Automatic Forwarding: What is a functional document?

Wed Feb 25 09:11:40 EST 2004

Here is a shot in the dark: there are some messages (not workitems) which
are executable. For instance, the notification message received when a
workflow has an error is executable (Ctrl + F6). Could this be a functional
document?

The online for the functional documents is as terrible as you said, but
there is better help for the "send all documents" radiobutton
-----------
If this field is selected, all documents are forwarded, not only functional
documents. The following documents are also forwarded:
     Documents to which the sender assigned the attribute No forwarding
     Documents to which the sender assigned the attribute Blind copy
     Confidential documents
-----------

Forget my shot in the dark :-)

It may seem that functional documents is the opposite of personal
documents, i.e. it is like the classification for tasks where some are
personal and others are professional - which seems to possibly be
corresponding to functional. The original (German) field label would
perhaps explain it better.
... ... [wait - hold your breath] ... ...
Actually, if you go to the data type and look at the long label it is
"Functional substitute".
--
Kjetil Kilhavn

                    "Trant, David"
                    <David.Trant at andrew.        To:     SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
                    com>                        cc:     (bcc: Kjetil Kilhavn)
                    Sent by: SAP                Subject:     Re: Automatic Forwarding:  What is a functional document?
                    Workflow
                    <Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVM
                    A.MIT.EDU>

                    24.02.2004 17:57
                    Please respond to
                    "SAP Workflow Users'
                    Group"

Jocelyn,

Thanks for your explanation.  I thought I'd share my colleague's response,
plus some additional analysis I had done, with the group in case anyone
else has interest in this topic.  Her response is:

While the explanation below for forwarding "Functional" documents makes
perfect sense and is how I would have thought it worked, that IS NOT
consistent with my testing.  When I marked "forward functional documents
only", I DID NOT get any actual workflow work items in my Outlook.  I DID
receive the "just mail" type of messages (one is attached so you can see
it).
So, my testing result seems to be exactly opposite of what you were told.
Jan

My additional analysis is documented as follows:

I spoke with Jan this morning and got the results of her testing.  We still
don't know exactly what a functional document is, but after our
conversation I opened up a random document in my own R/3 inbox and looked
at the attributes tab.  I noticed a field called Sensitivity that has the
following values available:

501 Standard
502 Confidential
503 Functional

The help on this field says:

Sensitivity description

Use

    Select the sensitivity for the document.

Dependencies

    Confidential documents, distribution lists and folders are not visible

    to substitutes who logon to your mailbox.  Your system administrator
may
    also have specified that confidential documents cannot be sent to

    external addresses (for example, via fax or Internet).

It's still somewhat clear as mud, but I think the key to observe is that a
lot of this stuff is really geared toward true substitution, i.e. sending
your work to somebody else, versus simply forwarding your own work to a
different delivery system that is also owned by you.

Jan confirmed that "also place in inbox" has no bearing on work items.
They always show up in R/3 regardless.  I believe our recommendation should
generally be that if someone is a power user, they consider not using
automatic forwarding at all.  If they think they still need it so they know
right away that a critical work item has been delivered to them, then they
think long and hard whether they expect to read non-work item documents
directly in R/3.  If they feel comfortable that they'll read notifications
in Outlook and not need to view them via the workplace, then do not check
"also place in inbox."  Only in the rare case where a user needs to see
items in Outlook, but normally uses their R/3 workplace to review e-mail
documents (not work items) should they check this box.  For occasional
users, the recommendation is to use automatic forwarding, and to not check
"also place in inbox."  Everyone should choose the radio button "forward
all documents" unless we learn something later that influences this advice.

I've posted the question to the workflow users group as to exactly what a
functional document is.  I'll forward any responses I might get.

David

If someone sees a flaw in the above or has additional information, I'd love
to hear it.  Otherwise, I feel comfortable that we've done enough with this
one to publish a policy and move on.

Thanks again,
David

P.S.  Jocelyn:  good call on chastising me for outdated and incorrect EBP
knowledge.  I should have followed my gut and not responded at all without
being sure of the answer :)

 -----Original Message-----
From:   SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU]  On Behalf Of
Dart, Jocelyn
Sent:   Monday, February 23, 2004 12:50 AM
To:     SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject:        Re: Automatic Forwarding:  What is a functional document?

Hi David,
"Functional" document = work item.
Otherwise they are just mails.  (Email notifications from RSWUWFML are just
mails too of course.)
Jocelyn

-----Original Message-----
From: SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of
Trant, David
Sent: Saturday,21 February 2004 3:51 AM
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Automatic Forwarding: What is a functional document?

When you enable automatic forwarding in office settings in the business
workplace, there is a checkbox to also place in inbox and radio buttons to
forward all documents or forward functional documents only.  The "also
place in inbox" checkbox does not appear to affect workflow items, as they
will continue to show up in the R/3 workplace regardless, which makes sense
to me given that SAP needs to retain ownership of the fact that work
remains to be done whereas with a simple document, once it is sent, SAP
does not care anymore.  Where it gets confusing is toggling between
forwarding all documents and functional documents only.  During tests using
one of our more complex workflows, we saw a mixture of documents showing up
in R/3 when the "forward functional documents" button was chosen in
conjunction with "also place in inbox" unchecked.  We even saw a workflow
item message (the kind generated by RSWUWFML that says you have work to do
... login to SAP and do it....) show up in t!
he R/3 document section.  Of course, from there, trying to double-click on
the attachment that normally launches a SAPGui session to take you to the
work fails.  The SAP help, of course, basically says a functional document
is a document that is functional.  Can anyone give me a more useful
definition?  Right now, we're just telling people to always choose "forward
all documents," but it would be nice to understand the difference.
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