Workflow

Introduction:

We can use SAP Business Workflow (WebFlow Engine) to define business processes that are not yet mapped in the SAP System.SAP Business Workflow enables the design and execution of business processes within SAP application systems. SAP has introduced this tool to simplify its business process if it requires approval from different departments.

SAP Business Workflow is particularly suitable for situations in which work processes have to be run through repeatedly, or situations in which the business process requires the involvement of a large number of agents in a specific sequence.

SAP Workflow

Workflow as a term means flow of work from one person to another. It is sequence of steps which gets processed.

Example: Let us consider a simple example - "Application of leave". It consists of the following activities.  

1.     Employee submits a leave application form to his manager. (He fills in details like the FROM and TO dates of leave, the reason for taking leave, his contact number etc)

2.     Manager checks the details of the application

3.     In case, he finds that the reason for taking leave is not specified/detailed properly, he may reject the leave application.

4.     Now, the employee has to correct the leave aplication, specifying the leave reason properly and submit the application again.

5.     The manager finally approves the leave application.

Please note that there can be many variations of the business process. A simple case is discussed here to give your understanding of workflow, a good start. The procedures can be complex involving many persons, decisions and approvals.

Therefore SAP has come up with SAP Workflow tool to automate this manual approval process. It can be integrated with any of the SAP modules like HCM, CRM, SD, and MM etc.
Disadvantages of manual approval process.

Lack of transparency 

Long lead times 

Lack of deadline monitoring

Advantages of Workflow

SAP Workflow ensures that the right work is sent in the right sequence at the right time to the right people". 

It is a tool designed to facilitate and automate business processes that require tasks to be performed by people.

SAP workflow can also be linked to Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes to send email.

Each step of a business transaction can be easily monitored and processes are completed from the beginning to the end.

Workflow allows process owners to keep an eye on deadlines, provides statistics on the length of time to complete work processes, determine the workload with regard to individual employees and save processing time.

Since Workflow delivers work items to employees automatically via email, they do not have to wait or inquire about the status of a particular transaction.

SAP workflow is particularly useful when there is a business process involving more than one person, when an automatic notification can replace a manual communication and when there is a defined set of individuals and/or documents implicated

It organizes one's work, alerts users and directs traffic by sending work items - once the user executes the work item, then another one can be sent to another user. For example, a Manager could use workflow to approve a vacation request from an employee. The workflow application would ensure that each person involved uses the correct online form and successfully completes their step before the planned leave was entered into SAP - either by an Administrator or automatically.

Disadvantages of Traditional Paper Based Workflow 

 There are many disadvantages to the traditional paper-based flow of work in a typical office environment. Let us discuss a few of them. 

1.     Lack of transparency: There is no easy way to know the status of the leave application. We probably have to inquire the manager personally whether he has approved the leave application or not. There is no system recorded status that we can glance at, to track the application. 

2.     Long lead times: Bases on customer feedback survey, it is found that a traditional paper based approch involving three people typically takes seven days to complete.

3.     Lack of deadline monitoring: Who knows? The manager might just be sitting on the task for too long. There is no mechanism in place to ensure that the persons perform tasks within planned time period.

4.     High costs: Paper based workflows are very costly to support as a result of manual document processing and archival.

How SAP Workflow Helps  

SAP workflow is a cross application tool that automates the business processes like the "leave application approval" procedure that we have discussed. Cross application tool means the tool can be used across various modules of SAP. 

Brief Overview of SAP Business Workflow Terminology 

There are 9 primary terms that you should be aware of when learning SAP Business Workflow. This Workflow Tutorial will describe each of these in detail. These are by no means complete, but will give you a very basic idea on what most of the key terms used.  We will discuss these terms in the light of the leave application example discussed earlier. We will call the Leave Application Form as “Notification of Absence” going forward.

Event

An event represents an action in the system.

For example, “Creating Absence Notification” is an ACTION. For this action the SAP Application creates an event. This even in turn triggers a workflow.

Object

Workflow routes the document among different persons. Each person performs certain activities. Whatever goal the workflow is intended to achieve, can be put inside an object type. Consider an Object as a Structure ( Abstract Enclosure ) with certain data and some logic.  For example, there is a standard object type called FORMABSENC in SAP. This is used for the notification of leave. It has certain data and some logic.  If you are familiar with Object Oriented Programming then this concept will be pretty familiar and straight forward. 

