IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Developing business processes > Building human tasks
Defining substitution for absentees
The substitution feature allows a user to indicate when they will be absent so that a substitution policy can be applied, and the work items can be assigned to somebody else.
A substitution policy defines how to deal with tasks and escalations that are assigned to absent users and is defined when the task template is modeled. The same policy is applied for all of the task roles that are associated with a task template. After the task template is deployed, you cannot change the policy.
If a user is absent, the substitution policy is applied to the results of the people resolution to determine who receives the work items instead of the absent user. It is applied only to task roles that have people assignment criteria. Substitution is refreshed if the people assignment criteria get refreshed.
Depending on the specific substitution policy, the following actions are applied:
- No substitution (default):
- The set of users remains unchanged
- Replace absent users with their substitutes
- For every user that is present, the user itself is used.
- For every user that is absent, the first substitute that is present is used.
- If none of the users and none of their substitutes are present, then the default people assignment rules apply.
- Prefer present users
- For every user that is present, the user is used.
- Substitutes are not taken into account.
- If none of the users are present, then the original set of users is used. The system disregards the fact that they are absent.
The substitution feature can be used in conjunction with the virtual member manager (VMM) people directory provider. If an attempt is made to deploy a task template with a non-default substitution policy, while specifying a people directory provider other than VMM, the deployment attempt will be rejected.
VMM is the repository implementation provided by the WebSphere Application Server for its security realm ‘Federated Repositories'. This security realm has to be configured in WebSphere Application Server in order to make VMM available for the substitution feature.
As substitution is a processing step after people resolution, it exhibits the same lifecycle as people resolution itself. For a given task role (for example, Potential Owners), it is carried out, if a People Assignment Criterion is associated with that role. Similarly, it is refreshed if the People Assignment Criteria itself gets refreshed.
More information on this topic can be found by following these links:
- Configure people substitution
- Create and activate a Virtual Member Manager (VMM) property extension repository for Business Process Choreographer to support user substitution.
- Specifying absence settings
- If you intend to be away from the office for a certain time, specify a substitute for your tasks.
- Specifying absence settings for users
- If users are prevented from working on their tasks, for example, if they are on sick leave, specify a substitute for the absent user's tasks.
- Substitution for absentees
- The substitution feature allows you to specify absence settings either for yourself, or for members of the group that you administer. A substitution policy defines how to deal with tasks and escalations that are assigned to absent users.