Preface from the Industry ... 17
Preface from SAP ... 21
Who Should Read This Book? ... 23
Part 1 Using SAP supplied Workflows ... 27
Introduction to SAP's WebFlow Engine ... 29
... 1.1 What is SAP's WebFlow Engine? ... 29
... 1.2 Workflow or WebFlow? ... 32
... 1.3 Can I Do Without SAP's WebFlow Engine? ... 33
... 1.4 In Which Situations Should I use SAP's WebFlow Engine? ... 35
... 1.5 High-Level Overview of What Can be Achieved With SAP's WebFlow Engine ... 40
... 1.6 Brief Overview of Features ... 41
... 1.7 Summary ... 46
Requirements Gathering Strategy ... 49
... 2.1 Introduction ... 49
... 2.2 Understanding the Business Process ... 50
... 2.3 Gathering Object Data ... 57
... 2.4 Determining the Agents ... 62
... 2.5 Determining Work Item Delivery Routes ... 66
... 2.6 Confirming the Workflow Design ... 67
... 2.7 Workflow Administration ... 69
... 2.8 Planning for Production Start ... 69
... 2.9 Planning for Future Enhancements ... 70
Configuring the System ... 73
... 3.1 Quick Start: Configure SAP's WebFlow Engine in seconds ... 74
... 3.2 Workflow-Scenarios: Task S pecific Cu stomizing ... 81
... 3.3 Transport and Client Copy ... 82
... 3.4 Overview: Customizing for SAP's WebFlow Engine ... 8
Work Item Delivery ... 85
... 4.1 The Human Factor ... 85
... 4.2 Inbox Features ... 87
... 4.3 Table of Features Available in the Principle Inboxes ... 103
... 4.4 Successful Strategies for Work Item Delivery ... 104
... 4.5 Other Considerations ... 109
Agents ... 111
... 5.1 Understanding Agent Assignment ... 112
... 5.2 Agent A ssignment Using the Or ganizational Structure ... 120
... 5.3 Agent Assignment Using Task Groups ... 126
... 5.4 Implementing and Maintaining the Structure in Practice ... 127
Workflow Administration ... 133
... 6.1 Introduction ... 133
... 6.2 Reporting on Workflows... 134
... 6.3 Error Resolution ... 139
... 6.4 General Techniques for Resolving Runtime Errors ... 141
... 6.5 Resolving Agent Determination Errors ... 152
... 6.6 Resolving Buffering Errors (The Cinderella Principle) ... 155
... 6.7 Other Support Tools ... 158
... 6.8 Help-Desk in the Intranet ... 159
... 6.9 Day in the Life of a Workflow Administrator ... 161
Part 2 Developing your own Workflows ... 173
Creating a Workflow ... 175
... 7.1 Introduction ... 175
... 7.2 Workflow Builder Ba sics ... 176
... 7.3 Intermediate Workflow Builder (Steps, Tasks and Objects) ... 187
... 7.4 Advanced Workflow Builder-Step Definitions ... 197
... 7.5 Advanced Workflow Builder-Special Workflow Techniques ... 206
Business Objects ... 219
... 8.1 Business Object Basics ... 220
... 8.2 Creating your own Business Object Types ... 236
... 8.3 Creating Business Object Type Components ... 241
... 8.4 Business Object Type Programming 2... 55
... 8.5 Some useful predefined Object Types ... 270
Agent-Determination Rules ... 273
... 9.1 Determining Agents Through Rule Resolution ... 273
... 9.2 R ule Basics ... 274
... 9.3 Agent Determination Rule Resolution in the Workflow Step ... 278
... 9.4 What Happens If Rule Resolution Has No Result ... 279
... 9.5 Responsibility Rules ... 281
... 9.6 Evaluation paths as rules ... 285
... 9.7 Function Modules as Rules ... 286
... 9.8 SAP Organizational Objects as Rules ... 291
... 9.9 Other Options for Responsible Agent Assignment ... 293
Business Interfaces ... 295
... 10.1 Introduction ... 295
... 10.2 Understanding Events ... 295
... 10.3 Defining Events ... 297
... 10.4 Raising Events from Business Applications ... 297
... 10.5 Using Events in Workflows ... 304
... 10.6 Generic Object Services ... 313
... 10.7 Starting Workflows from Messages ... 317
E-Process Interfaces ... 319
... 11.1 Internet and Beyond ... 319
... 11.2W f-XML ... 320
... 11.3 Inside-Out: Web Services ... 329
... 11.4 Inside-Out: SAP Business Connector ... 339
... 11.5 Inside-out: Integration With Other Systems ... 340
... 11.6 Outside-in: Calling APIs to the WebFlow Engine ... 340
... 11.7 Outside-in: Wf-XML ... 340
... 11.8 E-Process Security Issues ... 341
... 11.9 Other Options for Communicating with External Systems ... 343
Forms ... 345
