Full bpmNEXT program here. The format is 30 minutes per speaker: 20 minutes of demo, 10 minutes of Q&A.
Day 2, third session – last of the conference: dynamic processes and case management
Performing Collections of Activities as Means to Business Ends, Denis Gagne, Trisotech
Recorded demo of gathering requirements in the Discovery Accelerator on Business Process Incubator and gradually structure the data elements collected into a data model, using a pinboard paradigm. Can switch to a text view where a text description is added and key terms extracted for use in the board representation. The result is a structured set of activities that have been identified from requirements sessions and documents. This coordinated collection of activities is used to guide BPMN or CMMN modeling, creating the activities within the model as a starting point for further modeling. Their Visio add-on provides BPMN and CMMN modeling support, including model validation. There are also web-based modelers for BPMN and CMMN that can access and edit models from the same repository as the Visio-based modelers, providing the same user experience on multiple versions of Visio and any browser platform.
Event-Driven Rules-based Business Processes for the Real-Time Enterprise, Dave Duggal, EnterpriseWeb
Automated agents connects people, data and services on the fly (late binding) based on interpretation of models, context and available data. Every executing process may be different, and can be correlated with other instances. Brief demo showing searches and relationships between objects, e.g., between people and projects. Allows for creation of dynamic processes by the user as required.
Malleable Tasks and ACM, Helle Frisak Sem, Computas AS
Demo of MATS system developed for Norwegian Food Safety, winner of 2012 ACM Award for public sector. Knowledge workers involved in food safety inspections and audits of farms, fisheries, food industry and restaurants, requiring thousands of rules from Norway and harmonized across the EU. A case represents an entity subject to inspection — a person or business — with the case folder containing all information and documentation related to that entity, from which a knowledge worker can launch any of a number of tasks to be performed on that entity. The rules provide guidance to the user on which tasks are required from the general template for that task type, since the users are food safety subject matter experts, but the specific tasks to be applied are often a legal issue and based on the context. The tasks may be executed in any order unless there are specific dependencies. The data in the case folder is central, with the transitory tasks/process fragments acting on that data. Control objects are modeled declaratively, significantly reducing coding. Demo showed system use in response to a telephone call regarding a potential health safety violation; the task template is selected that most closely matches the caller report, and the required steps are added or removed based on the parameters selected. Provides support to ensure that workers are performing legally-required activities, but flexibility for them to control their work order and environment.
Antifragile Systems for Innovation and Learning Organizations, Keith Swenson, Fujitsu America
From the antifragile concepts in Nicholas Taleb’s latest book, business systems that are highly adaptive due to exposure to variable and adverse conditions can be significantly stronger than those that are protected. Creative, innovative organizations that thrive in an unpredictable world have to rely less on predefined processes, rules and predictions, and more on adapting to the current context and information. Demo of Interstage Cognoscenti (unreleased Fujitsu product Fujitsu research prototype) that allows users to create a case, referred to as a project, that is completely empty. The case owner can add documents, including sending an email to external participants with a URL for uploading documents without having an explicit login, and write notes. A project can be used as a template, and its characteristics merged into an existing project. Goals (tasks) can be created and assigned, and turned into subprojects for more complex activities. Other users may have the project in their watch list, and have goals assigned to them. In order to link projects together, a project can generate a streaming link that is linked into another project; the projects can then be set up to synchronize goals and documents between the linked projects. The system is intended for non-technical knowledge workers to create cases on the fly; there is no “design time” environment or more technical requirements.
That’s it for the bpmNEXT sessions — it’s been an awesome conference in terms on content, participants and atmosphere. We’re going to vote on Best in Show and wrap up, and I’ll likely post some final thoughts in a day or two after I’ve had some time to digest everything. Next week, I’ll be at DST’s AWD ADVANCE conference, although my volume of blogging will be lower since I’m giving a presentation there rather than just an observer.
Can I ask for a favor of a slight change to your post? You describe Cognoscenti as an “unreleased Fujitsu product”. I really don’t want people to get the idea that it is a product, and that it ever will be released as one. It is a “research prototype” in the traditional sense: it is a platform to allow us to experiment and try out features. We have very few constraints on it, which allows us to try out new ideas quickly. Through this we understand principles which we use in real products. For example, we experimented for years with OpenID based single-signon, what prompts are needed at what points, and now that capability is being rolled into some actual products. But Cognoscenti itself is not designed to ever be a product….
Keith, done (with the original text in place but with overstrike)