Has Anything Really Changed in the Way Human and Automated Tasks Can be Integrated?

Yes, I think it has. In the past one simple way of integrating a human process with an automated process (especially for enabling humans to handle process exceptions) was to have the automated process fire off an email to the relevant parties and have them handle the problem.That meant no matter which human process was used to handle the problem - it's execution was completely invisible to the originating process, and to the rest of the organization.
Today you can use methods other than standard email to handle those human process - either by having the automated process fire off a process oriented email (e.g. ActionBase - www.actionbase.com) or leverage a wiki based system for exception handling(e.g. itensil - www.itensil.com). Using systems like those ensure the ability to track and monitor the human process, and allow for organizational learning from the exceptions.

The most beneficial change regarding the way human and automated tasks are integrated is that the cost and complexity of setting up the integrations is much lower today than in the past.

In light of full disclosure, I work for Serena Software and we offer a solution for Lean Business Process Management, so I may be a tad biased =D

We see organizations roll out all sorts of collaborative applications (ones that integrate human, automated tasks, and back-end systems) at a fraction of the cost of traditional means (think traditional BPM systems and integration frameworks). Plus, these applications are built by non-coders, like Business Analysts. This means applications that integrate human and automated tasks get on line faster, easier, and at a lower cost than ever before.

There have certainly been changes in the way Human and Automated Tasks are being integrated today. Today even complex human tasks can be accomplished through automated technology and the growth of SaaS products.

Some of these products can take what could otherwise be complicated human tasks, and make them easily accomplishable. There is software for running a business both internally and externally; from capturing employee scheduling & benefits, to supporting and resolving customer issues & requests, to building and offering advanced online services. People are able to maintain high business standards and produce highly quality results as a product of today’s developed software applications.

While all this may lead to less person-to-person interaction, with more tasks being able to be accomplished individually, the results nevertheless speak for themselves.

What led me to the world of workflow and then BPM was endless effort wasted on building applications that involved people and systems playing different roles in completing a process. The traditional approach of embedding business logic in code was driving my customers batty, and workflow offered a way to bring some of the business logic – really just the sequence of work steps in a process – out of code and into a model. One drawback of workflow systems was the amount of underlying code that you still had to write to actually accomplish the processing at each step – not to mention the fact that it was linear and not very supportive of complex, dynamic processes.

Since then, business process management (BPM) software has dramatically changed the world of process automation. By allowing you to not only model work steps but entire supporting applications – forms, work portals, integrations, AND the process – BPM software brings together both human and system tasks into a single, synchronized process flow. Processes modeled in BPM have at least two layers –the model of the process from the business perspective and a more detailed underlying model that defines the automation, integration, interface, and business rule details. This satisfies the needs of both business and IT and is a huge leap forward from previous approaches. The pace of innovation within the BPM software market continues to grow, and I predict it will ultimately be a must-have platform for any large organization.

One thing that no one has mentioned yet is the progress that has been made in the world of standards. The OASIS BPEL4People technical committee is nearing completion of standards for BPEL4People and WS-HumanTask. These standards, which have the support of most major middleware vendors, will change the way that human tasks are incorporated into automated business processes. The WS-HumanTask standard makes a task that is performed by a person look to the system as if it were a web service. Business processes can then be built where the human tasks are symmetric with the automated tasks, and all of it can be based on standards.

Following standards in this area is critical. Without them, numerous task management systems emerge within an enterprise where each contains a different set of concepts and capabilities for the user to learn. And without a standardized approach for incorporating those tasks into business processes, the enterprise invests substantial time, money and effort into developing assets that are locked into a vendor’s proprietary technology.