When to use K2 SmartActions

SmartActions enables a user to action tasks without the need for access to K2 Workspace or the Worklist Web part.This means that the method of communicating with the K2 Server is not direct and in real-time: The K2 Server may not receive the message immediately and therefore may not respond immediately.

Use of a User form

Currently, at design time the need for a user form is optional and with the introduction of SmartActions, the user’s ability to action a task list item is also no longer dependent on the presence of a user form unless the form displays required fields..

How K2 SmartActions functions and integrates with an Existing K2 installation

The K2 SmartActions capability is derived and provided by the Message Bus which can be thought of as a sibling of the Event Bus. Similar to the Event Bus, the Message Bus also uses a message recorder to appropriate the incoming messaging for the MSMQ and this provides a level of reliability and auditing.

The form of messaging is however asynchronous and this simply means that once the message has been sent there is no confirmation of receipt or monitoring of any sort to ensure that the outcome of the message is what was or is expected.

If an error does occur then the way to troubleshoot the error is by means of the EventBus logs and the System Administrator will need to investigate the error using these logs.

Upgrading from previous releases

The SmartActions changes the manner in which client activities function and this section will deal with some of the issues related to upgrades.

The upgrade process will update the client wizards with the following expected impact on the system:

· A process redeployment or redeployment is required

· URIs are required

· The user form can be removed or left as is

· Customizations

· E-mail customizations remain as is

· The Process Designer must update to the process to include a URI

· The serial number for the process which is appended using the Default Client Event Wizard

· Processes Impact

· The update will apply to new instances of the deployed process

· Existing processes instances will continue to function until they are completed