Intelligent Validation and Routing of Electronic Forms in a Distributed Work Flow Environment

摘要

This paper describes a knowledge-based system for improving the efficiency of automated workflow systems by ensuring the correctness and completeness of data contained on forms that are originated and transmitted electronically, and generating an electronic 'routing slip' that reflects who must approve the form. The system uses a form-independent validation engine and form-specific constraints to check that electronic forms are filled out correctly. If no errors are detected during validation, the system uses information on the form to generate a list of individuals and/or organizations that must approve it. This 'approval path' information is added to the form so that it can be automatically routed from one approver to the next. The system is implemented in CLIPS and currently runs on Macintosh computers. It communicates with an off-the-shelf electronic forms package via AppleScrip(Tm) and can operate within the Apple Open Collaboration Environment (AOCETM), which supports a variety of other workflow capabilities including digital signatures, system-level electronic mail, and data encryption. The system has successfully validated and generated approval paths for approximately ten different types of forms, and is easily extended to new forms via a 'BUILDCLASS' facility that automatically generates the CLIPS code necessary to represent and reason about the new form.