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Workflow Manager
This section provides an overview of the special feature embedded in the Bright Futures Application. The Workflow Manager automates the State of Vermont Child Care business rules for serving clients in an effective and appropriate manner.
One of the most beneficial features of the Bright Futures architecture is the embedded Workflow Manager. This feature codifies the State of Vermont Child Care business rules associated with the completion of important pieces of work in order to provide effective services for providers and clients. The Bright Futures workflow manager is the automated process that intelligently identifies and directs what has to be done, when it must be completed and who is responsible for completion. This process uses an "event rules" database to determine what subsequent work (or event) must be completed as the result of the completion of a particular prior event. This workflow manager is the "control panel" for service delivery and resource management, controlling the completion of record events.
In Bright Futures the identified important pieces of work are called 'events'. An event is an activity or milestone in a workflow process that is of lasting interest to the organization. Events summarize discreet units of work and have a life cycle. Events may be linked to subsequent events. Events have a single worker with responsibility for event completion. Events have a planned and actual duration. Bright Futures includes a set of related events - a selection of events commonly associated with providing services for a record (Approvals, Transfers). These events stand-alone - they are used to record a particular service or piece of work performed on behalf of a record and then the work is done.
A graphical overview of the workflow management subsystem of Bright Futures is shown in the figure below:
Once an event is completed, it is evaluated by the workflow manager using rules for the event that have been defined and included in the Bright Futures database. Based on these rules, the workflow manager checks the quality of the work that has been completed and notifies the user of any problems that have been found. When all identified problems have been remedied (missing required data, inconsistent entries, etc.), the workflow manager identifies the work that needs to happen next, identifies when this work must be completed, assigns the work to the appropriate individual, and then notifies anyone else who needs to know about this activity.