Introduction
TIBCO® Workspace (simply called “Workspace” throughout the documentation) is a Business Process Management (BPM) application that runs over the internet or an intranet.
To run Workspace, you start an Internet browser, then enter a web address that points to the Workspace application.
Workspace interacts with a server to authenticate you (log in) so that you can access the information needed to perform your job. (Descriptions of the server is beyond the scope of this document.)
As a BPM application, Workspace is used to manage your business processes. It allows you to perform the following types of functions:
- View your “work items”. Each work item represents of some sort of function you are responsible for performing. This could consist of things like filling out a form, reviewing information, approving/denying an application, etc. It depends on the design of your application.
- Your work item list may contain work items that were sent specifically to you. These work items are flagged in the list as “allocated” so that you know they have been allocated specifically to you.
- Or your work item list may contain work items sent to a “group” of users of which you are a member — all members of the group (for example, “loan reviewer” group) receive the work item in their work item list, and any of the members can work on that work item. These work items are flagged in the list as “offered” so that you know they have been offered to all users in the group.
- Apply filter and/or sort parameters so that only the desired work items are listed in the desired order in your work list (inbox).
- Open individual work items.
- Enter information into forms that are displayed when you open a work item.
- Start a business service.
- View instances of processes that are started by business services.
While these are the primary functions you’ll be performing, there are many additional functions that can be performed with Workspace. These are described in the remainder of this document.
Each company that uses Workspace will customize it to fit their specific needs. Each company defines their own business processes, based on the industry they are in. For instance, one company may have a business process for processing an auto loan, whereas another company amy design one for processing an insurance claim.