"Process Developer’s Guide Netscape Application Server: Process Automation Edition": The Office Setup Application

Contents

Index

Chapter 12 The Office Setup Application

This chapter describes the Office Setup sample application that is available with PAE.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Office Setup Application Overview

Office Setup Process Map

Office Setup Walkthrough

The Office Setup Groups

Data Dictionary

Form Dictionary

Script Dictionary

Customizing the Appearance of the Forms

Configuring the Office Setup Application

Office Setup Application Overview

This application controls the process of setting up an office for a new employee. This application illustrates parallel processing.

This application contains a number of tasks that different people must perform to get an office ready. Some of the tasks must be carried out sequentially; for example, the purchasing department must order the computer before the MIS department can install it. Some of the tasks can be carried out in parallel; for example, the MIS department can set up the phone while the purchasing department is ordering the computer.

Office Setup Process Map

The process map for the Office Setup application is shown in Figure 12.1.

Figure 12.1 Process Map for the Office Setup application

Office Setup Walkthrough

This section walks through the complete process, which contains the following entry points, activities (work items), splits, joins, and exit points:

Start Entry Point

Assign Office and Specify Computer Work Item

Basic Setup Split

Set Up Phone Work Item

Install Network Connection Work Item

Order Computer Work Item

Install Computer Work Item

Basic Setup Join

CheckSetup Work Item

Setup Complete Exit Point

Start Entry Point
The process begins at the Start entry point, as shown in Figure 12.2:

Figure 12.2 The Start entry point

To start the process, the hiring manager fills in an entry point form specifying the new employee's name and start date in the form for the Start entry point, prepareForNH.html. This form is shown in Figure 12.3:

Figure 12.3 The prepareForNH.html form

This form sets the values of the following data fields:

dfEmpName. The name of the new employee.

dfStartDate. The new employee's start date. This must be in the format MM/DD/YYYY.

dfMgr. The hiring manager.

dfDeptName. The department that the new employee will be joining. This datafield is a SELECT data field with a menu offering the choices Engineering, Human Resource, Marketing, and Sales.

This entry point has a completion script, setRequesterField, that sets the value of the dfRequesterName data field based on the process instance creator.

Assign Office and Specify Computer Work Item
The next step is for the manager's administrative assistant to assign an office and specify a computer, as shown in Figure 12.4:

Figure 12.4 The Assign Office and Specify Computer work item

The administrative assistant enters the office location and computer for the new employee, as shown in Figure 12.5. This form sets the values of the following data fields:

dfCubeNo. The new employee's office number.

dfFloor. The floor containing the office.

dfBldg. The building where the office is located.

dfComputer. A description of the computer to order for the new employee.

Figure 12.5 The assignCube.html form

Basic Setup Split
At the Basic Setup split, the process splits into two parallel branches, as shown in Figure 12.6:

Figure 12.6 The Basic Setup split

One branch controls the process of installing the phone and network connection. The other branch controls the process of ordering and installing the computer.

The split has two conditional transitions leading off from it. As with decision points and automated activities, you can specify conditions to determine whether a route leading from a split is followed or not. By default, the condition for all routes leading out of a split are set to true, so that they are all active.

When you place a split icon on the process map, the icon splits and appears on the map in two halves. The split part appears where you placed it, and the corresponding join icon appears to the right. The distance between the split and join icons allows for the insertion of two activities between them. When you place the split icon, you may need to scroll your process map to the right to bring the join icon into view.

Each route leading away from a split must ultimately end at the corresponding join. It cannot go to an exit point or to a join for another split. Each branch of the split represents a series of activities that are be performed in parallel and ultimately merge back into a single path.

A split icon does not represent an activity, so there are no forms for it.

Set Up Phone Work Item
In the network installation branch, the first step is for the MIS department to assign a phone number and set up the phone. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.7:

Figure 12.7 The Set Up Phone work item

The MIS person uses the setupPhone.html form, as shown in Figure 12.8. This form sets the values of the following data field:

dfPhone. The new employee's phone number.

Figure 12.8 The setupPhone.html form

Install Network Connection Work Item
The next step, also done by the MIS department, is to install the network connection, making sure that the office has network cables and hardware. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.9:

Figure 12.9 The Install Network Connection work item

The MIS department uses the setupNetwork.html form for this work item, as shown in Figure 12.10. This form sets the values of the following data field:

dfNetworkAddress. The network address.

Figure 12.10 The setupNetwork.html form

Order Computer Work Item
There is no need to wait for the phone and network setup to be finished before ordering and installing a computer in the office. Thus a parallel branch of the process controls the purchase and installation of the computer. In the computer installation branch, the first step is for someone in the purchasing department to order a new computer. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.11:

Figure 12.11 The Order Computer work item

This work item has the form orderComputer.html, as shown in Figure 12.12. This form sets the values of the following data fields:

dfCompOrderDate. The date on which the computer was ordered. This value must be a date such as 12/12/1998. This value is set by a client-side script, but the person ordering the computer can overwrite it. For more information on the client-side script, see "Embedded Client-Side Script" on page 272.

dfCompOrderID. The ID or PO number for the order.

Figure 12.12 The orderComputer.html form

Install Computer Work Item
The next step is for the MIS department to install the computer. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.13:

Figure 12.13 The Install Computer work item

This work item uses the installComp.html form, as shown in Figure 12.14. This form does not set any data field values. Its purpose is to enable the MIS department to specify when the computer is installed so that the office setup process can progress to the next step.

Figure 12.14 The installComp.html form

Basic Setup Join
When the network setup and computer installation is finished, the two parallel branches merge back together into the main branch of the process at the join. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.15:

Figure 12.15 The Basic Setup join

As with a split, the transitions leading away from a join can be conditional. The default condition for each transition is true, and the first transition evaluated that is true is the one followed for a particular process instance.

CheckSetup Work Item
The final step is for the administrative assistant to double-check that the office has been set up properly and has a chair and new package. The process map for this step is shown in Figure 12.16:

Figure 12.16 The CheckSetup work item

This work item has the checkSetup.html form, as shown in Figure 12.17.

Figure 12.17 The checkSetup.html form

This work item has a completion script, verifySetup, that ensures that the administrative assistant has checked "yes" for the following entries:

Chair in office?. This is the dfChairPresent radio button data field.

New Hire Stationary Packet on desk?. This is the dfNewHirePacket radio button data field.

Computer starts correctly?. This is the dfComputerOK radio button data field.

Setup Complete Exit Point
This application has one exit point, which is reached after the administrative assistant successfully submits the Check Setup form. The exit point is shown in Figure 12.18:

Figure 12.18 The Setup Complete exit point

This exit point has a notification that sends mail to the process instance creator telling them that the process instance has finished. The body of the notification is constructed by the buildExitNotification toolkit script.

The Office Setup Groups

This application contains the following application groups:

Purchasing. The purchasing department performs the Order Computer work item.

Admin Assistant. The administrative assistant performs the Assign Office and Specify Computer work item, as well as the CheckSetup work item.

MIS Dept. The MIS department performs the Set Up Phone, Install Network Connection and Install Computer work items.

admin. This is the general administrative group.

To make it easier to install and use the sample application in "test" mode, a single admin user has been put into each of these groups. If you want to add additional users or change the user, see "Configuring the Office Setup Application" on page 274 for more information.

Data Dictionary

The data dictionary has the following data fields:

dfBldg. The building where the new employee's office is located. This is set by the administrative assistant in the Assign Office and Specify Computer work item.

dfChairPresent. This is a radio button with choices "yes" and "no" to indicate whether or not the administrative assistant has checked that a chair is present in the new employee's office. This value is set by the administrative assistant in the Check Setup work item.

dfCompOrderDate. The date on which the new computer was ordered. This value is set automatically by a client-side script in the Order Computer work item.

dfCompOrderID. The order number for the new computer. This value is set by the purchasing department in the Order Computer work item.

dfComputer. A description of the computer to order for the new employee. This is set by the administrative assistant in the Assign Office and Specify Computer work item.

dfComputerOK. This is a radio button with choices "yes" and "no" to indicate whether or not the administrative assistant has checked that the computer in the new employee's office starts up. This value is set by the administrative assistant in the Check Setup work item. (Although the MIS personnel who installs the computer would be expected to check the installation, the administrative assistant also starts it once to do a double check.)

dfCubeNo. The new employee's office number. This is set by the administrative assistant in the Assign Office and Specify Computer work item.

dfDeptName. The department that the new employee will be joining. This is set by the hiring manager in the entry point.

dfEmpName. The new employee's name. This is set by the hiring manager in the entry point.

dfFloor. The floor where the new employee's office is located. This is set by the administrative assistant in the Assign Office and Specify Computer work item.

dfMgr. The new employee's manager. This is set by the hiring manager in the entry point.

dfNetworkAddress. The IP address for the new employee's network connection. This is set by the MIS department in the Install Network Connection work item.

dfNewHirePacket. This is a radio button with choices "yes" and "no" to indicate whether or not the administrative assistant has put a new hire stationery packet in the new employee's office. This value is set by the administrative assistant in the Check Setup work item.

dfPhone. The phone number for the new employee. This is set by the MIS department in the Set Up Phone work item.

dfRequesterName. The name of the person requesting the office setup. This would usually be the same as the new employee's hiring manager. This is set by the hiring manager in the entry point. This data field would be useful to keep track of the requestor in cases where someone other than the hiring manager is starting the process.

dfStartDate. The start date for the new employee. This is set by the hiring manager in the entry point.

Form Dictionary

The application uses the following forms:

assignCube.html

checkSetup.html

orderComputer.html

installComp.html

prepareForNH.html

setupNetwork.html

setupPhone.html

status.html

All of these forms except the status.html form are described in "Office Setup Walkthrough" on page 249.

The status.html form, shown in Figure 12.19, is used to show the status of the office setup to interested parties. It shows the data gathered on the other forms in the areas of new employee details, office location, phone information, network information, and computer. It is available to members of "all" beginning with the Assign Office and Specify Computer step and throughout the rest of the process.

Figure 12.19 The status.html form