Good! I do have to add another complaint about version management that I only fully realized today: The restriction that process instances inside a case solution cannot be migrated:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/878504That is not acceptable, at least when using long-running processes, and a clear feature loss compared to pure BPM and possibly pure CM (depending if I understood things right). Using existing processes instead of new ones for case activities seem like an alternative, but makes me question the viability of the combination of CM and BPM as promoted.
(I have 11 years of experience with IBM BPM, but have spent the last three years at a company that has used CM and lately started moving to BAW. I am in the middle of analyzing and designing a case+process solution and am out of my comfort zone with plenty of friction.)
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The one encouraging sign I see is that Workplace seems to offer wide support for processes. The current responsive process portal is a bleak and feature-weak one, compared to the successor that was more distinct, colourful and still had the due today/this week/later, at risk and overdue categorization. The Navigator can't display due dates in an in-basket column, either, so I am really hoping for Workplace as soon as my company gets the cloud environment up and running.
I might be getting old and grumpy ...
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Mattias Edling
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Original Message:
Sent: Thu November 18, 2021 10:57 AM
From: Marc-James Abi-Jaoude
Subject: Tell our user research team about your experience with App Designer and Workflow!
Thanks Mattias for your detailed response. I will pass this along to our user research team.
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Marc-James Abi-Jaoude
IBM Automation User Experience Program Manager
Original Message:
Sent: Thu November 18, 2021 08:09 AM
From: Mattias Edling
Subject: Tell our user research team about your experience with App Designer and Workflow!
Well, I am stuck with on-premise web process designer, but since you ask for comments and want to avoid past mistakes I'll bite.
First, I would like to press on the loss of version management that has affected process developers the last few years:
- Revision history is gone, which means one cannot see who did what or when.
- Without revision history, the ability to retroactively create named snapshots (to view or revert to) is also gone.
- When a process application is part of a case solution, one cannot revert to any named snapshots. This last one is a real pain in the back*.
Have a look in this thread and the ideas/RFEs link within it:
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/automation/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=2455&MessageKey=f5835256-2842-490b-8e60-d72a78ce4e7f&CommunityKey=810abde6-3916-441b-aac3-b9105bb37e3c&tab=digestviewer&ReturnUrl=%2fcommunity%2fuser%2fautomation%2fcommunities%2fcommunity-home%2fdigestviewer%3fcommunitykey%3d810abde6-3916-441b-aac3-b9105bb37e3c%26tab%3ddigestviewer
*I have more than once suffered a bug that somehow corrupts BPMN so that the process diagram cannot be visualized. When this process diagram is tied/created from a case activity, I cannot revert to last known good state. Also I cannot copy the contents to a new diagram without creating a new case activity, wasting the meticulously selected symbolic name etcetera.
Secondly, I want WYSIWYG visual models in both design-time and runtime and for not only processes, but cases too. In the last version of Workplace I got to explore, one could not view process diagrams, which means IBM BAW is heading the wrong way. However I got the impression that adhoc tasks in processes are still being offered and reasonably easy to start from Workplace, so BPMN is still an option to created WYSIWYG semi-structured processes with some case elements inside, even though case manager is stuck in non-visual low-code land.
Finally. Sometimes processes are overkill as the implementation of case activities. I would like a middle ground between quick tasks (and to-do tasks) and (process) case activities, where the case activity is instead implemented by a BPM service (service flow or client-side human service). I mean, these can be run standalone as a startable service or dashboard.
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Mattias Edling
Original Message:
Sent: Wed November 17, 2021 07:27 AM
From: DAVID Jenness
Subject: Tell our user research team about your experience with App Designer and Workflow!
Hey everyone. If you're using BAW, Marc-James would like to hear from you. Your comments can make the experience better!
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DAVID Jenness
Original Message:
Sent: Thu November 04, 2021 09:23 AM
From: Marc-James Abi-Jaoude
Subject: Tell our user research team about your experience with App Designer and Workflow!
Hello community,
The Digital Business Automation design team wants to hear from users of App Designer and Workflow. We want to know how customers are using these solutions today, what's working well and what isn't working so well. This feedback will help inform the next generation of solutions in Digital Business Automation. Having a better understanding of the current experience can help us avoid past mistakes and identify opportunities for improvement.
Have experience working with these products, we want to hear from you! We would like to hold a 60 minute webex call to discuss these solutions and better understand how you're using them today. If interested, please sign up for a time slot here or email mitchelc@us.ibm.com for an alternative time.
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Marc-James Abi-Jaoude
IBM Business Automation
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