SmartFlow4People

The SmartFlow4People sub-project is made up of a collection of components and interfaces that constitute a sub-system of the SMARTFlow Platform, whose main aim is to provide mechanisms that improve human interaction between the SmartFlow-StateEngine and the SmartFlow end user.

The SMARTFlow Platform, which is in charge of business process management, has to be able to be used by numerous users with different levels of ability and responsibility. It will, therefore, require different user interfaces; different client applications for each user type. The platform will be available using the HTTP protocol so that users will be able to access the platform from different places.

In order to achieve this, the sub-system adds a user interface, based on REST principles, to the platform. The choice of REST, as the technology to allow the necessary changes to be made, supports the requirement to guarantee the easiest access possible. Using traditional Web Services would not be very useful (as they require specific client-side software, are inflexible, etc) as they are more suited to interaction with other businesses rather than with end users. Using REST allows flexible access to the platform via the Web no matter which web browser is chosen by the user, as well as allowing it to be used as a Web Service by specific client software and easing the development of the user interface.

In order to provide the SMARTFlow-StateEngine with the mechanisms to improve human interaction, as mentioned above, the SmartFlow4People sub-system consists of the following main components:

  • The SMARTFlow-StateEngine extension – Based on the PNML mark-up language, it allows the developer to personalize access, using HTTP, to the networks implemented in the engine, as well as, consequently in the sub-components that support the use of the PNML. The SMARTFlow-StateEngine extension also automatically generates HTML interfaces to manage the engines tasks.
  • The RESTLayer Component – A layer that deals with the engines various states and encapsulates the HTTP requests, which are made in a CORBA call, to the engine, returning the request in the appropriate format. This component acts as the proxy between the SMARTFlow-StateEngine and the interfaces handled by the user during human interaction.
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