business-workflow-ppts.pdf

7/28/2019 Business-Workflow-Ppts.pdf

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WorkFlow

An Overview


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Workflow is automation of businessWorkflow is automation of business

practices as a whole or their parts,practices as a whole or their parts,

during which documents, informationduring which documents, informationor tasks are moved from oneor tasks are moved from one

participant to the other for furtherparticipant to the other for further

processing, which corresponds to theprocessing, which corresponds to the

defined organizational structure.defined organizational structure.

DefinitionDefinition


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Why do we need Workflow?

In most business processes, the time involved in the

actual processing of data is only a fraction of the total time required to complete a transaction. Most of the time from start to finish is consumed by moving data from one person to another and waiting

for that data to be used.


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SAP Business Workflow uses the existingtransactions and functions of the R/3 System and doesnot change the functions. You can combine the existing

functions of the R/3 System to form new businessprocesses withSAP Business Workflow. The workflowsystem takes over control of the business processes.

If you are already usingSAP OrganizationalManagement, you can use the organizational structurecreated there to have the relevant agents carry out theindividual activities. It is possible to have an activitycarried out by a position.

What does Workflow do ?


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Impr ovement of i nf or ma ti on f low In cr ease of ef fect iveness of pr acti ces an ddecr eas e oft ota l cost s Ma ki ng th e a cti vit ies an d comm uni cat ion in t he

bu si ness pr act ice mor e ef fect ive Tr anspa rency of bu sin ess pr act ices Dea dli ne C ont rol

Profits from implementation of Workflow :


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Workflow Builder- SWDD

Workflow Wizard Explorer-SWF3 Business Object BuilderSWO1

Business Workflow Explorer-SWDM

Business Workplace - SBWP

Features & Tools Available


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From a technical point of view, a SAP workflow

consists of 3 main components :

Workflow

Task

Object Method


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Workflow Components

Workflow Task Object

Method


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The workflow :

A series of tasks which represents a business

process (e.g. Leave Approval Business Process)

Defines what tasks are executed (sometimes

based on outcomes of previous tasks)


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A task :

Usually akin to a specific step in a process

(ie. Display Employee Leave History) Define Agents (which users can and

cannot execute the step)

Deadline monitoring is defined here


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An object method :

The ABAP which actually executes the task. (ie. SQL,

etc)

This could be straight ABAP

OrCall Transaction (dialog task)

Call to a FM, subroutine, etc


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As SAP Business Workflow was developed on an object-oriented basis, it is possible to

enter relevant information as object types

in the SAP system.

Examples : Material Master

Sales Order

Business Object Builder


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Objects are comprised of:

Key fieldsAttributes

Interfaces

Methods

Events

Business Object Builder


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In order to define an object in SAP, it must have a key.

Normally, this is done with reference to some databasetable via SAP's data dictionary (DDIC). The key may becomprised of one or more fields. If more than one field,the object key is then a concatenation of the fields.

Key Fields


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The attributes of the object are any other

non-key data related to the object. Again, this

is defined via the data dictionary. If so, SAP

will generate the code necessary to retrieve

the data.

Attributes can also be freely defined by

using the Virtual option. In this case, thedeveloper must write the code in order to

retrieve the attribute's value.

Attributes


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Methods define which functions an object can

do. Methods are coded. They may call any

existing functionality in SAP. It has Import, Export,

Table, Exception and Results parameters.A method can be viewed as a Remote Function

Module (RFC), although it actually is executed as

a tRFC (Transactional RFC) or aRFC

(Asynchronous RFC).

Methods


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Events generally occur within a particular

context. In this case, related to the Object under

which it is defined. An event must be defined in

order to be published (External event). In orderto publish the event, the object's key must be

specified in order to define the context. The

event may also carry with it other data

components. This is done by defining the event's

parameters.

Events


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Program

The definition of any object requires that a program bedefined for it. When maintaining it's variouscomponents, SAP generates code which is placed inthe program. The Key definition, Attribute access andmethods are all stored in the program.


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Events (publish and subscribe mechanism)

Majority of workflow are triggered by events. A developer will

register a workflow for a particular event. When this event occurs (ie.

Sales Order.Created, Parked Document Deleted) the subscribed

workflow will be triggered (ignoring Check FMs and startingconditions)

Status Management

Change Documents

User Exits and others

Manual Triggering

Various Function Modules

Triggering Mechanisms


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Workflow Components


Method


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Tasks describe elementary business

activities. Tasks always refer to a method

of an object type. Possible agents aredefined for tasks. Tasks can refer to

automatically executable methods

(background tasks) or they can need auser to execute them (dialog tasks).

Task


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A task is referenced in an activity as

a step in a workflow definition. A

task can refer to

A customer task/standard task

A workflow task/workflowtemplate.

Task as a Step in a Workflow DefinitionTask as a Step in a Workflow Definition


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Within SAP Business Workflowyou use

tasks for the following purposes:

To use methods of an object type in aworkflow (Single step task)

As a framework for defining a workflow

(Multistep task)


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Creating a Workflow TaskCreating a Workflow Task


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Single step task

You use a Single step task to define an

activity that can be executed within a

workflow definition or independently. Thisactivity can be a transaction in the R/3

System.

A single-step task can be part of aworkflow definition as a step of the type

activity.


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Task containing a workflow definition. Itdescribes the formal "framework" (interface,triggering events) for a workflow definition.

In addition to the reference to the workflowdefinition, the multistep task contains otherinformation:

Definition of the workflow container

(interface description) Triggering events

Multiple step task


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T For customer tasks

TS For standard tasks

WF For workflow tasks

WS For workflow templates

Task TypeTask Type


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The process of determining which Agent(s) isresponsible for a particular Task.

