Practical Workflow for SAP: Effective Business Processes Using SAP's Webflow Engine,9781592290062

Practical Workflow for SAP: Effective Business Processes Using SAP's Webflow Engine

by ; ; ;
ISBN13: 9781592290062
ISBN10: 159229006X
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2002-12-01
Publisher(s): Sap Pr America
List Price: $59.95

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Table of Contents

Preface from the Industry 17(4)
Preface from SAP 21(2)
Who Should Read This Book? 23(2)
Acknowledgements 25(2)
Part 1 Using SAP Supplied Workflows
27(146)
Introduction to SAP's WebFlow Engine
29(20)
What is SAP's WebFlow Engine?
29(3)
Workflow or WebFlow?
32(1)
Can I Do Without SAP's WebFlow Engine?
33(2)
In Which Situations Should I use SAP's WebFlow Engine?
35(5)
Primary Factors
35(5)
High-Level Overview of What Can be Achieved With SAP's WebFlow Engine
40(1)
Brief Overview of Features
41(5)
Robust Integration into the mySAP.com Components
41(1)
Graphical Workflow Builder
42(1)
Graphical Status Visualization
42(1)
Routing Mechanisms
43(1)
Deadline/Escalation Management
43(1)
Synchronization Management
43(1)
Integration with Groupware Products and mySAP.com
44(1)
Ad Hoc Process Enhancers (Queries, Attachments, Forwarding)
44(1)
Integration with Other Systems Across the Internet
44(1)
Desktop Integration (Microsoft Word, Lotus SmartSuite, etc.)
44(1)
Information System
45(1)
Robust Extensible Architecture
45(1)
Summary
46(3)
Requirements Gathering Strategy
49(24)
Introduction
49(1)
Understanding the Business Process
50(7)
Business Drivers for the Process
51(2)
Expected Benefits of Workflow
53(1)
How Does the Process Work in Theory?
54(1)
How Does the Process Work in Practice?
55(1)
Unions and Workers Councils
56(1)
Gathering Object Data
57(5)
What Data is Needed by Workflow
57(1)
Where to Look for Data
58(1)
What Data Already Exists
59(1)
Making the Most of the Data Collected
59(3)
Determining the Agents
62(4)
Who are Your Agents?
63(1)
Criteria for Finding Agents
64(2)
Determining Work Item Delivery Routes
66(1)
Confirming the Workflow Design
67(2)
Workflow Administration
69(1)
Planning for Production Start
69(1)
Planning for Future Enhancements
70(3)
Configuring the System
73(12)
Quick Start: Configure SAP's WebFlow Engine in seconds
74(7)
Automatic Workflow Customizing
74(2)
What Auto-Customizing Does
76(4)
IMG-Activities for Authorization Management
80(1)
Workflow-Scenarios: Task Specific Customizing
81(1)
Maintaining the Organizational Plan
81(1)
Agent Assignment for Tasks
81(1)
Activating the triggering events for a workflow or a task
81(1)
Transport and Client Copy
82(1)
Transport of Cross-Client Tasks
82(1)
Transport of Client-Specific Tasks
82(1)
Transport of Settings for Tasks and Workflows
82(1)
Transporting a Workflow Definition
83(1)
Client Copy
83(1)
Overview: Customizing for SAP's WebFlow Engine
83(2)
Work Item Delivery
85(26)
The Human Factor
85(2)
Inbox Features
87(16)
Work Item Text
88(3)
Attachments
91(1)
Reserving and Replacing a Work Item
92(1)
Executing a Work Item
93(2)
Synchronous Dialog Chains
95(2)
Multiple Execution
97(1)
Executing a Work Item Outside the Inbox
97(1)
Forwarding
98(1)
Priority
99(1)
Resubmission
99(1)
Queries
99(1)
Logs
99(2)
Preview Mode
101(1)
Enhancing the Work Item Display
101(1)
Outbox
102(1)
Rejecting Work Items
102(1)
Table of Features Available in the Principle Inboxes
103(1)
Successful Strategies for Work Item Delivery
104(5)
E-Mail Notifications
104(1)
Groupware Integration
105(1)
Portal Integration
105(1)
External Users
106(2)
E-Mail Decisions
108(1)
Other Considerations
109(2)
Agents
111(22)
Understanding Agent Assignment
112(8)
Possible Agents
113(2)
Responsible Agents
115(2)
Excluded Agents
117(1)
Recipients
117(1)
Actual Agent
118(1)
Assigning Multiple Agents per Work Item
118(1)
Deadline and Notification Agents
119(1)
Agent Assignment Using the Organizational Structure
120(6)
The Basic Organizational Plan
121(3)
The Extended Organizational Plan
124(1)
Doing without an organizational plan
125(1)
Agent Assignment Using Task Groups
126(1)
Implementing and Maintaining the Structure in Practice
127(6)
Strategies for Organization Plan Maintenance
127(1)
Transporting Organization Plans
128(1)
Reassigning Work Items from One User to Another
129(1)
Substituting Users
130(1)
When Do You Choose to Refresh the Org Environment?
