In its simplest form, an EPX work item is a collection of data, in the form of key/value pairs, that is passed through a process flow. For human participants in the process flow, the data is presented as an HTML form, and replaces a traditional paper form or some other type of document that passes from person to person. For example, a purchase order passed from one person to the next during the process of getting it approved can be considered a work item, as can a loan application winding its way through the numerous steps involved in applying and getting approved for a loan. The business needs of your particular organization determine what kinds of work items are useful to develop.
Except for the times where a BIC or a system activity is performing the activity, a work item is comprised of one or more work item types and an HTML form, called a “viewer,” which can be customized to present some or all available data for viewing or editing. A specific version of a work item is comprised of one or more work item types, a viewer, its properties, and its dynamic data.
Type can be thought of as an abstract category used to classify work items. Work item types are created using EPX’s Process Modeling tools.
Some examples of useful types of work items for a Human Resources department process flow might be a purchase order, vacation request, leave of absence request, travel request, and health insurance enrollment request.
See Work Items Types for more information.
A viewer is an HTML or JSP file that structures the display of a work item’s content (its properties). Different viewers, each one with its own file, can be used to display a work item's content in different formats or to display different portions of the work item to different users. This ensures that the right kind of data is distributed to each user or participant in the flow.
Properties are the key/value pairs that represent the content of a given work item version. These properties are created at process flow execution time at activities defined within a process flow. The set of potential properties for a given work item is limited only by which properties can be defined within a given process flow. The actual composition of key/value pairs for a given instance of a work item depends on the changes made by participants along the path that the work item takes during the execution of the process flow.
Any number of viewers may be associated with a work item to display work item content. The person building the flow can specify different viewers for a work item. For example, a purchase order work item might need four viewers, each of which allows different participants to add or edit different information.
Viewers are written in HTML or as Java Server Pages. Pure HTML viewers are preferred because of the faster response time and greater portability of HTML. You should develop your work item viewers as Java Server Pages if you want your work item viewer code to display or manipulate the contents of the work item’s hash table dynamically.