'Instance-independent' container

[Svanikier, Helena]

Hello Huba
 
How about having one subworkflow per approval level? This way after the
processing of all approvals on one level you can execute a background method
in your main workflow, that determines the next approvers based on the
information you have from the first approval level. Then call your
subworkflow for approval on the second level etc.
Or you could determine the positions or users that need to approve in object
attributes and using these on each approval level for your dynamic parallel
subflows? So you would have an attribute for the heads of cost centres that
need to approve, an attribute for the directors that need to approve etc.
 
Then design your workflow, so that one subworkflow only handles one level of
approval. Collect the approvers in the subworkflow and move them back to
your main workflow. Call the next subworkflow for your second approval level
and add your list of approvers to the container of the subworkflow. Either
use this list as excluded agents or you could have an if statement in the
subwf which checks whether the approver for this level already exists in the
list of approvers, the set the approval result to 'o.k.' and exit the
subworkflow.
 
Hope this helps
Helena Svanikier
Workflow Consultant SAP Switzerland
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Huba H [mailto:huba.horompoly at amd.com]
Sent: Mittwoch, 15. August 2001 19:03
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: 'Instance-independent' container
 
 
Hi WUG Members,
We are impleneting approval flows based on multiple cost centers (1 cost
center = 1 department) based on the CC-s entered for the transactions (PO,
Preq, etc.).
The approval flows run parallel for each Cost Center. The main WF spawns the
approval (sub)flows in a dynamic parallel session manner, the number of
branches running parallel equals the number of Cost Centers within the
transaction.
In order to avoid sending the same WI to the same approver, I maintain a
list of approvers in the container, and assign it to the 'excluded agents'
(it is necessary , because multiple Cost Centers roll-up to the same level
higher in the hierarchy (director, VP) ). My problem is that -of course- the
subworkflows do not see each other's approval list, which means, when they
roll-up to the higher level there is no way to tell whether another branch
(from other CC) already sent out the approval WI to this particular director
or VP.
Is there a way to define 'global' or 'instance-independent' container
variables (in this case the approval list) that is visible from each sub
workflow instance running parallel to each other that belong to the same
main WF ? I'd rather shy away of using custom db tables for this purpose...
Your help is highly appraciated,
Thanks very much,
Huba Horompoly