Task Patterns in Collaborative Semantic Task Management as Means of Corporate Experience Preservation

Task Patterns in Collaborative Semantic Task Management as Means of Corporate Experience Preservation
Uwe Riss, SAP Research CEC Karlsruhe
Benedikt Schmidt, SAP Research CEC Darmstadt
Todor Stoitsev, SAP Research CEC Darmstadt
22. September 2009

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Agenda
Knowledge Work, Task and Task Pattern
Personal Task Pattern (PTP) and Collaborative Task Pattern (CTP)
PTP and CTP implementation
Connecting PTP and CTP
Outlook

Knowledge Work
Symbolic analytic services (Reich, R., The work of nations, 1991)
Demand for flexibility, interdisciplinary cooperation and rapid learning (Pyöriä, P.,The concept of knowledge work revisited, 2005)
Tasks in knowledge work
Processes weakly structured (Byström, K. and Hansen, P., ‘Conceptual Framework for Tasks in Information Studies, 2005’)
Specific information requirements for each step
Problem ridden task execution (Riss, Task journals as means to describe temporal task aspects for reuse in task patterns, 2008)

Terms and Concepts
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Task relations, Byström 05

Tackle Tasks in Knowledge Work

Workflows

Workflow Management
Process-centric approaches
Clearly structured
Specific support
much
Pre-defined
Lacks flexibility

Ad-hoc tasks

Task Management
Task centric approachnes
flexible
Task Externalization
Few structure
Few support

File systems/mails

Data-centric approaches
Personal / Group Information Mgmt.
flexible
No structure
No specific support
few
aspects
application
concept
Externalizationoftasksiskeytosupport but complicatesflexibility
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Tasks as Constituents of Processes
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Weakly-structured
(ad-hoc, informal, human-centric)
business processes
Reconcile the personal task management perspective with the enterprise business process perspective (Riss et al., 2005; Gartner, 2006)
Structured
business processes
(predefined, formal, operational)
Enable process tailoring as collaboration (Mørch & Mehanjiev, 2000; Forrester, 2006)

User Centric Process Support
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high
(local developer)
Visual process modeling
Case handling
Evolutionary workflows
Evolutionary workflows
required IT skills
Email-based workflows
Email-based workflows
Process mining
Knowledge management approaches
Knowledge management approaches
low
(end user)
high (structured)
low (ad-hoc)
formality

E-Mail and its PurposesBetween Information and Task Transfer
high
(archiving)
Personal Information Management
Ad Hoc
Process Management
retention time
Ad Hoc Task Delegation
Original Email Purpose
low
(communication)
high (collaboration)
low (information)
task character
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Task Management Systems for Task Externalization
To-Do lists with resource connection
Most systems concentrate on task organization

Personal Task Execution Support
Task Tracer, Orgegon State University
Unified Activity Management, IBM
Lack ofexecutionsupport
Delegationsof ad-hoc nature
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Task Pattern Concept
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Task Pattern focus on the re-use of task execution data on semi-structured/ad-hoc tasks
Bottom-Up
Task Pattern always based on real occurrences of tasks
Abstraction
Abstract from knowledge captured during execution
Life-cycle
Lifecycle of re-use, exchange and instantiation

Two Types of Task Pattern
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Two aspects of task execution
Structural
Execution
Structural and Execution perspective have different degrees of privacy
Structural: Information on delegation structures  few privacy issues
Execution: Information on personal execution strategies  privacy issues

Two types of Task Patterns:

Personal Task Pattern (PTP), information for execution
Collaborative Task Patterns (CTP) , information on delegation

Delegation Structure
Personal TP
Collaborative TP
Personal Execution Strategies

PTP – Life Cycle
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Personal Task Pattern
Execution/Information-centric
Life-cycle of retrieval, instantiation and enhancement
Life-cycle means Task Pattern improvement
Improvement by implicit enhancement
Improvement by explicit enhancement

Identify Pattern
Pattern Repository
Enriched pattern support future tasks
Pattern
Provide Process Guidance by Pattern
RequestPattern
Enhance Task Pattern
Context Similarity
Task B
Task A
Task C
Task D

PTP – Abstraction
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Describe information needs in a structure
Abstraction Service = basic activity or a basic knowledge requirement for task execution
Problems/Solutions = Capture exception to the rule
Decision/Action Alternatives = Filter Abstraction Services

