esu oracle workflow chetan

Oracle Workflow

ES University

ESU/CRS/ESU-DB12/003 Ver 1.0 Slide 2

Course Contents

• What is Oracle Workflow

• Components of Oracle Workflow

• Setting up Oracle Workflow

• Access and Protection Levels

• Workflow Builder

• Creating Process Definition in Workflow Builder

• Predefined Workflow Activities

• Workflow Homepage

• Workflow Monitor

• Workflow Engine and APIs


Session Plan

•What is Oracle Workflow

•Components of Oracle Workflow

•Setting up Oracle Workflow

•Access and Protection Levels

•Workflow Builder

•Creating Process Definition in Workflow Builder

•Predefined Workflow Activities

•Workflow Homepage

•Workflow Monitor

•Workflow Engine and APIs

•Examples of Workflows customized


What is not covered?

• Syntax of Workflow functions and packages

• Details about the predefined workflow Activities

• Workflow API details


• Oracle Workflow Builder needs to be installed on a PC that has Oracle Net 8 client

• Oracle Workflow Engine needs Oracle WebDB 2.0 or higher, Oracle Web Applications Server 3.0.1 or higher or Oracle Applications Server 4.0.7 or higher to be previously installed.

• Notification System requires an application capable of sending emails, like Unix Sendmail. For sending mails with HTML attachments, the email application should support HTML attachments. For viewing HTML attachments, a Web Browser is required that supports frames and java script.

• Workflow Definitions Loader

• Web Notifications and Workflow Monitoring tools require Oracle WebDB/Applications Server to be installed first. To view notifications, we require a Web Browser that supports Java scripts and Frames. The Workflow monitor requires a Web Browser.

Components


What is workflow used for?

• Oracle Workflow delivers a complete workflow management system that supports business process based integration.

• Its technology enables – modeling, automation, and continuous improvement of business processes– routing information of any type according to user–defined business rules– Delivering electronic Notifications


Major Features and Definitions

• Oracle Workflow Builder– Oracle Workflow Builder is a graphical tool that lets you create, view, or

modify a business process with simple drag and drop operations. Using the Workflow Builder, you can create and modify all workflow objects, including activities, item types, and messages.

• Workflow Engine– The Workflow Engine embedded in the Oracle database server implements

process definitions at runtime. The Workflow Engine monitors workflow states and coordinates the routing of activities for a process.

• Workflow Definitions Loader– The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that moves workflow

definitions between database and corresponding flat file representations.

• Electronic Notifications– Oracle Workflow lets you include users in your workflows to handle

activities that cannot be automated, such as approvals for requisitions or sales orders. The Notification System sends notifications to and processes responses from users in a workflow. Electronic notifications are routed to a role, which can be an individual user or a group of users. Any user associated with that role can act on the notification.


Major Features and Definitions

• Electronic Mail Integration– Electronic mail (e–mail) users can receive notifications of outstanding work

items and can respond to those notifications using their e–mail application of choice.

• Monitoring and Administration– Workflow administrators and users can view the progress of a work item in

a workflow process by connecting to the Workflow Monitor using a standard Web browser that supports Java.

– The Workflow monitor displays an annotated view of the process diagram for a particular instance of a workflow process, so that users can get a

– graphical depiction of their work item status. – The Workflow Monitor also displays a separate status summary for the work

item, the process, and each activity in the process.


Architecture

Copyright Oracle Corporation, 2000. All rights reserved.®

RolesUsers

Directory Services

Notification Services

Send

Respond

Forward

Cancel

Query

Oracle Workflow Enabled Application

Oracle Server

Engine

Execution

Definition

Administration

Monitoring

Query

WorkflowBuilder

WorkflowLoader

WorkflowDefinition

Files

WorkflowDevelopment

Client

OracleApplication

Serveror

WebDB

NotificationMailer

ApplicationServer

WebNotification

Worklist

WebProcessMonitor

WebAnalysis

Tools

End-UserClient

MailApplications

Workflow ArchitectureWorkflow Architecture


Workflow Architecture

Notification Worklist

Process

Monitor

Mail Applications

Workflow end User Client

Workflow Builder

Workflow Loader

Workflow Definitions File

Workflow Development Client

Directory Services

Notification Services

Workflow Engine

Oracle Server

Users Roles

Send, Respond, Forward, Cancel,

Query


• Access protection feature comprises on the access level, protection level and customization level.

• Every user of Workflow is required to work at a certain access level, which can be set from Help about Workflow Builder.

• The access tab of items in the builder have two check boxes, viz.

– Preserve Customization • Disallow customized objects from begin overwritten during a workflow

definition upgrade

– Lock at this Access Level• Protect the object at the current access level and do not allow the object to be

customized.

