To
plan a workflow process, you must identify all of the activities and
transitions for your entire workflow process. You must determine, from the
start of the workflow process, how the next activity will be selected and
transitioned. You will determine how transitions should branch to other
activities based on the result codes of a completed activity, and then
establish the order of execution. You will decide who needs to be notified and
who needs to respond. You also must identify attributes needed for all of the
activities and determine where the values of the attributes will come from.
There are three type of activities: process, notification, and function. Transitions can be based on the specified result code of an activity. For example, once your user has created a PO, you will want Oracle Workflow to send a notification to your user’s manager. The notification will include PO information and ask the manager to either approve or reject the PO. The approval or rejection will be sent back to the user as a notification. If the manager does not respond within the time-out period, a time-out notification will be sent to the user.
There are three type of activities: process, notification, and function. Transitions can be based on the specified result code of an activity. For example, once your user has created a PO, you will want Oracle Workflow to send a notification to your user’s manager. The notification will include PO information and ask the manager to either approve or reject the PO. The approval or rejection will be sent back to the user as a notification. If the manager does not respond within the time-out period, a time-out notification will be sent to the user.
Every
workflow process should have a start and an end function. The start and end
functions for the Standard item type is necessary only for visual purposes. In
this particular PO approval process, you will need a function activity to find
the appropriate manager, and you need four notification activities. One
notification activity informs the manager that there is a PO waiting for the
manager’s approval.
This
notification must solicit a response and will therefore have a respond
attribute of Lookup Type and a lookup type of Approval. Another notification
informs the user that the manager approved the PO (the manager selected Approve
as the response). A third notification informs the user that the manager
rejected the PO (the manager selected Reject as the response). The final
notification reminds the manager that he or she has not responded in a timely
manner and must respond ASAP. Once the manager approves or rejects the PO, the
PO status must be updated. You will need a function to update the PO.
During
planning, it is best to list all of the activities, prerequisites, and steps.
Table-5 shows the PO approval process described above.
Activity
|
Prerequisite
|
Steps
|
Start
|
Processes
initiated with the CreateProcess API with input variables such as PO number,
requestor, PO dollar amount, and other attributes.
|
Set
the item attributes with the input variables. Set the item owner and call the
StartProcess API.
|
Find
manager
|
Function
activity to find the manager based on the requestor.
|
|
Notify
manager
|
Create
message to attach to the notification with a respond attribute of lookup type
Approval.
|
Send
notification to manager and ask for response. Response can either be Approve
or Reject.
|
Manager
responds
|
Select
Approve or Reject.
|
|
Manager
does not respond
|
Send
reminder to manager and ask for response again.
|
|
Update
PO
|
Manager
approves or rejects PO.
|
Update
PO.
|
End
|
PO
update successfully completed.
|
Table
5: PO Approve Process Plan
Review Questions
1.
What factors should you identify when you plan your workflow process?
2.
Which two functions must you have in any workflow process?
