The Watchlist is a Fusion component that provides a set of shortcuts to work areas based on items that a user wants to monitor. The Watchlist includes items that are delivered with the application (seeded) and items created by the end user. The watchlist is categorized by functional areas.

Technically, the Watchlist presents a list of saved searches of things that the user must track. Each item is made up of descriptive text followed by a count. Each item is also linked to a page in a work area where the individual items of interest are listed.

The Watchlist is available via two views: as a dashboard region in the Welcome tab of the Fusion home and as a global menu. These are two views of the same content. The dashboard region is available to users as soon as they log in; the global menu is accessible as users navigate through the suite.

As background, there are three primary navigation mechanisms in Fusion: the Navigator, the Worklist, and the Watchlist. The Navigator is a menu with all of the application work areas to which a user has access. The Worklist presents system-generated human tasks (actionable and informational) managed by workflows. The Watchlist presents a list of shortcuts to work areas through prequeried saved searches.

Figure 1 shows the Watchlist region that appears in the Welcome tab of the Fusion home page. Figure 2 shows the Watchlist global menu – available at all times as the user navigates through the application suite.

The Watchlist is populated by watchlist categories and watchlist items. The items are linked to the appropriate pages in the appropriate state in the corresponding work areas.

Watchlist categories represent functional areas and typically correspond to a work area name (Journals), an object type (Performance Evaluations) or a process name (Collections).

Each watchlist item is a link that includes a count and a shortcut to a specific page in a work area that displays the information related to the count.

• If the count is greater than one, the item is linked to the corresponding work area where the results of the query appear, i.e. in a table.
• If the count is equal to one, the watchlist item is linked directly to the page corresponding to the object.
• If the count is zero, the item is not linked.

Internally, each watchlist item is tied to a query that automatically runs to generate the count. Selecting a watchlist link takes the user to a page that lists the items that match the associated query. Watchlist items are linked to (but not limited to) the following destinations:

• Overview page
• Search and Results page
• Manage page
• Individual transaction page — when the count is one (i.e. edit object page)

The presentation of the relevant data at the other end of the link is up to the product team based on functional need. The most common options are:

• Table with query and results section (Local area search pattern).
  Provides support for saved searches and the ability to promote saved searches to the Watchlist via the Manage Watchlist button.
• Table with more compact Saved Search options: choice list, tab equivalents and saved searches submenu.
  End users can also create their own watchlist items via the Manage Watchlist option.
• Table without saved searches.
  End users cannot extend what is seeded out of the box. The table may also have filters that are tied to the watchlist items.

These tables may appear in a small region by themselves, in a region with tabs under a subtab, or take over the entire local area.

Note that category names use title capitalization and category items use sentence capitalization.

The user can change the default – via global preferences – so that zero count items are hidden (figure 4). In this case:

• Items with zero count are not displayed.
• Categories where all items have a zero count are also hidden.
• Items that had a zero count appear when their query with a non-zero result ends.
• Items that had a non-zero count disappear when their query returns a zero count.

Each watchlist item has a refresh interval that controls the associated query that calculates its count. The query only runs when the count is stale: the time elapsed is equal to or greater than the refresh interval. Note that queries are not triggered as soon as the count is stale, but during system checks. This approach keeps queries from executing too frequently causing performance issues.

The system checks for stale counts and triggers the associated queries when the following events take place:

• The user opens a page with a Watchlist region, i.e. user navigates to the Welcome tab in the Fusion home.
• The user opens the global Watchlist menu.
• Two and a half minutes have elapsed since the last check for stale counts while a page with a Watchlist is open, i.e. a user does not navigate away from the Welcome tab for a while.
• The user manually refreshes the Watchlist region via its refresh icon.

The Watchlist is rendered with stored counts. Items with stale counts display a spinning icon while its count is being recalculated. The count is updated and the spinning icon disappears as soon as its query finishes. A refresh will not prevent the user from moving on to another task while watchlist counts are updated.

For example, the item "Active negotiations (65)" has a refresh interval of 8 minutes. This means that the count will only be updated after at least 8 minutes have passed since the last time it was calculated. Assume the user logs in at 8:00 AM and lands in the Welcome tab. The system performs a check that determines this count is stale and triggers the associated query.The item is rendered with its last count and the spinning icon. As soon as the query is done, the count is updated and the spinning icon disappears. The user happens to remain in the Welcome tab for the next 11 minutes. Every 2.5 minutes, the system performs a check for stale items. It is only in the fourth check, that the system triggers this query again because now 8 minutes have passed since the last run. Notice that the actual time elapsed is 10 minutes and not exactly 8 minutes. Now the user navigates to the Expenses work area and remains there taking care of an expense report for the next hour. During this time, the refresh interval will elapse multiple times, but no queries will be triggered until the user either returns to the Welcome tab, opens the global Watchlist menu, or visits some other page with a Watchlist.

