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Marine Corps Institute (MCI)-Work flows better with Zope

The Marine Corps Institute (MCI) needed a system to enable the prompt, accurate processing of financial requests e.g., travel authorizations, purchasing. Working with Zope Corporation, MCI deployed a Zope-based intranet for financial transactions that leveraged workflow and double-entry (i.e., credit/debit) accounting.

This Intranet is the Marine Corps Institute's Intranet Budgeting System (MCIIBS), that provides four critical functions:

  • Receives and tracks inbound funds
  • Tracks workflows associated with spending and travel requests
  • Accounting for funds at every stage in the workflow process
  • Highlights/permits analysis of expenses at each stage of the accounting process: initiation through reconciliation

MCIIBS is a Zope application running on Windows NT, interfacing with Oracle for relational data management.

How MCIIBS Works

The MCIIBS workflow tracks spending/travel requests through every phase in the Marine Corp Institute's process:

  • Requester Initiates a spending request
  • Department head Reviews the request
  • Fiscal officer Assigns accounting data
  • Fiscal clerk Inputs financial information into the mainframe
  • Fiscal officer Reconciles accounts

A spending request form is submitted, including incomplete fields, reserved for use later in the workflow. The form is tracked in the workflow and visible on MCI reports, as well as Status Pages where requesters track their forms. The forms leverage dynamically generated JavaScript to enforce data validation in the web browser.

Each participant in the workflow has an inbox which lists the tasks that require their attention. In Zope, each inbox is represented by a folder in the website structure. The location of the folder, along with properties on the folder, help to customize and adapt the SQL generated to manage the Oracle data. All HTML forms and SQL objects are managed at the top of the folder hierarchy for easy customization.

Requests can be rejected, removing them from the workflow, or approved, sending them to the next chain in the workflow. Critical MCI accounting information is added along the way.

An important step in the workflow allows MCI to keep the mainframe accounting data current. The workflow precisely mimics the previous paper system, where a paper request would be delivered by mail to the clerk's inbox for entry into the mainframe.

Account Reconciliation is the next step in the workflow and leverages the Zope-based double-entry accounting module, which debits one account and credits another. This sophisticated module also allows direct transfers and provides detailed reports on all accounts.

Zope Corporation has delivered several enhanced versions of MCIIBS, the most recent of which added functionality for 'Temporary Additional Duty' (TAD), a major new request type. TAD requests not only provide 'itineraries' and associated expenses, but also require a conditional, non-linear workflow. There are usability improvements and enhanced reporting capabilities. The system remains a successful, vital part of the MCI intranet.

Challenges

  • Produce a system to automate complex, manual business processes
  • Model a hierarchical reporting structure using a relational database
  • Keep configuration and customization simple yet robust
  • Maintain double entry (credit/debit) accounting

Approach

  • Acquisition-based customization of SQL queries based on location in the website, mapped to organizational chart
  • Implement a double-entry (credit/debit) accounting module to reconcile accounts
  • Create a multi-step, multi-state workflow engine

Benefits

  • Streamline accounting requests processing with complex business rules
  • Solid architecture for additional modules

Zope Corporation has been a tremendous partner in our project. Working collaboratively with Zope Corporation has permitted us to educate our staff on the product inside out, without having to build something of this complexity from scratch. We retain the flexibility of making changes to the source when we want to, while leveraging the expertise of Zope Corporation and the global Zope community. A highlight of the product is the ultra-flexible and robust feeds-processing architecture embedded in Zope4Media.
- Randy Brandenburg, Vice President of Products/Technology, Boston.com