Supporting Knowledge-Intensive Processes through Integrated Task Lifecycle Support

Abstract

The operational support of knowledge-intensive business processes constitutes a big challenge. In particular, these processes are driven by knowledge workers utilizing their skills, experiences, and expertise. Regarding coordination and synchronization, in turn, knowledge workers still rely on simple task lists (e.g., To-do lists or checklists) and established communication software (e.g., email). While these means are prevalent and intuitive, they are ineffective and error-prone as well. Neither tasks are made explicit, synchronized, personalized, nor are they independent from media breaks. Most important, a task management lifecycle is not provided, i.e., The efforts and knowledge invested by the knowledge workers in task management are not preserved for comparable future endeavors. This work introduces the pro Collab approach proposing a systematic and lifecycle-based task management support for knowledge workers. To establish a sound task management lifecycle, in particular, we apply process mining to analyze knowledge workers' changes applied to task lists in order to derive optimizations task list templates. To demonstrate feasibility and benefits, a proof-of-concept prototype was developed and applied. Overall, the integrated, systematic and lifecycle-based task management support is prerequisite for the effective IT support of KiBPs.