kpit oracle workflow_revised

5/27/2018 KPIT Oracle Workflow_revised

1/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

Oracle Workflow Workshop


2/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

2 of 37

Silence is Golden


3/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

3 of 37

Objectives

The program is organized to learn and understand

What is Oracle Workflow

What benefits Workflow provides in enterprise systems

What is Workflow Builder

What are components of a workflow

How we can use Workflow builder to create new workflows or

customize existing workflows

Creating a workflow to map a business process Technical aspects of Workflow


4/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

4 of 37

Workflow Introduction

WHY

WHAT

HOW


5/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

5 of 37

Why Workflow

Business Process Modeling

Delivering Notifications

Integrating Systems

e- Business suite


6/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

6 of 37

Why workflow?

1. Workflow provides routing of documents

2. Lets you continuously model complex business scenarios with

drag & drop interface

3. Allows sophisticated processes using loops, parallel flows,

split & merge flows, sub flows, asynchronous flows4. Provides flexible notification facility to send and respond to

notifications within Oracle applications work list, web browser

supported access or external email

5. Tightly integrated with Oracle Database and provides

published PL/SQL & Java APIs to drive workflows

6. Provides graphical monitoring facility

7. Business Event systems provided by WF facilitate interface

between applications


7/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

7 of 37

What is Workflow

Each workflow is a series of activities strung together with

each activity's outcome determining the next activity to perform

A Workflow allows graphical representation of business

processes and allows modeling, automation and continuous

improvement of business processes


8/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

8 of 37

E-Business Suite and Workflow

ORDER ENTRY

WEB STORE

WAREHOUSE

HUMAN RESOURCES

CREDIT MANAGEMENT

DATA WAREHOUSE

SHIPPING

ACCOUNTING

Workflow

Order Entry

Web Store

Credit Management

Accounting

Human

Resources

ShippingData Warehouse

Extends messagebroker model

Flexible

Provides process

view

Simple

Requires a model ofthe business process


9/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

9 of 37

E-business Suite and Workflow

Oracle Workflow is back bone of many modules in Oracle E-

Business Suite

There are more than 800 Item Types in E-Business Suite

Following are some important Workflows

GL Account Generator WF

Cost of Goods WF

Sales Order (Header & Lines) WF

Requisition Approval WF

PO Approval WF

HRSS WF

Payroll Process WF

Tasks WF


10/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

10 of 37

Types of Workflow

Synchronous flow Completes all activities in one session without interruption

Does not return control to calling program till completion

Asynchronous flow

Cannot complete all activities in one session

Includes activities like notification responses, block/waitfunctions and deferred activities

Can be restarted by Background Engine, Notification System

Forced synchronous flow

Completes all activities in one SQL session

Contains no inserts or updates to tables

Account Generator WF


11/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

11 of 37

Availability

Workflow

Standalone

Some more capabilities

Embedded with applications

Workflow is part of Architecture Technology Group, the patches are

available in product FND. Note that there is no product such as WF in

Applications

The Oracle Workflow Builder Release 2.6.3 is compatible with allversions of the Oracle Workflow Server embedded in Oracle

Applications Release 11i


12/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

12 of 37

RolesUsers

Directory Services

Notification

Services

Send

Respond

Forward

Cancel

Query

Oracle Workflow Enabled Application

Oracle server

Workflow

Engine

Execution

Definition

Administration

Monitoring

Query

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Loader

Workflow

DefinitionFiles

Workflow

DevelopmentClient

WebDB

Notification

Mailer

Application

Server

Web

Notification

Worklist

Web

Monitor

Web

Analysis

Tools

Browser

Client

Mail

Applications

AQ AQ AQ

AQ AQ AQ

Business Event

System

Send

Receive

Raise

Listen

Query


13/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

13 of 37

Workflow Engine

Workflow engineimplements the workflow process definitions

at runtime monitoring the states and coordinating the routing of

process activities

The workflow engine is a database package containing procedures runon a schedule. The workflow engine recognizes activities meeting specific

criteria and only operates on those activities.

Through the use of standard APIs, background engines can be scheduled

to target activities meeting other specified criteria, such as deferred and

stuck status activities.


14/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

14 of 37

Background Engine

Background Engine is a PL/SQL package that checks the

workflow tables for any activities that require processing such

as timed-out or deferred activities

Examples

Deferred Activities

Timed Out Activities

Wait Activities

Blocked Activities

Response Notifications


15/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

15 of 37

Workflow Directory Services

WF_ROLES

WF_USERS

WF_USER_ROLES

WF Local Roles

Synchronization


16/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

16 of 37

Notification System

Notifications

Oracle server

Notification

Worklist

Web Client

Oracle WorkflowWorklist

Oracle

Internet

Messaging

SMTP

MAPI

Oracle WorkflowNotification Mailer

Various

MailApplications

Netscape

Lotus Notes

MS Exchange

Unix SendmailOthers

HTML

Plain text


17/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

17 of 37

Types of Notifications

FYI notification

This type of notification just displays information in text/HTML

format. You cannot respond to a FYI notification.

Response Notification

It not only sends the e-mail notification but also allows user to

respond to the notifications. The response of user would

automatically trigger next activity in the workflow process.


18/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

18 of 37

Viewing Notification

Worklist Once you login to Oracle Applications you can see the notifications

waiting for you

Provides complete facility to view notification and drill down to URL

Also provides facility to open other Oracle forms to query or update databased on responsibility

Internet-Enabled Use standard Web browser to display notifications

Access from Self-Service / Business Intelligence home page

Allows drill-down to any URL or Applications screen to research orcomplete transaction

E-mail Standard Mail Protocols:

(Oracle Internet Messaging, MAPI, UNIX Sendmail)

Detail and summary formats

Plain text or HTML email


19/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

19 of 37

Responding to Notification

Work List Allows you to respond to notifications

Also provides facility to open other Oracle forms to query or update data

based on responsibility

Internet-Enabled

Use standard Web browser to respond to notifications similar to Worklist

User needs to login to Oracle Applications through either Self Service or

Business Intelligence Home Page

E-mail

User does not need to login to Oracle Applications

Provide response processing through email parser using TemplateProcessing

User has to manually enter responses in quoted strings which must

match the result codes


20/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

20 of 37

Self Service Notification

O AC O O


21/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

21 of 37

Extended HTML

message formats

Research and

make a decision

via onlineinquiry

ORACLE WORKFLOW


22/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

22 of 37

Workflow Builder

Oracle Workflow Builder displays a navigator window with ahierarchy tree containing the following tree nodes:

Item Typeclassification of the components that comprise the workflowprocess definition

Item KeyAn identifier for a unique instance of the Item Key. Item Type/itemKey combination MUST be unique in any Workflow System at a given time.

Process - Is logical grouping of activities in a workflow Item Type

Attributesproperty associated with a given item type that acts as a globalvariable that can be referenced or updated by any activity within a process orexternally through the use of standard APIs

ORACLE WORKFLOW


23/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

23 of 37

Workflow Builder cont.

Functionsdefined by the PL/SQL or external program it calls,

usually performing fully automated process steps

Eventsa business event from the Business Event System

Messagesdefines the information conveyed in a notification

Lookup Typesa static list of values that can be used by messages

and activity attributes

Lookup CodesValues that appear it the list of Lookup Types

ORACLE WORKFLOW


24/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

24 of 37

Methods of creating Workflows

Top Down or Bottom Up approach

Top Down--Processes first then go to granular level of

activities

Bottom Up--First define Attributes/Messages/

Functions/Processes and then use them to build

processes

ORACLE WORKFLOW


25/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

25 of 37

Workflow Concepts

Processes & Sub processes Any process can be a sub process to another process

Runnable

A process that can be initiated as a top level process

Standard Functions

Seeded Functions provided by Oracle

They have seeded transitions

PL/SQL code is defined and cannot be modified

Examples: AND OR NOOP START END NOTIFY WAIT

User Functions

Custom Functions based on user requirement

need to add PL/SQL code to make them work

Need to define transitions

ORACLE WORKFLOW


26/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

26 of 37

Workflow Concepts Cont.

