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2 The Language: Rationale and Fundamentals 73
general, most organizational characteristics that resources possess relate to the posi-
tion(s) that they occupy rather than directly to the resource themselves. There are
two sets of characteristics that are exceptions to this rule, however: roles and capabil-
ities. Roles serve as another grouping mechanism for human resources with similar
positions or responsibility levels, for example, managers, union delegates, etc. Each
resource may have one or more corresponding roles. Individual resources may also
possess capabilities or attributes that further clarify their suitability for various kinds
of work. These may include qualifications and skills as well as other position-related
or personal attributes such as specific responsibilities held or previous work expe-
rience. Each position is attached to an organizational group, which are groupings
of human resources within the organization that undertake work items relating to a
common set of business objectives. These may be permanent or temporary in nature
(in which case they are formed for a specific purpose and are often known as teams).
Each position is generally associated with a specific branch, which defines a group-
ing of resources within the organization at a specific physical location. It may also
belong to a division, which defines a large scale grouping of resources within an
organization either along regional geographic or business purpose lines. In terms
of the organizational hierarchy, each position may have a number of specific rela-
tionships with other positions. Their direct report is the resource to whom they are
responsible for their work. Generally, this is a more senior resource at a higher orga-
nizational level. Similarly, a position may also have a number of subordinates for
whom they are responsible and to who each of them report.

2.6.2 Life-Cycle in YAWL

Once a task is triggered in a YAWL process, a work item is created that can be
distributed to these resources. There is a specific life-cycle associated with this work
item as it is distributed to these resources and is ultimately managed through to
completion. Figure 2.34 illustrates this life-cycle.

Fig. 2.34 Work item life-cycle in YAWL from a resource perspective