Data

•       KEY ( Absence Notification Number )

•       ATTRIBUTES (Created By , Entered on , Status etc )

Logic

•       METHODS ( Create, Approve etc )

•       EVENTS ( Created, Deleted etc )

An OBJECT is a specific instance of the OBJECT TYPE.  So, if an user created a Leave Application Form Object of type FORMABSENC , an instance with a unique number ( say 100001 ) is created.

Task

An SAP workflow task represents an Activity. It serves a purpose here. Some examples of tasks are Revise Absence Notification, Approve Absence Notification etc. The task Approve Absence Notification performs a business function – Submits the relevant absence notification form to the manager and on approval , it changes the status of the form to Approved and so on.

 Now, how does it perform this function ? It follows the logic created inside the method of an object type. So , in simple terms, a workflow TASK refers to the method of an object type.

Business Workplace & Work Item

Business Workplace is a work area that an SAP user can use to carry out business Processes.

For example, the business workplace of an user could be his inbox. Let us take the example of the absence notification again. The employee submits the notification to his manager. The manager receives the request in his inbox to approve the absence notification. The manager opens it , checks the details and approves the same. The request that the manager receives in this inbox is called a WORK ITEM.  In technical terms, a work item is a run time request of a task  in real time. Inbox contains not just the work items – it may as well contain simple text message. Examples include Notification messages, that need not be acted upon and are just used to inform the owner.

SAP Workflow Agent

An Agent is a person who executes a work item. In our example, manager Mr. John is the agent of the workflow task 'approve absence notification.

•       Possible agent is the person who is eligible to execute the work item. The name of the possible agent is mentioned in the workflow task.

•       Responsible agent is the person who should execute the work item, or who is responsible for acting on the work item.Name of the responsible agent is mentioned in the workflow step.

•       Excluded agent is the person who should not execute the work item, name of the excluded agent is mentioned in the workflow step.

Let us consider an example.

John is a manager at the Southern Zone of an organization.  Any manager can execute the task „approve absence notification‟ in general. Meaning all the managers have the expertise, authority and eligibility to execute the task of approving. They are the possible agents who can execute the task. Hence, in the task, we mention the job 'manager' as the possible agent. This applies to all the managers in general.

But, it is not a good idea to send the request for approving absence notification to all the managers. We have to select one responsible person, who should act on it. So, in the workflow step, we specifically mention the name of the manager 'John'. He is called the responsible agent.

There might be a requirement that managers of Northern Zone only should not be able to check/approve the absence notification. In that case we mention the job 'Manager - Northern Zone' as the excluded agent of the workflow step.

Hence, the system sends the work item to the responsible agent who is also the possible agent and not the excluded agent. In this example, the system sends the work item to John who is also the manager and not the northern zone manager.

Please note that, for the purpose of this demo session, we are not detailing on organizational aspects like job, position.

 SAP Workflow Step

Steps are the building blocks of a workflow. In other words, a workflow consists of steps arranged in a sequence. A step in general refers to a business activity. A step can therefore refer to an activity where it refers to a task.

 Eg., a step is created that refers to the task of approving absence notification or a user decision where the receiver of the notification has to decide on an „Approval‟ or a „Rejection‟ or a document from a template where a document can be edited from within a workflow. Steps can also refer to other programmatic conditions like loops, conditions, forks ( creation of a child process ) etc.

Rule

As discussed earlier, in the workflow task, as a responsible agent, we need to mention the name of the person who should execute the work item of approving absence notification. This method of specifying directly, the user name or job or position is called fixed agent assignment.

But in some cases, we may want to determine the agent at run time, i.e when the workflow task is actually executed.

Then, instead of specifying the manager's name, we specify a RULE 'superior ofworkflow initiator'. What does this rule perform?

It takes the employee as input, refers to the organizational plan,checks who the superior of the employee is, at that point in time, and sends the work item to his inbox. This method is called RULE RESOLUTION.

Please note that there are many other rule types and discussion of those is not included for this demo session.

