Concepts in approvals, certification, and remediation
Last modified 28 Oct 2021 11:18 +02:00

TODO some introduction here; see also Approvals terminology.

Relevant for midPoint 3.6. Work in progress.
Generic concept Concept in approvals Represented by Concept in certification Represented by Concept in case management Represented by

Basic unit of processing

Approval process

TaskType with workflowContext

Certification case

AccessCertificationCaseType

Case

CaseType

Description

This is about approving an elementary change (that is to be executed), e.g. assignment of a role.

This is about approving a single fact (that was found), e.g. existence of an assignment of a role.

This is about sorting out a single issue, e.g. non-existence of an org manager, or a need to manually create an account somewhere.

Grouped into

Operation

parent TaskType with workflowContext

Certification campaign

AccessCertificationCampaignType

None: case is the root entity.

Description

It could contain any number of elementary changes requiring approval (along with other changes that could be directly executed).

Campaign is a set of cases being processed at once. A campaign can be a standard or ad-hoc one.

N/A

Consisting of

Approval stages (originally called "levels")

stageNumber (stageCount, stageName, stageDisplayName)
(in workflow context and work item)

Certification campaign stages

stageNumber, stage
(in campaign)

TBD

TBD

Description

Defines a set of approvers. For each approver, a work item is created.

Defines a set of reviewers. For each reviewer, a work item is created.

TBD

Stage result

approved, rejected, silently skipped

ApprovalLevelOutcomeType
(TODO rename to ApprovalStageOutcomeType)

accept, revoke, reduce, notDecided, delegate, noResponse

AccessCertificationResponseType - TODO not all responses are relevant as stage outcome - consider e.g. delegate

TBD

Stage result computation

allMustApprove, firstDecides

level.evaluationStrategy

oneAcceptAccepts, oneDenyDenies, acceptedIfNotDenied, allMustAccept

AccessCertificationCaseOutcomeStrategyType (campaign.stage.outcomeStrategy)

TBD

Overall result computation

approved if all the levels are either approved or skipped; otherwise rejected

N/A

oneAcceptAccepts, oneDenyDenies, acceptedIfNotDenied, allMustAccept

AccessCertificationCaseOutcomeStrategyType (campaign.reviewStrategy.outcomeStrategy)

TBD

Process stop condition

on first stage finished with rejection

N/A

on defined stage results

campaign.stage.stopReviewOn/advanceToNextStageOn, campaign.reviewStrategy.stopReviewOn/advanceToNextStageOn, or given by the stage outcome strategy

TBD

Precomputation of the stage result

It is possible to set "automatically approved" or "automatically completed" expressions. (The former is deprecated.)

level.automaticallyApproved, level.automaticallyCompleted

N/ABut can be simulated using reviewerSpecification and "outcome if no reviewers".

N/A

TBD

Outcome if no actors

any stage result

level.outcomeIfNoApprovers

any stage result

stageDefinition.outcomeIfNoReviewers

TBD

Basic unit of user action

(Workflow) work item

Activiti task, WorkItemType (WfContextType.workItem)

(Certification) work item

AccessCertificationWorkItemType

TBD

Actors expected to take action

assignees (actors)

task.assignee and identity links (type=midpointAssignee),
WorkItemType.assigneeRef (0..N)

reviewers

workItem.reviewerRef

TBD

candidate assignees (candidate actors)

task.candidateUsers, task.candidateGroups
WorkItemType.candidateRef (0..N) (users, abstract roles)

N/A

N/A

TBD

Original actor

original assignee

WorkItemType.originalAssigneeRef (0..1)

original reviewer

workItem.originalReviewerRef

TBD

Actors definition

in the stage definition (collected from policy rules or from roles)

approvalLevel.approverRef, approverRelation, approverExpression - put into assigneeRef if users; and into candidateRef if abstract roles (unless groupExpansion is onWorkItemCreation; in that case roles are expanded into approverRef users on work item creation).

in the stage definition (as present in campaign definition or campaign itself)

stageDefinition.reviewerSpecificationuseTargetOwner, useTargetApprover, useObjectOwner, useObjectApprover, useObjectManager, reviewerExpression, defaultReviewerRef, additionalReviewerRef

TBD

Deadlines and timing

Set for work item

Set for campaign stage

stage.deadline

TBD

Group opening time

Currently not available. Could be derived from "case opening time", because all "cases" (approval process instances) are created at the same time.

Available for campaign.

campaign.start

Group closure time

Currently not directly available. It could be maybe derived from root task execution information; but this might differ between "execute after all approvals" and "execute immediately".

Available for campaign.

campaign.end

Group deadline

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Case opening time

Available in workflow context (and in all its work items).

task.workflowContext.startTimestamp
activiti task variable "startTime", workItem.processStartedTimestamp

Individual cases are bound to the owning campaign. Therefore, their opening and closure times are the same the ones for the campaign; and they are stored within the campaign.
+ + +

Case closure time

Available in workflow context

task.workflowContext.endTimestamp

Case deadline

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Stage opening time

The same as work item creation time (see below).

N/A

In the stage execution information.

campaign.stage.start

Stage closure time

Currently not directly available; only by looking at opening time for the next stage or the whole process.

TODO use WfStageCompletionEventType.timestamp (currently available only for automated stage completion events)

In the stage execution information.

campaign.stage.end

Stage deadline

Not directly available. Can be derived from work items' deadlines.

N/A

In the stage execution information.

campaign.stage.deadline

Stage deadline definition

The duration specified in approval level definition applies to all work items created for that level. However, for individual work items it can be postponed by delegation or escalation.

level.duration

In the stage definition.

campaign.stageDefinition.duration and deadlineRounding (none, hour, day)

TBD

Work item creation time

Available in a work item.

activiti task.createTime, workItem.workItemCreatedTimestamp
(TODO: create also WorkItemCreationEventType?)