For Role Resolution to occur, the Task must be

defined as a Dialog Task.The responsible Agents for a Task/Step arespecified Directly or Indirectly in theResponsibility screen of the Step or the Additional

Data->Agent Assignment menu option of the Task.At runtime, the system first looks in the Stepdefinition, then in the Task definition.

Role Resolution Determining the Agent(s)


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Role Resolution Determining the Agent(s)

Directly: Specification of the user nameIndirectly: Association to another componentlinked to one or more users. eg. Org. Units, Joband Position Definitions and Work Centers.

(based on the PD Org. structure shared by theHR module).

Standard Role is most flexible mechanism.

Determination of the Agent(s) is fullyprogrammable via the creation of a functionmodule.


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The exchange of information between the individualcomponents of the workflow system is based on standardizedrules which are specified in the binding definition.

Containers Local data repository for a particular component.

Used in:

Workflow Definition Step (Workitem) Task

Containers, with their table-like structures, are used tocontain values (constants) and object references for controlpurposes for the workflow process and execution of work items.

Dataflow:

Containers and Binding


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Binding

Information is exchanged between the individualcontainers according to the assignment rules specified

in the binding definition.

Mechanism by which data is transferred from one

container to another.

Essentially a data mapping step.Each container is defined with its components


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The task container holds some containerelements as workflow system elements. You

cannot edit these but you can use them. The

workflow system assigns values to the

workflow system elements as standard.

_WI_Object_ID _WI_Result

_WI_Actual_Agent _Attach_Objects

_Adhoc_Objects _WI_Group_ID

_Workitem

Workflow System Elements in the Task Container


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Def ining ta sks Ma i nten an ce of a gent ass i gnments Lon g tex ts f or ta sks Speci fyi ng a tri ggeri ng e ven t Acti vati ng l inkage Def ining bi ndi ng between even ts an d tas ks Speci fyi ng a defa ul t ro l e f or ta sks D ef i ni ng bi ndi ng between a task a nd a r ol e

Defining Single-Step Tasks

Standard Task Creation Material Create


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Standard Task Creation Material Create

Triggering Events


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gg g

Dataflow Binding between Containers


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Dataflow Binding between Containers

Agent Assignment


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Agent Assignment - User


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Agent Assignment User


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Enhancements to object type Events Attributes

Creating subtypes for existing objecttypes

Adding an event Adding attributes Activating object types

Identifying and Enhancing Object Types

Creating your own Business Object Types


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g y j yp

Creating Attributes


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Creating Attributes

C ti M th d


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Creating Methods

Creating Methods


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Creating Methods

Creating Methods


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Creating Methods

Creating Events


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g

Raising Events via Change Documents


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Ch an ge d ocu ment s a lways r ef er to a bu sinessch an g e docu m e n t o b je c t. On e or mor e ta bl esare a ss ig ned to each ch an ge docu ment object. Ch an ge d ocument s a re wr it ten wh en t he valu ein a t abl e f iel d ch an g es, b u t on ly i f t he t able is a ss ig ned to a cha ng e docu mentobj ect , i f t he d at a element i n the ta ble fi eld ismar ked as req uir in g a ch an ge d ocumen t.

Raising Events via Change Documents


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Creating an event when a change

document is written

Assignment between change document

objects and object types

Flexible Event Creation

Change Document Objects : Overview - SCDO


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Data Element of the table field marked as Change Document


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BUS1 001 ( Ma teri al )

Connection to Workflow Functionality

Events for Change Document - SWEC


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g


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Workflow Components


Method


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A workflow template is a modulargrouping ofindividual steps.

Example : activity(task

reference )multiple / single

conditionsloop

The steps can either be arranged asa sequence or to be processed inparallel.

Each step is a determining

component of its block.An

Workflow Template

W kfl T l t C t M lti St


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Workflow Template Create Multi Step

Basic Data



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Container

Workflow Template Create Multi StepTriggering Events


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Triggering Events


A A i


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Agent Assignment


D fi i St


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Defining Steps


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Activity

An activity step executes the code of an

objects method via a Task. When creating

the Task, we specify which object and

method the Task is to execute.

Dialog Tasks and Background Tasks

Background tasks do not need a user.

Therefore, the method is executedimmediately.


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Dialog Tasks

Dialog tasks involve user input.

Workflow determines the agents(users) viaRole Resolution.

The Agent(s) receives a Mail informing thatthey must complete the relevant task byExecuting the Mail.

When executed, the method associated with

the task will run. The method may now do anything that is

required, such as display a Purchase Orderor run a report.


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Event Creator/Wait For Event

Event CreatorRaises an external event,which must be associated with an object. Itcan be used to trigger other workflows, signalthe end of an asynchronous process or to

communicate to a running Workflow.

Wait For EventListens for a particularexternal event (which must be associatedwith an object) to be raised. Used to wait for aparticular user process to occur (which wouldraise the event).


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User Decision


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User Decision

Sends a message to an Agent.

Upon execution, a popup box will

display a set of options to the user. This is based on the default generic

task TS8267 (which can be swapped if

it is needed to add special instructionsto the user).


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Fork

Will create a fork of n specified branches

which can run parallel steps.


D fi i Bi di b t t k d kfl t i


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Defining Binding between task and workflow container


D fi i A t t th t


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Defining Agent to the step


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CA - Cross-Application Components

Processing Document Info Records .

Message Control .

EDI Status Record Processing .


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FI - Finance

Workflow Scenarios in Finance .

Workflow Scenarios in Asset Management .

Triggering a Workflow From a Validation .


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PS - Project System Workflow in the Project System .

PA - Personnel Administration Recruitment .

Personnel Administration .

Process Absence Approval .

Automatic Generation of Documents for HR

Applications Using SAP Business Workflow.


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Ques ti ons ?


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