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46 N. Russell and A. ter Hofstede
process-application work item is offered to members of the administrator role to
complete, although they are not committed to do so.
Distribution by Allocation – Single Resource corresponds to the situation where
a work item is allocated to a specific resource on a binding basis and they are
expected to complete it at some future time, for example, the process-rejection
work item is allocated to the user jsmith.
Random Allocation corresponds to the allocation of a work item to a specific
resource selected from a group of resources on a random basis, for example,
allocate the process-claim work item to a member of the manager role selected
on a random basis.
Round Robin Allocation corresponds to the allocation of a work item to a specific
resource selected from a group of resources on a round robin basis, for example,
allocate the process-support-request work item to the member of the sysadmin
role who did it least recently.
Shortest Queue corresponds to the allocation of a work item to a specific resource
selected from a group of resources based on who has the least work pending (i.e.,
the shortest work queue), for example, allocate the annual-review work item to
the member of the sysadmin role who has the least pending work.
Early Distribution corresponds to the situation where a work item can be offered
or allocated to a resource ahead of the time that it is actually enabled and can
be completed, for example, allocate the annual-review work item to the member
of the sysadmin role with the requirement that they do not start it until they are
told to.
Distribution on Enablement corresponds to the situation where a work item is
offered or allocated to a resource at the same time that it is enabled and can be
completed, for example, offer the finalize-quote work item to members of the
sales-staff role as soon as the work item is triggered.
Late Distribution corresponds to the situation where a work item is offered or
allocated to a resource at some time after the time at which it is enabled, for
example, allocate the process-defect work item to the user jsmith only when they
do not have any other work items queued for them (this is often termed “heads
down processing”).
This group of patterns focuses on the distribution of work items by the system, and
the next group – pull patterns – deals with work distribution that is enabled by the
resources that are doing the work.

Pull Patterns

Pull patterns correspond to work distribution actions that are initiated by the actual
resources undertaking them. As such, they provide a means of empowering users in
the conduct of their work activities. There are six pull patterns as follows:
Resource-Initiated Allocation corresponds to the situation where a resource
commits to undertaking a work item that has been offered to them.