Workflow

Now finally lets summarize the term SAP workflow and how these key terms are linked together.

1.     Workflow engine automates business processes.

2.     Workflow can be triggered by an event.

3.     Workflow definition consists of a sequence of steps.

4.     Each step can be an activity which is nothing but a task. 

5.     Task in turn refers to a method of a workflow to implement a specific logic.

6.     Steps can also refer to user decision, and other programattic controls.

7.     Runtime reprsentation of the step is called a work item. 

8.     This work item sits in the inbox(business workplace) of the responsible agent assigned to the step. 

9.     Agent determination can make use of Rule.

What are advantages of SAP Business Workflows?

A business process can consist of several steps. Historically, the
tasks have been coordinated manually or by some informal means
of communication (sticky note, e-mail, shouting, and so on).
The common problem in these approaches is:

Inefficiency

Each lacks a way to trace where a task is

Who executed(or is executing it),

How much time it requires.

In contrast, the workflow ensures that the right work is sent to the right person at the right time in the right sequence with the right information.

Workflow is a tool for atomization of business processes

Not tied up to any particular application

Operates uniformly across applications

Coordinate all participating tasks

Provide users with active support

Deadline Management is possible

Workflows are very useful for business processes that:

Contain a sequence of activities.

Reoccur in the same or similar forms.

Involve several people or groups of people.

Require considerable coordination.

What are the layers in Workflow Architecture?

There are 3 layers in the Workflow Architecture:

Business Object

Business Process

Organization Model

How Process, Business Logic and People are linked in Workflows?

The business processes are defined in Workflow builder. Each and every small work process is called as an activity in the workflow builder. Each activity consists of a single step task, which can be a standard task or a workflow template.

Associated Business Logic is built in Business Objects. i.e. ABAP code will be in Business Object. Business Objects consist of attributes, methods and events. Methods consist of ABAP code. Each and every standard task is associated with a Business Object and a method.

People / Group of people responsible for taking actions are defined in organization structure. Person responsible for taking an action is called actual agent. It is defined in the workflow activity.

What is a Business Object?

Business object (BO) is basically collection of Attributes, Methods and Events for a particular business entity. Example of BO: Sale Order, Vendor, Customer, Material etc.
BOs wrap around backend tables, application code, change document and other technical information and expose them as Attributes, Methods and Events. Usually methods of BOs refer to BAPIs.

The following diagram explains BO much better:

What is an Agent and what are different types of Agent?

An agent is a person or a group of persons who can take an action during workflow runtime. Action can be approval of some business document, creation of some document or sending email.

There are basically three types of Agents:

Actual Agent: One who actually takes the action? This is provided in the workflow Activity.

Possible Agent: All possible persons/entities that can execute a task during runtime. Defines either in Org Structure or task.

Excluded Agents: Persons who are excluded from taking action on a task. These are assigned in the workflow definition at the workflow activity.

System checks Actual Agent defined in workflow runtime with the Possible Agents defined in the task and the Excluded Agents. Actual Agent should be a subset of Possible Agents minus the Excluded Agents, else Agent resolution fails.

What are the capabilities of Workflow Builder?

What are Events?

Events are actions that occur in the system and that acts as trigger point for any workflow. Eg. Sales order creation. Is an event.

E.g.; consider a scenario where any sales order after creation subject to approval from superior. So here a workflow comes into play. The workflow needs to start whenever a Sales order is created. The business object BUS2032 is associated to sales order creation. It has event CREATED. So the trigger point or “START EVENTS “in the workflow is the BUS2032’s event CREATED.

Then bind the event to the workflow so the data flows from event to the Workflow. e.g.: Sales order is created. So for the workflow to proceed it'll need sales order details. With binding the respective values is mapped into the workflow container.

Then activate the linkage once you are through the workflow creation. This is important as after this only the workflow will listen for the event, in the sense that after this only the workflow is triggered on the event. This is critical also as each active link adds to system load considerably and too many workflows in the test environment can bring the system down. So careful. Deactivate once test is over and workflow is no longer used.

What are the various methods of creating Events?

