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Work Item Lists

A work item list presents all of the work items that are in a particular work queue.

To view a work item list, select (single click) a work queue in the work queue list:

When you select a work queue, one of two screens is displayed:

•	The work item list (as in the example above)

•	A filter dialog for the work item list

The window that is displayed depends on how your system has been set up. By default, the work item list is displayed. However, there is a user options setting that allows you to specify that if the number of work items in the queue exceeds a specified threshold, to automatically display the filter dialog first. This allows you to enter a filter expression to pare down the list before displaying it.

For information about specifying whether or not to display the filter dialog first, see Filter Options.

For information about using the filter dialog to filter the work item list, see Filtering a Work Item List.

If the work item list is displayed, and the Filter icon on the work item list toolbar has a green check mark, the list is currently being filtered — the last filter expression applied to the work item list is in effect. For more information, see Filtering a Work Item List.

Also, if the Sort icon on the work item list toolbar has a green check mark, the list is currently being sorted — the last sort criteria applied to the work item list is in effect. For more information, see Sorting a Work Item List.

Information about each work item is provided in the columns of the work item list. The specific information that is displayed on your system will depend on how your system was set up — see Customizing Columns in a List.

Selecting Items in a Work Item List

The effect of selecting an item from the work item list (i.e., single-clicking an item, or moving the highlight bar with the keyboard arrow keys) depends on whether or not the preview feature is turned on:

•	If preview is turned off, selecting an item from the work item list has no effect.

•	If preview is turned on, selecting a work item from the work item list causes the work item summary to be displayed in the Preview Pane section, as follows:

The work item summary provides more information about the work item than what may be available from the columns in the work item list.

Double-clicking on a work item in the work item list constitutes opening the work item. Opening the work item causes the form for that work item to be displayed. For information about opening work items, see Opening Work Items.

The preview feature can be turned on and off using the icon on the work item list toolbar, or by selecting Preview from the work item list View menu.

The following drop-down menu is displayed:

You can turn preview on by selecting either of the first two selections — the difference between the two is where the work item form will be displayed when you open (double-click) the work item in the work item list.

You can turn off the preview feature by selecting the Preview Off selection.

For additional information about selecting items in general from lists, see Selecting Items in a List.

Work Item List Columns

By default, certain columns are displayed in a work item list. You can easily customize the columns that are displayed by either using the Column Selector, or by changing them manually. For information, see Customizing Columns in a List.

The following table describes the columns of information that can be displayed on the work item list:

Column Name	Meaning
Addressee	The user to whom the work item was sent. This is in the form username@node, where node is the name of the TIBCO iProcess Engine to which the iProcess Workspace (Browser) is connected (which is the same value in the Host Node column).
Arrival Date/Time	The date and time the work item arrived in the work queue. The order of the month and day (DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY) depends on a setting on the iProcess Engine to which you are logged in.
Case Description	The description that was entered when the case that generated this work item was started.
Case Number	A unique number used to identify the case. This is generated when the case is started.
Deadline Date/Time	The date and time the work item’s deadline expires. If the work item does not have a deadline, this column is blank.
Deadline Expired / Deadline Expired Image	True - The work item has an expired deadline. False - The work item does not have an expired deadline.
Deadline Set / Deadline Set Image	True - The work item has a deadline. False - The work item does not have a deadline.
Deadline Status	An icon appears in this column if the work item has a deadline — it indicates whether or not the deadline is expired. For more information, see Work Item Deadlines.
Forwardable / Forwardable Image	True - The step definition in the procedure allows resulting work items to be forwarded. False - The step definition in the procedure does not allow resulting work items to be forward.1
Host Node	The name of the TIBCO iProcess Engine to which the iProcess Workspace (Browser) is connected.
Keep On Withdrawal / Keep On Withdrawal Image	True - The step was defined to be “kept on withdrawal” (see Keep on Withdrawal). False - The step was not defined to be “kept on withdrawal”.
Locked / Locked Image	True - The work item is currently locked (opened) by a user of an application other than the TIBCO iProcess Workspace (Browser) application. False - The work item is not currently locked by a user of an application other than the TIBCO iProcess Workspace (Browser) application.2
Locked By	The name of the user who has the work item open (locked).
Long Locked / Long Locked Image	True - The work item is currently locked (opened) by a user of the TIBCO iProcess Workspace (Browser) application. False - The work item is not currently locked (opened) by a user of the TIBCO iProcess Workspace (Browser) application.1
Mail Id	A number that uniquely identifies the work item; primarily used internally.
Orphaned / Orphaned Image	True - The work item still appears in the work queue even though it has been released by another user. It will be removed when the list is refreshed. False - The work item has not been released and is available to be processed.
Priority	A value that indicates the relative importance of the work item. This is specified when the step that generated the work item is defined in the procedure.
Procedure Description	A description of the procedure from which the work item was generated.
Procedure Name	The name of the procedure from which the work item was generated.
Reference	A unique number that identifies the case from which the work item was generated.
Releasable / Releasable Image	True - The work item contains no input fields (required or optional) — it is directly releasable. False - The work item contains input fields.
Started By	The user that started the case from which the work item was generated. This is in the form username@node, where node is the name of the TIBCO iProcess Engine to which the iProcess Workspace (Browser) is connected (which is the same value in the Host Node column).
Status	An icon that indicates the current status of the work item. For more information, see Work Item Status.
Step Description	A description of the step related to the work item.
Step Name	The name of the step related to the work item.
Suspended / Suspended Image	True - The work item is in a case that has been suspended. False - The work item’s case has not been suspended.
Unopened / Unopened Image	True - The work item has not been opened, i.e., it is a “new” work item. False - The work item has been opened.
Urgent / Urgent Image	True - The work item is flagged as urgent. Whether or not a work item is urgent depends on a priority value given to the step when the procedure was created, as well as a configuration value specified in the server. That is, if the priority exceeds (is smaller than — with 1 being the highest priority) the configuration value, the work item is flagged as urgent. False - The work item has not been flagged as “urgent”.
Version	The version of the procedure from which the work item was generated.
WQParameter 1-4	These “work queue parameter” fields may contain case data that was entered on a form. These fields must be specifically configured to display case data so that they (the WQParameter fields) can be used to filter or sort the work item list.

