12 Getting Started with Process Spaces

This chapter describes Oracle Business Process Management Process Spaces, how to start and log in to it, and how to navigate its interface, including the modeling space and the process instance space.

To help you get started with Process Spaces, this chapter contains these topics:

• Section 12.1, "Understanding Process Spaces"

• Section 12.2, "Starting and Logging In to Process Spaces"

• Section 12.3, "Navigating Process Spaces"

12.1 Understanding Process Spaces

Process Spaces is a workspace built on top of Oracle WebCenter Portal: Spaces. It enables greater collaboration by combining the content from the panels in Process Workspace with an additional workspace in which you can collaborate in the development of process models.

WebCenter Portal provides group spaces that support discrete communities of any size that are organized around an area of interest or a common goal. WebCenter Portal also provides various collaborative services enabling document sharing, discussions, wikis, lists, links, tagging, and real-time collaboration services such as presence and instant messaging.

As a combination of WebCenter Portal and Process Workspace functionalities, Process Spaces provides WebCenter group spaces that are designed specifically for modeling and executing business processes. In addition to these, Process Spaces also uses the collaborative services of WebCenter Portal.

For information about Oracle WebCenter Portal, see Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal: Spaces.

12.1.1 Oracle WebCenter Portal Group Spaces for Business Process Management

Process Spaces provides these WebCenter Portal group spaces specifically for business process management:

• A process workspace—For process participants to collaborate on relevant processes and instances based on their roles. This enables, for example, a group of sales representatives within a given region to share documents and information about various customers, the products they are buying, their requirements and history.

• A process modeling space—For domain analysts to collaborate on various aspects of modeling business processes. This enables, for example, experts from various departments to jointly develop processes that reflect the needs of their various departments.

• A process instance space—Created on an ad hoc basis for long-running instances, it displays specific instances that require a high level of collaboration over time.

You can customize these group spaces based on functional teams, granting access only to a relevant set of users with the appropriate roles. After you specify these user sets, only the relevant processes are included in the space.

12.2 Starting and Logging In to Process Spaces

To start Process Spaces, you must have installed Oracle SOA Suite and the Service Integration server must be running. See Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite for more information.

To start and log in to Process Spaces:

1. Go to

   http://host_name:port_number/webcenter/

   The host_name is the name of the host computer on which Oracle WebCenter Portal is installed.

   The port_number is the one used at installation.

2. Enter the user name and password.

   You can use the preseeded user to log in as an administrator. If you have loaded the demonstration user community in the identity store, then you can use other users such as jstein or jcooper.

   The user name and password must exist in the user community provided to JAZN.

3. Click Login.

12.3 Navigating Process Spaces

Tabs in Process Spaces are customizable depending on your roles—for example, an administrator can add or remove panels in any given page.

This section contains these topics:

• Section 12.3.1, "About the Process Spaces Process Workspace"

• Section 12.3.2, "The Modeling Space in Process Spaces"

• Section 12.3.3, "The Process Instance Space in Process Spaces"

12.3.1 About the Process Spaces Process Workspace

The Process Spaces Process Workspace includes a Home page and a Process Tracking page.

12.3.1.1 The Process Workspace Home Page

After a user logs in, depending on the user's roles and privileges, the Process Spaces Home page displays the user's tasks and related panels, as shown in Figure 12-1.

Figure 12-1 Process Spaces Home Page

Description of "Figure 12-1 Process Spaces Home Page"

Included in the various panels of the Home page is the Available Processes panel, which displays the processes the user is authorized to execute. The Home page also displays the task inbox and dashboards (charts), and several standard panels of WebCenter Portal.

12.3.1.2 The Process Workspace Process Tracking Page

Selecting the Process Tracking page provides process-related information, as shown in Figure 12-2. Depending on the user's roles and privileges, this page displays the process instance list and various other panels including available processes and dashboards. It also includes a number of standard WebCenter Portal panels.

Figure 12-2 Process Spaces Process Tracking Page

Description of "Figure 12-2 Process Spaces Process Tracking Page"

12.3.2 The Modeling Space in Process Spaces

The Process Spaces Modeling Space page enables users to collaborate on process definition. In this page users can, for example, on potential bottlenecks of a deployed process and discuss improvements. Figure 12-3 shows a Process Spaces Modeling Space page.

Figure 12-3 Process Spaces Modeling Space Page

Description of "Figure 12-3 Process Spaces Modeling Space Page"

This page includes the Process Catalog, which graphically displays the various processes in the project. Each process is represented by a square. Navigation arrows within a given square enable you to find more information about the process it represents. The page also includes a number of panels that are standard to WebCenter Portal.

12.3.3 The Process Instance Space in Process Spaces

The Process Instance Space allows users to collaborate on a process instance. Usually the process instance space is used for a long-running process instance that involves many ad hoc activities and collaboration.

Figure 12-4 shows a process instance page showing the stakeholders of the process instance, audit trail of the instance, and the process instance calendar.

Figure 12-4 Process Spaces Process Instance Page

Description of "Figure 12-4 Process Spaces Process Instance Page"