The various methods of creating Events are:-       

-          Function module  - event creation by calling function module
                                               SWE_EVENT_CREATE  or  SAP_WAPI_CREATE_EVENT.
-          Change documents
-          Event creation when change documents are written.
-          General status management
-          Logistics Information System (LIS)
-          Event  creation upon status changes.
-          Business Transaction Events
-          Message Control

How can an Event be linked with a Workflow?

Consider the start of any workflow. The START EVENTS tab is taken through the header. The Business Object is specified and binding is generated to the workflow to receive the values and then the link is activated.See the pic below for the Sales Order creation as start event for a workflow.

What are containers, Binding and Binding Editor?

Containers are nothing but the Variables in the Workflow that hold the values in the workflow. They can be simple variables or structures or even objects of any class. So they are best treated as the variables. Binding as explained above is passing the values from events, methods and other externals sources to the container. When an event is binded to the workflow then the data automatically flows from the Event to the Container in the workflow. Binding editor is there as automatic binding may not always pick up the right or desired binding or precisely the mapping generated may not be appropriate or as required due to technical reasons which any techie can guess. So editor gives an option to the developer to edit or generate manually.

What are important Transactions and Reports?

The area menu 'SWLD' lists all the transactions associated with Business workflows. 

SWDD - Main Workflow Builder.

PFTC - General task maintenance.

SWO1- Business Object Builder.

SBWP- The Business Workplace SWDM - Business Workflow Explorer

SWELS - Switch Event Trace On/Off

SWETYPV - Display/Maint. Event Type Linkages

SWUS - Test Workflow

SWUI - Start Workflow

SWI6 - Workflow for Objects

SW14 - Workflows for Objects Types

SWDB - Workflow Builder - Create Workflow

SWLV - Maintain Views

TASK/TASK GROUPS

PFTC_INS - Create

PFTC_CHG - Change

PFTC_DIS - Display

PFTC_COP - Copy

PFTC_DEL - Delete

Tcodes Related To Events

Events Creation

BSVW - Status management

NACE - Message Control

AWUW - Logistics Information System (LIS)

Event Linkages

SWB_COND - Workflow Start Conditions

Work item analysis

SWI2_FREQ - Work Items per Task

SWI2_DEAD - Work Items with Monitored Deadlines

SWI2_DURA - Work Items by Processing Duration

Task analysis

SWI11 - Tasks in Workflows

SWI13 - Task profile

Exception in binding of Task and the Method?

It is observed that when we bind a Task with any BO Method then all the fields defined for binding are wiped out after we save the binding i.e. if we want to see the fields taking part in binding of the TASK & METHOD or while binding the work flow and the TASK it is observed that the container elements and task container elements disappear even though binding is established. This happens because of inconsistent buffer synchronization.

To overcome this issue follow the steps in SWDD.

Menu->Extras->Transport->Synchronize runtime buffer, or go to TCODE SWU_OBUF of buffer synchronization.

What are the different types of WF Agents?
1. Possible Agents
Users who are authorized to execute the task
Configured during Task definition (Org Unit, Position, User, Work Center, Role, Rule)
If a Task is configured as General Task, then all users become possible users.

2. Responsible Agents
the users to whom the work item needs to be sent.
This is set during Step definition. Note that possible agents are defined during Task definition. (Org Unit, Position, User, Work Center, Role, Rule, Container Element)
Note: The work item recipients is determined by intersection of Possible Agents and Responsible Agents.

3. Actual Agents
Actual user who executed the dialog task

4.Excluded Agents
Users who are not supposed to execute the dialog task (even if they are in possible agents)

A very good Book for learning and Practicing Workflow


What are the agent determination techniques?
    Rule Resolution with responsibility: Helpful when a set of static positions are responsible for action.
    Rule resolution with Function (FM): Helpful when agents are determined dynamically from business logic.
    Rule resolution with OM: Usually used in CRM. Have not used
    Rule resolution with Function, but asynchronously: This is through a class and a method. Initially WI is created in status ready without agent. Later agent is assigned. This is suitable for agent determination having complex logic.
    Users: Rarely used.
    Role: Ex: ABAP_DEVELOPER
    OM objects (Position, Org Unit, work center)
    Expression: A container element containing the agents.

