CTO Tuesdays #51 Is Screenflow a Business Process?
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1 Dr. Michael Rowley, Chief Technology Officer Clive Bearman, Director of Product Marketing CTO Tuesdays #51 Is Screenflow a Business Process?
Transcript of CTO Tuesdays #51 Is Screenflow a Business Process?
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Dr. Michael Rowley, Chief Technology Officer
Clive Bearman, Director of Product Marketing
CTO Tuesdays #51
Is Screenflow a Business Process?
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Welcome to CTO Tuesdays
What is CTO Tuesdays?– A weekly series hosted by Dr. Michael Rowley– Tuesdays at 12pm ET, 9am PT 17:00 UTC
Who is CTO Tuesdays for?– Enterprise and application architects– Project managers– Developers– Evaluators of BPM technologies
CTO Tuesday webinars– Register for upcoming webinars: http://www.activevos.com/ctot– Replays and feed: http://www.ctotuesdays.com
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Today’s Topic
Is Screenflow a Business Process?
Dr. Michael Rowley, CTO, Active Endpoints
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What is a “Screenflow”?
A web application showing a sequence of screens that guide a user
It presents a question with choices shown as buttons
It also shows a data area and a screen history area
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What is a business process?
Layperson definition (wikipedia)“A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers. It often can be visualized with a flowchart as a sequence of activities.”
Screenflows seem to qualify
Business Analyst definition (Modern Analyst)“A defined set of business activities that represent the steps required to achieve a business objective. It includes the flow and use of information and resources.”
Screenflows don’t qualify, since they don’t involve multiple “resources” (management-speak for people).
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Processes are for multiple people and services
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Screenflows guide one user through steps
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Complexities when there is more than one person
The system has to have a way to give work to a new person– Screenflows are user instigated, process “tasks” are system instigated
Tasks require task list system
Processes involving multiple people need to be able to:– Allow some tasks to be done in parallel
Sometimes with the number determined at runtime (e.g. for each line item)
– Say when to stop waiting for parallel tasksWhen all done, when most done, after 24 hours,
– Choose who will do which taskBy role, by algorithm, etc
– Say what happens when someone doesn’t do a taskRemind them, notify their superior, reassign it
– Handle an asynchronous eventsCanceling an order, changing an order, etc.
– Correlate incoming messages, to know what process to route them to– Undo partial completed work when something fails
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Screenflows are for one person, so…
They don’t need to do any of that
They just:– Show screens– Show and collect data– Get answers to questions– Call automated steps
That’s it.
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Who can create executable designs?
Processes involving multiple people– Requires someone well-trained to correctly analyze all the implications of
asynchrony, correlation, compensation, parallelism, etc.– In other words, someone with software development skills
If it is a business analyst, they will have to have been so technically inclined and well trained that you could say they have developed software development skills.
Screenflows used by one person– When using a design environment that takes advantages of the
simplifications possible for screenflow (e.g. Socrates)…– Anyone can do it
Or, as Fed Ex used to say: “even a CEO can do it”
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Nuance: Having a 2nd person work on a screenflow
Screenflows can be set aside and worked on later– The user just has to keep track of the URL to their running screenflow
(e.g. bookmark it or email it to themselves)
The screenflow also allows someone else to continue it– The user can email the URL to someone else
This doesn’t lead to the complexities of a full business process:– The screenflow is written on the assumption one person does it– It is up to the user, not the system, to hand the screenflow to another
user
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Demo
Comparing what is needed for– A full business process design environment (ActiveVOS)– Vs. a screenflow design environment (Socrates)
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Summary – Which technology to use
ActiveVOS
For processes involving multiple people or asynchronous events
Socrates
For screenflows created to guide one person through screens and automated steps
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More Information and Contact Details
Register for upcoming webinars– http://www.activevos.com/ctot
Download replays and slides – http://www.ctotuesdays.com
Read Michael’s new blog– http://www.activevos.com/blog/cto
Instantly try Socrates for free – http://www.activevos.com/socrateseval
Contact us with comments or feedback– Clive Bearman: [email protected]– Michael Rowley: [email protected]– General: [email protected]
