Session 2 will cover advanced options for configuring workflows beyond what is available on the administrative screens, including a case-study of implementing a unit hierarchy routing node. Technical attendees not familiar with KEW functionality are encouraged to attend the Session 1 as well. Both sessions will also provide information on where to find resources for further learning.

1. KEW: Building Custom Workflows

2.  Quick review of key topics
 KEW Routing Components
 The KEW Document Type Config file
 Building a Proposal Development workflow
 Other features to explore

3.  In KC, business data and processes are
encapsulated within a document (eg Proposal
Development Document)
 The document workflow – routing, approvals,
etc. – is implemented using the Rice module
Kuali Enterprise Workflow (KEW)
 Kuali Identity Management (KIM) also
provides hooks for workflow routing

4.  XML configuration file
 Describes features and behavior of the
document to KEW, including its routing and
approval chain – AKA the Process Definition
 ProposalDevelopmentDocument.xml

5.  Parent – the parent document type. Document
types are hierarchical – attributes are inherited
from the parent and can be overridden.
 Also useful for assigning KIM roles at
document type – e.g., assign admin role to all
Preaward maintenance documents
<documentType>
…
<parent>KC</parent>

6. KC
Document
Maintenance PropDev
…
Document Document
Award Compliance
Maintenance Maintenance …
Document Document

7. <postProcessorName>org.kuali.rice.kns.workflow.postprocessor.Kuali
PostProcessor</postProcessorName>
 A Java class that will be called after a KEW
action is taken on a document.
 This allows documents to code some special
behavior after certain steps in the routing.
 For example, we use the doRouteStatusChange
postprocessor hook to set custom statuses on
the proposal development document

8. <superUserGroupName namespace="KC-WKFLW">OSP Superuser</
superUserGroupName>
 A group of users who can take super user
administrative actions on the document
<defaultExceptionGroupName namespace="KC-WKFLW">ProposalAdmin</
defaultExceptionGroupName>
 The group of users who will get an action
request for the document if there is a problem
with the routing and it goes into exception
routing

9. <docHandler>${kuali.docHandler.url.prefix}/
proposalDevelopmentProposal.do?methodToCall=docHandler</
docHandler>
 The Action to call when the document is
opened from the doc search or action list

10. <policy>
<name>DOCUMENT_STATUS_POLICY</name>
<stringValue>app</stringValue>
</policy>
 Policies – Allow you to configure behavior on a
doc type basis
 DOCUMENT_STATUS_POLICY – Display KEW
route status or custom application document status
(status specific to that document)
 LOOK_FUTURE – Display the future action requests
panel on the route log (screen shot)

11.  Attributes
 Render fields specific to this document on doc
search, action list, etc
 See document search screen
<attribute>
<name>AggregatorSearchAttribute</name>
</attribute>

12. <ruleAttribute>
<name>AggregatorSearchAttribute</name>
<className>org.kuali.rice.kew.docsearch.xml.StandardGenericXMLSearchableAttri
bute</className>
<label>AggregatorSearchAttribute</label>
<description>AggregatorSearchAttribute</description>
<type>SearchableXmlAttribute</type>
<serviceNamespace>KC</serviceNamespace>
<searchingConfig>
<fieldDef name="aggregator" title="Aggregator">
<display>
<type>text</type>
</display>
(cont)

13. <lookup businessObjectClass="org.kuali.rice.kim.bo.Person">
<fieldConversions>
<fieldConversion localFieldName="aggregator"
lookupFieldName="principalName" />
</fieldConversions>
</lookup>
<fieldEvaluation>
<xpathexpression>//aggregator/string</xpathexpression>
</fieldEvaluation>
</fieldDef>
<xmlSearchContent>
<users>
<aggregator>
<value>%aggregator%</value>
</aggregator>
</users>
</xmlSearchContent>
</searchingConfig>
</ruleAttribute>

14.  Route Path – The order in which route nodes
are visited during the document workflow
 Route Nodes – Details about each node
 Route Path plus Route Nodes is referred to as
the Process Definition

15.  Route nodes – The stops on the route path.
Many different types of nodes but we will look
at 3: requests, role, dynamic.
 Rule Attributes – Tell KEW how to find data
within the document used to make routing
decisions. For example, here’s how to find the
lead unit.
 Rule – Tell KEW what to do when certain
conditions are met. For example, when the
lead unit is BL-CHEM, route to this person for
approval.

16.  Rule Template
 Defines the rule attributes needed to evaluate the
node – e.g., a Unit Number
 Links doc types, rules and rule attributes.
Indirection layer that allows reuse of the various
components, ie a rule attribute can be used by
multiple document types.