Containers
    Workflow Container:
    Task Container:

SWC_GET_CONTAINER
SWC_GET_TABLE
SWC_SET_CONTAINER
SWC_SET_TABLE

Event Container:
Method Container:
Rule Container: For resolving rules

Business Objects
    Key Fields:
    Attributes:
        Database: Automatically gets populated by system code
        Virtual: You determine the content and use SWC_SET_CONTAINER to populate
    Methods: Can be created using FM, Transaction, Report, Dialog Module, Other
        Synchronous: Finish execution before handling the control back to the task.
        Asynchronous: Return the control back immediately. Cannot have export parameters. They depend on events to return results back to the calling program.

Dialog: Something to user
Background: Cannot have messages or exceptions


what are the options to implement method of a BO?
    FM
    BAPI
    Tcode
    Dialog Module
    Report
    Other (BO program)

How to extend a BO?
Got SWO1 and enter a BO that you want to extend. Click on ‘New Subtype’ Give all the details.
Go back to SW01, enter the BO, and goto Settings Delegate.
Example:
BUS7051: Notification,
BUS1001: Material,
BUS2012: Purchase Order,
BUS1065: Employee

Various status of BO
    Modeled: Not accessible at runtime
    Implemented: Not ready to be used, Internal use only
    Released: For customer to use
    Obsolete: Don’t use anymore

 To change attribute values from methods of a BO
    SWC_GET_CONTAINER
    SWC_SET_CONTAINER

Events:
How to create Events?
        HR Tables: SWEHR2/3
        ABAP Code user Exit: SWE_EVENT_CREATE
        Change Document: SWEC
        Status management:
        Message Control:
    Event Linkage: SWE2

Subtype:
Key field cannot be created. Methods and attributes can be created.

Delegate:
    If you want to change the functionality of a method, define a sub type, redefine the method, and delegate the parent business object to child object.

Interface
    Interface is a combination of Attributes, Methods and Events, to reduce the redundancy in definition.
    IFSAP: Common interface for all BOs. It has following methods
        Method: Display
        Method: Existence Check
        Attribute; ObjectType

Different Workflow Steps activities
    Condition:
    Multiple Conditions:
    Until Loop:
    Fork:
    Send Mail:
    Container Operations:
    Event Creator:
    Wait Event:
    Process Control

Different deadline conditions
    Requested Start: When this date is met, only then the work item will start execution, or available for taking action (dialog).
    Latest Start: When a date mentioned here is met, it can send an email, or can be modeled to do something action.
    Requested End: Same as Latest Start
    Latest End: Same as Latest Start

Important Tcodes
    Workflow Toolbox: SWUS
    Simulate Event: SWU0
    Business Object Repository: SW01
    Event Trace: SWEL (S)
    Workitems per task: SWI2_FREQ
    SWUE: Event simulate
    SWEL: Event log
    SWELS: Set event log ON
    SWE2: Linkage between Event and Workflow
    SWEHR2: Event linkage in HR
    SWU3: Workflow customizing
    SWU_OBUF: Synchronize buffers
    SWI5: Look into other user’s SBWP

What are the Important background Jobs for workflow?:
    SWWDHEX          For deadline monitoring
    SWWERRE           For error Monitoring
    SWEQSRV           For Event Queue Delivery

Workflow experience:
    What are the workflows created by you? Worked upon by you?

Function Module that creates workflow
    SAP_WAPI_START_WORKFLOW:
    SAP_WAPI_CREATE_EVENT
    SAP_WAPI_WORKITEM_RECIPIENTS
    SAP_WAPI_GET_WORKITEM_DETAIL

When a infotype action is performed, an event should trigger, and a workflow subsequently. How can I configure it?
     Tcode SWEHR2

When a infotype action is performed, an FM should trigger, and a workflow subsequently. How can I configure it?
     Tcode SWEHR2

Workflow is not triggering... what can be the reason?
    What are the different ways of triggering a workflow?
          Triggering Events, which are set up in SWE2 (generic), SWEHR2 (HR)
    SAP_WAPI_START_WORKFLOW

Workflow triggered, but it did not come to the user, why?

What are the difference between a Business Object and a Class?

