IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Create processes in IBM Process Designer > Designing process interactions for business users
Developing flexible and efficient process applications
After you have mapped out your process to include all of the normal task flows for normal process execution, you can optimize your process to make it more flexible and efficient for the business users who will be working with the application in the Process Portal.
At design time, there are several things you can do to save the business user's time and make it easier for them to complete their work:
Procedure
- If your process includes user tasks that involve a simple decision, such as to approve or reject a request or to choose between a set of options, you can design the task so that the business user can complete it in the Process Portal without having to open the coach for the task. Instead, the user clicks a button or chooses between the options with a single click.
- Sometimes multiple sequential tasks in a process are assigned to the same user. In Process Designer, you can configure individual activities to launch automatically if they are assigned to the same person as the previous task. In the Process Portal, if the owner of the first task is the same as the owner of the second, the second task will launch automatically when the first task is complete.
- Not all process activities run predictably in each execution of a process. Sometimes a user needs to launch a new task that is outside of the normal process flow.
For example they may need to cancel the process or they might need to complete a separate but related business action, such as updating customer contact information. Ad hoc processes are actions that you can expect users to do at some point during at least some process instances. You can add ad hoc start events and subsequent activities to your BPD, and the business user will be able to launch the ad hoc process from the Process Portal environment.
- Configure activities for inline completion
Some activities in your process application can be completed with a single action, such as an approval, rejection, or a simple decision. Using the services provided in the system toolkit in Process Designer, you can configure these activities to be performed by the business user in Process Portal with a single click action that does not necessitate the user opening the coach interface.- Automatically launching the user's next task
To help your business user be maximally efficient while using your application, consider places in your process where you expect the same user to be completing multiple tasks in sequence.- Defining ad hoc actions
While a process is running, a user might need to launch a new activity or set of activities, such as updating a customer's contact information or canceling the process instance.The process designer can define a set of these unplanned, or ad hoc, actions to be launched by the user from action menus in the Process Portal.