Workflow Inbox Count

Wed Jun 23 09:01:45 EDT 2004

Our Purchasing Department would like to get a count of how many PO's
come into their workflow inbox on a given day.  All PO's are identified
with a generic purchasing group and all PO's are routed to the
Purchasing work center which currently has 13 people.  Once the actual
purchasing agent processes the PO, they will change the purchasing
group.

I have used SWI5 and we created another copy of the t-code for the users
to use.  But, that does not work in all circumstances and it takes a
long time to run.  Our purchasing group does not use the workflow inbox
to release PO's because there are so many PO's in their inbox.  The
group uses ME28 and each buyer has a special variant to pull up only
their PO's based on the vendor.

I guess we will have to wait until after we upgrade to 4.7 on July 6th
and get with one of our programmers to see what can be done.

Monique Stephens
=20

-----Original Message-----
From: Dart, Jocelyn [mailto:jocelyn.dart at sap.com]=20
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 10:55 PM
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Workflow Inbox Count

Susan,
SWWWIHEAD is only updated once the agent has executed the work item.
As stated previously in this trail, agent assignments are fluid up until
the time the task is completed.
Also you should always assume that prior to the task being completed,
multiple agents may be assigned to the task at any one time. And that's
before we get to substitution.

This is why it's usually better to take the user to a nice workflow
summary log (such as those provided by generic object services) and
educate them on how workflows work, rather than try to create complex
reports that can only approximate what is really happening.

Monique, it might be helpful to talk to your users about why they want
this information and what their concerns are, and then think outside the
square a little.

Remember SWI5 can do a workload analysis by date that will at least show
how much is being processed, or to be processed by a particular user.
And there is also a WAPI that counts the work items currently in a
user's inbox.

Jocelyn

-----Original Message-----
From: SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of
Kunkel, Susan
Sent: Wednesday,23 June 2004 7:07 AM
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Workflow Inbox Count

Monique, Mike et al,

I'm a new workflow admin and had a similar request from one of my
customers.
Unfortunately, the AGENT field in SWWWIHEAD sometimes contains the
agent's name and sometimes it doesn't. But when I drill into the detail
of the specific task of a workflow I see the agent name. I haven't
determined why the field in SWWWIHEAD isn't getting updated and which
table contains the REAL agent data...

Susan Kunkel
Technical Development Lead
 and Workflow Administrator
City of Tacoma
1551 Market St
Tacoma, WA 98402
(253) 382-2643

-----Original Message-----
From: SAP Workflow [mailto:Owner-SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of
Michael Pokraka
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 6:28 AM
To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Workflow Inbox Count

Hi Monique,
So that leaves two options: Evaluate SWWWIHEAD for the particular
workflow and check against the objects to see which workf centre it is
assigned to.
Alternatively, could you eveluate it from the business side? i.e.
Purchase Req's for a purchasing group on a particular day?

Cheers
Mike

Stephens, Monique S L wrote:
> Thanks for the response.
>
> Actually, the users that are most interested in this count are those=20
> in a work center (our Purchasing department).  Therefore, some of the=20
> issues you mentioned below would not apply.  These users will want to=20
> know how many documents arrived in the work center on a particular day

> even if they also happened to be released on that day.
>
> Monique Stephens
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>> From: Michael Pokraka [mailto:workflow at quirky.me.uk]
> Sent: Mon 6/21/2004 5:24 AM
> To: SAP-WUG at MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: Workflow Inbox Count
>
>
>
> Hi Monique,
> The short answer: No.
> The slightly longer version: This isn't as simple as it sounds since=20
> agent assignments are fluid, nothing really goes "to someone's inbox".
> Instead, someone's inbox provides a view of workitems which one could=20
> possibly execute. I'm afraid you're stuck with writing your own, but=20
> there are still a number of issues.
> What about forwarded items? Do they count for both people? A user gets

> a workitem, but someone else executes it - does that count? Yes, it=20
> did 'arrive in her inbox', but... Oh, and what about substitution?=20
> Someone
could
> substitute for someone in a different work centre and then it really=20
> gets messy. Agents are evaluated at runtime, and the work centre can
subsequently
> change too...
> I think you can see why there is no 'standard report' in SAP for this.
> An idea might be a custom report on the underlying data instead.
>
> Cheers
> Mike
>
> Stephens, Monique S L wrote:
>> I sent the message below to the group but no one responded yet.
>>
>> I need to know if there is a transaction code, report, or table that=20
>> will give me the following data:
>>
>> Count of documents that have come into a particular user's or work=20
>> center's workflow inbox on a particular date even if the document has

>> already been released by that user or work center.
>>
>> For example, I can run SWI5 to get a current list of documents.  But,

>> if some documents arrived today and were released today, they would=20
>> not be on the list.  The workplace workflow inbox has a column for=20
>> creation date (date document arrived in that particular workflow
>> inbox) but it does not allow you the ability to subtotal by date and=20
>> it will only show current documents (not those already released).
>>
>> Monique Stephens
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>>> From: Stephens, Monique S L
>> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 4:34 PM
>> To: SAP-WUG at LISTSERV.MIT.EDU
>> Subject: Workflow Inbox Count
>>
>>
>> Is there a standard report or transaction code that can be run in 4.7

>> that will allow a user to determine how many documents have come into

>> their inbox on a particular day even if they have already been=20
>> released? I was hoping that workplace would allow a subtotal by the=20
>> creation date column.  But, I have been unable to change that column=20
>> other than sorting it by date.
>>
>> Monique Stephens
>>
>> SAP Analyst
>>
>> Baylor College of Medicine
>>
>> 713-798-1349
>>
>> 713-798-1326 (FAX)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>