Start & End

All processes MUST have a Start and at least one End activity

Transitions

Represent completion of one activity and the activation of next

They appear as arrows

Must correspond to the result of the previous activity

Standard Transitions

WF follows default if no other transition is applicable

ORACLE WORKFLOW


27/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

27 of 37

Workflow Concepts Cont.

If used WF follows this transition irrespective of outcome

For notifications, timeout transition is used to force the

process to perform some other activity if the notification activity does

not complete by specified time period

Timeouts

Workflow marks activity as timed-out

Cancels notification

Sends email to performer about change of status (if set up)

Progresses workflow to the activity identified by timeout transition

ORACLE WORKFLOW


28/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

28 of 37

More on Notifications

Workflow provides notification messages in both text & HTMLformat

ORACLE WORKFLOW


29/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

29 of 37

More on Notifications cont.

Example below shows message entered as HTML

ORACLE WORKFLOW


30/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

30 of 37

More on Notifications Cont.

Displaying complex reports in messages

WF allows complex HTML reports that involve HTML tags, style

sheets and generating URLs.

This is done by writing PL/SQL procedures that are called by

attributes of type Document

Voting Activity

Oracle supports notifications to be used as a Voting Activity

In order to implement voting the particular notification functionmust have a post-notification procedure to process voting results

ORACLE WORKFLOW


31/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

31 of 37

WFSTD

Oracle Workflow Builder comes equipped with severalbuilt-in workflows and demos, one of which is WFSTD

This can be used as a template for building custom WFs

It has many seeded functions provided by Oracle like Andfunction facilitating the rendezvous of parallel threads, flow will

not continue until all transitions to the function are completed

Orfunction facilitating the rendezvous of parallel threads, flow willcontinue with completion of the first transition to the function

Loop Counterfunction used to count the number of times a loopingflow has transitioned through, allows continuation or exit of thelooping flow based on counter

Comparison operationsfunctions used to compare date, text, andnumber values to corresponding item attribute types, allowsbranching based on the result of the comparison

It also has a Voting activity notification, a message, someattributes and lookup codes and lookup types

ORACLE WORKFLOW


32/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

Building a Workflow

ORACLE WORKFLOW


33/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

33 of 37

Starting up

A simple workflow process definition

can be created in a few easy

steps

Define an item type and an initial

process using the Quick Start

Wizard from the File menu

ORACLE WORKFLOW


34/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

34 of 37

Building Workflow

Define necessary attributes

Item type attributes can bedefined as types such as text,

number, date, role, lookup .

The value item can be used to

set a default value for the

attribute

ORACLE WORKFLOW


35/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

35 of 37

Building Workflow

Define necessary lookup types and

codes

Right click on the Lookup Types

node and select New from the

menu

After the lookup type has beencreated, select the lookup type,

right click, and select New

Lookup Code from the menu

ORACLE WORKFLOW


36/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

36 of 37

Building Workflow

Define messages to conveyinformation

Right click on the message nodeand select New

After creating the message, go to

the Body tab and enter the text(or HTML) desired

Attributes are referenced withinthe body by using &

Attributes referenced in the bodymust also be dragged from theattribute node and dropped in themessage

