Contents
Overview
Scenario
Running the Demo
About Active Endpoints

Loan Process Demo User Guide

Overview

This sample demonstrates how Web Services and human workflow can be used together within a single business process orchestration.  The demo leverages ActiveVOS Central for working with human tasks, shows how to incorporate helper widgets and services in task forms, and also highlights how to use deadlines and escalations with regard to human facing tasks.  

The Loan Process reads an XML document from the resource catalog, which controls branching logic within the process.  If more than one loan over the threshold is requested within an hour, a manager is assigned a task automatically to review the threshold for loan amounts which can be automatically processed by the system.

Scenario

Title: Loan Processing

Actors

Steve: Customer Service Representative

Wendy: Loan Representative

Marcy: Loan Processing Manager

Mike: Operations Staff

Description

Steve is a Customer Service Representative for a financial services firm.  Customers who call to request a new loans (personal or professional) are routed to his group for processing.  Steve enters the customer information into a request form which kicks-off the Loan Request process.  Depending on the risk level of the customer and the amount being requested, the loan will either be automatically approved, automatically declined, or placed into a work queue for a loan representative to review.

Process Steps

The Loan Process contains the following high-level activities:

• Steve, a Customer Service Representative submits a loan request on behalf of a customer

• A new instance of the Loan Process is instantiated

• The ActiveVOS Resource Catalog is accessed to determine the maximum loan amount that can be automatically processed without the need for a loan representative to review

• The initial 'cutoff amount' registered in the catalog is set to $50,000.  Loans exceeding this amount are considered to be 'large loans' which will be reviewed by a loan representative.

• A partner service is called to determine the risk-level of the customer
• The sample partner service returns the following
• If the rate >= 6 and loan-amount >= 50000 the risk-level returned = 'high'
• If the rate <= 8 and loan-amount <=5000 the risk-level returned =  'low'
• All other combinations return a risk-level = 'review'

• If the loan amount >= 'cutoff amount' (initial default = 50,000) OR the risk-level is 'review', a task is created for a person in the loan representative group to review the loan application

• If the loan amount < 'cutoff amount' AND the risk-level is 'low', the loan is automatically approved.

• If the loan amount < 'cutoff amount' AND the risk-level is 'high', the loan is automatically declined.   

• Using ActiveVOS Process Request Forms in ActiveVOS Central, the initial cut-off amount could be modified. Increasing the threshold will potentially result in fewer loans requiring human approval.

Running the Demo

The demo application takes you through the loan approval process from the viewpoint of the customer service representative, the loan representative, and the IT / Management.  With those roles in mind, and assuming the setup instructions have been carried out, the following links are used for the demo:

Actor(s) / Action	URL	ID & Password (same value for both)
Steve: Enters a new loan request on behalf of his customer	http://localhost:8080/activevos-central/login.jsp	loancsr1
Wendy: Reviews loan applications that are either 'large' loans or customers with an unknown credit history.	http://localhost:8080/activevos-central/login.jsp	loanrep1
Marcy: Can also claim and work on loan reviews.  She can also adjust the 'cutoff' threshold used to determine if loans can be automatically processed or require human review.	http://localhost:8080/activevos-central/login.jsp	loanmgr1
Mike: Reviews activity from within the ActiveVOS Console	ActiveVOS Console	no credentials required

Steve: Submits a loan request on behalf of his customer

1) Open a browser and navigate to ActiveVOS Central (http://localhost:8080/activevos-central)
        
2) Log on as loancsr1 / loancsr1


3) Select the Request category in the left navigation pane

4) Select the Loans and Credit folder

5) Select Personal Loan Application

6) Select the Open in Tab button to open the form in its own tab (giving you a little more realestate to work with)


7) Enter loan details and press the Submit button at the bottom of the form

• Remember, to ensure a task is created to review the loan, either enter a loan-amount > 50000 or an interest rate > 8 (or containing string data as seen below).

• Notice how the form contains embedded web pages and links to assist the CSR in finding the best available interest rate and additional documentation that needs to be provided by the loan applicant

Mike: Views the ActiveVOS Console

The ActiveVOS Console provides a wealth of information for both business users and IT personnel.  For security reasons, access to various pages within the console can be restricted from use.

Process instance information and data logs are persisted to a database.  By using the console, it is possible to view details about processes in any state (running, completed, suspended, faulted, etc.).  It is also possible for administrators to suspend or terminate running processes.  If a process is suspended, process variables can be modified and the process can be resumed – allowing owners or administrators the ability to 'fix' a process that may be in trouble.

A typical use case for looking at the details of a process instance is to debug a process that has faulted.  Root-cause analysis is a case for examining a process that completed normally - for instance an auditor may need to determine exactly what happened to cause the outcome of a specific process instance.

1) Log into the ActiveVOS Console at http://localhost:8080/activevos/home.action


2) From the home page, navigate to the Active Processes listing and identify the process instance

3) Click on either the Process ID or Name to display instance details

4) You're presented with a graphical representation of the process (shown below)

• Select process variables, activities and objects – details are displayed directly under the process graph
• Suspend or terminate running processes, and resume a process if it’s been suspended
  

Wendy: Reviews the loan application and makes a decision

For loan applications where the customer's credit history is unknown, or any loan that is considered 'large' (as determined by a business rule within the process), the loan must be reviewed by a loan representative.  All other loans are automatically either approved or denied by the process.  As a Loan Representative, Wendy will claim, review and complete the next available loan application within her work queue.


1) Log into the ActiveVOS Central task list with the credentials of loanrep1 / loanrep1. 2) Select the Tasks category in the left navigation page

3) Select the Loans waiting to be processed folder. Note the customized view of the task list shown below.  This customized view was created by adding a taskColumns section to the deploy/ReportsAndForms.avcconfig file. This view has user defined columns that can be sorted and the values in each column can be used to filter the list by using the Search box.  You can compare this view to the standard view by selecting another Task category such as the view labeled Loans I'm Reviewing.

4) Select the task containing the loan information you've just entered

5) Click the claim button to claim and start the task.

• You can work on the task directly in the preview pane (the area below the task list), or click on the Open in Tab button to view and work on the task in a separate tab. 

6) Approve the loan by selecting 'approved" from the Response to Loan Request dropdown list control

7) Enter additional text for the Response Description

8) Click on the Complete button


9) If you've opened the task in a separate tab, close the tab

10) Refresh the task list by selecting the refresh button

• The task is no longer in the work queue, but can now be view from the Loans I've processed folder

11) At this point, the ActiveVOS Console should show that the process has completed successfully

High Risk Information to the Customer Service Representative

When the Risk Assesment service classifies the loan request as 'High Risk', the loan request is declined and a customer service representative is notified. This is been carried out using Business Event Processing.

1) Log into the ActiveVOS Central task list with the credentials of loancsr1 / loancsr1.

2) Select the Request category in the left navigation pane > Loans and Credit > Personal Loan Application

3) Enter loan details and press the Submit button at the bottom of the form

** Remember, to ensure that the loan request is rejected as a 'high risk', either enter a loan-amount >= 50000 and an interest rate > 6

At this point, the ActiveVOS Console  would display the NotifyCustomer process being invoked, which inturn invokes the LoanCRM Proces to notify a Customer Service Representattve.