fundamentals of workflow

8/8/2019 Fundamentals of Workflow

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Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2002. All rights reserved.

Fundamentals of Workflow



1-2 Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2002. All rights reserved.

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do

the following:

• Describe Workflow

• Discuss the components that comprise Workflow• Respond to workflow notifications

• Monitor a process in the workflow monitor

• Understand key implementation considerations




Agenda

• Overview of Workflow

• Components of Workflow

• Business Event System





Enabling E-Business

Streamlined business processes play a critical role

in the transformation to e-business. Workflow delivers

a complete business process definition, automation,

and integration solution.

Workflow: The wiring for e- business




Workflow-Driven Business Processes

Workflow lets you focus on managing the business

process, not individual transactions.

• Define and implement your business policies

• Streamline the entire process• Route information

• Capture exceptions and take action

• Build continuous improvements directly into the

process definition• Adapt your processes as your

business changes




Workflow-Driven Business Processes

Workflow automates and streamlines business

processes contained within and between enterprises.

• For example, you can use workflow processes to:

– Add personalized trading partner rules – Validate self-service transactions

– Approve standard business documents

– Step through daily transaction flows

– Integrate with trading partner systems


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Examples of Workflow Activities

A workflow is a set of business rules that can:• Create accounting based on your requirements

• Route business documents internally for approval

• Initiate an outbound message (queue an approved

purchase order for transmission to a supplier)• Be started as a result of an inbound message (eg.

an inbound Payables Invoice)



Examples of Workflow Activities (cont.)

A workflow is a set of business rules that can:• Generate and send notifications that can be viewed

from your personal home page or the notifications

window

• Generate and send e-mail to an e-mail client

(respond directly to notifications without accessing

Oracle Applications)



Examples of Typical Workflow Activities

• Routing an expense report for approval based on

pre-defined approval limits and routing hierarchy

• Notifying a buyer that a purchase order is in need

of approval• Generating appropriate accounting for fixed asset

purchases, depreciation and retirements

• Initiating a credit memo against an Accounts

Receivable invoice

• Processing customer orders differently depending

on the type of order



Actions that Start Workflow Processes

Once workflow processes are defined and loaded, the

following are some of the types of actions can start

them:

•Selecting a button in a form• Tabbing out of a field in a form

• Running a concurrent request

• Saving a record in a form

• Executing an Alert



Traditional Workflow

Oracle E-Business Suite

or

Application

Workflow

Process



Sample Workflow Process

End

And

Supplier:

Send Order

Acknowledgement

Supplier:Credit Check

Supplier:

Stock Check

Supplier:

Advanced

Shipment

Order

Process

Supplier:

Send

Supplier

Invoice

Supplier:

Receive

ExternalOrder

Supplier:

Get Order

Details

Supplier:

Receive

iStore

Order



Oracle Workflow Availability

Oracle Workflow is available in two versions:

• Standalone

– With the Oracle Database (both Standard Edition

and Enterprise Edition)

– With the Oracle Application Server

– With the Oracle Collaboration Suite

• Embedded in Oracle E-Business Suite

– Self-service applications

– Professional applications



Agenda







Oracle Workflow Architecture

Oracle Server Application

Server

End-User

Client

Workflow

Development

Client

Web

Worklist

Web

Monitor

Workflow

Manager

Mail

Applications

Oracle

HTTP

Server

Notification

System

Business

Event

System

Workflow

Engine

Directory

ServicesUsers Roles

Advanced

Queuing

Oracle WorkflowEnabled Application

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Definitions

Loader

Workflow

Definition

Files

NotificationMailer

Workflow

XML

Loader



Workflow Development Client

Workflow

Development

Client

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Definitions

Loader

Workflow

Definition

Files

Workflow

XML

Loader



Oracle Workflow Builder

• Oracle Workflow Builder is the development tool

for Oracle Workflow.

– Lets you graphically define and customize workflow

definitions

– Requires a PC running Windows 98, 2000, XP, or

Windows NT

• You can save workflow definitions to a database or

a flat file.

