How to provide external
assignments through directed Web access How to provide external
assignments through directed Web accessDirected Web Access (DWA) allows anyone accessing the World Wide Web (or an intranet) and e-mail to process an assignment, on a one-time or infrequent as-needed basis. This feature extends the scope and reach of your application to employees throughout the enterprise, trusted customers and suppliers, and anyone else you want to obtain information from.
Assignments define the parts of processing of a work object that requires human judgment, expertise, and data entry that are often completed by trained users of the application. Assignments sent to such outside parties are known as external assignments. They improve accountability, eliminate telephone calls, prevent the need for rework caused by answers from outsiders that don't pass edits, and give visibility to the responsiveness of these outside parties.
To list outstanding external assignments, select View > System > External Assignments.
To send the external assignment someone, the application includes a specially formatted URL within the text of an e-mail. When the e-mail recipient clicks this URL, a Web browser session starts and automatically submits a once-only identifier and password to your Process Commander server.
After authenticating these values, Process Commander sends an assignment to the user's browser. After a user completes and submits this form, the requestor connection ends. The external user cannot repeat the assignment or reuse the URL or password.
For security reasons, the URL for an external assignment must be static — not generated or altered by JavaScript or other processing at runtime. Because of this restriction, the flow action cannot use AJAX, dynamic select, or SmartPrompt, which require multiple server interactions.
External assignments are instances of the Assign-External class (or of a subclass). The standard activity Work-.External creates these assignments.
Technically, a user can
open the assignment using link multiple times, but only
use Submit successfully once. An internal token in the URL
— the pzSUS value — ensures security
and one-time use. CLINIC 1/26/07
Complete these steps to support directed Web access in your application:
1. Create an Operator ID or IDs that start with the reserved
word External.Include a password for the operator.
Specify in the Operator ID form an access group, organization,
and division that correctly provide the external operator with
the ability to complete the external assignment and correctly
identify the operator in history records. On the Security tab, set the License
Type field to Invocation.
2. Update the Data-Admin-System-Settings rule named Pega-ProCom. PublicLinkURL to identify the URL of your system, for example:
http://mysystem/pr3web/PRServlet
Identify here the URL that is to be conveyed to external users; this may identify a proxy server. The standard function rule getPublicLinkURL(), referenced in the correspondence, accesses this Dynamic Systems Settings value.
3. Create a correspondence rule (Rule-Obj-Corr
type) with Email as the Correspondence
Type. By convention, choose a Stream
Name key for the correspondence rule that starts with
the word "External".
4. In the Stream Source field, use an include directive to copy in the standard correspondence fragment named ExternalInstructions.Email at the point where the link is needed.
For example:
Dear {.pyCustomerName}:
{.pyNote Normal}
{INCLUDE FRAGMENT="ExternalInstructions" }
Our thanks.
{pyCorrPage.pySignature NORMAL }
3. Include the standard flow action EngageExternal (or another you have based on that one) as a local flow action in an assignment. When selected, this starts a flow execution of the standard flow Work-.EngageExternalQuick.
5. Test the flow. At runtime, the operator uses the EngageExternal flow action to identify the party (or email-addressee) to receive the e-mail correspondence, enter a subject line, and select the correspondence rule.
The system creates the external assignment. Flow execution pauses until the external party completes the external assignment. The link in the external assignment does not require sign-on, but can only be used once.
If you want processing in the flow to continue without waiting for the external assignment to be completed, use a spin-off shape in the flow to start the standard flow Work-.EngageExternalForInformation.
If the external user is only to supply text for a note, use the EnterInformationExternal flow action.
Ordinarily, each use of this facility counts as a Web invocation in the reports prepared by the License Compliance facility. To see a chart of period-by-period counts of Web invocations on your system, select View > System> Usage > Web Invocations Chart.
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assignment, external assignment, perform |
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License Compliance facility — Reports and charts |
Process category