Workflow Team Organization

[Kjetil Kilhavn]

I think we all waited :-)
 
In Statoil we have had a "workflow group" within the ABAP team, and I have
been in this team since I started here. We made the mistake of putting
people without any ABAP experience (me) right into the workflow team. My
conclusion from these two years: follow Susan's advice and don't put people
like me in workflow teams. ABAP experience is definitively a plus, and you
can't get ABAP experience without also acquiring a fair amount of general
knowledge of SAP.
 
However, I would argue that there should not be a separate workflow team.
The reason is the same as for not setting up a separate batch input or a
separate UI team. The focus should be on the process (functionality) - not
on the technique that is used. In a group of developers there will always
be someone with more knowledge about certain techniques, and I think it is
a good idea to educate some people more in workflow, some more in UI
development etc.
 
The workflow "experts" can not be experts in all the functional areas. I
think the best solution is to turn Susan's argument around and say that in
WF matters the functional experts should (when necessary) work in
co-operation with the WF experts, but the responsibility for the
development should always be with the functional experts. I wouldn't say we
have that issue solved here in Statoil, but I still think it would be
better. A recent development request here has also clearly shown the
problem with assigning "the WF guy" to a problem in functional areas this
guy doesn't know anything about. Thus I have hopes that we will actually
turn things around from now on.
 
The real problem is having someone with some knowledge about workflow
influencing those who consider what new development to undertake. That is
where someone is needed who can say, "shouldn't we try to reduce the [cost
| risk] associated with [some process] by exploring use of semi-automated
flow of work?" That is where the real battle goes on, and how much
developers are involved in that phase varies a lot I suspect.
--
Kjetil Kilhavn
 
 
 
 
 
                    Susan Keohan
                    <skeohan at mit.edu>           To:     SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
                    Sent by: SAP                cc:     (bcc: Kjetil Kilhavn)
                    Workflow                    Subject:     Re: Workflow Team Organization
                    <Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVM
                    A.MIT.EDU>
 
 
                    06.11.2002 20:17
                    Please respond to
                    "SAP Workflow Users'
                    Group"
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hi Donna,
 
I had hoped that someone more knowledgable than I would respond to your
question, so I waited.  But, for what it's worth, here is what I know
about Workflow Team Organizations...
 
I think that the core members of your team would be 1 or 2 workflow
developers (depending on the size of your workflow implementation, maybe
even more).  These people would have a strong background in ABAP.  They
should also have a close working relationship with the functional teams,
as these teams will be providing the specifications for the workflows.
 Ideally, you would not have multiple developers working in the same
business objects/ processes - this can lead to a lot of conflicts.  On
my current project, we have 3 workflowers, we live in close proximity to
the functional teams, but in a different building from the ABAP team.
One of us is handling the EBP and procurement workflows, one is handling
the HR workflows, and one is handling the FI/MM workflows.
 
Secondly, workflow administration (inbox, org structure changes, etc).
 During the development phase, 1 or 2 workflow administrators need to be
identified and brought in to learn about the workflows (if they are not
also the workflow developers).  A workflow administrator  needs to have
at least some of the following skills: Business Process knowledge,
understanding of the workflows, information on how to correct/process
errors, SAPNet access, authorizations and skills to run various workflow
reports.  The role of the workflow administrator(s) can fall into the
process organization or the technical organization; I don't think there
is any 'right' way to define where the workflow administrators sit
(except that it should be a nice big cushy office with a view).
 
I know there have been some good presentations at ASUG in the recent
past (Kenny Quenzer and Kevin Jackson, ASUG 2001).  If you are an ASUG
member, you might be able to look at their presentation from the ASUG
web site.
 
Hope this is better late than never,
Sue
Lovdahl, Donna L. wrote:
 
>Hi All,
>
>Currently, I am the only workflow expert at our company and want to change
>that. Right now, we only use it in relation to processing IDOCs. We are
now
>in the process of expanding that to include such things as material master
>setup, A/P invoice processing, etc. My question relates to how different
>organizations has handled setting up a 'workflow team'. Do you have one or
>two experts to build and support the technical environment? Are they on a
>technical team, such as ABAP? Are they part of the R/3 configuration team
>for SD, MM, FI, etc? Do you have a separate team that handles the day to
day
>issues around how to process the items in the inbox, org structure
changes,
>etc? What have you found that works best in terms of an organizational
>design and responsibilities for supporting workflow.
>
>Thanks for any advice you can give me.
>
>Donna Lovdahl
>
>
>
 
 
 
 
 
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