• Oracle Workflow Builder consists of two parts: – Navigator Tree

– Process Diagram



Workflow Definition Files

Flat File

1Create/ Modify

workflow

definition

Save to or load from flat

file

2

Archive if

desired

Save to

database

when

complete

3



Workflow Definitions Loader

Workflow

Builder

Oracle Database

Workflow

Engine

Workflow

Loader

Proc

ess

Defin

itions

Workflow

Loader

Process

Definition

(flat file)1

2

Define/ Modify

workflow

Load



Workflow XML Loader

Oracle Database

Event

Manager

Proc

ess

Defin

itions

Workflow

XML Loader

XML

BES Object

Definition



Oracle Server

Oracle Server

Notification

System

Business

Event

System

Workflow

Engine

Directory

ServicesUsers Roles

Advanced

Queuing

WorkflowEnabled Application

Workflow

Development

Client

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Definitions

Loader

Workflow

Definition

Files

Workflow

XML

Loader



Workflow Engine

The Workflow Engine:• Is embedded in the Oracle Database

• Uses the process definition created with Oracle

Workflow Builder to coordinate the routing of

activities for the process• Monitors the state of each activity in a workflow

process

• Signals any changes in the workflow state using

calls to PL/SQL or Java APIs

• Guarantees consistency between the

application and the workflow state

because of Oracle Database

transactional integrity



Workflow Processes

End

And

Supplier:

Send Order

Acknowledgement

Supplier:Credit Check

Supplier:

Stock Check

Supplier:

Advanced

Shipment

Order

Process

Supplier:

Send

Supplier

Invoice

Supplier:

Receive

ExternalOrder

Supplier:

Get Order

Details

Supplier:

Receive

iStore

Order



Supported Process Constructs

• Looping

• Results-based

branching

RejectedStart Select

Approver

Notify

Approver

Verify

Authority

True

Approved

No Yes





• Parallel flows

• Rendezvous

And

Record

Requisition

Forward

Select

Approver

Notify Requestor

of Forward

True

True





•

Voting

•

Timeouts

–

Escalation

–

Automatic forwarding

No

Start Approve

Document

Yes

<Timeout>

End (Approved)

End (Rejected)

End (Rejected)





• Subprocesses(unlimited hierarchy)

Start

Approved

Rejected

End (Approved)

End (Rejected)

Initialization

Process

Approval

Process




Notification System

with outbound

SMTP server and

inbound IMAP

server

Application

Notification

Mailers

AttachedOracle

E-Business

Suite forms

or URLs

Worklist

pages

Workflow

Engine

Notification

System

Directory

Services

Oracle Database

E-mail

clients

Webpages




Oracle Workflow Home Pages

• Oracle Workflow embedded in Oracle E-Business

Suite:

– Administrator home page

– Self-service home page

• Standalone Oracle Workflow:

– Administrator home page

– User home page




Worklist Web Pages

The Worklist web pages:

• Provide a list of open notifications for a particular user

• Let the user view notification details, including:

– Messages formatted in extended HTML message formats

– Links to URLs or Oracle E-Business Suite forms that let users research and make

decisions through online inquiry

• Let the user respond to notifications that

require a response




Worklist Web Page Example

Subject Sent Priority

Requisition 1765 requires approval 02-APR High

Please review document 06-MAY Normal

Open Reassign




Notification Details Web Page

Requisition details:

• Requisition Number: 2583

• Requisition Description: Computer equipment

• Requisition Amount: 2500

• Forward from: Stock, Ms. Pat

• Requestor: Stock, Ms. PatApprove

Reject

Reassign




E-Mail Notifications

• The Notification System interfaces with the

notification mailer program to send e-mail

notifications to users and roles.

• Users can reply to e-mail notifications using their

e-mail client.

• A notification mailer can send an individual e-mail

for each notification, or a summary e-mail listing all

the outstanding notifications for a user.




Business Event System Architecture

S

Y

S

T

EM

Oracle Database Server

Advanced Queuing

Business

Event

System

Workflow

Engine

S

Y

S

T

EM

Business

Events

Business

Events

Business

Events

Business

Events




Business Event System Components

The Business Event System includes:

• The Event Manager - Lets you register:

– Business events

– Systems – Named communication agents

within systems

– Subscriptions to events that are

significant to your systems

• Workflow Engine event activities -Let you model business events within

workflow processes




Directory Services

The directory service for Oracle Workflow is

implemented as a set of views that are mapped across

the user tables of the underlying application.