PTP
*
*
*
Abstraction Service
Problem
Decision
Type
Solution
Direction
Person
Information
Subtask
Resource Purpose in Task Context
Instance
Concept
Example
Abstraction Services

CTP – Delegation Graphs as Basis for Abstraction
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Personal workspace
track
Central enterprise infrastructure
U1
U4
U2
U3

CTP – Abstraction, Life cycle
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adaptation
exchange
Model level:
task patterns
reuse
compose
Instance level:
task instances
(to-do items)
extract/decompose

Implementations
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Personal Task Pattern (PTP)
Personal Task Management System (PTM)
Implemented on the Social Semantic Desktop
Result of NEPOMUK research project
Collaborative Task Pattern (CTP)
Collaborative Task Management System (CTM)
Result of Eudismes research project

PTP and NEPOMUK
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PTM

The social semantic desktop is…
a huge semantic net striving to describe the data involved in the execution of knowledge work processes
Semantic Task Management Framework (STMF) as task perspective on the SSD
KASIMIR…
is one user interface to interact with the STMF
allows the easy maintenance of tasks with attached objects as relations on the SSD
has been extended by functionalities for the maintenance of/ interaction with Task Pattern

KASIMIR sidebar

Retrieve Task Pattern
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PTM
1
exchange
2
3
(1) Filter visible Task Pattern and tasks
(2) Select a Task Pattern or a task
(3) See details to selection

Create/Enhance Task Pattern
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PTM
reuse/enhance
(1) Description(2) Abstraction Services/Decisions/Problems (3) Connected Tasks (4) Task details (5) Simplify view

PTM – Use Task Pattern
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PTM
Adaption/
Instantion
(1) Task Pattern Details (2) Compare Task and Task Pattern (3) Object without Abstraction Service(4) Abstraction Service without object (5) Information Abstraction as Subtask (6) Subtask Abstraction Service with object

CTP and Collaborative Task Management (CTM)
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Collaborative Task Management tracks delegation structures
Re-use of knowledge from ad-hoc processes
Weakly structured processes  Get Task Pattern
Structured processes  Get business processes

CTM
Extraction
Re-use

TDGs result from the delegation of tasks
TDGs show task execution instances
Starting point for abstraction

CTM

NEPOMUK and CTM are two stand-alone systems
Communication of both systems via adapter
Outlook integration of CTM fits organizational demands
NEPOMUK capabilities of personal information
Public/private

CTM
CTPs
PTM
Structure
Personal
Execution
PTPs

CTPs reference PTPs for the specific tasks
Separation of personal information aspect from the structure

CTPs as Structural Connector for PTPs
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CTP
T1
T6
T2
T4
T5
T3
PTP-T5
PTP-T3
PTP-T1
PTP-T6
PTP-T4
PTP-T2

Following the sketched idea both will be connected

Work on PTP and CTP continues in Mature and other research projects

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Definition and Halftone Values of Colors
SAP Blue
SAP Gold
SAP Dark Gray
SAP Gray
SAP Light Gray
RGB 4/53/123
RGB 240/171/0
RGB 102/102/102
RGB 153/153/153
RGB 204/204/204
Primary color palette 100%
Dove
Petrol
Violet/Mauve
Warm Red
Warm Green
RGB 68/105/125
RGB 21/101/112
RGB 85/118/48
RGB 119/74/57
RGB 100/68/89
Secondary color palette100%
RGB 96/127/143
RGB 98/146/147
RGB 110/138/79
RGB 140/101/87
RGB 123/96/114
85%
RGB 125/150/164
RGB 127/166/167
RGB 136/160/111
RGB 161/129/118
RGB 147/125/139
70%
RGB 152/173/183
RGB 154/185/185
RGB 162/180/141
RGB 181/156/147
RGB 170/152/164
55%
RGB 180/195/203
RGB 181/204/204
RGB 187/200/172
RGB 201/183/176
RGB 193/180/189
40%
Cool Green
Ocher
Warning Red
Cool Red
RGB 158/48/57
RGB 73/108/96
RGB 129/110/44
RGB 132/76/84
Tertiary color palette100%
RGB 101/129/120
RGB 148/132/75
RGB 150/103/110
85%
RGB 129/152/144
RGB 167/154/108
RGB 169/130/136
70%
RGB 156/174/168
RGB 186/176/139
RGB 188/157/162
55%
RGB 183/196/191
RGB 205/197/171
RGB 206/183/187
40%

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Task Pattern on the social semantic desktop
Task Pattern realization
Second level
Third level
Fourth level
Fifth level