Dynamically Assigning Users

Question

Hi,
I am trying to dynamically assign users within my process and need some guidance with it. The following two steps briefly describe what I am trying to achieve
1. A user starts the process by filling in data into the PDF and completes the task.
2. Based on the information filled in by the first user, I have to determine who the user for the next task is going to be and then assign the task to the user accordingly.
I do not have the option of using multiple assign task operations and then setting the logic within the route evaluation, as there are way too many users that can be assigned for the second task ( there are more the 50 possible users from which the second user has to be selected )
I am fairly new to Livecycle and from the options that I have seen so far, here are few questions that I need some help with
1. The only option within the Assign Task operation that lets you assign the user dynamically is by using an XPath expression. If I were to use this, should I be embedding the logic within the form itself and then use the XPath expression to find the user by dynamically updating the form after the first user completes the task?
2. Is there another approach to achieve this other than having the logic for selecting the user defined in the form itself? I believe embedding the logic in the form might not be a good idea as it can have performance implications and also having user information in the form itself doesnt seem right.
3. Is there an operation that I could use, which would contain the logic that I would need to determine the next user and then assign the task to the user based on the result of the operation?
I am hoping someone would have definitely run into this situation before so any suggestions/thoughts will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Varma

Answer 1

"1. The only option within the Assign Task operation that lets you assign the user dynamically is by using an XPath expression."
Yes
"If I were to use this, should I be embedding the logic within the form itself and then use the XPath expression to find the user by dynamically updating the form after the first user completes the task?"
I depends. If you can get to it server side, it woulb probably better. If you need to make a change to something, you don't want to change the form.
"Is there another approach to achieve this other than having the logic for selecting the user defined in the form itself?"
I'm not sure where the logic for the next user is located, but you could make a database or web service call from the process to get the next user instead.
"I believe embedding the logic in the form might not be a good idea as it can have performance implications and also having user information in the form itself doesn't seem right."
I agree.
"Is there an operation that I could use, which would contain the logic that I would need to determine the next user and then assign the task to the user based on the result of the operation?"
Again, I need a bit more info as to where the info (logic) is located.
Jasmin