Question on workflow administration

Mon Mar 3 06:13:08 EST 2003

Tony,

there's no simple way to cover this kind of requirement (well, at least not
until Basis 6.20, possibly 6.10, where you could use some mechanisms to
deliver that). There's a good reason for that though. Please refer to my
recent conversation with Robert Verlaat that I'm quoting below your request.

Kind regards,
Tomasz

P.S. Robert -- it would be interesting to see the outcome of your
discussions. Would it be possible for you to share that with us?

-----Original Message-----
From: BELLINI, TONINO [mailto:tonino.bellini at sap.com]
Sent: Monday,3. March 2003 11:35
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Question on workflow administration

Hello

I have the following requirement to cover using SAP workflow. Can anybody
give me any suggestion?

1. At the end of the work shift all the WF items of an agent must be
directed in the manager's inbox
2. The manager should be able to redirect them to other agents on a
percentage basis (for example  20% to agent a, 30% to agent b, 50% to agent
c).

Thanks and regards

Tony

----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

Robert,

apart from some acrobatic tweaks I could not think of any standard
functionality. And I believe that's for a reason, because your argument is
not convincing me:

1. Workload distribution:

The routing you describe is LESS effective than the standard routing to a
number of recipients. Instead of queueing the requests in one single queue
served by all the agents, you "distribute" them to individual queues. That
means if someone is slower than the others /or simply on vacation/, his
workload will NOT be distributed to those having spare capacity to process
them.

By the way: did you ever wonder why more and more service organizations
(postal offices etc.) introduce these ticketing machines from which you need
to get a ticket, then wait for your number to appear on a board indicating
which counter will serve you? That's exactly the same mechanism -- joining
individual queues into a single one, which shared by all the processors. In
this way you'll never be in the slowest queue (or in the fastest one), so
the undesired variability in processing time is reduced. And the pace of
work is actually adjusted to each processor's capability. Now if any
counters is shut or opened, using the single queue will smoothly adjust the
workload of all the available processors.

2. Create variety for the users

.. who are processing the tasks is nice, but it is usually highly undesired
by those waiting for the results of the work. The process is simply less
transparent, and you get a higher variability of processing times. If your
agents need variability, you can get much better results by extending the
display of work items to include some nifty GUI elements, animated GIFs or
whatever you wish -- at no cost to the process.

Workflow simply makes the process side of organizations more transparent.
What's nice to one user is not necessarily best to all the others.

3. A lot of temporary employees involved.

Utilizing workflow can surely contribute to ease of use. But the scheme we
discuss would actually make the process less predictable = harder to
explain. And of course: lot of temporary employees = lot of agent
maintenance, lots of work items directed to users who no longer belong to
the organization etc. Having a single queue will really work better for you.

Kind regards,
Tomasz

-----Original Message-----
From: Verlaat, Robert [mailto:Robert.Verlaat at PWN.NL]
Sent: Tuesday,18. February 2003 10:17
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Dynamic Work Item Delivery

Hi Tomasz,

Thanks for your replay. I had the same questions before.

There are several reasons for this requirement:

* Workload distribution
* Create variety for the users
* There are a lot of temporary employees involved

I think the last reason is quit a strong one, because when you (almost)
completely atomize this process, you can make it quit easy for the users
to perform their Tasks.
Using Workflow the users don't have to think about the process and what
to do next. So the new employees don't need a 2 weeks course but they
can sustain with a small introduction course....
I know Workflow is not meant to be used as training material, but in
this case I believe it can be very useful.

I know everything can be coded, but I would like to know whether there
are standard functionalities for this?

Thanks,

Robert Verlaat

Robert,

I may be too investigative again, but -- why do you need this? What
organizational benefit would this bring?

If the goal is to distribute workload, send all items to the same users
--
whenever one of them will complete an item, it will be gone from all the
other inboxes. This also achieves a reduction in average lead times. The
only requirement I could see as a background for your question would be
"not
annoying" the users. But then I guess the 'unpredictable' behavior would
be
even more annoying. And, by the way, why do you want to split based on
daily
buckets?

If you really insist -- anything can be done with (some) programming,
but
why do it?

Kind regards,
Tomasz

-----Original Message-----
From: Verlaat, Robert [mailto:Robert.Verlaat at PWN.NL]
Sent: Tuesday,18. February 2003 08:19
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Dynamic Work Item Delivery

Dear Workflowers,

Is it possible to deliver WI's dynamically f.e. User X has 2 (of the
same type) WI's in his Inbox so the next WI, of the same type, should be
delivered to another user. Or when user X has already processed 2
certain types of WI's, he should not receive a third on the same day.

I'am afraid these kinds of functionality should be programmed completely
(read tables for WI's in inbox/processed WI's etc..)? I haven't found
any tips or tricks for this in the Book..

Does anyone know if this is possible without programming?

Thanks,

Robert Verlaat

Accenture Technology Solutions

0031 (0) 6 113 676 96