How to specify task attributes

Websphere Business Modeler v6.1 Contact us... Quickstart tutorial 3-How to specify task attributes

1. How to specify task attributes
   1. Introduction
   2. How to specify task attributes

How to specify task attributes

Introduction

Task attributes are the characteristics of each of the tasks in your process. You can specify attributes such as costs, duration, revenue, and distribution for any or all of the tasks in your process.

When you create a process diagram, you can specify attributes for the process as a whole, or for any of the tasks that make up your process. These attributes will help you to perform accurate analysis on your process model, and enable you to quickly run meaningful simulations when your process model is complete. Note that when you simulate your process, you can override the attributes that you have set previously in your process model. For a detailed description of simulations, including information on setting preferences, see Simulating processes in the help documentation..

How to specify task attributes

The task of reviewing a loan application at Quickstart Finance takes a certain amount of time to complete. You need to specify the typical duration for the Review Loan Application task in your process model. The company also charges a service fee each time it disburses loan funds to a customer's account. You must also add this revenue to the Disburse Funds task. To specify these task attributes, complete the following steps:

Step 1 - Specify the duration of the Review Loan Application task

1. In the Loan Application process diagram, click the Review Loan Application task to select it.
2. In the Attributes view, click the Duration tab.
3. Expand the Processing time section by clicking its arrow. From the drop-down list, select Specific value.
4. In the value field for minutes, type 30. This value indicates that the average time to review the application form and check the customer's credit rating is 30 minutes.

Step 2 - Specify the revenue generated by the Disburse Funds task

1. In the Loan Application process diagram, click the Disburse Funds task to select it.
2. In the Attributes view, click the Cost and Revenue tab.
3. Expand the Revenue section of the Cost and Revenue tab. Note that you might have to scroll to view the Revenue section.
4. In the value field, type 9.95 and leave the currency as USD. These values indicate that for fund disbursement, Quickstart Finance charges the customer a service fee of $9.95. Note that when you enter a value, the type switches to Specific value automatically.

Step 3

Click File > Save to save the task attributes.

You have now added attributes to two separate tasks in the Loan Application (As Is) process diagram. By specifying task attributes, you can build an accurate, highly detailed model of your actual business process. This level of detail will assist you when you are ready to simulate and analyze your processes—you can run a simulation without having to add or revise any of the attributes that you specify in your process model, or you can run multiple simulations with revised attributes but keep your original process model intact.

Next, you will specify which of your resources will be associated with individual tasks.