alfresco orbeon egov solution

5/20/2018 Alfresco Orbeon Egov Solution

1/48

Implementing eGovernment Portal

Powered by Alfresco and OrbeonOksana Kurysheva Alexey Ermakov


2/48

Agenda

Part I Problem definition and brief overview of the approach

Local eGovernment Portals Russian experience current stateand the most challenging problems

Technical requirements what do we need, what Alfresco providedand where 3rdparty solution help was required

Overall architecture of the system based on Alfresco and Orbeon

Part II Implementation details

Integrating Alfresco and Orbeon in less then a month detailedarchitecture, configs, key sources snippets

Workflows implementation theory and practice what we neededin real life in addition to Alfresco out-of-the-box capabilities


3/48

Part I:Problems faced and approach chosen


4/48

The aim

Make government services available for citizensand businesses online in electronic form


5/48

The aim


Information about government services and ways of obtaining


6/48

Typical local eGov portal: information web site

Static information about eGov services is available


7/48

The aim


Information about government services and ways of obtaining Ability to submit a re!uest to receive government services online

"ull back#office integration$ including inter#agency cooperation


8/48

Main problems to address

Convert existing paper forms into electronic format

Establish workflows to execute submitted forms


9/48

Addressing electronic forms creation

Creating forms sounds simple. But it is not:

"orms can be really huge and complicated

"orms change time to time %monthly update for some of them&

'ist of forms to be available online is not fixed ( it is regulated byfederal and local laws$ updates happen few times a year

Each agency has its own re!uirements

Bottom line: there is no way to create forms definitions once


10/48

Addressing electronic forms creation

The only possible solution: government employees can createand edit forms definitions themselves

It means creation and editing of do)ens of complicated forms by

non#technical users %including auto#checking configuration$ mapping

to templates for printing$ etc&

We need visual form authoring tool


11/48

Electronic forms management: finding the tool

What Alfresco is:

Document management

Forms storage andmanagement

Workflow automationplatform (discussed further)

Open and flexible ECM thatcreates the basis for future

inter-agency cooperationand systems integration

What Alfresco is not:

Form authoring tool thatallows non-technical users tocreate complicated forms

visually

Approach: integrate Alfresco and Orbeon


12/48

What is Orbeon?

Orbeon Forms open source forms solution

Based on XForms and Ajax

Implemented in Java

Integration-friendly (discussed further)

Orbeon consists of 2 modules:

Forms Builder visual form authoring tool

Forms Runner runtime for deployed forms


13/48

Form definition creation in Orbeon Builder

Visual form definition editor


14/48

Form definition creation in Orbeon BuilderAdding auto-checking rules to control


15/48

"orm definition creation in Orbeon *uilder

Uploading PDF template for printing according with localregulation (prepared in usual OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice)


16/48

Published formexample


17/48

Solution: forms authoring and submission


18/48

Addressing workflows: basic diagram


19/48

Addressing workflows: basic diagram

The issue:Step 8 is actually a monstrous non-formalized process


20/48

Addressing workflows

The issue: internal workflows are not fixed strictly

Each basic 'atomic' internal workflow can be described in details butthroughout form execution can not:

There are a lot of optional stages that can be included or not

Single form execution can trigger lots of internal processes to requestadditional papers, approvals, notifications an so on

Each sub-process can trigger even more child processes

Yeh, Russia is a very bureaucratic country after all


21/48

Addressing workflows

Solution: create workflows relations

Create basic 'atomic' workflows definitions

Allow users to associate these simple workflows with each other tobuild complex processes on demand


22/48

Solution: complete architecture


23/48

Part II:Implementation details


24/48

Orbeon Integration: Approach


25/48

Orbeon Integration: Implementation


26/48

Persistence API Implementation

REST Web Scripts

PUT: add new file to repository

GET: return file from repository

POST: perform a search in repository

DELETE: remove file from repository


27/48

PUT Request

persistence.put.desc.xml

Persistence Layer Web script implementing Orbeon FormsPersistence Layer put request

