<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Approve/Reject Workflow with email</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1498" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Hi Thierry, </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Be careful when you look at versions. EBP 3.0 was on
a 6.10 basis system - very nearly equivalent to running on an R/3 Enterprise
system. R/3 3.1 is a long long long way behind
that.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The program RBBP_OFFLINE_EVAL was included with EBP 3.0 and
higher versions. It does not exist in other SAP systems. However the
techniques it uses are appropriate for any SAP system with basis 3.1 or
above. Get chummy with an EBP person and "borrow" a copy of the
program. Or just use the WI_MAILREC approach which does basically the same
thing - i.e. lets you read an incoming email and do some processing based on the
email text.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The "encryption" used in EBP is just a base64 conversion
using some standard function modules (not sure if they are in 4.6c or not -
but they aren't critical to the solution). The "encryption" was more to
discourage users from trying to change the hyperlink than to provide serious
security. In fact we warn companies that the offline reply should be used
within the firewall/network only for security reasons. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Searching the text for keywords is exactly how
RBBP_OFFLINE_EVAL works. It's just a basic text string search.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I have had at least one customer get a similar process
working successfully in an R/3 4.6C system. But it does help to have a
look at the EBP program if you have access to a copy.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Regards,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Jocelyn </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=096254110-24052005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> sap-wug-bounces@mit.edu
[mailto:sap-wug-bounces@mit.edu] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Logiest, Thierry T
SI-SPOS-SPOS<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday,23 May 2005 11:29 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
sap-wug@mit.edu<BR><B>Subject:</B> Approve/Reject Workflow with
email<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear all,</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have been reading the archives and consulting SAP
documentation ( as well as a few workflow consultants familiar with this list
) in regards to the approval of workflow items via email, my conclusions up to
now are the following :</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. According to Jocelyn and Alan and there
wonderful book it is possible to execute workitems since REL 3.0 of EBP. (
Although a an email from Alan, dated May 2000, describes the functionality as
possible since R/3 rel 3.1.)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Object WI_MAILREC.RECEIVE (synchronous
reception) or report RBBP_OFFLINE_EVAL (asynchronous reception) can be used to
process the incoming mails in R/3 and start/execute the relevant
workflows/workitems.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. Transaction SO28 is used to set up the link
between WI_MAILREC.RECEIVE ( or a subtype or another object implementing
IFRECEIVE or IFFIND ).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>What is less clear to me is the following :</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Do we need EBP to make this work, object
WI_MAILREC is available in our standard R/3 release 4.6C but report
RBBP_OFFLINE_EVAL is not.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. The Workflow bible makes reference to an
HTML-based hyperlink for the approve and reject path which is encrypted
together with the workitem id and mail text, how is that email generated and
encrypted ? Is this done through a standard task, function, method ?
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. Jocelyn ( February 2002 ) states that we do not
need an attachment to the mail ( I presume encrypted WID and HTML Hyperlink )
and that we can search the text for keywords, has anybody tried this in
practice ? and was this a successful approach ? </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any comments on already running implementations of
this functionality would be extemely welcome and re-assuring.</FONT> </P><BR>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thank you all.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kind Regards,</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thierry Logiest</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Workflow-HR-ABAP SAP Certified Senior
Consultant</FONT> </P><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>