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ORACLE WORKFLOW

Oracle Workflow Builder Definition:

Oracle Workflow Builder is a graphical tool that lets workflow developers create, view, or modify a businessprocess with simple drag and drop operations.

Workflow Components

1.Workflow Engine

2.Business Event System

3.Workflow Monitor

4.Notification System

5.Directory Services

6.Workflow Builder

7.Notification Wozrklist

8.Workflow Definitions Loader

9.Workflow XML Loader

Workflow Engine

The Workflow Engine embedded in the Oracle Database implements process definitions at runtime.

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

The Workflow Engine:

Is embedded in the Oracle database server

Uses the process definition created with OracleWorkflow Builder to coordinate the routing ofactivities for the process

Monitors the state of each activity in a workflowprocess

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Signals any changes in the workflow state usingcalls to PL/SQL or Java APIs

Guarantees consistency between theapplication and the workflow statebecause of Oracle Database Server

transactional integrity

Business Event System

Utilizes Oracle Advanced Queuing infrastructure to communicate information between systemsEmploys agents watching for subscriptions to user-defined events

Event information propagated across systems via queues using specified payload (defined data structure).

Business Event System Components

The Business Event System includes:

The Event ManagerLets you register:

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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

Business Event System Datatypes

Oracle Workflow uses the following abstract datatypes

to model the structure and behavior of Business Event

System data.

Event message structure: WF_EVENT_T

Agent structure: WF_AGENT_T

Parameter list structure: WF_PARAMETER_LIST_T

Parameter structure: WF_PARAMETER_T

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Business events

A business event is an occurrence in an application

or program that might be significant to other objects

in a system or to external agents.

Define your significant business events in the Event

Manager.

When an event occurs in an application on your

local system:

The application must assign an event key to uniquely

identify that particular instance of the event.

The event must be raised to the Event Manager.

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Systems

Systems that will communicate events with each other must store each others system

definitions in order to address event messages to each other.

A system is a logically isolated software

environment such as a host machine or database

instance.

Each system to or from which you will communicate

events must be defined in the Event Manager.

Local system

External Workflow-enabled systems

External non-Workflowsystems

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Agents

Communication within and between systems is

accomplished by sending a message from one

agent to another.

Each agent on a Workflow-enabled system is

associated with an AQ queue.

The Business Event System interacts with the agent

by enqueuing or dequeuing event messages on its

queue.

Standard Agents

When you install Oracle Workflow, four standard

agents are automatically defined on the local system.

WF_INStandard inbound agent

WF_OUTStandard outbound agent

WF_DEFERRED Standard agent for deferred

subscription processing

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WF_ERRORStandard agent for error handling

Workflow Monitor

Allows monitoring and administration of defined workflows via standard web browser capable of supportingJava.

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Notification System

The Notification System routes notifications to a role (responsibility) or a specific user. There are three waysin which to access notifications - email, web browser, or via the Oracle Applications. The method in which to

view notifications can be set at the user level so applications users can access notifications via the notificationviewer, travelling salespeople can access via a web browser or email, etc.

Directory Services

Oracle Workflow does not maintain its own repository of users and roles, instead it consists of three viewsthat pull the information from a variety of Oracle Applications tables. Each view contains the columns thatWorkflow needs to reference to get information about a user or role. These views are:

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WF_USERS

WF_ROLES

WF_USER_ROLES

Oracle Workflow Builder

Oracle Workflow Builder is a graphical tool that lets workflow developers create, view, or modify a businessprocess with simple drag and drop operations. Using the Workflow Builder, you can create and modify all

workflow objects, including activities, item types, and messages.

Oracle Workflow manages business processes according to defined rules (workflow process definitions),including the activities occurring as part of the process and the relationships of those activities.

Notification Worklist

The Notification Worklist is a feature that provides a list of open notifications for a particular

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user. The Worklist is viewable through the Oracle Workflow Web Agent. You can also

configure the Notification Mailer to send an e-mail summarizing the outstanding notifications.

From the Worklist, a user can view the notifications as well as respond to those that require a

response.

New Self-Service Web Page Format

The Oracle Workflow web pages are being converted to the new format for Oracle self-service

web applications. Depending on your version of Oracle Workflow and which patches you have

applied, you may see Oracle Workflow web pages in the previous format or in the new format.

Currently, the Notifications Worklist and the Notification Rules web pages are available in the

new format for the version of Oracle Workflow embedded in Oracle E-Business Suite.