The refresh interval is seeded and can be changed by an Administrator via the Set Watchlist Options task in the Setup and Maintenance work area. End users cannot change this setting.

The time elapsed since the last refresh appears as a tool tip when the user moves the cursor over an item. The tool tip has the format "Time since last recalculated: {HOUR} hours [or hour] {NUM} minutes [or minute]", i.e. "Time since last recalculated: 1 hour 25 minutes". If a count does not exist yet (first time), the text for the tool tip is "Refreshing". See figure 1.

In our analysis, we have found that for some work areas, it is relatively easy to identify and deliver a comprehensive set of watchlist items so that administrators or end users do not have to add their own. The Performance Evaluations and Expenses categories are good examples of comprehensive seeded categories. However, we have found that in other work areas, customers must extend what we ship. For example, we know that end users deal with hundreds of service requests in a queue. Users typically prioritize their work by creating saved searches that tap into attributes that are known only at deployment time and that differ from user to user. For example, a service agent may create a saved search for lawn mowers for gold customers in jeopardy. We cannot seed this type of a saved search. The end user must create it at run time as described in End User Personalization later in this document.

The following are examples of some typical use cases. Please note that they are for illustration only and may differ from the final shipping product.

A. Work areas that deal with a single object
In this case, the watchlist category name most likely matches or is close to the corresponding Navigator menu entry.

The Performance work area (for the Manager Role) deals with a single object type: Performance Evaluations. The Navigator entry is Performance, and the watchlist category is Performance Evaluations.

• Role: HR Manager
• Work area: Performance
• Watchlist:
• Performance Evaluations
  • Ready for review (n)
  • Ready for final approval (n)
  • Request for feedback (n)

B. Work areas that deal with multiple object types and result in multiple watchlist categories
The Payment Processing Application work area deals with multiple objects. The Navigator has a single entry – Payment Processing Application – that is divided into a set of categories in the Watchlist:

• Role: Receivables Specialist
• Work area: Payment Processing and Application
• Watchlist:
• Receipts
  • Receipts pending application (n)
  • Receipts pending clearance (n)
  • Receipt batches out of balance (n)
  • Automatic receipts pending confirmation (n)
• Remittance Batches
• Receipts pending remittance (n)
• Remittance batches pending approval (n)
• Lockbox Processing
• Lockbox transmission data failed validation (n)
• Fund transfer errors (n)

C. Work areas that deal with multiple object types, but result in a single watchlist category
The Manage Expense Reports work area deals with three objects types: expense reports, expense items, and credit card advances. The number of watchlist items for all three is short and they rarely appear concurrently. Therefore, the items can be grouped in a single watchlist category.

• Role: Employee
• Work area: Manage Expense Reports
• Watchlist:
  • Expenses
    • Expense reports with overdue receipts (n)
    • Expense reports requiring further information (n)
    • Rejected expense reports (n)
    • Credit card expenses awaiting submission expense (n)
    • Report drafts awaiting submission (n)
    • Short paid expense report awaiting submission (n)
    • Escalated credit card transactions awaiting submission (n)

There are two pieces that support end user personalization. The first one is the ability to create new saved searches and then include them in the Watchlist. The second one is the ability to centrally show/hide existing watchlist items.

Creating New Watchlist Items

End users can extend what is seeded through the Saved Search mechanism. They have to first create the saved search and then include it in the Watchlist via the Manage Watchlist dialog in Figure 5. This dialog allows users to include/exclude seeded saved searches as well as saved searches they have created themselves. Please note that this is not a mandatory features. A product team may decide not to provide support for promoting saved searches to the Watchlist and thus hide the Manage Watchlist button in some instances. Administrators may also take away this button via the Set Watchlist Options setup task described later.

The Set Watchlist Options task in the Setup and Maintenance work area (see figure 10) allows administrators to enable/disable Watchlist categories and items. Administrators can also change the default refresh interval for each watchlist item. These settings affect all users.

Internally, items of type Seeded Saved Search control the display of the Manage Watchlist button in the corresponding work area pages. If this type of item is not enabled, then the corresponding Manage Watchlist button will not appear in the interface and users will not be able to change their watchlist items. Also, if the administrator disables a seeded saved search, any existing user created watchlist items will be removed.