131(1)
Training and Encouraging Agents
132(1)
Workflow Administration
133(40)
Introduction
133(1)
Reporting on Workflows
134(5)
Reporting on Workflow Progress
135(1)
Reporting on Workflow Performance
135(1)
Work Items by Processing Duration
136(1)
Work Items with Monitored Deadlines
137(1)
Work Items per Task
137(1)
Reporting on Agent Behavior
137(1)
Identifying and Justifying Potential Improvements
138(1)
Error Resolution
139(2)
General Techniques for Resolving Runtime Errors
141(11)
Basic Settings for Error Monitoring
141(1)
Finding and Fixing Work Items
142(1)
Working with the Work Item Display
143(4)
How to Work with the Work Item Container Display
147(1)
Working with the Workflow Log
147(5)
Resolving Agent Determination Errors
152(3)
Fixing Work Items with No or Wrong Agents
153(1)
Preventing Agent Determination Problems from Reoccurring
154(1)
Support Tools for Agent Determination Problems
155(1)
Resolving Buffering Errors (The Cinderella Principle)
155(3)
Fixing Work Items with Buffering Problems
156(1)
Preventing Buffering Problems From Reoccurring
157(1)
Support Tools for Buffering Problems
157(1)
Other Support Tools
158(1)
Help-Desk in the Intranet
159(2)
Web-based Help Desks
159(1)
Self Help
160(1)
Day in the Life of a Workflow Administrator
161(12)
Who Should be the Workflow Administrator?
162(2)
Who Makes the Business Decisions in the Event of Failure?
164(2)
Crisis Response
166(1)
Day-to-Day Monitoring
167(1)
Periodic Reality Checks
168(1)
Housekeeping and Archiving
169(1)
Making the Most of a Precious Resource
170(3)
Part 2 Developing Your Own Workflows
173(224)
Creating a Workflow
175(44)
Introduction
175(1)
Workflow Builder Basics
176(11)
Look and Feel of the Workflow Builder
176(2)
Building Your First Workflow
178(2)
Saving, Activating and Testing
180(2)
Deadline Monitoring
182(2)
Creating Container Elements in the Workflow Container
184(2)
Changing Container Elements
186(1)
Intermediate Workflow Builder (Steps, Tasks and Objects)
187(10)
How to Access Data and Activities
187(3)
How to Create and Use Tasks
190(4)
How to Create Containers and Bindings for Tasks
194(1)
Using Asynchronous Tasks
195(2)
Advanced Workflow Builder---Step Definitions
197(9)
What Other Step Types Exist?
197(2)
How to Insert New Steps
199(1)
What Kinds of Outcomes Exist?
200(1)
Containers and Bindings in Depth
201(4)
Which Task and Step Attributes Affect Work Item Execution?
205(1)
How to Influence the Generation and Termination of the Work Item
206(1)
Advanced Workflow Builder--Special Workflow Techniques
206(13)
Reusing Workflows as Subworkflows
206(2)
How to Use a Modeled Deadline?
208(2)
How to Implement Parallel Processing
210(4)
Linking Workflows Within or Between Systems
214(1)
How to Influence a Currently Executing Workflow
214(1)
Ad-Hoc Features to Change Workflows on the Fly
215(1)
Documenting Workflow Definitions
216(1)
Translating a Workflow into Other Languages
216(1)
Transporting New Versions of a Workflow
217(1)
How Do You Share Workflow Development Within a Team?
