General description

RunaWFE Free Workflow System (BPMS) Version 4.5.0

© 2015 - 2024, "Process Technologies" Ltd, this document is available under GNU FDL license. RunaWFE Free is an open source system distributed under a LGPL license (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html).

RUNA WFE is a free end-user oriented system for enterprise business process management.

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

RUNA WFE is an open source system. This 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 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

Developer Studio:

Editing a business process graph
Creating and editing task forms
Creating and assigning roles
Creating variables
Creating botstations, bots and bot's tasks

Task Notifier:

Task notification
Form visualization

The 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

– Transferring the results to the 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. A user can install the system from a distribution disk without any assistance and start working right away (set up enterprise employees, load business processes, etc.). No programmer is required.

System Components

Components on the server side:

RUNA WFE – the WFE Server
Bot station

Components on the client side:

Client (web interface)
Developer Studio
Business process simulator
Arriving tasks notification component

System component interaction:

The 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 a window of this component. Client computers can run a Developer Studio and a business process simulator.

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

Bot stations contain bots that poll the WFE Server periodically.

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

By using the web interface a 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 the web interface an 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 Developer Studio an analyst can develop business processes and export them into archive files to the file system.

By means of a Task Notifier component users 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 RunaWFE project can be found on the SourceForge open source software developer site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/runawfe and https://github.com/processtech. On these sites you can download both the source code and compiled versions 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 https://runawfe.org.

Introduction

Main Features

System Components

System component interaction:

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