... 12.1 Introduction ... 345
... 12.2 Simple Forms ... 346
... 12.3 WebForms ... 349
... 12.4 WebForms That Call an Internet Application Component ... 351
... 12.5 Native WebForms ... 352
... 12.6 PC Document Forms (Including Microsoft Word) ... 354
Custom Programs ... 357
... 13.1 The Engine ... 357
... 13.2The Workflow APIs ... 364
... 13.3 Advanced Business Interface Techniques ... 368
... 13.4 Office Document Interfaces ... 380
... 13.5 Configuring RFC Destinations ... 382
Advanced Diagnostics ... 383
... 14.1 The Tools of the Trade ... 383
... 14.2 The Diagnosis Logs ... 384
... 14.3 Debugging with the ABAP Debugger ... 390
... 14.4 The Diagnosis Transaction ... 391
... 14.5 An Apple a Day ... 393
Part 3 Examples of the use of WebFlow in mySAP.com ... 397
WebFlow in Enterprise Buyer Professional ... 399
... 15.1 Workflow in EBP ... 399
... 15.2 Changing Shopping Cart Approval Workflows ... 412
... 15.3 Changing Confirmation and Invoice Approvals ... 419
... 15.4 User Approval Workflows ... 420
... 15.5 Understanding the Procurement Card Reconciliation Workflow ... 420
... 15.6 Tracking Workflow Instances ... 421
... 15.7 Advanced Troubleshooting and Solutions ... 421
... 15.8 Basics of EBP Architecture from a Workflow Perspective ... 423
... 15.9 Business Object Types ... 426
WebFlow in mySAP CRM ... 429
... 16.1 mySAP CRM and Workflow ... 429
... 16.2 Customizing ... 432
... 16.3 'Specials' of mySAP CRM ... 432
... 16.4 Using Your Own Workflows with mySAP CRM ... 436
Setting Up an SAP-Provided R/3 Workflow ... 439
... 17.1 Introduction ... 439
... 17.2 W hat is the Business Scenario? ... 440
... 17.3 Which SAP Workflows are Involved? ... 441
... 17.4 How is the Workflow Started? ... 442
... 17.5 How Do I Activate This Scenario? ... 442
WebFlow and ArchiveLink ... 447
... 18.1 Intelligent Organization and Distribution of Business Documents ... 447
... 18.2 What Is ArchiveLink ... 447
... 18.3 ArchiveLink Standard Scenarios ... 450
... 18.4 Business Object Types ... 453
Appendix ... 455
A Tips and Tricks ... 457
... A.1 Working with Wizards ... 457
... A.2 W orking with E-Mails ... 458
... A.3 Showing the Decision Maker in a Follow-On Step ... 466
... A.4 URLs in the Work Item Display ... 467
... A.5 Creating your Own User Decision Template ... 468
... A.6 Using Secondary, Before, and After Methods ... 468
... A.7 Looping Through a Multiline List ... 471
... A.8 Creating Object References Dynamically ... 472
... A.9 Deadlines Based on the Factory Calendar ... 472
... A.10 Making the Most of Modeled Deadlines ... 477
B Checklists ... 479
... B.1 Gathering Requirements ... 479
... B.2 Return on Investment (ROI) ... 484
... B.3 Quality Assurance Design Review ... 488
... B.4 Verification Tests ... 493
... B.5 Quality Assurance Implementation Review ... 496
... B.6 Going Live ... 500
... B.7 Housekeeping ... 502
C Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide ... 505
... C.1 A Workflow That Does Not Start ... 505
... C.2 A Workflow that Stops in Mid-Track ... 509
... C.3 Binding Problems with the Workflow Trace ... 514
... C.4 Why Duplicate or Multiple Workflows are Triggered ... 515
... C.5 Why an Agent Does Not Receive a Work Item ... 516
... C.6 Why the Wrong Agent Receives the Work Item ... 517
... C.7 Why the Work Item Follows the Wrong Route ... 518
D Administrator's First Aid Guide ... 519
... D.1 Resolving Work Item Errors ... 519
... D.2 Resolving Workflow Instance Errors ... 523
... D.3 Finding Workflows That Appear to Have Disappeared ... 525
... D.4 Resolving Event Linkage Errors ... 525
... D.5 Resolving Internet-Specific Errors ... 529
E Workflow Macros ... 531
... E.1 Macros Specific to Object Type Programs ... 531
... E.2 Macros for General Workflow Programming ... 532
F SAP Workflow Training ... 535
... F.1 BC600 Workflow Introduction ... 535
... F.2 BC601 Build and Use Workflows ... 535
... F.3 BC610 Workflow Programming ... 535
... F.4 BIT603 Web Scenarios and the WebFlow Engine ... 536
... F.5 TAWF10 Workflow Academy ... 536
... F.6 Further Information ... 536
G Glossary ... 537
Index ... 547