Access Level and Protection Levels


Access Level and Protection Levels

Preserve Lock at Meaning

Customization this Access Level

No No Any user can modify

Yes No User with access level >= current access level can modify

No Yes User with access level <= current access level can modify

Yes Yes User with access level = current access level can

modify


Workflow Builder


Workflow Builder

• Attributes—lists the attributes for the current item type. Item type attributes describe features of an item type. For example, if an item type is a purchase order requisition, then an item type attribute can be the requisition amount or the requisition ID


• Processes—lists the process activities or workflow process definitions for the current item type

Workflow Builder


• Notifications—lists the notification activities associated with the current item type. A notification activity sends a message to a user or role. The message may prompt for a response or may simply provide information.

Workflow Builder


Workflow Builder

• Functions—lists the function activities associated with the current item type. A function activity represents a PL/SQL stored procedure that the Workflow Engine executes automatically.


Workflow Builder

• Messages—lists the messages that a notification activity associated with the current item type can send to a user or role. A message can have message attributes associated with it.


Workflow Builder

• Lookup Types—lists the lookup types associated with the current item type. A lookup type has one or more values called lookup codes associated with it. A lookup type is a list of values that can be referenced by a message, or by a notification, function, or process as its possible result type.


Creating process definition in Oracle Workflow

• Process comprises of various activities and transitions between the various activities

• Top Down Approach• Bottom Up Approach• Opening and Saving Item Types• Quick Start Wizard


Predefined Workflow Activities



• And• Or • Compare Date• Compare Number• Compare Text• Compare Execution Time• Wait Activity• Block Activity• Defer Thread Activity• Launch Process Activity• Noop Activity• Loop Counter Activity• Start Activity• End Activity• Role Resolution Activity• Notify Activity• Vote Yes/No Activity• Wait for Flow Activity• Continue Flow Activity• Assign Activity• Get Monitor URL Activity• Retry Only Process



• Concurrent Manager Standard Activities Execute Concurrent Program Activity Submit Concurrent Program Activity Wait For Concurrent Program Activity

• Error Process (Item Type: System: Error) Default Error Process Retry Only Process


Workflow Homepage


Workflow Homepage

• Displays list of notifications in a user’s work list• Displays Find Notifications link to display notifications that match specific criteria• Displays the Find Processes to display process instances that match specific

criteria• Displays the Notification Rules link to display the automatic notification routing

rules. The ADMIN user can also specify the rules for specified roles.• Displays link to set User preferences• Displays link to set Global preferences (*)• Displays the Document Node link to specify the DMS that Workflow needs to

integrate with (*)• Displays the Item Type Definition Link to show the item type definitions• Displays the Launch Process Link to launch a process to test a specific workflow

process.(*)• (*) These are displayed only if the user logged in has Workflow ADMIN privileges


Workflow Monitor Page


Workflow Engine

• Implemented in server side PL/SQL

• Manages all automated aspects of a workflow process.

• Can be setup as background tasks to take care of activities that have higher cost.

• Manages state of all activities for an item

• Executes functions either immediately or as a background process

• Sends notifications

• Does error processing

• Looping

• Versioning of some activities like notifications, processes

• Post Notification Functions

• Forced Synchronous Processes


Other Features

• Workflow APIs Oracle Workflow supplies a list of public PL/SQL procedures and functions

that you can use to set up a workflow process. They are grouped within the following packages:

WF_ENGINE WF_CORE WF_PURGE WF_DIRECTORY WF_PREF WF_MONITOR WF_QUEUE FND_DOCUMENT_MANAGEMENT WF_NOTIFICATIONS Some commonly used APIs are:

• – WF_ENGINE.CreateProcess• – WF_ENGINE.StartProcess• – WF_ENGINE.GetItemAttribute• – WF_ENGINE.SetItemAttribute• – WF_ENGINE.GetActivityAttribute

• Workflow Admin Scripts


Workflow Customizations – Examples

• Order Management: OM Order Line

• Account Generators – Project Supplier Invoice Account Generator Project Expense Report PO Account Generator PO Requisition Account Generator FA Account Generator


Summary

• What is Oracle Workflow

• Components of Oracle Workflow

• Setting up Oracle Workflow

• Access and Protection Levels

• Workflow Builder

• Creating Process Definition in Workflow Builder

• Predefined Workflow Activities

• Workflow Homepage

• Workflow Monitor

• Workflow Engine and APIs

• Examples of Workflows customized for Emerson Process Management


References

• Oracle Workflow User Guide, Release 11i, Jan 2000 – by Oracle Corporation


Thank You!

esu oracle workflow chetan

Documents

oracle workflow setting

workflow development client

oracle workflow components

workflow definitions loader

workflow loader

workflow monitor

workflow engine

oracle server