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1

Although the step definition does not allow resulting work items to be forwarded, some users may still be able to forward the work item (e.g., system administrators) — for more information, see Forwarding Work Items.

2

For more information about the difference between a “lock” and a “long lock”, see Opening / Locking Work Items Multiple Times.

Number of Work Items in a Work Item List

There is an indicator in the header bar of the work item list to tell you how many work items are in the list. This number is displayed to the right of the Find button. In this example, there are 34 work items.

Note that this number may indicate the number of work items in the list after it has been filtered using the filter dialog — if the list has been filtered in this way, there will be a red check mark on the Filter icon (for information about using the filter dialog to filter work items, see Filtering a Work Item List).

This number can also be shown in two other formats:

•	##(##) - This format (e.g., 60(466)) is displayed if you have clicked on the Find button, but you are not using the “server filter” feature with the find function. For more information about using the find function and the server filter feature, see Finding Work Items in the Work Item List.

The number in the parentheses is the number of work items in the list. The number outside the parentheses is the number of work items that have been downloaded from the iProcess Engine; the find function will search through only the work items that have been downloaded from the iProcess Engine (work items are downloaded from the iProcess Engine only when you view the page containing those work items; viewing additional pages of work items causes more work items to be downloaded).

•

#/##(##) - This format (e.g. 10/60(466)) is displayed if you have clicked the Find button and have entered search criteria to find work items in the list, but you are not using the “server filter” feature with the find function. For more information about using the find function and the server filter feature, see Finding Work Items in the Work Item List.

The number before the forward slash is the number of work items that it found based on the criteria you entered (it only searches through the work items that have been downloaded from the iProcess Engine (60 in this example)).

Work Item List Page Size

When a list of work items is displayed on your screen, only a page of work items is displayed at one time. This is done to speed up the display, especially if there are a very large number of work items.

If the list contains more work items than the number specified for the page, you can step through the multiple pages by clicking on the arrow icons in the lower right corner of the list:

In this example, there are 1992 work items in the list, and it is currently displaying the first page (which is specified as 20).

The number of work items in a page defaults to 20. You can change this number by selecting Page Size from the View menu on the work item list (note that this function is disabled if the local find function is currently active — see Finding Work Items in the Work Item List). The following dialog is displayed:

Enter the number of work items you would like displayed on each page.

You can also make this page size persistent by checking the “default page size” box. If checked, the size specified becomes the default page size for work item lists every time you log in to the current machine (it is only saved locally; if you log into a different machine, it is not in effect).

From a performance standpoint, it’s important that you understand that when a page of work items is displayed, the information about the work items in the page is downloaded from the iProcess Engine. Because of that, you should keep the page size at a reasonable number. If the page size is a large number, you could experience a delay when displaying a work item list due to the amount of information that must be downloaded.

If you click on a column header to sort the work items by that column, the sort is applied only to each individual page. It does not sort down through the entire work item list. For more information, see Sorting the Work Item List Using Column Headers. (If you need to sort through the entire list, make the page size large enough to encompass the entire list, or sort using the sort dialog. For information about the sort dialog, see Sorting a Work Item List.)

Finding Work Items in the Work Item List

The work item list contains a Find button that can be used to quickly find work items in the work item list.

For general information about using the find function, see Finding Items in a List. Note, however, that the find function works somewhat different when used with the work item list because of the way in which work items are downloaded from the server.

When used on the work item list, the find function can be used in one of the following two modes:

•

Local Find - When using the find function in this mode, the system only searches through the pages of work items that have been downloaded from the server so far. Work items are downloaded from the server only when you view the page on which the work items are listed. For instance, if you’ve viewed two pages each containing 20 work items, only those 40 work items have been downloaded — the find function in local mode will only search through those 40 work items.

To perform a local find, ensure that the Server Filter check box is not checked before entering your find criteria:

Also note that the Type Ahead feature is available to use if you are performing a local find (it is not available when using the server find mode). For information about using the Type Ahead feature, see Finding Items in a List.