218(1)
Business Objects
219(54)
Business Object Basics
220(16)
Business Objects: Some Basic terminology
222(1)
Relationships Between Business Objects
223(2)
Business Object Tools
225(2)
Viewing Existing Business Object Types
227(9)
Creating your own Business Object Types
236(5)
Extending Existing Object Types Via Delegation
240(1)
Creating Business Object Type Components
241(14)
Creating Key fields
242(1)
Creating Attributes
243(3)
Creating Methods
246(8)
Creating Events
254(1)
Business Object Type Programming
255(15)
Key fields and the Object Declaration
256(2)
Programming Attributes
258(7)
Programming Methods
265(5)
Some useful predefined Object Types
270(3)
Object Type Selfitem
270(1)
Object Type WF_TASK
271(1)
Object type System
271(1)
Object Type FORMABSENC
272(1)
Object type USR01
272(1)
Agent-Determination Rules
273(22)
Determining Agents Through Rule Resolution
273(1)
Rule Basics
274(4)
Agent Determination Rule Resolution in the Workflow Step
278(1)
What Happens If Rule Resolution Has No Result
279(2)
Responsibility Rules
281(4)
Evaluation paths as rules
285(1)
Function Modules as Rules
286(5)
SAP Organizational Objects as Rules
291(2)
Other Options for Responsible Agent Assignment
293(2)
Business Interfaces
295(24)
Introduction
295(1)
Understanding Events
295(2)
Defining Events
297(1)
Raising Events from Business Applications
297(7)
Raising Events Via Change Documents
299(1)
Raising Events Via Status Changes
300(1)
Raising Events Via Message Control
301(1)
Events Raised by Changes to HR Master Data
302(1)
Events Raised Via Business Transaction Events
303(1)
Raising Events by Calling a Workflow API
304(1)
Using Events in Workflows
304(9)
How to Use Events in Workflows
304(1)
Triggering events
305(4)
Terminating Events
309(3)
Event Queues
312(1)
Generic Object Services
313(4)
Starting Workflows Manually
314(2)
Viewing the Logs of Related Workflows
316(1)
Subscribe to an Object Instance
316(1)
Sending a Mail
316(1)
Starting Workflows from Messages
317(2)
E-Process Interfaces
319(26)
Internet and Beyond
319(1)
Wf-XML
320(9)
A Collaborative Scenario Example
321(2)
The History of Wf-XML
323(1)
What You Can Do with Wf-XML
323(1)
Configuring the System
324(3)
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
327(1)
Allowing Your Workflow to Be Started by a Wf-XML Message
327(1)
Viewing the Wf-XML Documents as the Workflow Proceeds
328(1)
Inside-Out: Web Services
329(10)
Parameter Transfer
332(1)
Callback Services
332(1)
SOAP
333(1)
WSDL (Web Services Description Language)
334(1)
Defining a Service
334(5)
How the User Calls the Web Service
339(1)
Inside-Out: SAP Business Connector
339(1)
Business Connector Methods
339(1)
XML Generation for Wf-XML Content
340(1)
Inside-out: Integration With Other Systems
340(1)
Outside-in: Calling APIs to the WebFlow Engine
340(1)
SAP_WAPI Calls
340(1)
Outside-in: Wf-XML
340(1)
E-Process Security Issues
341(2)
Other Options for Communicating with External Systems
343(2)
Forms
345(12)
Introduction
345(1)
Simple Forms
346(3)
WebForms
349(2)
WebForms That Call an Internet Application Component
351(1)
Native WebForms
352(2)
PC Document Forms (Including Microsoft Word)
354(3)
Custom Programs
357(26)
The Engine
357(7)
Work Items
357(3)
Container
360(2)
Events
362(1)
Work Item States
362(2)
The Workflow APIs
364(4)
WAPI (Workflow Application Programming Interfaces)
365(3)
Function Modules
368(1)
Advanced Business Interface Techniques
368(12)
When Should I Start a Workflow with an Event?
