Kathy Miedema, Oracle Applications User Experience
Oracle’s Worklist features are being enhanced for the next generation of business enterprise software. A Worklist describes tasks that require a manager or other employee to intervene and complete, says Carmen D’Arlach, a design architect for Oracle’s Analytics User Experience. A Worklist helps customers organize and route their tasks to the appropriate person within an organization, and tracks where tasks are as they move through a chain of participants. Customers most likely will use a Worklist to route approvals for documents such as expense reports or purchase requisitions. For example, based on who creates the expense report and how much it is for, the report might be routed to an employee in payroll for approval, and later to the company’s bank. The Worklist feature can take automatic action if the approval is not made in a timely fashion; for example, if the appropriate manager is traveling and has delegated the task to someone else. Worklists were the subject of several usability tests during the iterative user interface design process, and the results informed multiple versions of its design. In upcoming generations of enterprise software, the Worklist may provide a notification for any business action, using any channel of communication, such as e-mail, SMS or fax. D’Arlach said most customers designate e-mail to receive notifications about tasks. Worklists will also enable customers to take action on tasks through e-mail. Approve/reject buttons will be provided to help manage information about each task, and the online version of the task will always be accessible through e-mail in case a more complex action is needed. Using Worklists in this way allows customers to spend less time navigating between documents and other applications. The Worklist will also be available as a desktop widget in the next generation of enterprise software. The widget, a small screen that pops up on a customer’s desktop, provides fast access to prioritized tasks that may need immediate attention. Based on workflows and routing rules, the Worklist can show managers what tasks are assigned to whom in the chain of command, and where they are in the process, D’Arlach said. The straightforward presentation of tasks in the Worklist allows users to make decisions quickly when approving expenses, vacations, or hiring; when reviewing documents or proposals; and when managing tasks with updates, attaching documents or rerouting work to another employee.
This screenshot offers a look at the full list page of the Worklist in E-Business Suite, which is the basis for the Worklist in upcoming generations of Oracle enterprise software. At a glance, users can see their list of tasks, when the task was sent, when it is due, and the current status of the task. Click here to view image detail
