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4 Dynamic Workflow 135

Fig. 4.2 Simple insurance claim model

Fig. 4.3 A “view” of Fig. 4.2 extrapolated from the modified RDR for task T 2

Consider the simple insurance claim example in Fig. 4.2. Suppose that, after a
while, a new business rule is formulated, which states that when a claim comes to
be assessed, if the claim amount is more than $10,000 then it must be referred to a
manager. In conventional workflow systems, this would require a redefinition of the
model. Using the worklet approach, it simply requires a new worklet to be added to
the repertoire for the Assess Claim task and a new rule added as a refinement to the
appropriate RDR by the administrator. That is, the new business rule is added as a
localized refinement of a more general rule (see Fig. 4.1).
The modified RDR tree can be used to extrapolate a view or schematic repre-
sentation of the model, with the modified rule for the Assess Claim represented as
XOR choice (Fig. 4.3). That is, a tool can be used to translate the RDR set back
into a view of a set of tasks and conditional branches within a standard monolithic
workflow schema; of course, a translated rule set of a more than trivial size would
demonstrate the complexities of describing the entire set of possible branches mono-
lithically. This approach enables the model to be displayed as the derived view in
Fig. 4.3, or as the original representation with separate associated worklets, thereby
offering layers of granularity depending on factors such as the perspective of the
particular stakeholder and the frequency of the occurrence of a condition-set being
satisfied. From this it can be seen that an RDR tree may be represented in the mod-
eling notation as a composite set of XOR splits and joins. The advantage of using
RDRs is that the correct choice is made dynamically and the available choices grow
and refine over time, negating the need to explicitly model the choices and repeat-
edly update the model (with each iteration increasingly camouflaging the original
business logic).
It may also be the case that changes in the way activities are performed are identi-
fied, not by an administrator or manager via new business rules, but by a worker who
has been allocated a task. Following the example above, after Log Claim completes,