pp108 : General notes on User-Team Assignments

General notes on User-Team Assignments

CWS Workspace ID

There are many methods in the API which require a parameter WorkspaceID. Due to the underlying implementation of these methods, each method is allotted with a Workspace ID. The WorkspaceID must be the ID of a valid CWS Workspace.

In a standard Process Platform installation, there are two important workspaces:

  • Runtime workspace - The Runtime workspace is a read-only workspace from which the Runtime assignment content is read. Generally, this workspace is used by the consumers of the user assignments like My Inbox or Business Process Service. This workspace is identified with an empty node WorkspaceID <WorkspaceID></WorkspaceID> or by omitting the WorkspaceID parameter.
    .
  • Staging workspace - The Staging workspace is of the type read-write in which the modifications on user assignments are made. Generally, this workspace is used by the methods which automatically deploy the user assignment content into the runtime workspace. The workspace is identified by workspace ID '__Organization Staging__'  (enclosed with underscores).
    Applications, such as User Manager, that maintain the user assignments utilize this workspace and is mostly preferred by the users who wish to implement their own method of maintaining the user assignments.

Assignment Root

An assignment root is a container that holds a number of user assignments. For the methods that access or update any user assignment, there is a parameter called AssignmentRoot. This AssignmentRoot is a GUID and can be retrieved from InitializeAssignmentRoot.
In a standard Process Platform installation, the assignment root named 'CIUIRoot' is used. In cases where the API requires an Assignment root ID and where no value is specified, the assignment root 'CIUIRoot' is used.

Note : Assignment Root used in all the SOAP APIs will work only after getting the response from InitializeAssignmentRoot or after opening 'User Manager'  (All the teams associated so far will be initialized).

Principal Unit

Both Business Process Model and Case Model provide escalation management techniques to handle situations where an activity is not completed in time. One of the escalation options is to notify the manager of the user that handles the activity. A user assignment is used to identify the manager of the user. A manager is the person who is assigned the lead role of the team the user belongs.
If the user is assigned to only one unit, the procedure to retrieve the manager is clear (see also getManagersOfUser). However, a user can be assigned to more than one unit, and each of these units may have its own manager. In this case, one of the units the user is assigned to must be marked as the principal unit. Also, note that for a user, there can be only one unit marked as principal unit.