/persistence/crud/{app_name}/{form_name}/data/{form_data_id}/{file_name} user required argument


28/48

PUT Request

persistence.put.js

// create/get filevarfile folder!childByNamePathfile_name#$if%file &&folder!hasPermission"CreateChildren"##{ file folder!createNodefile_name'"formform!ype"#$ file!addspect"cm#ersionable"#$ file!addspect"cmauditable"#$ file!properties("cmcreated")new$ate#$ %%%

file!properties("formid")form_data_id$}else

file!properties("cmmodified")new$ate#$file!sa#e#$

varcopy file!chec&out#$copy!properties!content!writere'uestbody#$file copy!chec&in"modified by orbeon forms"'true#$file!mimetype re'uestbody!mimetype$file!sa#e#$


29/48

Persistence API problems

Forms definitions are stored in eXist

Content-type mismatch problem


30/48

Problem: content type mismatch

Solution: define two different scripts

%%%

/persistence/crud/{app_name}/{form_name}/data/{form_data_id}/{file_name}!pdf argument

%%%

%%%

/persistence/crud/{app_name}/{form_name}/data/{form_data_id}/{file_name}!*ml argument


31/48

Orbeon Integration: Persistence Layer Complete


32/48

Submitted forms execution

Content model to store form metadata

Workflow to automate form execution

Java class to send e-mails to client


33/48

Content model

-ontent class representing submitted form

cm+content

d+te*t

true

!!!

!!!

!!!

!!!

!!!


34/48

Workflow


35/48

Workflow model

bpm+1orflo1,as

read_pacage_item_actions

form1f+formaspect

form1f+assignee form1f+comment3spect

formWorkflowModel.xml: type definition


36/48

Workflow model

d+te*t !!!

!!!

!!!

formWorkflowModel.xml: form aspect definition


37/48

Workflow model


38/48

Workflow model


39/48

Java mailer

publicclassNotifier e*tendsBaseProcessor+*tension {

!!!

publicbooleansend,tring to',tring sub-ect',tring content#{!!!

Properties props ne1Properties#$

props%setProperty."mail%transport%protocol" "smtp"01

!!!

,ession mail,ession ,ession!get$efault2nstanceprops'null#$

!ransport transport mail,ession!get!ransport#$ 3ime3essage message ne13ime3essagemail,ession#$

!!!

message!set4ecipient3essage!4ecipient!ype!!5' ne12nternetddressto##$

transport!connect#$

transport!sendmessage#$ transport!close#$

}

}


40/48

Orbeon Integration: Workflows Complete


41/48

Additional Alfresco extensions developed

Custom file uploader

Related workflows extension


42/48


Attach files from local drive directly to workflow

Intuitive 'Google-style' end-user experience

Uses YUI Uploader: no third party libraries are needed


43/48



44/48

Related workflows

Creates relations between workflows

Start new workflow from task edit page

View all related workflows of current task from task page

Easy to see which process blocks current task

Easy to get process dependencies for stats

Bottom line:no mega workflow is required, allows to

build execution paths from basic blocks on demand


45/48

Related workflows


46/48

Summary: Current project state

Orbeon and Alfresco integration allows non-technical

users to create and edit form definitions easily

Forms are stored and processed in Alfresco, creating a

basement for managing all documents in one system

Forms execution became more intuitive and simple

compared with legacy document management system


47/48

Roadmap: Features planned

Statistics module to report on workflows execution for

management

Organizational chart extension to pick employees from

orgchart, assign tasks to organizational roles, manage

tasks access control, get statistics on departments

Replace eXist completely, move everything to Alfresco


48/48

+ou can find this presentation and more details about this

implementation on blog,ossgeeks,org

-ontact us at

okurysheva.vdel,comand aermakov.vdel,com

And follow us on twitter/ .aviriel and .fufler
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

alfresco orbeon egov solution

Documents