Web and Workflow

Web and Workflow is the integration of web applications and backend processing workflow applications that provide for business relationships and transactions to be maintained on an open platform such as an Internet Web Site.

The primary objective of a web and workflow system is to integrate the communication, documentation and resources involved in a business transaction into a congruent picture that provides access to all parties involved in a given enterprise with scopes that are appropriate to their position with that organization.

This involves, transaction documentation images that support line transaction items, data consumption requirements of customers, business partners and relevant internal resources and bookend requirements for management and executives that montitor the overall process.

From a systems perspective, this involves, Web Interfaces, Workflow Applications, Maintenance Applications and Analysis Interfaces.

Workflow Applications are applications which process information into the overall system in support of the requirements of the Web Interface. This includes transaction injection, consumer (customer) information, product and service information as well as supportive media such as document images and/or other media.

The ability to inject documents from all areas of the enterprise via facsimile, e-mail image batch and manual scanner output into the system for transaction association is necessary to feed the system within a reasonable time frame from the point the transaction was initiated or changed. Together with receipt acknowledgement and response to injection points, this provides a mechanism for ensuring that communication is flowing in both the sending and receiving directions with surety.

General policy rules are also established for common receipt points that are expected to communicate on an expected frequency and thus create expectation at the central processing location. This creates a field reporting schedule within the system for what is expected from the communicating locations, or in general a field communication policy.

The TOKENIMPORT application provides the means by which transaction source data is injected into the web and workflow system database. This is driven by a token data exchange interface which processes transaction data using a discrete one token per transaction interface (or one small file for each transaction). A token is a data file representing a single transaction triggered by an update event in the billing and administrative system of the enterprise. The token is processed and used to update the web and workflow system in real time (or near real time) fashion. The application operates in a service mode whereby it is running at all times and should it fail at any point it will restart and pick up where it left off. The application can use any protocol such as the FTP protocol (not limited to) for movement of tokens from the source system to the web and workflow system and processes them as they are acquired.

The circumstances whereby a token is generated for a given transaction are dependant upon the source system such as but not limited to; transaction creation, release, consolidation, status update, assignment, document creation, customer release, and any general update of the transaction information would trigger the production of a token.

The process occurs in real time. A real time data stream provides for distinct advantages in the overall web and workflow process because information is presented on an as is available basis and appears as if directly linked to the billing and administrative system of the enterprise. This create a more robust environment which allows for real time reporting and display of information which would otherwise be less useful as the timing would lag too far behind the physical and administrative processes of the enterprise.

Another benefit is the self healing nature of the overall process. Problematic data is removed from the data stream and narrowed down to the transaction level due to the nature of the process and permits the overall process to continue, while the problem token/data are diverted for treatment. In many cases future tokens may correct prior problem tokens. In the event of a system failure on either side of the processing equation the system will bring itself back into line upon recommencement.

The data stream is a one-way channel for the movement of data into the web and workflow system. Another ancillary benefit would be the inclusion of redundancy data such as consumer/customer/user information with each token transaction, whereby changes to this information would also trigger updates in the web and workflow system database, eliminating maintenance activities.

The ability to automate communications processes out to transaction sources and destinations is an integral web and workflow application in that these communications must occur and in the event that they do not that there is a record of the failure for automated retry or manual intervention where information change is to occur.

Remote locations in a distributed environment that have volumes over and above standard consumer use would require additional capabilities beyond that of the casual consumer user. This would include the establishment of a virtual channel that would provide processing and print production capabilities at this location whereby the location would be able to process tasks such as billing runs and bill production for output or simply submit the request to the central system and the central system would direct the output to the virtual circuit established by a Remote Agency Application.

When dealing with distributed environments and their ability to span great distances it is important to communicate processing steps such as billing runs and prints as remote requests and output generation requests. This creates a central processing with remote look and feel scenario whereby central processing power can be used in cases where remotes lack the ability or time to perform the function but do require the output.