Introduction to Workflows in ConSol CM
One of the core components of ConSol CM is a powerful workflow engine. Hence, a process is represented in ConSol CM by a workflow. This is the technical representation of the consecutive steps which are required to fulfill all steps which should be performed during the business process.
Examples:
In an IT helpdesk environment, a workflow could consist of the steps:
New Ticket - Accept Ticket - Work on Solution - Inform Customer - Close Ticket.
In a sales process these steps could be:
First Contact: Lead - Second Contact: Opportunity - Contract Candidate - Contract.
The workflow containing all required steps runs in a workflow engine. In this manual you will get to know the details about all components of a workflow and how to use them to build the workflow which represents your business process.
A workflow ...
- represents a specific process, e.g. the steps that have to be performed to handle a customer request.
- puts activities and decisions in a defined order.
- defines the possible paths a ticket can take.
The case or request which has to be dealt with is represented by a ticket, i.e., this is the object which passes through the workflow.
The following picture shows the graphical representation of a simple help desk process.
Figure 3: Graphical representation of a simple business process (IT helpdesk)
The figure above shows a rather strictly controlled business process. As an engineer, you cannot decide what to do - you cannot react in a dynamic, flexible way when a certain action is required (e.g., you have to start an admin ticket from the existing ticket for some reasons), but you have to follow the process steps. This might be intended to guarantee a unique process and defined result for all cases of a certain kind. On the other hand, there might be teams where a more flexible way of reacting is required and neither the process flow nor the outcome can be completely standardized. For this, ConSol CM in versions 6.11 and higher offers a functionality (see section Scope Activities) which covers (adaptive) case management.