RUNA WFE – an Open Source Enterprise Business Process Management (BPM) System

General Description

Version 3.2

RUNA WFE is an open source end-user oriented system for enterprise business process management.

The main purpose of the system is to assign the tasks to executors and to control tasks execution. The sequence of the tasks is determined by the business process graph. A manager of a business analyst can promptly change the graph using the graphic process designer.

RUNA WFE is an open source system, which reduces the cost of system acquisition and ownership and allows an enterprise that uses the system to develop and improve it.

The system uses business process variables to pass the information among the tasks executors. Business process variables can also contain documents. In this case the system can be used to manage the document flow.

Main Features

System:

Managing business process definitions and instances
Managing task lists
Visualization of forms corresponding to tasks
Operating the system through a web interface
Granting access to the system to bots (special computer applications) For example, bots can simulate the work of an enterprise employee
User authorization and authentication

Graphic Process Designer:

Editing a business process graph
Creation and editing of task forms
Creation and assignment of roles
Creation of variables

This system resembles an assembly line transferred from a production environment to the office.

The system allows an employee to perform arriving tasks without worrying about the following:

– Getting the data needed to perform the task

– Transfer of the results to other employees

– Studying job descriptions

All you need to perform a task is brought to the screen by just clicking the task (for example, instructions on how to perform the task).

Executors can be both people and bots (special computer applications).

Using bots allows to integrate heterogeneous applications of the enterprise into a single corporate information system.

For tasks fully performed by people (without bots) a box version of the system is available. The user can install the system from a distribution disk without assistance and start working at once (set up enterprise employees, load business processes, etc.). No programmer is required.

System Components

Components on the server side:

RUNA WFE – the server
Bot station

Components on the client side:

Client (web interface)
Graphical process designer
Business process simulator
Arriving task notification component

System component interaction:

The RUNA WFE server can be installed on one server.

Bot stations can be installed on several servers.

A browser on client computers gives access to the system’s web interface. Also there is a special component - task notifier - that signals the arrival of tasks. The system’s web-interface can be loaded into a browser opened in the window of this component. Client computers can run a process designer and a business process simulator.

The RUNA WFE server contains definitions of loaded business processes and active business process instances.

Bot stations contain bots that poll the RUNA WFE server periodically.

If business process instances running on the RUNA WFE server contain tasks for bots, loaded onto the bot station, the bots perform these tasks and return the results to the RUNA WFE server.

By using a web interface, the user can:

Receive, filter, and perform tasks generated by business process instances
Start new instances of business processes
Monitor the status of active business process instances
Load archive files with definitions of business processes into the system

By using a web interface, the administrator can:

Create and delete actors and groups of actors
Include or exclude actors from the groups
Grant permissions on system objects to actors and groups of actors
Terminate business process instances

By means of a process designer, an analyst can develop business processes and export them into archive files to the file system.

By means of a task notifier component the user can be notified of the arriving tasks.

A business process simulator allows to test business processes in a test configuration on the analyst’s computer without loading them into a production system. The RUNA Consulting Group has been working on the system since October 2003. The system is now used in production by the RUNA Consulting Group (approximately 600 users with about 200 working concurrently)

The RunaWFE project can be found on the SourceForge open source software developer site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/runawfe. On this site, you can download both the source code and a compiled version of the system, view messages and send messages to the forum and get the latest news on the project.

The russian web-site of the project is located at http://runawfe.org.

General-Description

System Components

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