Coral Workflow Enhancement

[xsong9]

CORAL Workflow Enhancement Specification

The Goal

The goal of the workflow enhancement is to allow CORAL users to make changes for the workflow steps and assignees in the Routing tab for any resource in the Resource module. One of the changes is to re-assign a group or individual to a specific workflow step and the other one is to delete a step in a workflow. The enhancement includes:

the addition of an edit icon next to the group assignment on each workflow step in the Routing tab for each individual resource;
a pop-up window when users click on “edit”;
the option to delete a step (an “X” delete icon) not required for the workflow in the Routing tab for a resource;
a pop-up window for users to confirm the step deletion after they click on the delete icon “X”.

Use Cases

At NCSU, in the monograph ordering process we are distributing books (prints and ebook) to be ordered among several staff and each staff will be completing all steps involved in the ordering process. For example, staff A may be responsible for ordering Book 1, and staff B for Book 2. We need the ability to assign a group/individual on the fly for a resource. However, the current workflow setup mechanism in CORAL does not offer such flexibility. Instead, it pre-configures the steps and group/individual who is responsible for the step based on the combination of Acquisition type, Resource Type and Resource Format. And the pre-configured workflow applies to all resources that match the combination. The need to change assignee on the fly for specific steps within a resource’s workflow also applies to serial new order process at NCSU, where license work and sometimes cataloging are performed by a staff member other than the owner. The assignees for those steps often aren’t identified until the point at which the work is ready to be handed off in the workflow.

The following is the scenario that requires to allow users to delete a step in a workflow for a resource. Our serials new order workflow involves several steps assigned to different staff/librarians including: creating order records (staff), placing orders (staff), license negotiation (librarian), access setup (staff), invoicing (staff), and cataloging (staff). However, license negotiation is not required for all e-resources and in this case the librarian who is responsible for license work may not want to receive an email notification after the previous step is completed. We need the ability to delete a step in the Routing tab for a specific resource which does not need licensing work.

Resource Module User Interface Changes

Image 1

Image 1 shows the user interface changes in Routing tab for individual resource. The resource “testSerial” is assigned to XS with several steps. An “edit” icon is added next to the group assignee (“XS” in this example). Once a user clicks on the edit, he/she would see an Assign Group pop-up window as shown in Image 2.

Image 2

Here, the user may select an individual or group using a dropdown menu. The pop-up window will includes:
Text “Assign Group”
A dropdown menu: includes a list of groups or individuals controlled in the Admin section
A check box “Apply to all steps”: to apply the change to all the steps in this workflow.
A “Submit” button

What you also see in these two images is the option to delete a step. If a user decides a step is not needed for this resource, he/she can click on the “x”, then a pop up message will ask the user to confirm if he/she wants to delete the step, and if confirmed the step will be deleted. By deleting the step, the assignee responsible for the step won’t receive the email notification when the previous step completed.

Some additional notes need to be made here:
The “edit” icon should only appear on not completed active workflow steps, and it should NOT allow users to re-assign group or individuals for completed steps.
Also, when a new group or individual is assigned to the workflow steps, an email notification should be sent to the assigned group or individual and the resource will display in their queue.
Each assigned step has a start date and a completed date as shown in Image 1. The start date is set when the workflow step becomes active. Changing the group assignment for a specific workflow step should set a new start date for that step for the purpose of performance evaluation and tracking when that step comes into the assignee’s queue. It’s worth noting that users should not be allowed to edit a workflow step by assigning it back to themselves as a way to update step start dates.
The step deletion can only be applied to uncompleted steps.
The changed workflow step assignments and the step deletion should not overwrite the global workflow created at the Admin section. If the workflow is restarted, it should revert back to default steps and approval groups.
There are three types of users in CORAL now: Admin, add/edit and view only. Everyone with add/edit privilege including Admin may edit the step assignee and delete a step.