material creation and maintenance WF

[Loren Huffman]

Hello,
I appreciate the input - it is all very good. I understand now what a prototype is and it's purpose. A detailed description and knowledge of the business process is essential. Fred - Thanks for the clues I do have to admit that I'm the liver of the chicken, but with the help of this great forum and I now have "The Book" I hope to become the heart of the ...... somewhat larger animal. Thanks again!!
 
Cheers
Loren
 
>>> Dan.Harmon at motorola.com 02/27/03 08:22AM >>>
I've got to agree with Tomasz, this can get pretty ugly if you don't have an idea of what to prototype.  To that end, and to preserve your sanity, try and get the clients to agree on what they want, and then prototype it without too much more input from them.  That may sound customer 'un-friendly', but my experience has been that clients looking over your shoulder while developing a prototype leads to constantly changing requirements and frustration on everyone's part.
 
It is after all, only a prototype, so it shouldn't have to be production worthy?  Right?  We try to use our prototypes as a stepping stone to get to the real requirements.  Most of the time the clients don't really know what they want, and the prototype helps clear that up.
 
Having done this for the material master I'd estimate 3 weeks for such a prototype, providing you do not have to develop many custom methods/objects.
 
Good luck, the material master is not actually a difficult workflow, but the defining the business process can be tricky!
 
Regards,
Dan
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Dan Harmon                    |             Phone:    480-634-3090 |
| R/3 Workflow Group Leader     |               Fax:    480-634-3761 |
| Information Technology        |             Pager:    888-782-2030 |
| Motorola SPS                  |            dan.harmon at motorola.com |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| I don't approve of political jokes... I've seen too many of them   |
| get elected.                                                       |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Zmudzin, Tomasz, VEVEY, GL-IS/IT
> [mailto:Tomasz.Zmudzin at nestle.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 4:04 AM
> To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU 
> Subject: Re: material creation and maintenance WF
>
>
> Loren,
>
> I've seen such things developed within 2 weeks to 2 years
> (... and still
> growing), depending on the complexity of the process.
>
> The first hint is:  whenever estimating workflow processes,
> always ask for
> the description of the process. Make it as detailed as it
> gets. Then start
> estimating it. Without it there's no point to discuss things -- your
> estimate will be wrong.
>
> Kind regards,
> Tomasz
>
> P.S. Actually material creation & maintenance can easily get
> out of hand --
> the processes quickly get pretty complex, so make sure you
> understand the
> process in all the details. If you don't feel very confident,
> start with a
> simpler process (or a limited pilot project, to grow), or get
> someone to
> help you.
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Loren Huffman [mailto:LHuffman at sunsweet.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday,26. February 2003 19:29
> To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU 
> Subject: material creation and maintenance WF
>
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm the  EDI guy here and the  workflow developer. I took a
> WF class about a
> year ago but have not worked on any WF projects. I have now
> been given the
> opportunity to do some WF and they want a material creation
> and maintenance
> WF. They want to know how long it will take for me to get a
> prototype and I
> have no stinking idea. I think you either have a WF or .... you don't.
> Anyone have an estimation of time that it might take a newbie
> to create a
> material management WF?
>
> Thanks much
> Loren
>