Multi-line Attribute for WF Routing

[Rickayzen, Alan]

Jim,
This sounds very much like MITs brilliant award winning workflow (Sue was
probably too modest to mention her role in this) described in the October
'99 SAPInfo.
 
Think carefully about whether you want serial or parallel processing.
Parallel has the obvious advantage that the process whizzes through much
faster.
For sequential processing simply set up a loop with a binding
 
This is how you do it with parallel processing (no programming involved).
1. Create a workflow step based on a subflow which handles the approval. It
sounds like you've done this already but make sure it is a subflow so that
you can handle the roles later.
 
2. In this step, set up "dynamic parallel processing" by specifying the
funds-centre attribute as a multiline element in the "others" tab-strip of
the workflow step. This repeats the step (simultaneously) for each of the
fund centres. In the binding you can specify that the indexed fund-centre
should be used (rather than the list).
 
3. In the subflow specify a role-resolution based on "responsibilies" for
the fund centre. Again, no programming involved but make sure you document
this for your workflow administrator so that they can keep this up-to-date
in the production system later.
 
4. In the subflow, after the document has been rejected, trigger an event
based on the document using the Event Creator step. (E.g. Document-Rejected,
make sure you define this event in BOR too and document in BOR that it is
triggered directly from the workflow).
 
5. In the main flow, include an event parallel to the dynamic parallel step
which waits for this Rejected event. This parallel branch should be defined
as a "1 in 2" branch so that the parallel branch finishes either when the
document has been rejected by one person or when everybody has approved.
 
6. Add a notification step in the main flow after this wait step so that
everybody who has previously approved is informed of the rejection. You can
collect the approvers via the binding.
 
This sounds tricky, but once you've done it once you'll find that the
algorithm can be used in plenty of other situations, which is why I've
described it here.
 
 
Good luck,
Alan Rickayzen
SAP AG
 
PS: I believe there is no longer a fund-centre business object so the
attribute should reference a DDIC table.
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan R. Keohan [mailto:skeohan at MIT.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 9:37 PM
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Multi-line Attribute for WF Routing
 
 
On behalf Jim Sauceman (sauceman at utk.edu)...
 
>I need your help as to how to design and program Workflow (46B) to address
the
>following situation:
>
>I am extending a business object to include a multi-line attribute for
Funds
>Centers. It will contain all the Funds Centers referenced by that
particular
>document. The number of occurrences could be anywhere from 1 to 999, but
>usually 3 or 4.
>
>Then, I need to develop a workflow to resolve a Standard Role (e.g.
Department
>Head) based on the value of each Funds Center and route the document to
each
>one (in succession) until all have approved the document. For example, I
want
>the Department Head of the Funds Center of line 1 to approve the document
>first, then the Department Head of the Funds Center of line 2 to approve
the
>document next, and so on until all have approved it. If any one of them
reject
>the document, the Workflow should terminate (with the document remaining
>unapproved) regardless of how many approvals have occurred thus far. It
would
>be acceptable to send the document to all approvers simultaneously, but
they
>ALL must approve the document before it can be processed. I have tested a
>single Funds Center being sent to my Standard Role (Responsibility Role)
and
>it routes the work item correctly. Now, I need to extend that functionality
to
>process a multi-line attribute for Funds Center.
>
>My questions are:
>
>1. How do I set up the workflow to examine the multi-line attribute Funds
>Center and send each line separately through Role Resolution so the work
item
>can be proceesed by each approver in succession?
>
>2. It is my understanding that once a document is released/approved, its
>status changes to released/approved. This condition will occur as soon as
the
>first approver acts on his/her work item. However, how can I make sure each
>approver releases/approves the document before "officially" releasing it?
>
>Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
>
>Jim Sauceman.............................sauceman at utk.edu
>University of Tennessee..................Voice: (865) 974-2448
>Manager, Database and Technical Support..Fax:   (865) 974-4810
>Project IRIS Workflow Team Leader
>