Automating business policies

Question 1

Business policies

Answer 1

• policies make the workflow subjective or conditional (require additional information, add or remove processing steps)
• allows us to automate decisions, define and enforce response time expectations, and automatically route assignments to make processes more efficient and reduce or even eliminate the risk – and cost – of human error.
• Decision rules allow our application to evaluate a course of action in accordance with specified instructions.
• Automated decisions are one of the most-common process improvements we can incorporate into a Pega application.
• the three types of basic decision rules used in Pega applications are When rules, decision tables, and decision trees.
• routers are used to direct an assignment to a specific user or groups of users. (workbasket, worklist)
• routers are another common process-improvement option in Pega applications.

SLA:

• ensure that end users perform the assignments routed to them in a timely manner
• represents a performance expectation – the time in which an end user should complete their assignment
• allow us to define completion intervals for an assignment – or even an entire case – to reflect both a performance goal and a minimum expectation.
• repeating interval to remind end users of open assignments that have exceeded their deadline
• escalation behavior for each interval should the assignment not be completed.

Correspondence

• acts as a template for communications with any party affiliated with a case – the person who created the case, the customer on whose behalf it was filed, or a specialist such as a lawyer, doctor, or engineer.
• process flows can send correspondence at any time in the case lifecycle.
• all communication is logged in the audit trail for the case, allowing us to verify that the correct correspondence was set to the correct party at the appropriate time.

Question 2

where you can set SLA

Answer 2

1. step (process outline, SLA field)
2. stage (stage configuration form, SLA field)
3. case (Case designer landing page/Details tab, goals and deadlines)

Question 3

where and how to use when rules

Answer 3

• alter stage behaviour of a case (skip stage when)
• allow or skip steps within a stage (start when)
• direct flow procession with a fork and connectors (decision shape is type fork, connectors are type when/else)
• hide or display controls, layouts or entire actions (visibility-condition when rule)

Question 4

Testing decision rules

Answer 4

• show conflicts: verify that all the rows/brancehs can be tested
• show completeness: verify that all possible permutations of conditions can be tested
• run the rule: test the decision with realistic data to verify the result

Question 5

How to document SLAs

Answer 5

• service levels can be applied to either an individual assignment or an entire case
• service level establishes guidelines for what the business considers an acceptable timeframe in which to perform work
• start documenting response-time needs with business-rule requirements which provide us with an understanding of the business’ expectations (e.g. Managers should approve expense reports within 48 hours)
• case-level expectation/requirements have to be further finegrained to individual assignments.
• after completion reference the requirements in the corresponding specifications
• each specification should clearly define the time allotted for each interval, the number of times to repeat the “passed deadline” reminder, any delay before for the corresponding assignment.
• assignment specification should establish the mechanism for enforcing the service level, including any escalation paths.
• urgency adjustments – especially those for assignments – should be consistent from one service level to another. Otherwise, an assignment that passes its goal with an urgency of 90 will appear more important than an assignment that has passed its deadline with an urgency of 50.
• remember that some escalation actions may require collaboration with a system architect to configure correctly
• document intervals and excalation actions

Question 6

possible actions in case reaching deadline (SLA)

Answer 6

• Apply Data Transform
• Call Flow
• Advance Flow
• Notify Assignee
• Notify Manager
• Notify Party
• Transfer
• Run Activity

Question 7

SA and BA decision rule responsibilites

Answer 7

BA:

• describe business policies in specs
• use decisions rules in flows
• define simple decision rules

SA:

• complex decision rules
• reusable rules (routers, UI, data transform)