Configurable and Executable Task Structures Supporting Knowledge-Intensive Processes

Abstract

The operational support of knowledge-intensive processes (KiPs) constitutes a big challenge. As KiPs tend to be unpredictable and emergent, KiP execution is driven by knowledge workers utilizing their skills, experiences, and expertise. For coordination and synchronization, knowledge workers rely on simple task lists (e.g., to-do lists or checklists). Though these means are intuitive and prevalent, their current implementations are ineffective as well as error-prone: tasks are neither made explicit nor synchronized nor personalized. Furthermore, media disruptions frequently occur and no task lifecycle support is provided. Consequently, the effort knowledge workers invest in task management is not preserved for future KiPs. This work presents the proCollab approach, focusing on the generic concept of task trees. The latter enable to constitute digital task lists of any kind and to establish a task management lifecycle in the context of KiPs. Further, a configuration approach for reusable task lists (i.e., templates) is included to support knowledge workers in configuring task lists at both design and run time. proCollab is implemented as a proof-of-concept prototype and validated along a real-world use case from the healthcare domain. Overall, proCollab improves coordination and synchronization among knowledge workers, prevents media disruptions, and enables the reuse valuable coordination knowledge.