A business role is a swimlane that can represent multiple task executors; when the process reaches the respective task, other users specify who exactly will perform the tasks placed in this swimlane. Business Roles are used for working with documents; they allow you to graphically represent a situation where multiple users receive the same document for acquaintance or approval or execute the same task simultaneously.
Unlike other swimlanes types, the business role allows you to assign a task to multiple users. You need to place only one element in the swimlane (Send for Approval, Send for Acquaintance or Execute and Control Decision Based Tasks) to be able to create several similar tasks in Web Application and assign them to multiple users. The process is suspended until each executor completes the task, then the process continues.
There are three types of business roles: Acquaintance, Approval and Consideration. Each swimlane type is used along with respective document management tasks.
The Acquaintance business role is used along with the Acquaintance task. In the preceding dynamic or static swimlane you must place the New Acquaintance Sheet or Send for Acquaintance tasks which determine the executor(s) of the Acquaintance task placed in the business role swimlane.
The Approval business role is used along with the Approval task. If you place this task in the business role swimlane, the preceding dynamic or static swimlane must contain New Approval Sheet or Send for Approval tasks.
The Consideration business role is used along with the element Execute and Control Decision Based Tasks. When creating the element Execute and Control Decision Based Tasks, the following conditions must be observed:
The preceding dynamic or static swimlane must contain either the Create decision based task or the Make Decision task;
The Create Decision Based Task determines the executor(s) of the Execute and Control Decision Based Tasks;
In the settings of the Make Decision task, on the Advanced tab you must enable the Allow to create tasks option;
Along with tasks mentioned above, the business roles support all basic BPMN elements, except for the user task.
Business roles and document management tasks are turquoise in the graphic model (fig. 1).
Fig. 1. The swimlane of the business role type in the graphic model.
Business role settings
Common tab
Fig.2. The business role settings window. The Common tab.
Name - A swimlane name displayed in the graphic model and in the header of the settings window. By default, a swimlane name is generated by the following template: Swimlane and the swimlane sequence number in the graphic model. If necessary, you can change the swimlane name.
Swimlane Type – Shows the selected swimlane type. The Change Type button allows you to select one of the existing swimlane types.
Business Role Type – Shows the selected type of the business role. The Change Type button allows you to select one of the existing swimlane types: Acquaintance, Approval and Consideration