17.  In KIM, permissions and responsibilities are
assigned to Roles, and Roles are assigned to
Principals (users)
 Permissions are for authorizations
 Responsibilities trigger KEW action requests –
role-based nodes will route based on KIM
Responsibilities
 Requests nodes will route based on KEW rules

18. Approval Request
Initiator/Aggregator Principal Investigator
submits into routing
Approval
Request
Departmental Approval Request Preaward Specialist
Approvers Group
Delegation
Approval
Request Acknowledge for
Submission to
OSP Office Sponsor

19.  First, build the route path.
 Need to keep the split for proposal hierarchy.
Will talk more about split nodes later.
 Start at initiated node – document is in
initialized/saved state. Initiator will have a
complete request.
 Define the next nodes until we join back up
from the split.

20. <routePath>
<start name="Initiated" nextNode="isHierarchyChild" />
<split name="isHierarchyChild">
<branch name="False">
<role name="ProposalPersons" nextNode="PreawardSpecialistInitial" />
<role name="PreawardSpecialistInitial" nextNode="DepartmentApproval" />
<requests name="DepartmentApproval" nextNode="OSPOffice" /
<role name="OSPOffice" nextNode="PreawardSpecialistFinal" />
<role name="PreawardSpecialistFinal" nextNode="Join" />
</branch>
<branch name="True">
<requests name="WaitForHierarchyDisposition" nextNode="Join" />
</branch>
<join name="Join" />
</split>
</routePath>

21.  Next, configure the route nodes.
 activationType – Parallel or Serial. If the node generates
multiple requests, should they all go out at once (parallel)
or should they be staggered based on the priority defined
in the rule (serial)
 mandatoryRoute – There should be at least one recipient
at this node; if not, go into exception routing.
 finalApproval – This should be the last node that
generates approval requests, if not, go into exception
routing
 forceAction – If true, the user should approve again even
if they approved earlier in the routing

22.  Initial Node – Not yet submitted; places a
complete request in Initiator’s Action List
 See route log screen
<start name="Initiated">
<activationType>P</activationType>
<mandatoryRoute>false</mandatoryRoute>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</start>

23.  Route to PI / CO-PI’s / Key Investigators
 Based on KIM Role, not rules
 Will send to Roles with ProposalPersons
responsibility for this Proposal
 See responsibility screen
<routeNodes>
…
<role name="ProposalPersons">
<qualifierResolver>ProposalPersonsXPathQualifierResolver</qualifierResolver>
<activationType>P</activationType>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</role>
…
</routeNodes>

24.  To resolve the role, KIM needs a proposal
number qualifier.
 XPathQualifierResolver – Tell KEW how to find
data in document XML.
<ruleAttribute>
<name>ProposalPersons-XPathQualifierResolver</name>
<className>org.kuali.rice.kew.role.XPathQualifierResolver</className>
<resolverConfig>
<qualifier name="proposal">
<xPathExpression>//document/developmentProposalList[1]/
org.kuali.kra.proposaldevelopment.bo.DevelopmentProposal[1]/proposalNumber
[1]</xPathExpression>
</qualifier>
</resolverConfig>
</ruleAttribute>

25.  You can look at the XML for a specific
document using the Document Operation
screen
 See Document Operation screen
<documentContent><applicationContent><org.kuali.kra.workflow.KraDocument
XMLMaterializer>
...
<developmentProposalList >
<org.kuali.kra.proposaldevelopment.bo.DevelopmentProposal>
<proposalNumber>10000</proposalNumber>
...
</documentContent>

26.  Role-based routing
 Specify NullQualifierResolver because this is
not based on rules or document roles – based
on KIM responsibility
 See Preaward Specialist role screen
<role name="PreawardSpecialistInitial">
<qualifierResolverClass>org.kuali.rice.kew.role.NullQualifierResolver</
qualifierResolverClass>
<activationType>P</activationType>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</role>

27.  Rule-based requests node
 Again, we use Xpath to tell KEW how to find
the data it needs to make a routing decision,
then specify a rule for that data
 All linked by rule template
<requests name="DepartmentApproval">
<ruleTemplate>DepartmentApproval</ruleTemplate>
<activationType>S</activationType>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</requests>

28.  The rule template links to the rule attribute
which provides the unit number
<ruleTemplate>
<name>DepartmentApproval</name>
<description>Department Approval Routing Rule</description>
<attributes>
<attribute>
<name>DepartmentApprovalAttribute</name>
<required>false</required>
</attribute>
</attributes>
</ruleTemplate>

29. <ruleAttribute>
<name>DepartmentApprovalAttribute</name>
<className>org.kuali.rice.kew.rule.xmlrouting.StandardGenericXMLRuleAttribute
</className>
…
<type>RuleXmlAttribute</type>
<serviceNamespace>KC</serviceNamespace>
<routingConfig>
<fieldDef name="leadUnitNumber" title="Lead Unit" workflowType="RULE">
<display><type>text</type></display>
<validation required="false" />
<fieldEvaluation>
<xpathexpression>wf:xstreamsafe('//document/developmentProposalList[1]/
org.kuali.kra.proposaldevelopment.bo.DevelopmentProposal/
ownedByUnitNumber')= wf:ruledata('leadUnitNumber')</xpathexpression>
…
</ruleAttribute>

30. <rule>
<name>DepartmentApprovalRule</name>
<documentType>ProposalDevelopmentDocument</documentType>
<ruleTemplate>DepartmentApproval</ruleTemplate>
<description>Department Approval Routing Rule for IN-CARD</description>
<forceAction>false</forceAction>
<ruleExtensions>
<ruleExtension>
<attribute>DepartmentApprovalAttribute</attribute>
<ruleTemplate>DepartmentApproval</ruleTemplate>
<ruleExtensionValues>
<ruleExtensionValue>
<key>leadUnitNumber</key>
<value>IN-CARD</value>
…
</ruleExtensions>
(cont)

31. <responsibilities>
<responsibility>
<principalName>chew</principalName>
<actionRequested>A</actionRequested>
<priority>1</priority>
</responsibility>
…
</rule>

32.  The rule says that if the unit number is IN-
CARD, send an action request to Inez Chew
 Could also be a group or role
 What if I need to route a hierarchy – school,
campus? Will see in a minute.
 See rules editor screen

33.  Same as preaward specialist group, except here
we have a delegation
 See Role screen
<role name="OSPOffice">
<qualifierResolverClass>org.kuali.rice.kew.role.NullQualifierResolver</
qualifierResolverClass>
<activationType>P</activationType>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</role>

34.  Going back to the preaward specialists for
submission to Sponsor.
 However, this time we are just using an
Acknowledge request so the document can
proceed to Processed status. See role screen.
<role name="PreawardSpecialistFinal">
<qualifierResolverClass>org.kuali.rice.kew.role.NullQualifierResolver</
qualifierResolverClass>
<activationType>P</activationType>
<forceAction>true</forceAction>
<finalApproval>false</finalApproval>
</role>

35.  Ingest XML config files; KEW parses the files
and inserts data into KEW tables
 See ingester screen

37.  For unit hierarchy routing – build an approval
chain dynamically based on your KC unit
hierarchy
 Implement the KEW HierarchyProvider
interface – tell KEW how to build a DOM tree
 Replace the Department node with a dynamic
node

38. <routeNodes>
…
<dynamic name="hierarchy">
<activationType>P</activationType>
<type>edu.iu.uits.kra.workflow.engine.node.hierarchyrouting.SimpleHi
erarchyRoutingNode</type>
<ruleSelector>HierarchicalNamed</ruleSelector>
</dynamic>
…
</routeNodes>

39. Indiana
University
UA-UA-
BL-BL-Approver
Approver
BL-ARSC- UA-VPIT-
Approver Approver
BL-CHEM- BL-BI-
Approver Approver

40. University Unit Hierarchy
Proposal Approval Units
Tree
edu.iu.uits.kra.workflow.engin.node.hierarchyrouting.SimpleHierarchyPr
ovider

41.  NamedRuleSelector: Pick the rule for the given
Unit based on a string matching pattern
<rule>
<name>hierarchy-UA-VPIT-Approver</name>
<documentType>ProposalDevelopmentDocument</documentType>
<description>Unit Approver for UA-VPIT</description>
<forceAction>true</forceAction>
<responsibilities>
<responsibility>
<principalName>lsalander</principalName>
<actionRequested>A</actionRequested>
<priority>1</priority>
</responsibility>
</responsibilities>
</rule>

42.  Graphical view of document hierarchy, Process
Definition, KEW roles/permissions/
responsibilities
 See doc config screen

43.  Different types of nodes – split/join nodes for
branched routing; email nodes; custom
nodes….
 Different types of rule attributes/qualifier
resolvers – Java rule attributes, groovy,
DataDictionary…
 Compound rules – e.g., route to the Co-PI’s
lead unit approvers if the total cost is over
100,000
 And much more!

44.  Rice 2.0 – Rule authoring user interface (fall
2011)
 Will be able to hook into KEW for routing
 Needed for functional equivalence with Coeus

45.  http://wiki.kuali.org
 KC Public Documentation
 Rice Public Documentation
 Collaboration lists
 kc.technical.collab@kuali.org
 rice.collab@kuali.org
 Conferences
 Kuali Days 2011 – kuali.org
 rSmart Training
 Rice Training – August 15 – 19
 KC Training – August 22 – 26