• WF_USERS: Contains information on user names,

display names, notification preferences and e-mail

addresses

• WF_ROLES: Contains information on the roles of

which users can be members

• WF_USER_ROLES: Containsinformation on the association of

users with roles




Application Server

Application

Server

Oracle

Http

Server

NotificationMailer

Oracle Server

Notification

System

Business

Event

System

Workflow

Engine

Directory

ServicesUsers Roles

Advanced

Queuing


Workflow

Development

Client

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Definitions

Loader

Workflow

DefinitionFiles

Workflow

XML

Loader




Notification Mailer

• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for outbound

messages

• Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for

inbound messages

Review Expense

Report

Approve

Send Request

For Expense Report

Approval




End-User Client

End-User

Client

Web

Worklist

Web

Monitor

Workflow

Manager

Mail

Applications

Application

Server

Oracle

Http

Server

NotificationMailer

Oracle Server

Notification

System

Business

Event

System

Workflow

Engine

Directory

ServicesUsers Roles

Advanced

Queuing


Workflow

Development

Client

Workflow

Builder

Workflow

Definitions

Loader

Workflow

DefinitionFiles

Workflow

XML

Loader




Notification Worklist

From the Notification Worklist window you can:

• View all open notifications

• View all FYI notifications (no response required)

• View all TODO notifications (require a response)• View all notifications

• Reassign notifications




Workflow Monitor Web Pages

The Workflow Monitor web pages:

• Let you search for a workflow process instance to view

• Display status information for the process instance

– Graphical depiction of the process status in a diagram

– Detailed information about individual activities and about theprocess as a whole

• Let users view their own workflows

• Let administrators view all workflows,

perform control operations, and

handle errors




Agenda








System Integration with Workflow

• E-business accelerates the demand for system

integration.

• Communication is required between systems both

within and beyond the enterprise.

• Workflow supports e-business integration

workflows through the Business Event System.

• Business event-based workflows allow

modeling of cross-system processes,

enabling business process-basedintegration.




Inter-Enterprise Business Processes

Internet

Supplier A

Supplier B

Integration

Hub

Integration

Hub

Logistics

Bank

Integration

Hub

Integration

Hub




Subscription-Based Processing

In the Workflow Business Event System:

• Business events in applications trigger event

subscriptions in Workflow.

• Subscriptions can launch workflow processes or

perform other processing.

• Multiple subscriptions can be defined to perform

different processing for the same event.

• Subscriptions can be enabled, modified,

or disabled as necessary withoutintruding into applications.




Business Event System Components

The Business Event System includes:

• The Event Manager—Lets you register:

– Business events

–Systems

– Named communication agents

within systems

– Subscriptions to events that are

significant to your systems

• Workflow Engine event activities—Let you model business events within

workflow processes




External Event Subscription Processing

Matching Event Subscriptions

Custom Rule

Function

Workflow

Process

Listener

Transform

Rule

Function

Send

EventTransform

Dispatch

Event

<<extends>>

<<extends>>

<<extends>>

<<External

System>>

through

AQ




Business Event System Example

Business Event

Subscription

PO Approval

Extract PO

Raise

EventSupplier

Advanced

Queuing

1PO

Approval2

Raise

Event3

Queue and

Send




Supported System Integration Types

The Business Event System supports integration inwhich applications are loosely coupled through

asynchronous messaging.

• Point-to-point system integration—"Hardwired"

communication between specified systems

• Messaging hub system integration—Intersystem

communication routed through a central hub for

more complex integration scenarios

• Distributed applications messaging—Master/copy

replication of data for distributedapplications




Agenda








Key Implementation Considerations

• Determine who should have access to loading

workflows

• Assign workflow administrator job role

• Determine a source control strategy for creating

and modifying workflows

• Determine purge strategy



Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Describe Workflow

• Discuss the components that comprise Workflow

• Respond to workflow notifications• Monitor a process in the workflow monitor


fundamentals of workflow

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