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Workflow Definitions Loader

The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that lets you transfer process definitions

between a database and a flat file. The Workflow Definitions Loader:

Runs on the server machine

Lets you upgrade a database with new versions of process definitions or upload existing

process definitions after a database upgrade

Is also integrated into Oracle Workflow Builder

Allows process definitions to be source-controlled as flat files

Workflow XML Loader

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The Workflow XML Loader is a utility program that lets you transfer XML definitions for

Business Event System objects between a database and a flat file.

When you download Business Event System object definitions from a database, Oracle

Workflow saves the definitions as an XML file.

When you upload object definitions to a database, Oracle Workflow loads the definitions

from the source XML file into the Business Event System tables in the database, creating

new definitions or updating existing definitions as necessary.

Oracle Workflow allows:

Model sophisticated business processes that include looping, branching, parallel processing,

rendezvous, and more

Choose transitional paths based on the result of stored procedures (PL/SQL or Java)

Integrate the business process with the supporting business application through the use of standard

APIs

Visualize the stage of the business process that has been reached, and the path taken to get there Help withgathering metrics on the activities comprising the business process Receive and respond to notifications viaemail

Workflow Definitions Loader

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The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that moves workflow definitions between database andcorresponding flat file representations.

You can use it to move workflow definitions from a development to a production database, or to applyupgrades to existing definitions.

Workflow Processes

Oracle Workflow manages business processes according to rules that you define. The rules, which we call aworkflow process definition, include the activities that occur in the process and the relationship betweenthose activities.

An activity in a process definition can be an automated function defined by a PL/SQL stored procedure or anexternal function, a notification to a user or role that may optionally request a response, a business event, or asubflow that itself is made up of a more granular set of activities.

A workflow process is initiated when an application calls a set of Oracle Workflow Engine APIs.The Workflow Engine takes over by driving the relevant work item defined by the application, through a

specific workflow process definition.

According to the workflow process definition, the Workflow Engine performs automated steps and invokesappropriate agents when external processing is required.

The following diagram depicts a simplified workflow process definition that routes a requisition to a manager

or set of managers for approval.

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Electronic Notifications

Oracle Workflow lets you include users in your workflows to handle activities that cannot be automated, suchas approvals for requisitions or sales orders. The Notification System sends notifications to and processesresponses from users in a workflow.

Electronic Mail Integration

Electronic mail (email) users can receive notifications of outstanding work items and can respond to thosenotifications using their email application of choice. An email notification can include an attachment thatprovides another means of responding to the notification.

Internet Enabled Workflow

Any user with access to a standard Web browser can be included in a workflow. Web users can access aNotification Web page to see their outstanding work items, then navigate to additional pages to see more

details or provide a response.

Routing Information

Business processes today involve getting many types of information to multiple people according to rules thatare constantly changing. With so much information available, and in so many different forms, how do you getthe right information to the right people? Oracle Workflow lets you provide each person with all theinformation they need to take action. Oracle Workflow can route supporting information to each decisionmaker in a business process, including people both inside and outside your enterprise.

Defining and Modifying Business Rules

Oracle Workflow lets you define and continuously improve your business processes using a drag-and-dropprocess designer.

Unlike workflow systems that simply route documents from one user to another with some approval steps,Oracle Workflow lets you model sophisticated business processes.

You can define processes that loop, branch into parallel flows and then rendezvous, decompose intosubflows, and more.

Because Oracle Workflow can decide which path to take based on the result of a stored procedure, you canuse the power of Java and of PL/SQL, the language of the Oracle Database, to express any business rule thataffects a workflow process.

Oracle Workflow Builder Menus

The Oracle Workflow Builder main menu bar includes the following menus:

File

Edit

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View

Window

Help

Oracle Workflow Builder Toolbars

Navigator Window

Navigator Toolbar

The Navigator toolbar includes the following buttons which apply only to objects selected from the navigatortree:

New Store

Creates a new data store branch in the navigator tree.

Open

Displays the Open window to open stored item types from a file or database.

Save

Saves any changes in the selected data store to the currently connected database or file. Displays theOpen window to let you connect to a database or file if the selected data store is not connected to a

database or file.

Delete

Deletes the selected object.

Properties

Shows the property pages of the selected object.

Copy

Copies the selected object.

Paste

Pastes the copied object into the current object branch.

Verify

Validates the process definition.

Developer Mode

Toggles between Developer and Presentation display.

Find

Displays the Search window to specify the search criteria to locate an object in the navigator tree.

Quick Start Wizard

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Runs the Quick Start Wizard to begin creating a workflow process definition.

Help

Displays help on how to use Oracle Workflow.

New Object

Creates a new object depending on the object branch you select (item type, Processes, Notifications,Functions, Messages, or Lookup Types) by displaying the property page for that object type.

Process Window Toolbar

The process window toolbar includes the following buttons which apply only to objects selected the currentprocess window:

Open

Displays the Open window to open stored item types from a file or database.

Save

Saves any changes in the selected data store to the currently connected database or file. Displays theOpen window to let you connect to a database or file if the selected data store is not connected to adatabase or file.

Print Diagram

Prints the current process diagram.

New Process

Displays the process activity node property page for you to create a new process activity.

New Notification

Displays the notification activity node property page for you to create a new notification activity.

New Function

Displays the function activity node property page for you to create a new function activity.

New Event

Displays the event activity node property page for you to create a new event activity.

Delete Selection

Deletes the selected object.

Properties

Shows the property pages of the selected object.

Developer Mode

Toggles between Developer and Presentation display.

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Find

Displays the process Overview window.

Show Instance Labels

Displays the instance label of the node as the node activity label in the Process window.

Show Internal Names

Displays the internal name of the node as the node activity label in the Process window.

Show Display Names

Displays the display name of the node as the node activity label in the Process window.

Show Comments

Displays the comments of the node as the node activity label in the Process window.

Show Performers

Displays the performer of the node as the node activity label in the Process window.

Help

Displays help on how to use Oracle Workflow.

Standard Activities

The Standard item type includes function and notification activities provided by Oracle

Workflow that can be included in process diagrams associated with other item types. These

activities include:

And

Or

Compare Date

Compare Number

Compare Text

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Compare Execution Time

Wait

Block

Defer Thread

Launch Process

Noop

Loop Counter

Start

End

Role Resolution

Notify

Vote Yes/No

Continue Flow

Wait for Flow

Assign

Get Monitor URL

Get Event Property

Set Event Property

Compare Event Property

XML Get Tag Value (Date)

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XML Get Tag Value (Number)

XML Get Tag Value (Text)

XML Compare Tag Value (Date)

XML Compare Tag Value (Number)

XML Compare Tag Value (Text)

XML Transform

Creating Process Definitions in Oracle Workflow Builder

Before using Oracle Workflow Builder, you should plan what your process needs to accomplish. In particular,determine what activities need to occur, the order of the activities, what results dictate the different branchesof the process, who needs to be informed and what they need to know. Oracle Workflow provides severaldemonstration workflow examples.

Creating a New Workflow Process

You can create new workflow processes by two

Different design methods:

Top-Down Design: If you prefer to approach your

design from a high level, you can first sketch out

the process diagram with activities, and then go

back later to create the supporting objects for each

activity.

Creating a New Process from Top Down

1. Use the Quick Start Wizard to create the process

framework, including the item type and initial proces

activity.

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2. Define function, notification, event, or process

activities without underlying dependencies.

3. Diagram the relationship of the activities.

4. Define item type attributes for the process.

5. Define lookup types and lookup codes.

6. Define messages.

7. Define message attributes.

8. Update processes, functions, events, and

notifications with underlying components.

Bottom-Up Design: If you prefer to take a more

programmatic approach to your design, you can

first define each of the supporting

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objects of your process before

beginning to create a higher level

process diagram.

Creating a New Process from Bottom Up

1. Define the item type of the process.

2. Define the item type attributes for the process.

3. Define lookup types and lookup codes.

4. Define messages.

5. Define message attributes.

6. Define function, notification, event, or process

activities.

7. Diagram the relationship of the activities.

Quick Start Wizard

The Quick Start Wizard helps you build a process definition from scratch using a process definitiontemplate. The Quick Start Wizard creates a new item type for your process, prompting you for theminimum required information. It then creates an outline process diagram from which you can fleshout with more activities. Once the Quick Start Wizard sets up the template, you can use either thetop-down or bottom-up approach to complete the design.

Create a workflow process in the Oracle Workflow Builder using the Quick StartWizard:

1. Start the Oracle Workflow Builder.

2. From the File menu, choose Quick Start Wizard.

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3. Define the following properties for the new item type:

Internal Name: WFVACXX

Display Name: XX Vacation Proposal

Persistence Type: Temporary

Number of Days: 5

Define the following propertie

for the process:

Internal Name: WFVACXX_PROCESS

Display Name: XX Vacation Proposal Process

Choose OK

.

4. Create notification activity nodes for Vacation Proposal, Vacation Rejected FYI, and

Vacation Approved FYI notification activities.

For each notification, click the New Notification button in the process diagram

window toolbar, and then click an open spot in the diagram between the Start and

End nodes

In the node properties window for each notification, enter an internal name and

display name and choose an icon. For the Vacation Proposal notification, select the

Approval lookup type that is provided in the Standard item type as the Result Type

for the activity. Then choose OK.

5. Create a new End node by dragging the End function from the Standard item type in the

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navigator tree into the process diagram window. Double-click the new End node and

choose the Node tab. In the Start/End field, select End.

6. In the process diagram, draw transitions between the nodes in the process to indicate the

process flow. To draw a transition, click the source activity, hold down the right mouse

button, drag the cursor to the destination activity, and release the right mouse button. For

transitions from the Vacation Proposal node, choose the appropriate result from the

results menu that appears.

7. Select the XX Vacation Proposal Process in the navigator tree, right-click the process

activity, and choose Properties to open the property pages for the process.

8. Choose the Activity tab and select Approval as the result type for the process. Then

choose OK.

9. Double-click the End node that follows the Vacation Rejected FYI node and choose the

Node tab. Select Reject in the Result field.

10. Double-click the End node that follows the Vacation Approved FYI node and choose the

Node tab. Select Approve in the Result field.

11. In the Navigator window, click the Verify button to verify your workflow. Because you

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have not yet defined the underlying components for your process, the Workflow Error

window displays warnings for validation checks that the process does not yet satisfy.

Review the error messages to learn about the errors. In later practices, you will add

additional functionality to your workflow to eliminate these errors. Click Cancel to exit

the Workflow Error window.

12. From the File menu, choose Save As and save your new data store and item type to a

workflow definition file named wfvacXX.wft. The Oracle Workflow Builder will verify

your workflow again. Click Save in the Workflow Error window to finish saving the

workflow definition.

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Workflow Process Components

Depending on the workflow process you wish to create, you need to define all or some of the following typesof components to make up the process:

Item Types

Attributes

Lookup Types

Messages

Activities

Roles

Note: When defining internal names for workflow objects in Oracle Workflow Builder, use onlycharacters from the ASCII character set.

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Item Types

An item type is a classification of the components that make up a workflow process. You mustassociate any component that you create for a process, such as a function activity or a message, with aparticular item type.

Item Type Attributes

An item type attribute is a property associated with a given item type. It acts as a global variable that

can be referenced or updated by any activity within a process. An item type attribute often providesinformation about an item that is necessary for the workflow process to complete.

Attribute Types

There are ten attribute types, as shown below. The type determines what values are acceptable and how theattribute is used.

Text - The attribute value is a string of text.

Number - The attribute value is a number with the optional format mask you specify.

Date - The attribute value is a date with the optional format mask you specify.

Lookup - The attribute value is one of the lookup code values in a specified lookup type.

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Form - The attribute value is an Oracle Applications internal form function name and its optional formfunction parameters. This attribute type is not relevant for the standalone version of Oracle Workflow.

Role

The attribute value is the internal name of a role. If a message attribute of type role is included in anotification message, the attribute automatically resolves to the role's display name, eliminating the need for

you to maintain separate attributes for the role's internal and display names.

Attribute

The attribute value is the internal name of another existing item type attribute that you want to maintainreferences to in a process.

Event

The attribute value is a Business Event System event message in the standard WF_EVENT_T structure.

Item Type Property Page

Defining Item Types and Attributes

To Create an Item Type

1. Open an existing data store or, select New from the File menu to create a new data store to define thisnew item type. Then define a new item type in the navigator tree by choosing New Item Type fromthe Edit menu. An Item Type property page appears.

2. Enter a translatable Display Name that is longer and more descriptive. You can also supply adescription for the item type.

3. Specify a persistence type of Temporary or Permanent. If you set the persistence type to Temporary,then specify the number of days from the time the item instance completes before its status audit trailcan be purged.

4. If your item type has or will have more than one workflow process associated with it, you may specify

a selector function using the syntax .. The selector function is a

PL/SQL stored procedure that automatically identifies the specific process definition the WorkflowEngine should execute when a workflow is initiated for this item type. You can also extend theselector function to be a general callback function that resets context information each time theWorkflow Engine establishes a new database session to execute activities.

5. Choose Apply to save your changes.

6. Select the Roles tab page to specify the roles that have access to this item type. (This functionality willbe supported in a future release.)

7. Select the Access tab page to set the access and customization levels for this item type.

8. Choose Apply to save your changes, OK to save your changes and close the property page or Cancel tocancel your changes and close the property page.

