Don't forget WIS

[Michael Pokraka]

Tomasz & Phil,
I think you are both quite right... It probably falls witin the same category as archiving - 'we can worry about that later'.
I find that a common culture is goal-driven and/or project oriented, where developments, implementations and 'problem fixes' dominate the scene. Gone are the days where one had much spare time to monitor and fine-tune. Tight deadlines usually mean that these 'noncritical' items will be neglected...
Anyway, it's good to get your input, I suspected this was probably 'the norm', which is perhaps a pity as WIS could indeed be a very powerful tool. I've even been toying with some ideas on 'dummy' workflows which exist purely for statistical purposes.
 
Thanks
Mike
 
 
On Thu, Apr 10, 2003 at 11:22:31AM +0200, Zmudzin,Tomasz,VEVEY,GL-IS/IT wrote:
> Michael,
>
> I believe people usually forget about WIS once they hear about it in the
> early workflow implementation stages. Only after some time inevitably the
> question comes up: "How good/bad are we?". That's when WIS comes handy as
> the first rough-cut reporting tool. And that's where I think it usually
> stops -- exception reporting etc. are usually not used AFAIK. Which is
> probably because you need to be really commited to active process monitoring
> / improvement in all areas in your company. I believe the approach has been
> widely accepted in QM circles (production-related), but is still far from
> deployment in administrative areas -- the core of most WF implementations.
>
> Habits win,
> Tomasz
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael Pokraka [mailto:workflow at quirky.me.uk]
> Sent: Wednesday,9. April 2003 17:16
> To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: Don't forget WIS
>
>
> Funny you should mention that, just this morning was on the topic of whether
> to use WIS or not... Currently client isn't running WIS, but this may just
> be the type of thing that can make it worthwhile.
> Out of interest, are there many people that use WIS's 'monitoring' type
> functionalitly - Exceptions / Early warning system and the likes? What sorrt
> of experience, any use?
>
> Cheers
> Mike
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 09, 2003 at 03:57:48PM +0200, Soady, Phil wrote:
> > Don't forget the WIS for reporting.
> > There is a user exit to fish out your variables from the container
> > at the time the WIS data is written.
> >
> > That way special report on your data not just the technical data in a
> workflow
> > is possible in the WIS.
> >
> > Worth the effort once people want to report of business processes and
> workflows
> > and to do so effectively you need to calculate values, or at least use
> your container
> > variables from WorkItems.
> >
> > Start with RMCADATA,
> > then run MCAH, MCAI MCAJ to get a feel of what's possible.
> >
> > The Help (CD or SAPHELP site) has details on the user exit.
> > A sneaky way to have good reporting on Workitems with YOUR custom data.
> >
> > Standard WIS analysis is as boring as bat shit.
> > But the tool for displaying and the possibilities with real
> > data is something else.
> >
> > That's why I like the user exit.
> > You will also need to look at creating your own evaluation
> structure.(sorry).
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Phil
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Michael Pokraka [mailto:workflow at quirky.me.uk]
> > Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 8:16 PM
> > To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Variable deadlines...
> >
> >
> > Hi Richard,
> > I was planning on both - using the WF reports and probably coding some
> custom ones for the users to run for themselves. I suppose it would not be
> too difficult to add up the durations of all tasks under one flow to get the
> total time.
> >
> > I'm trying to stay with SAP's reports as far as possible though as they
> offer far more flexibility than I could knock up in the day or so I'd be
> allocating to writing my own report. There is that aspect of the lazy user
> who takes ages appearing busier than the efficient user who does more items
> in a shorter time - according to any SAP-reports...
> >
> > Also, it's about 20-30 tasks that need this type of setup, so for now I'm
> still thinking about this one...
> >
> > Thanks for your input..
> > Cheers
> > Mike
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 03, 2003 at 10:38:03AM -0600, Richard Marut wrote:
> > > Mike,
> > >
> > > That's correct - each would take at most one day. If your stats
> > > capturing is using the Workflow log, then you will show excessive
> > > activity each day rather than on the actual day that the deadline
> > > should occur according to your requirements.
> > >
> > > Were you planning to use the log or create your own report for
> > > reporting your stats? I have a hand written list of steps that I would
> > > need to code to produce my own statistics report. I could send it to
> > > you if you're interested. I would need a day or two to locate it.
> > >
> > > Richard...
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of
> > > Michael Pokraka
> > > Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 7:37 AM
> > > To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: Variable deadlines...
> > >
> > > Hi Richard,
> > > I like the theory, but one thing bothers... A minor requirement is
> > > that stats are quite important , which would be skewed if I understand
> > > this correctly - each task would be take at most one day, correct?
> > >
> > > Thanks for the useful input,
> > > Cheers
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Apr 02, 2003 at 12:41:50PM -0600, Richard Marut wrote:
> > > > Michael,
> > > >
> > > > I'm ready to do the same thing where I have deadlines of 3, 5 and 8
> > > days
> > > > for the same task. My solution and design is:
> > > >
> > > > 1. Create a table that defines the deadlines. This is to allow
> > > additions
> > > > if needed in the future.
> > > > 2. Set the deadline at the task to 1 day.
> > > > 3. Create a new method that reads the deadline table and determines
> > > > if the actual deadline is reached. 4. Put the new deadline
> > > > determination method/task after the task with the deadline.
> > > >
> > > > I'm going to manage this by using a container element that I
> > > > increment each time the deadline is reached. If I find a match
> > > > between the deadline element and one of the deadline table entries,
> > > > then I do my escalation of notifying the appropriate person(s)
> > > > otherwise I loop
> > > back
> > > > to the task with the deadline.
> > > >
> > > > Richard...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf
> > > > Of Michael Pokraka
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 11:11 AM
> > > > To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> > > > Subject: Variable deadlines...
> > > >
> > > > Greetings all,
> > > > I have a design issue with not-so-nice solutions and wonder if
> > > > anyone may have better alternatives:
> > > >
> > > > Scenario: Many tasks, all call same method.
> > > > Depending on an object attribute, different deadlines are to apply
> > > > to each step (We have a 'deadline matrix' of flow type and task).
> > > >
> > > > Thus a 'Normal' obj will have 3 days, 2 days and 5 days for the
> > > > first
> > > 3
> > > > tasks.
> > > > A 'Partial' obj will have shorter deadlines (2,1 and 3 days) and so
> > > on,
> > > > a 'Rush' shorter again (not quite accurate - in reality we have 15
> > > > different types).
> > > >
> > > > Since the methods are all the same, I would need to pass a
> > > > parameter, thus requiring a seperate step before each task, calling
> > > > a 'GetDeadlineForTask' method of sorts. At 30-odd steps, this
> > > > becomes
> > > both
> > > > annoying and ugly. Does anyone have an idea on how to accomplish
> > > > this with an attribute? I could of course create 30 deadline virtual
> > > > attributes but even that is not really all that nice either....
> > > >
> > > > Any ideas welcome...
> > > > Cheers
> > > > Mike