Alfresco workdesk for case management

[ashpal19]

I have alfresco community 4.2 installed. I also have the workdesk application working on top of the alfresco installation. I would like to know how to demonstrate Case Management features of alfresco using alfresco workdesk?

I have seen screenshots of alfresco workdesk where I see Case Management as one of the tab. I do not see that in the default installation of alfresco workdesk. Is there a way I would be able to enable that tab?

Once I can see case management working, I would like to know is there a way I would be able to attach/assign a workflow to a case? I know we can attach a workflow to a document(alfresco share), can we attach a workflow to a case? Thank you in advance.

[deko]

Hi ashpal19,

Could you point me to the screenshot you are referring to? When you are talking about Case Management you are talking about a "really big term" that can be covered using Alfresco Workdesk on top of Alfresco repository in different ways:

1. Case Management based on case eFiles and their metadata/properties

This way of realizing case management is using the Workdesk semi-virtual folder concept. A case is any folder in the Alfresco repo whereas Workdesk might be displaying this case efile with a virtual substructure based on your use case. If you have installed the Human Resource sample application, a folder of type dossier is exactly an example representing such kind of virtual (case) folder.
By changing a case efile´s metadata, you could route the case to other users using virtual inboxes again based on virtual folders, that are for example searching for case efiles that are assigned to a specific user in the cases´s assignee property. Using this concept let´s you realize case and document centric workflows without having even touched the Alfresco Activiti BPM engine at all.

2. Case Management based on Alfresco Activiti BPM

This method is using the Alfresco Activiti BPM engine to realize your case workflows. This way is realized by introducing several BPM plugins for Workdesk in owplugins.xml using Workdesk Configurator:
- You need to have at least a BPM master plugin (often named "Case Management"), which is displaying your inbox and assigned tasks as known in Share
- You can configure a document plugin to launch a workflow with a document attached
- You can configure the Launch Pad master plugin to start any available workflow from there without having a document selected earlier
For more help here please see the BPM related chapters in the Workdesk configuration guide and use the Configurator help.

By default Activiti workflows only allow you to attach a document to a workflow and no folder resp. case. But anyways you can realize your use case by building a custom workflow with a custom property (e.g. named "case reference"), where you can attach a case reference. When working on that task then and clicking on that reference, you are directly taken into the related case file and can review things there and fulfill your task.
___

I hope my explanations made things more clear for you now. I recommend going through available documentation and searching for the terms you need for realizing your use case:

- Configurator
- plugin
- eFile
- virtual folder
- BPM

Have a nice day and enjoy working less with Workdesk 😉

Best regards,
deko

[ashpal19]

Thank you for your response, this is certainly helpful. I will go through further documentation and follow certain steps as mentioned by you.

[ashpal19]

Hi Deko,

As you had mentioned in Option 2 above,
1) I have setup the BPM master plugin (using the workdesk configurator)
2) I have also configured Alfresco Process Engine in the owbootstrap.xml file to point to the local instance of alfresco.
3) I have also installed the server-side Alfresco extension. _ able to see the module package at http://localhost:8080/alfresco/service/index/package/com/wewebu/ecm/alfresco/ws


I am able to see the tab AWD BPM on the workdesk screen, however I am getting the attached error. How can I proceed ahead with that? Am I doing something wrong?

Also How will I be able to start a case/start a workflow from the workdesk UI? I am also trying to follow the document - Alfresco_Workdesk_Configuration_Guide_4.1.1.pdf

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.


Updated with another error which I noticed during startup in alfrescotomcat-stdout*.log

[khalil]

Hi deko,

Just about your answer :
>>>
By default Activiti workflows only allow you to attach a document to a workflow and no folder resp. case. But anyways you can realize your use case by building a custom workflow with a custom property (e.g. named "case reference"), where you can attach a case reference. When working on that task then and clicking on that reference, you are directly taken into the related case file and can review things there and fulfill your task.
>>>>

Is there a way to attach the eFile ID with the activiti workflow ? I tried to customize my jsp but I can only do:

 <div class="OwPropertyControl">
     <% m_View.renderNamedRegion(out, "OW_ATTACHMENTS"); %>
 </div>
‍‍‍‍‍‍

And unfortunately that sends the eFile ID as a folder not a document, activiti returns an error about the the object type…

[d_evil]

Hi asphal19,

I just looked at your provided stack-traces.
1. AWD BPM Error: It seems that your plugin is not correct configured, I assume that your listviews configuration is wrong or something is missing.
Here a simple configuration sample:

  <PlugIn type="ow_master">
    <Name>Alfresco BPM</Name>
    <id>example.bpm.alfresco</id>
    <Description>Access to Alfresco BPM</Description>
    <Vendor>Alfresco Business Solutions</Vendor>
    <Version>4.2.0</Version>
    <ClassName>com.wewebu.ow.server.plug.owbpm.OwBPMDocument</ClassName>
    <ViewClassName>com.wewebu.ow.server.plug.owbpm.OwBPMView</ViewClassName>
    <helppath>owbpm/default.jsp</helppath>
    <icon>/images/plug/owbpm/bpm.png</icon>
    <MaxChildCount>1000</MaxChildCount>
    <AttachmentDocumentFunctions>
      <id>com.wewebu.ow.owdocprops</id>
      <id>com.wewebu.ow.owdoccopy</id>
    </AttachmentDocumentFunctions>
    <ResultListViews>
      <view classname="com.wewebu.ow.server.dmsdialogs.views.OwObjectListViewFilterRow">
        <viewmasks>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_USE_DOCUMENT_PLUGINS</mask>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_INSTANCE_PLUGINS</mask>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_MULTI_SELECTION</mask>
        </viewmasks>
      </view>
      <view classname="com.wewebu.ow.server.dmsdialogs.views.OwObjectListViewFilterEXTJSGrid">
        <isNoteEditable>false</isNoteEditable>
        <NoteProperties>
          <NoteProperty>bpm:comment</NoteProperty>
        </NoteProperties>
        <viewmasks>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_USE_DOCUMENT_PLUGINS</mask>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_INSTANCE_PLUGINS</mask>
          <mask>VIEW_MASK_MULTI_SELECTION</mask>
        </viewmasks>
      </view>
    </ResultListViews>
    <Queues>
      <Queue>/ow_user/*</Queue>
      <Queue>delimiter</Queue>
    </Queues>
    <settingsset>
      <columninfo type="com.wewebu.ow.server.settingsimpl.OwSettingsPropertyStringConfigurationBox" scope="user" edit="true" list="true" displayname="Workflow attributes" helppath="">
        <property>bpm:description</property>
        <property>OW_TASK_TITLE</property>
        <property>bpm:taskId</property>
        <property>bpm:status</property>
        <property>bpm:startDate</property>
        <property>cm:created</property>
        <property>bpm:priority</property>

        <comboselect displayname="Description">bpm:description</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Titel">OW_TASK_TITLE</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Id">bpm:taskId</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Status">bpm:status</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Start Date">bpm:startDate</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Created">cm:created</comboselect>
        <comboselect displayname="Priority">bpm:priority</comboselect>
      </columninfo>
      <!– Defines a set of properties that should be used for sorting of columns–>
      <ColumnSortCriteria type="com.wewebu.ow.server.settingsimpl.OwSettingsPropertySort" scope="user" edit="true" list="true" displayname="Initial Sorting" helppath="">
        <!– <property ascending="true">F_Subject</property>  –>
      </ColumnSortCriteria>
    </settingsset>
  </PlugIn>
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2. startUp Error: Did you add or touched some of your model definition? Looks like something cannot be parsed, investigate the other log-files it will tell you what is wrong.

[deko]

Hi ashpal19,

As D.evil already wrote you´d have to check your BPM master plugin configuration. DId you just add the plugin without any configuration? YOu have to configure the list views. You don´t have to do it in XML but use the Configurator, which will generate the XML for you then.

The other "Model diff" error you attached seems not to be related to the installed webscript, as there is no data model deployed at all when installing the related AMP file. You need to check all ALfresco log files, as there should be an error telling which model cannot be parsed.

To be able to launch tasks you need more Workdesk plugins, depending on how you want to launch them:

1. The "Launch Pad" master plugin (plugin class com.wewebu.ow.server.plug.ownew.OwNewDocument)

This will enable a master plugin from where you can start any of the available workflows in Alfresco.

2. The "Launch Workflow" document plugin (plugin class com.wewebu.ow.server.plug.owbpm.plug.OwBPMLaunchProcessorFunction)

This will enable a document plugin, which allows to start a workflow with selected document(s) as attachment. It can be configured, that it appears next to a document in any result list (object instance) or when right clicking on a document (context menu).

Please just give feedback how your progress is and whether you are able to do the things you wanted to do now.

Best regards,
deko