ORACLE WORKFLOW


37/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

37 of 37

Building Workflow

Define notifications to deliver the

messages Drag and drop the message onto

the Notification node to initiate

creation of a notification based

on a specific message

ORACLE WORKFLOW


38/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

38 of 37

Building Workflow

Drag-and-Drop notifications onto

the workflow diagram

Organize the activities

Draw transitions as required by

the necessary organization of the

activities by pressing down theright mouse button on the

beginning point of the transition

and dragging the mouse to the

next step then releasing the

mouse button

ORACLE WORKFLOW


39/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

39 of 37

Building Workflow

Double click on the notification

activities to add the performer

(recipient) on the Node tab

Hovering over an activity will

display important information

about the activity

ORACLE WORKFLOW


40/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

40 of 37

Building Workflow

Error Handling-Use Standard Item type WFERROR with

process DEFAULT_ERROR

Custom Error Handling- Use Custom Process to handle

error conditions and assign Custom Item Type &

Process Name

ORACLE WORKFLOW


41/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

41 of 37

Building Workflow

WFERROR

ORACLE WORKFLOW


42/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

42 of 37

Building Workflow

Verify the workflow process

definition by pressing the blue

check mark icon on the toolbar

Save the workflow process

definition to the database by

pressing the yellow disk icon on thetoolbar and entering the Workflow

Administrator account information

ORACLE WORKFLOW


43/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

43 of 37

Building Workflow

Click on the Launch Processes Link

The Launch Process window will

appear, showing a listing of all

executable item types

Click the item type link for the

item type to be launched

ORACLE WORKFLOW


44/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

44 of 37

Building Workflow

The Initiate Workflow page

appears, listing item type attributes

that can be initialized when the

workflow is executed

Press OK to execute the worklow

ORACLE WORKFLOW


45/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

45 of 37

Building Workflow

Once the workflow is executed, the

Activities List page is automatically

displayed

Clicking on the activity link WH

Demo will display the Item Type

Definition page which showsprocess details

Clicking on the View Diagram

button will display our workflow

ORACLE WORKFLOW


46/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

46 of 37

Building Workflow

Press the Home icon to go back tothe Workflow Monitoring homepage

Press the Find Notifications link tobring up the notification search

page Enter search criteria and press OK

Worklist page appears displayingmatching notifications

Select subject link to display anotification

ORACLE WORKFLOW


47/86

ORACLE WORKFLOW

47 of 37

Building Workflow

ORACLE WORKFLOW


48/86

O C WO OW

48 of 37

Building Workflow

The Reviewer notification that wassent as part of the workflowinitiation requires a response

The bottom frame of the notificationcontains response buttons based

on the lookup type selected for thenotification result

The selected response will dictatethe transition path taken from theReview notification activity

ORACLE WORKFLOW


49/86

49 of 37

Building Workflow

The workflow image at the top right

is pre-approval

The workflow image at the bottom

right is post-approval

The Approve button was pressed

on the Reviewer notificationcausing the approve transition

path to be taken

ORACLE WORKFLOW


50/86

50 of 37

Workflow Monitor

Summary of key activities

Decision makers in the process

Current owners

Graphically monitor and administer workflow transactions

View and analyze transaction history

Retry or skip any activity

Rewind and rerun any process

Available to end users and administrators

ORACLE WORKFLOW


51/86

51 of 37

Oracle Workflow Monitor

ORACLE WORKFLOW


52/86

52 of 37


ORACLE WORKFLOW


53/86

53 of 37


ORACLE WORKFLOW


54/86

54 of 37

XML Gateway functions

XML Get Tag Valuefunction facilitating the retrieval of data from an

event attribute and storage in another item attribute

XML Comparison operationssimilar to regular comparison operations,

except the comparisons utilize data retrieved from events for path

determination

Assignfunction allowing a value for an item attribute to be set within theworklfow process at run-time