•

Server Find - When using the find function in this mode, the system actually performs the search on the server, looking through the entire work item list, not just the work items that have been downloaded to the client. Note, however, that if you have filtered the list using the filter dialog prior to using the find function, the find function will only search through the work items that have satisfied the filter criteria.

The thing to bear in mind when using the server find mode is that it requires that a message be sent to the server, and that the search be performed on the entire list (possibly filtered) at the server. This can take some time if it is a very large list. (If it’s a very large list, you should pare it down first using the filter dialog prior to using the find function.)

To perform a server find, ensure that the Server Filter check box is checked before entering your find criteria:

Also note that the Type Ahead feature is NOT available to use if you are performing a server find (it is available when using the local find mode).

Wild card characters can also be used with the Server Find function, where “?” matches any single character, and “*” matches zero or more of any character.

The state of the Server Filter check box will persist between work item lists, as well as between logins. That is, whenever you display a work item list, and click on the Find button, the Server Filter check box will be in the same state you left it the last time you used the find function (it is not checked by default the very first time you click Find). (Note that the server filter state is only saved locally; if you log into a different machine, it will likely be different.)

Using the Find Function With the Filter Function

When using the find function on work item lists, it is often used in conjunction with the filter function (for information about the filter function, see Filtering a Work Item List). When used on the work item list, the intent is for the find function to refine the search that has already been done using the filter function. Typically, the filter function is used to present a list of work items that are of continual interest. You can then use the find function to further refine the search through the list of filtered work items. When you are done with the find function, and close it, the list returns to the list presented by the filter function. If you want a different list of work items that are of continual interest, the list should be filtered using the filter function.

Note that the Filter, Sort, Refresh, and Auto-Refresh icons and menu selections are disabled while the find function is being used — you must close the find function to change filter or sort criteria, or to refresh the list. Also, if you have the auto-refresh feature turned on, it is temporarily disabled while the find function is being used.

Refreshing the Work Item List

When a work item list is initially displayed, it is a snap shot of the work items at that point in time. You can refresh the list to get the most recent list of work items from the iProcess Engine by:

•	selecting Refresh Work Items from the Tools menu, or

•	by clicking on the icon.

If you have defined filter and/or sort criteria for the work item list, they will be applied on the refreshed list of work items — the work item list is displayed if the number of work items does not exceed the specified number; the filter dialog is displayed if the number of work items exceeds the specified number (for more information, see Filtering a Work Item List).

Auto-Refresh of Work Item Lists

Work item lists also have an “auto-refresh” feature that, when enabled, causes the work item list to be automatically refreshed at specified intervals. The other list types do not have this feature.

To enable or disable the auto-refresh feature, either select Auto-Refresh from the work item list View menu, or click on the icon. The following dialog is displayed:

To enable auto-refresh, check the Auto-refresh check box, specify the number of seconds you would like between refreshes (the minimum you can specify is 5 seconds), then click OK.

There is an indicator on the left side of the work item list status bar that tells you the current state of the auto-refresh feature:

This indicator will change to “Refreshing...” when the list is in the process of being refreshed.

You can specify whether auto-refresh is enabled or disabled by default every time you log in. This is done on the Options dialog — see Auto-Refresh of Work Item Lists.

Work Item Status

By default, the first column in the work item list displays icons that indicate the work item’s status. The following table shows the possible icons and their meanings:

 

Icon	Work Item Status
	The work item is “new” (i.e., it has never been opened).
	The work item has been opened since it arrived in the work queue.
	If the icon is “grayed out”, it indicates the work item is part of a suspended case. The work item cannot be opened while the case is in a suspended state. A suspended work item may be one that has never been opened, or one that has been opened since it arrived in the work queue. For more information, see Case Suspensions.
	The work item is currently locked by a user.
	The work item is flagged as urgent. Note that this icon can be displayed in combination with any of the other icons. For example, the work item might be “new” and “urgent”. For example:

Opening a Case from the Work Item List

Opening a case causes the case details to be displayed. Case details are presented in a tabbed format that contains Summary, History, Outstanding, and Data tabs. As the names of the tabs imply, you can view a summary of the case, the case history details, information about the outstanding work items in the case, and view/modify the case data fields.

You can open the case that is associated with a particular work item, by selecting the work item in the work item list, then:

−	select Open Case from the Tools menu,

You cannot open a case for multiple work items from the work item list. If you select multiple work items, the Open Case function becomes disabled.

−	right-click the mouse button on the desired case and select Open Case from the drop-down menu, or

−	click on the icon on the work item list.

All of these methods of opening a case cause the selected case to be displayed:

Note that when opened from the work item list, the case details are always displayed in a separate dialog — i.e., they cannot be displayed in the preview pane).

For information about using each of the tabs in the case details, see the following:

•	Summary Tab - Case Summary

•	History Tab - Case History

•	Outstanding Tab - Outstanding Work Items in the Case

•	Data Tab - Case Data Fields

Copyright © Cloud Software Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved