Oracle Workflow Builder

Oracle Workflow Builder is a graphical tool for creating, viewing, and modifying workflow process definitions. It contains a Navigator window that you use to define the activities and components of your business process. You then assemble the activities in a process window to create a process diagram.

At any time you can add, remove, or change workflow activities, or set up new prerequisite relationships among activities. Oracle Workflow manages business processes according to rules that you define.


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. The Workflow Engine supports sophisticated workflow rules, including looping, branching, parallel flows, and sub flows.


Business Event System

The Business Event System consists of the Event Manager, which lets you register subscriptions to significant events, and event activities, which let you model business events within workflow processes.

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. See: Process Window

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

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. A function activity can also have activity attributes associated with it

Events: lists the event activities associated with the current item type. An event activity represents a business event that the process receives, raises, or sends

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.
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.

Access Level: A numeric value ranging from 0 to 1000. Every workflow user operates at a specific access level. The access level defines whether the user can modify certain workflow data. You can only modify data that is protected at a level equal to or higher than your access level.

Activity: A unit of work performed during a business process.

Process: A set of activities that need to be performed to accomplish a business goal.

Workflow Engine: The Workflow Engine manages the state of all activities for an item, automatically executes functions and sends notifications, maintains a history of completed activities, and detects error conditions and starts error processes. The Workflow Engine: is implemented in server PL/SQL and activated when a call to an engine API is made.

Performer: A user or role assigned to perform a human activity (notification). Notification activities that are included in a process must be assigned to a performer.

Role: One or more users grouped by a common responsibility or position.

Notification: An instance of a message delivered to a user.

Lookup Code: An internal name of a value defined in a lookup type.

Lookup Type: A predefined list of values. Each value in a lookup type has an internal and a display name.

Item Type: A grouping of all items of a particular category that share the same set of item attributes. For example, PO Requisition is an item type used to group all requisitions created by Oracle Internet Commerce’s Web Requisitions page. Item type is also used as a high level grouping for processes.

Event: An occurrence in an internet or intranet application or program that might be significant to other objects in a system or to external agents.

Background Engines: A supplemental Workflow Engine that processes deferred or timed out activities.

Message: The information that is sent by a notification activity. A message must be defined before it can be associated with a notification activity. A message contains a subject, a priority, a body, and possibly one or more message attributes.


Synchronous or Asynchronous Processes

A workflow process can be either synchronous or asynchronous.

A synchronous process is a process that can be executed without interruption from start to finish.

• The Workflow Engine executes a process synchronously when the process includes activities that can be completed immediately, such as function activities that are not deferred to the background engine.
• With a synchronous process, you can immediately check for process results that were written to item attributes or directly to the database. However, the user must wait for the process to complete.

An asynchronous process is a process that the Workflow Engine cannot complete immediately because it contains activities that interrupt the flow.

• Examples of activities that force an asynchronous process include deferred activities, notifications with responses, blocking activities, and wait activities.
• With an asynchronous process, the user does not have to wait for the process to complete to continue using the application. However, the results of the process are not available until the process is completed at a later time.

Item type: The internal name for the item type. Item types are defined in the Oracle Workflow Builder.

Item key: The string uniquely identifies the item within an item type.

Actid: The ID number of the activity from which this procedure is called.

Funcmode: The execution mode of the activity. If the activity is a function activity, the mode is either 'RUN' or 'CANCEL'. If the activity is a notification activity, with a postnotification function, then the mode can be 'RESPOND', 'FORWARD', 'TRANSFER', 'TIMEOUT', or 'RUN'. Other execution modes may be added in the future.

Resultout: COMPLETE: activity completes with the indicated result code. The result code must match one of the result codes specified in the result type of the function activity.

WAITING: activity is pending, waiting on another activity to complete before it completes. An example is the Standard 'AND' activity.

DEFERRED: activity is deferred to a background engine for execution until a given date. Must be of the format: to_char, f_engine.date_format)

NOTIFIED: an external entity is notified that an action must be performed. A notification ID and an assigned user can optionally be returned with this result. Note that the external entity must call Complete Activity () to inform the Workflow Engine when the action completes.
ERROR: activity encounters an error and returns the indicated error code.

WF_CORE.CONTEXT

          (‘',
           '',
           ,
           ,
            To_char (),
           );

Wf_engine.AddItemAttr
        (itemtype,
         itemkey,
         ‘’);

Wf_engine.SetItemAttrText
        (itemtype,
         itemkey,
         ‘’,
         ‘’);

Creates a new runtime process for an application item.
Procedure CreateProcess
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           process in varchar2 default ’’,
           user_key in varchar2 default null,
           owner_role in varchar2 default null);

Procedure StartProcess
         (itemtype in varchar2,
          itemkey in varchar2);

Procedure LaunchProcess
         (itemtype in varchar2,
          itemkey in varchar2,
          process in varchar2 default '',
          userkey in varchar2 default '',
          owner in varchar2 default '');

Procedure SetItemAttrText
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           aname in varchar2,
           avalue in varchar2);

Procedure SetItemAttrNumber
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           aname in varchar2,
           avalue in number);

Procedure SetItemAttrDate
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           aname in varchar2,
           avalue in date);

Function GetItemAttrText
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           aname in varchar2) return varchar2;

Function GetItemAttrNumber
         (itemtype in varchar2,
          itemkey in varchar2,
          aname in varchar2) return number;

Function GetItemAttrDate
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           itemkey in varchar2,
           aname in varchar2) return date;

Procedure Background
          (itemtype in varchar2,
           minthreshold in number default null,
           maxthreshold in number default null,
           process_deferred in boolean default TRUE,
           process_timeout in boolean default FALSE,
           process_stuck in boolean default FALSE);

Procedure ItemStatus

          (itemtype in varchar2,

           itemkey in varchar2,

           status out varchar2,

           result out varchar2);


1) What are the major components of the workflow system?

• Workflow Engine,
• Business Event System,
• The Notification Service,
• He Workflow Builder,
• And administrative and monitoring tools.

The Workflow Engine is a set of tables and PL/SQL stored procedures that manage the execution of workflow processes and tracks work-in- process.


2) What platform is workflow currently available on?

• Oracle Workflow embedded in Oracle Applications is available on all platforms that Oracle Applications is available on.
• The builder of course is a client product running on Windows 95/98/2000/NT.

3) Can workflow work on a distributed database?
Yes - Oracle Workflow 2.6 includes a major new feature called the Business Event System which supports the sending and receiving of messages between databases.


4) How does Oracle Workflow differ from Oracle Alert?

• Oracle Alert is a database event detection tool.
• Oracle Workflow technology enables automation and continuous improvement to business processes, routing information according to user-defined business rules.

5) What electronic mail systems can I use in conjunction with Oracle Workflow Notifications?

The Oracle Workflow Notification Mailer can be used (WFMAIL).


6) How do I verify the version of Oracle Workflow that I have installed?

For Workflow versions prior to 2.5:
SQL> select TEXT from WF_RESOURCES where NAME='WF_VERSION';


7) How do I select the 'File, Load Roles' option when it is grayed out?

To use the 'File, Load Roles' option you must store your workflow definition in the database so that you have a database connection through which you can bring back records from the database.


8) What Access Level should I be using in Oracle Workflow Builder?

You should be running the Workflow Builder with an Access Level of 100.


9)How do I trace errors in my Workflow processes?

• Using the Workflow Monitor and/or wfstatus.sql script.
• Use wfstatus.sql to display an end user status report for an indicated item. The output is 132 characters per line. Use the script as follows:

         sqlplus @wfstatus

10) How do I customize the Account Generator Workflow process for my company?
Customers are expected to customize the Account Generator process. You can do this by editing the existing process or creating your own process, but this MUST be within the seeded 'Item Type'. You should NOT create a NEW 'Item Type' as this would NEVER be run by Account Generator.

If you create a new process, you must ensure it is "Runnable". You must then assign the appropriate process to the Accounting Flex field structure in the Account Generator Process window in Oracle Applications (login as System Administrator, Application -> Flex fields -> Key -> Accounts and query up the required Accounting flex field structure).


11) Whats new about Oracle Workflow 2.6?

• Executing custom code on the event information
• Sending event information to a workflow process

Concurrent programs can be run from the command line as well:

• WFRESGEN 0 Y FILE ...
• WFRESGEN 0 Y DATABASE ...
• WFLOAD 0 Y DOWNLOAD
• WFLOAD 0 Y UPLOAD 
• WFLOAD 0 Y UPGRADE
• WFMAIL 0 Y

for example

• WFLOAD apps/apps 0 Y UPGRADE @fnd:install/data/wferror.wft
• WFLOAD apps/apps 0 Y UPLOAD @po:install/data/poreq.wft
• WFLOAD apps/apps 0 Y DOWNLOAD myprocess.wft POREQ
• WFLOAD apps/apps 0 Y UPGRADE c:\orant\wf20\res\US\wfstd.wft

12) What is the difference between WFLOAD and wfload?

• UPPERCASE executable names usually refer to the Concurrent Manager variant of the program.
• Lowercase executable names usually refer to the stand-alone unix version.

These two programs do the same thing, but take different arguments.


13) Can a workflow process be restarted from the point of failure?
Yes, Wf_Engine.HandleError is designed for this. When the cause of the error has been corrected, the HandleError procedure can be called with the 'RETRY' option which will attempt to re-execute the specified activity.


14) How can I tell if a work item already exists?

There is an API for this: WF_ITEM.ITEM_EXISTS


15) Does workflow always execute according to the latest definition for an itemtype?
No. Running processes use the activity definitions that were in effect when the process was started.


16) How do I completely wipe out workflow definitions from the database?

There are scripts that directly delete workflow definition data from the database.
wfrmita.sql -- Delete all definitions for an ITem Attribute
wfrmitt.sql -- Delete all definitions for an ITem Type
wfrmall.sql -- Delete all definitions


17) What does wf_purge.total actually do?

WF_PURGE.TOTAL deletes obsolete runtime data which includes:
Items
Item activity statuses
Notifications
Expired activity versions


18) How do I raise errors in my application? DO I have to add errors to the workflow resource table?

standard message dictionary APIs :
fnd_message.set_name(...);
fnd_message.set_token(...);
app_exception.raise_exception;


19) How do you retrieve the actual Performer's user name?
Use the API
username := wf_notification.Responder(nid)


20) How does the DOCUMENT type attribute work?

The DOCUMENT type attribute permits you to execute a pl/sql package procedure which you may use to build the message body dynamically at run time. For example, if you have an unlimited number of lines to display, rather than hardcoding an attribute for each line and setting a limit, use the DOCUMENT type. This allows you to call a package with the following parameters

procedure MY_PROCEDURE

( document_id in varchar2, -- your parameter list display_type in varchar2, -- either text/plain of text/HTML set by WF document in out varchar2, -- out string inserted into mesage body by WF document_type in out varchar2) -- usually set this equal to display_type is ...

SetItemAttrText(item_type,item_key, 'NEW_ITEM_ATTR_NAME', 'plsql:my_package.my_procedure/'||item_type||':'||item_key);


21) How to identify what type of events are in the WF_DEFFERED queue?
select 

corrid, decode(state,0, '0 = Ready',1, '1 = Delayed',2, '2 = Retained', 3, '3 = Exception', to_char(state)) State, count(*) COUNT
from 

WF_DEFERRED group by corrid, state;

The next statements will show how many events of each type are in the WF_DEFERRED queue:

column EVENT_NAME format a40;

select w.user_data.event_name EVENT_NAME, count(*) COUNT
from WF_DEFERRED w
group by w.user_data.event_name


22) How do you determine the WF Item Key value to run wfstatus.sql for Account Generator workflows?

Select item_key, begin_date, end_date from wf_items
where item_type = 'PAAPINVW'
and begin_date between '&low_start' and '&high_start';