Authors:
Todor Stoitsev
1
;
Stefan Scheidl
1
;
Felix Flentge
2
and
Max Mühlhäuser
2
Affiliations:
1
SAP Research, SAP AG, Germany
;
2
Telecooperation Group, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany
Keyword(s):
End user development, computer supported cooperative work, ad-hoc workflow, knowledge management, human computer interaction.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Enterprise Information Systems
;
HCI on Enterprise Information Systems
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Intranet and Extranet Business Applications
;
Software Agents and Internet Computing
Abstract:
Enterprises face the challenge of managing underspecified, human-centric business processes, which are executed in distributed teams in a rather informal, ad-hoc manner. This gave hibernating CSCW and ad-hoc workflow research a new push recently. However, there is still the need to clearly perceive end users as the actual drivers of business processes and to enable them to proactively tailor these processes according to their actual expertise and problem solving strategies. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a prototype for end-user development of weakly-structured process models through email-integrated task management. The presented CTM (Collaborative Task Manager) prototype uses “programming by example” to leverage user experience with standard email and task management applications and to extend user skills towards the definition of reusable process structures. By closely correlating to the actual user work practices and software environment, the tool provides a “ge
ntle slope of complexity” for end users engaging in process tailoring activities.
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