putting all the data in one document works well, though I
haven't tried any other approach.

I don't think you can always draw a clear line between "workflow management
data" and "content data". Your two examples of workflow management data I
would have classified as content data.

Michael Kay
Saxonica 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Costello, Roger L. [mailto:costello@m...] 
> Sent: 11 April 2009 22:07
> To: 'xml-dev@l...'
> Subject:  XML design for workflow management?
> 
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> Consider an insurance claim for an auto accident. It contains 
> information about a claim, including:
> 
>    - date of the accident
>    - damage to the car
>    - police report
>   
> The claim is routed - as defined by some workflow process - 
> to appropriate people and applications for processing. Which 
> people and applications receive the claim depend on certain 
> values of the claim. 
> 
> For example, if the estimated amount to be paid on the claim 
> is less than a certain amount, a settlement offer is made to 
> the client. If the estimated amount is greater, then an 
> assessor is assigned to investigate the claim, and which 
> office is assigned depends on the location of the client. 
> Thus, these are two of the values used to manage the claim:
> 
>     - "estimated claim value" is used to determine 
>       whether the claim should be routed to the "offer
>       settlement" task or the "send assessor" task
> 
>     - "client location" is used to determine what
>       resources (i.e. which field office) should be 
>       used by the "send assessor" task
> 
> "estimated claim value" and "client location" are values used 
> for workflow management. A workflow management system can use 
> these values to route the claim and assign resources to tasks.
> 
> How do you deal with workflow management data vice content 
> data? More generally, how do you design XML documents that 
> enable workflow management?
> 
> I can think of two approaches:
> 
> 1. Header/Payload Approach (i.e. the SOAP approach)
> 
> Store the workflow management values in a header section and 
> the content in the body section. This approach requires the 
> workflow management system to have the smarts to fetch the 
> workflow data from the header section. The tasks must have 
> the smarts to fetch the contents from the body section. For example:
> 
> <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
>     <soap:Header>
>         <workflow-data xmlns="http://www.auto-insurance.com">
>             <estimated-claim-value>$200</estimated-claim-value>
>             <client-location>Denver, Colorado</client-location>
>         </workflow-data>
>     </soap:Header>
>     <soap:Body>
>         <claim  xmlns="http://www.auto-insurance.com">
>             <ID>49303203-AAD</ID>
>             <type>auto</type>
>             <date-of-accident>April 9, 2009</date-of-accident>
>             <date-of-filing>April 11, 2009</date-of-filing>
>             <description>
>               Car failed to stop at stop sign and broadsided
>               the car.
>             </description>
>             ...  
>         </claim>
>     </soap:Body>
> </soap:Envelope>
> 
> 2. Separate Workflow and Content Documents
> 
> The workflow data is placed in one document and the content 
> data is placed in a separate document. The two documents are 
> connected via links. The workflow management system deals 
> just with the workflow document. The tasks deal just with the 
> content document. For example:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------
> Workflow Document (workflow-49303203-AAD.xml)
> -----------------------------------------------
> 
>     <Workflow-Data href="claim-49303203-AAD.xml">
>         <estimated-claim-value>$200</estimated-claim-value>
>         <client-location>Denver, CO</client-location>
>     </Workflow-Data>
> 
> -----------------------------------------------
> Claim Document (claim-49303203-AAD.xml)
> -----------------------------------------------
> 
>     <claim xmlns="http://www.auto-insurance.com"
>            href="workflow-49303203-AAD.xml">
>         <ID>49303203-AAD</ID>
>         <type>auto</type>
>         <date-of-accident>April 9, 2009</date-of-accident>
>         <date-of-filing>April 11, 2009</date-of-filing>
>         <description>
>           Car failed to stop at stop sign and broadsided
>           the car.
>         </description>
>         ...  
>     </claim>
> 
> 
> QUESTIONS
> 
> 1. Are there other approaches than the two listed above?
> 
> 2. What approach do you recommend?
> 
> /Roger
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
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• References:
  • XML design for workflow management?
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@m...>