Waitfunction that will hold a transition from completion until a specified

period or date has passed

Defer Threadfunction used to force all following activities on the same

thread to be deferred for the background engine to run

ORACLE WORKFLOW


55/86

55 of 37

Workflow APIs

There is an entire library of standard APIs, but here are a few

examples

wf_engine.CreateProcesscreates an instantiation of the specified

workflow process

wf_engine.StartProcessinitiates the created workflow process (used in

tandem with CreateProcess)

wf_engine.backgroundruns a one-time background engine

wf_engine.SetItemAttrTextused to set the value of a text item attribute

within a workflow process externally from PL/SQL

wf_engine.GetItemAttrTextused to retrieve the value of a text item

attribute from within a workflow process and return it to PL/SQL

ORACLE WORKFLOW


56/86

56 of 37

APIs cntd

Another type of standard API is the user-defined function/procedure

having pre-defined parameters and return types (where applicable)

A procedure with the following parameter list can be called from within a

workflow process and given a user specified name

(itemtype IN VARCHAR2,

itemkey IN VARCHAR2,

actid IN NUMBER,

funcmode IN VARCHAR2,

resultout IN OUT VARCHAR2)

ORACLE WORKFLOW


57/86

57 of 37

WF Standard Tables

Following are some of the tables where WF stores its data

Master Tables

WF_ACTIVITIES

WF_ITEM_TYPES

WF_ITEM_ATTRIBUTES WF_MESSAGES

WF_LOCAL_ROLES

Transaction Tables

WF_ITEMS

WF_NOTIFICATIONS

WF_NOTIFICATIONS_ATTRIBUTES

WF_ITEM_ATTRIBUTE_VALUES

ORACLE WORKFLOW


58/86

58 of 37

Customization

Review the Allow modifications of

customized objects checkbox in

Help menu

Checked value means workflow

builder is operating in upload

mode Unchecked value means

workflow builder is operating in

upgrade mode

ORACLE WORKFLOW


59/86

59 of 37

Access levels

Selected Check box Resulting Levels Who can modify object

NONE Customization=0

Access=100

Protection=1000

Updatable by any access level

Preserve Customizations Customization=100

Access=100

Protection=1000

Only updatable by access level

100-1000, also by 0-99 if

Allow modifications.. checked

Lock at this Access Level Customization=0

Access=100

Protection=100

Updatable by access level 0-

100 only

BOTH Customization=100

Access=100

Protection=100

Updatable by access level 100

only, also by 0-99 if Allow

modifications.. checked

ORACLE WORKFLOW


60/86

60 of 37

Background Process

Deferred and timeout processes can be restarted by runningthe following concurrent program

ORACLE WORKFLOW


61/86

61 of 37

Workflow Loaders

WFLOAD Utility

Similar to FNDLOAD

Wft files

Storing in database

File Systems

ORACLE WORKFLOW


62/86

62 of 37

Debugging Workflow

Autonomous Commit

The Oracle 8.1 database offers Autonomous Commits. By

embedding the pragma AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION in

your procedure you can perform Commits and Rollbacks

independent of the main transaction.

Concurrent Programs

Using FND_FILE Utilities

ORACLE WORKFLOW


63/86

63 of 37

Error Handling

Using Wf_Core.Context

WF_CORE.CONTEXT('wf_pkg','set_emp_list',i_itemtype,i_item

key,TO_CHAR(i_actid),i_funmode);

RAISE;

Standard ERROR handling workflow

ORACLE WORKFLOW


64/86

64 of 37

Purging Workflow

Purging in Workflow

WF_PURGE API

Temporary

Permanent

Concurrent Program

ORACLE WORKFLOW


65/86

Oracle Workflow Workshop

End of slide show

ORACLE WORKFLOW


66/86

Quiz

ORACLE WORKFLOW


67/86

67 of 37

Question

Q> What is difference between Item Type and Item Key?

A> Item type is a classification of components that make a

WF whereas Item Key is an instance of Item Type

Example: Sales Order Header Workflow has Item Type as OM

Order Header OEOM and Item Key for a particular Order Header

would be 3231 (Order Number). Together they are represented as

OEOM-3231 which must be unique.

ORACLE WORKFLOW


68/86

68 of 37

Question

Q> Which component of Workflow System handles

notifications?