368(2)
Raising Events by Calling a Function Module
370(5)
Advanced Event Linkage
375(3)
Adding Generic Object Services to Your Own Transactions
378(1)
Implementing the Workflow Toolbox in Your Own Transactions
379(1)
Office Document Interfaces
380(2)
Configuring RFC Destinations
382(1)
Advanced Diagnostics
383(14)
The Tools of the Trade
383(1)
The Diagnosis Logs
384(6)
The Workflow Log
384(1)
The Event Trace
385(2)
The Workflow Trace
387(3)
The RFC Log
390(1)
The XML log
390(1)
Debugging with the ABAP Debugger
390(1)
The Diagnosis Transaction
391(2)
An Apple a Day
393(4)
Testing New or Changed Workflows
393(4)
Part 3 Examples of the Use of WebFlow in mySAP.com
397(58)
WebFlow in Enterprise Buyer Professional
399(30)
Workflow in EBP
399(13)
Standard EBP WebFlow Features
400(4)
EBP Shopping Cart Approval Versus R/3 Backend Requisition Release Strategy
404(3)
Configuring the WebFlow Engine for EBP
407(1)
Special Patterns and Techniques in EBP Workflows
408(4)
Changing Shopping Cart Approval Workflows
412(7)
Creating Your Own Start Condition Criteria
412(1)
Creating Your Own Shopping Cart Approvers
413(3)
Finding Agents Via Backend Rules/Organizational Plans
416(1)
Adding More Approval Levels
417(1)
Parallel and Dynamic Approvals
418(1)
Commissioning/Decommissioning Workflows
418(1)
Changing Confirmation and Invoice Approvals
419(1)
Changing the Auto-Approval Criteria and/or the Approvers
419(1)
Changing the Administrator
419(1)
User Approval Workflows
420(1)
Adding Another Approver
420(1)
Understanding the Procurement Card Reconciliation Workflow
420(1)
Tracking Workflow Instances
421(1)
Advanced Troubleshooting and Solutions
421(2)
Basics of EBP Architecture from a Workflow Perspective
423(3)
Business Object Types
426(3)
WebFlow in mySAP CRM
429(10)
mySAP CRM and Workflow
429(3)
Some Technical Observations
429(1)
mySAP CRM from a Workflow Viewpoint
430(2)
Customizing
432(1)
`Specials' of mySAP CRM
432(4)
BUS20001 (Business transaction), OneOrder Concept
433(2)
Starting Workflows Via Actions
435(1)
Partner Processing
436(1)
Using Your Own Workflows with mySAP CRM
436(3)
Setting Up an SAP-Provided R/3 Workflow
439(8)
Introduction
439(1)
What is the Business Scenario?
440(1)
Which SAP Workflows are Involved?
441(1)
How is the Workflow Started?
442(1)
How Do I Activate This Scenario?
442(5)
WebFlow and ArchiveLink
447(8)
Intelligent Organization and Distribution of Business Documents
447(1)
What Is ArchiveLink
447(3)
The Technical View of ArchiveLink
447(2)
The Business View of ArchiveLink
449(1)
ArchiveLink Standard Scenarios
450(3)
How WebFlow Integrates ArchiveLink
451(2)
Business Object Types
453(2)
Appendix
455(2)
A Tips and Tricks
457(22)
Working with Wizards
457(1)
Working with E-Mails
458(8)
The Send Mail Step
459(2)
Working With Attachments
461(1)
Determining Recipients Via Rule Resolution
462(1)
Offline Work Item Execution Via E-Mail
463(2)
Customizing Considerations
465(1)
Showing the Decision Maker in a Follow-On Step
466(1)
URLs in the Work Item Display
467(1)
Creating your Own User Decision Template
468(1)
Using Secondary, Before, and After Methods
468(3)
Secondary Methods
468(2)
Before and After Methods
470(1)
Looping Through a Multiline List
471(1)
Creating Object References Dynamically
472(1)
Deadlines Based on the Factory Calendar
472(5)
Creating the Deadline Object
473(3)
Using the Deadline Object in Your Workflow
476(1)
Making the Most of Modeled Deadlines
477(2)
Taking Alternative Action
477(1)
Modeled Deadlines for (Repeated) Notifications
477(2)
B Checklists
479(26)
Gathering Requirements
479(5)
Return on Investment (ROI)
484(4)
Quality Assurance Design Review
488(5)
Verification Tests
493(3)
Quality Assurance Implementation Review
496(5)
Going Live
501(2)
Housekeeping
503(2)
C Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide
505(14)
A Workflow That Does Not Start
505(4)
A Workflow that Stops in Mid-Track
509(1)
The Most Likely Causes (and How to Avoid Them)
510(4)
Binding Problems with the Workflow Trace
514(1)
Why Duplicate or Multiple Workflows are Triggered
515(1)
Why an Agent Does Not Receive a Work Item
516(1)
Why the Wrong Agent Receives the Work Item
517(1)
Why the Work Item Follows the Wrong Route
518(1)
D Administrator's First Aid Guide
519(12)
Resolving Work Item Errors
519(4)
Resolving Workflow Instance Errors
523(2)
Finding Workflows That Appear to Have Disappeared
525(1)
Resolving Event Linkage Errors
525(4)
Resolving Internet-Specific Errors
529(2)
E Workflow Macros
531(4)
Macros Specific to Object Type Programs
531(1)
Macros for General Workflow Programming
532(3)
F SAP Workflow Training
535(2)
BC600 Workflow Introduction
535(1)
BC601 Build and Use Workflows
535(1)
BC610 Workflow Programming
535(1)
BIT603 Web Scenarios and the WebFlow Engine
536(1)
TAWF10 Workflow Academy
536(1)
Further Information
536(1)
G Glossary
537(8)
Authors 545(2)
Index 547

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