9. A secondary branch appears in the navigator tree that represents the item type you just created. Youcan review or edit the properties of this item type at any time by double-clicking on the item type inthe navigator tree or by selecting the item type and choosing Properties from the Edit menu.

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10. Define as many item type attributes as necessary to use as global variables in your process.You use these item type attributes to pass values to and from your function, notification, and eventactivities.

To Define an Item Type or Activity Attribute

1. To create an item type attribute, select an item type in the navigator tree, then choose New Attributefrom the Edit menu.

Item Type Attribute Property Page

To create an activity attribute, select an activity in the navigator tree and choose New Attribute fromthe Edit menu.

Activity Attribute Property Page

An Attribute property page appears in both cases.

2. Provide an Internal Name in all uppercase with no leading/trailing spaces. All Oracle Workflow APIs,SQL scripts, and PL/SQL procedures refer to the internal name when identifying an attribute.

3. Enter a Display Name. This is the name that appears in the navigator tree.

4. Enter an optional description.

5. Select the data type of the attribute. Form, URL, and document data types are not relevant if you aredefining an activity attribute.

6. Depending on the data type of your attribute, provide the following default value information:

Text - Specify the maximum length of the text attribute and an optional default text string.

Number - Optionally provide a format mask for your number and a default value.

Date - Optionally supply a format mask for the date and a default value.

Lookup - Choose a predefined Lookup Type from which to draw values. Choose a lookupcode from that lookup type for the default value.

URL - Specify an optional Universal Resource Locator (URL) to a network location in theDefault Value field and specify the frame target for the URL.

Form - This attribute is relevant only for the version of Oracle Workflow embedded in OracleApplications.

Document - Enter an optional string that identifies the document in the default value field.

Note: The Frame Target field is not applicable for attributes of type document. For document attributes, thisfield is reserved for future use.

Role - Specify a role name.

Attribute - Specify the name of an item type attribute that you want to maintain references toin a process by choosing from the list of existing item type attributes.

Event - If you are defining an item type attribute, you cannot specify any default value for anevent attribute. If you are defining an activity attribute, you can only specify an event itemtype attribute as the default value.

7. For item type attributes, the optional default value is a constant that you enter or select from a list of

values. The constant, however, may be a text string that allows for token substitution at runtime.

8. Choose Apply to save your changes, OK to save your changes and close the property page, or Cancelto cancel your changes and close the property page.

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9. If you are defining an item type attribute, select the Access tab page to set the access levels allowed tomodify this attribute. Activity attributes assume the access/protection level of their parent activity.

10. Choose Apply to save your changes.

11. Any item type attribute you create appears beneath the Attributes branch in the navigatortree. Any function activity attribute you define appears beneath the activity you defined it for in thenavigator tree.

Standard Functions

Oracle Workflogooglew Builder comes equipped with several built-in worklows and demos, one of which isWF_STANDARD, a workflow process definition used to define standard functions usable within other

workflow process definitions.

WF_STANDARD includes functions such as:

And function facilitating the rendezvous of parallel threads, flow will not continue until all transitions to thefunction are completed

Or function facilitating the rendezvous of parallel threads, flow will continue with completion of the firsttransition to the function

Loop Counter function used to count the number of times a looping flow has transitioned through, allowscontinuation or exit of the looping flow based on counter

Comparison operations functions used to compare date, text, and number values to corresponding item

attribute types, allows branching based on the result of the comparisonXML Get Tag Value function facilitating the retrieval of data from an event attribute and storage in another

item attribute

XML Comparison operations similar to regular comparison operations, except the comparisons utilize dataretrieved from events for path determination

Assign function allowing a value for an item attribute to be set within the worklfow process at run-time

Wait function that will hold a transition from completion until a specified period or date has passed

Defer Thread function used to force all following activities on the same thread to be deferred for thebackground engine to run

Standard APIs

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

wf_engine.CreateProcess creates an instantiation of the specified workflow process

wf_engine.StartProcess initiates the created workflow process (used in tandem with Create Process)

wf_engine.background runs a one-time background engine

wf_engine.SetItemAttrText used to set the value of a text item attribute within a workflow processexternally from PL/SQL

wf_engine.GetItemAttrText used to retrieve the value of a text item attribute from within a workflowprocess and return it to PL/SQL

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 userspecified name

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(itemtype IN VARCHAR2,

itemkey IN VARCHAR2,

actid IN NUMBER,

funcmode IN VARCHAR2,

resultout IN OUT VARCHAR2)