A> Notification Mailer

ORACLE WORKFLOW


69/86

69 of 37

Question

Q> In order to be able to initiate a process as a top level

process it must be defined as ______________ ?

Hint> Its a check box on Process Properties page

A> Runnable

ORACLE WORKFLOW


70/86

70 of 37

Question

Q> What are Workflow Roles?

A> Workflow Roles are one or more users grouped by

common responsibility or function. A Workflow role has an

email address to where notifications can be sent.

ORACLE WORKFLOW


71/86

71 of 37

Question

Q> Name any 4 standard functions provided by Oracle in

WFSTD

A> AND OR NOTIFY WAIT

ORACLE WORKFLOW


72/86

72 of 37

Question

Q> Is it possible to set priority to a Message?A> Yes. Priority can be Normal, High or Low

Q> Where is it defined?

A> On properties pages of a message

ORACLE WORKFLOW


73/86

73 of 37

Question

Q> What is default error process for Workflow provided by

Oracle?

A> DEFAULT_ERROR

ORACLE WORKFLOW


74/86

74 of 37

Question

Q> Name any 3 WF tables where WF data is stored

A> WF_ACTIVITIES, WF_ITEM_ATTRIBUTES, WF_ITEMS

ORACLE WORKFLOW


75/86

75 of 37

Question

Q> What are the arrows connecting one node to another

called?

A> Transitions

Q> Name standard transitions for an activity.

A> , , (for notifications)

ORACLE WORKFLOW


76/86

76 of 37

Question

Q> A notification has a timeout period of 60 minutes. However

it is more than 3 hours that it has not timed out. The

probable cause could be ________________________.

A> Background process did not run

ORACLE WORKFLOW


77/86

77 of 37

Question

Q> What parameters does a function activity in workflow pass

to a PL/SQL procedure?

A> itemtype, itemKey, actid, funcmode

Q> What is the parameter that is returned by the procedure to

the Workflow Engine?

A> resultout

ORACLE WORKFLOW


78/86

78 of 37

Question

Q> What does standard function NOOP do in WF?

A> Nothing

ORACLE WORKFLOW


79/86

79 of 37

Question

Q> Under what modes is the PL/SQL procedure for a WF

function called (funcmode)?

A> RUN & CANCEL

ORACLE WORKFLOW


80/86

80 of 37

Question

Q> What are possible funcmodes for a notification function

(assuming post notification function exists)?

A> RUN, TRANSFER, TRANSFER, FORWARD, TIMEOUT

ORACLE WORKFLOW


81/86

81 of 37

Question

Q> An activity of type function is written to compare invoicedate against current date. Following transitions are defined

for the function.

Greater than (if Invoice date is in future)

Less than (if invoice date is in past)

Equal (If invoice date is current date)

If invoice date is 12-JUNE-2006 what transition will

WF engine select?

A>

ORACLE WORKFLOW


82/86

82 of 37

Question

Q> ___________ function is called to process result of a

voting activity.

A> Post-Notification

ORACLE WORKFLOW


83/86

83 of 37

Question

Q> Name three Workflows in Oracle E-Business Suite

A> Requisition Approval WF

COGS Workflow

OM Header & Lines WF

ORACLE WORKFLOW


84/86

84 of 37

Question

Q> This is where you check the status of a workflow instance.

A> Workflow Monitor

Q> What does workflow monitor allow users to do for an

activity and a process?

A> Activity: Retry & Skip

Process: Rewind & Rerun

ORACLE WORKFLOW


85/86

85 of 37

Question

Q> Parallel flows in Workflow can be merged using these

functions. Which are those?

A> AND OR

ORACLE WORKFLOW


86/86

Question

Q> What are different levels for security for an activity in

Workflow builder?

A> Customizations, Access & Protection

kpit oracle workflow_revised

Documents

workflow oracle workflow

workflow builder

workflow introduction

performa workflow

oracle applications

oracle workflow2

oracle workflow10

oracle workflow8