The same as stage opening time.

campaign.stage.start

Work item completion time

Not available directly on work item, because work item is deleted at the moment of its completion. But can be retrieved from events list.

WorkItemCompletionEventType.timestamp

Available in a work item.

workItem.closedTimestamp

Work item deadline

Available in a work item.

activiti task.dueDate, workItem.deadline

TODO

TODO

Work item deadline definition

The duration specified in approval level definition applies to all work items created for that level. However, for individual work items it can be postponed by delegation or escalation.

level.duration, delegationAction.duration

TODO

TODO

Escalation

Set for work item

Set for campaign stage ? (TODO)

TODO

TBD

Escalation info

Present in work item (both activiti and JAXB); but also in event list in workflow context.

task variables (present in workItem as well): escalationLevelNumber, escalationLevelName, escalationLevelDisplayNamealso in WorkItemEscalationEventType

Escalation definition

Using timed actions defined for approval stage (level).

Cases in different contexts

Approval process (WfContextType) Certification case (AccessCertificationCaseType) Generic case (CaseType) TODO

processInstanceName

state (URI)

startTimestamp

^ startTimestamp

endTimestamp

^ endTimestamp

closeTimestamp

Consider correct names.

currentStageCreateTimestamp

currentStageDeadline

requesterRef

objectRef

objectRef

targetRef

targetRef

tenantRef

orgRef

activation

not sure if it’s really needed

rootTaskRef

not used but keep it (for the future, maybe)

stageNumber

stageNumber

outcome (URI)

outcome (URI)

outcome (URI)

changeProcessor, processInterface

^ handlerUri

processorSpecificState
(changeAspect, deltasToProcess, resultingDeltas)

assignment, isInducement

processSpecificState
(approvalSchema, policyRules)

^ stageDefinition, ^ reviewStrategy

event

event

event

workItem

workItem

workItem

processInstanceId (externalId)

processName

currentStageOutcome (URI)

keep it (useful e.g. for statistics)

remediedTimestamp

Campaign

start (time of opening the first stage)

end

stageNumber

handlerUri

scopeDefinition, remediationDefinition, stageDefinition, reviewStrategy

stage

definitionRef

ownerRef

state

Work items in different contexts

AbstractWorkItemType Approval work item Certification work item Case work item TODO Comment

name

name

X

TBD

createTimestamp

createTimestamp

X (^currentStageCreateTimestamp)

TBD

deadline

deadline

X (^currentStageDeadline)

TBD

originalAssigneeRef

originalAssigneeRef

originalAssigneeRef

originalAssigneeRef

assigneeRef

assigneeRef

assigneeRef

assigneeRef

candidateRef

candidateRef

X

X

executorRef

executorRef

executorRef

executorRef

output (outcome + comment)

output that includes additionalDelta

output

output

completeTimestamp

X

completeTimestamp

completeTimestamp

stageNumber

stageNumber

stageNumber

X

escalationLevel (number, name, displayName)

escalationLevel

escalationLevel

X

outputChangeTimestamp

additionalInformation

processSpecificPart

Currently empty.

externalId

X means "present but not used now"; ^name means "for this purpose, item named 'name' from the owning entity is used"

Events

Item CaseCreation CaseCompletion StageCompletion WorkItemDelegation WorkItemEscalation WorkItemCompletion TODO

timestamp

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

initiatorRef

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

stageNumber

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

outcome

why not?

Y

automatedDecisionReason
(autoCompletionCondition, noApproversFound)

Y

migrate to URI?

businessContext

Y

workItemId / externalWorkItemId

Y

Y

Y

current escalation level info (#, name, displayName)

Y

Y

Y

originalAssigneeRef

Y

Y

Y

cause (type = userAction/timedAction; name, displayName)

Y

Y

Y

migrate to URI for cause type?

assigneeBefore, delegatedTo (TODO: assigneeAfter)

Y

Y

delegationMethod

Y

Y

migrate to URI?

new escalation level info (#, name, displayName)

Y

output

Y

TODO

  1. migrate enums to URIs (automatedDecisionReason), delegationMethod, cause type, outcome computation strategies (cert/approval), use of outcomes (cert/approval) in definitions and internal structures, …​

  2. historic work items for approvals

  3. create events: StageCreationEventType, WorkItemCreationEventType

Stage definitions

Item Approvals (ApprovalStageDefinitionType) Certification (AccessCertificationStageDefinitionType) TODO

number (1..N)

number

number

name

name

displayName

description

description

evaluationStrategy (firstDecides, allMustApprove)

outcomeStrategy, stopReviewOn, advanceToNextStageOn

migrate to URIs (not necessarily now)

outcomeIfNoApprovers (approve, reject, skip)

outcomeIfNoReviewers

migrate to URIs (not necessarily now)

groupExpansion

formRef

additionalInformation

automaticallyCompleted (was automaticallyApproved)

duration

duration (deadlineRounding)

notifyBeforeDeadline, notifyOnlyWhenNoDecision

timedActions

timedActions

Approver/Reviewer specifications

Item Approvals (ApprovalStageDefinitionType) Certification (AccessCertificationReviewerSpecificationType)

name

description

approverRef

additionalReviewerRef

approverRelation (related to target)

useTargetOwner, useTargetApprover (uses both "ownerRef/approverRef" fields and "org:owner/org:approver" relations)

(currently available only by expression)

useObjectOwner, useObjectApprover (similar to above)

(currently available only by expression)

useObjectManager (orgType, allowSelf)

approverExpression

reviewerExpression

defaultReviewerRef
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