How to achieve dynamic parallel processing?
    There are three ways a parallel processing can be implemented
        Dynamic parallel processing using a multi-line container element
        Fork (3 out of 5)        Work queue
    In dynamic processing the type of each entry in the table have to be of same type.
    Same task will be processed for each line of the multi-line container. It can be a dialog or background task. Deadline monitoring, binding, agent determination will be same for each work item generated To achieve, go to “Miscellaneous” in the activity, and enter the multi-line container element.


How to notify a user immediately in R/3 that he has got an email?
    Mark the priority as ‘1’ Express

how can we debug a workflow?
        If it is a dialog task, you can set breakpoint in the method called by the task
        If it is a method that you want to debug, use SWO1, and create a instance of the object and debug the methods
        If it is a background task, and you are in development client, you can do the following. Create an infinite loop in the method you want to debug. Go to SM50 (processes overview) and select the relevant item, and select debug from option.

Huge number of events is getting created in a short duration of time, and thus creating a huge load on the system and making it very slow. Solution?
        Enable event queue. It will ensure that triggered events are received in a phased manner. This needs to be done while providing event linkages.

Why ‘Process Control’ is used? What are its features?
    ‘Process Control’ is used to manipulate another work item of the workflow during runtime.
    ‘Process Control’ is usually used to model the workflow when deadlines are reached. SAP offers 4 standard behaviors as part of process control.

Cancel Work item: Target WI is logically deleted. Subsequent tasks are not executed. Precondition is that Process control and the target WI have to be in different branches of the same fork.
Set Work item to obsolete: The target WI is set to complete, and processing continues in the branch processing obsolete.
Cancel Workflow: Current workflow is set to ‘Complete’. If this is the sub workflow, then the control goes to super-ordinate workflow.
Complete (terminate) Workflow: Same as above, but the branch of super-ordinate workflow which contains the current sub-workflow will not be continued.
Cancel Workflow including all callers: Same as above, but all callers also will be ‘COMPLETE’d.

What is the integration point with ESS Portal?
Tcode SWFVISU
Portal config file for UWL

what are the types of work items?
    Dialog Work item - W
    Background work item
    Workflow work item
    Work queue work item
    missed deadline work item: When a deadline is missed a missed deadline workitem with the message appears in inbox

what the different statuses of a work item are?
    Waiting
    Ready
    Reserved
    Inprocess
    Executed (‘confirm end of processing’ in task definition)
    Completed
    Logically deleted
    Error

Difference between Asynchronous and Synchronous methods in a task
    A work item created as part of synchronous in locked until end of the method execution. But in asynchronous, work item is locked only until start of method execution.
    At least one terminating event is required for a task using Asynchronous task

What is the use of secondary methods in an Activity?
          A modal call
          Before work item executing
          After work item execution

What is the BO method called for the task which calls UWL WD screens? Why?
EXTSRV --> PROCESS

What are Programmer exits? And why are they used?

What is the use of “Advance with dialog”?
If this indicator is set for an activity, workflow system checks if the processer of current task is also a recipient for next task. If yes, then the next task will be executed immediately.

Meanwhile this is a very good book if you want to learn and practice workflow. The workflow Admin chapter is invaluable if you are working in a support project.

  On ABAP: Did you set up a workflow ? Are you familiar with all steps for setting up a workflow ?

Yes.

Execute the Txn SWDD (Creating a new Workflow).

In the header of the Workflow, define the Business Object and Event you refer to for triggering the Wf.

Create the Steps required for your workflow(Activity).

Inside the Activity, Create the task and assign the Business Object and the related method for that business object.

Activate the Workflow.

  Have you used performance tuning? What major steps will you use for these ?

The Main Transaction Code Involved in Performance Tuning is SE30-Run Time Analysis and ST05-SQL Tracer.

  In the 'select' statement what is "group by"?

Group by clause is used to fetch the data from the table by the specified field

ex.select count (*) from emp table group by deptno where deptno = 1.

It is used to find the number of employees present in the specified department no.

   SAP R/3 screens how will you develop a table control having 3 columns with only one editable?

we can develop it by giving the code in PBO (process before output) giving table control line = 3. it will give only 3 lines and we can make 2 lines disable in screen painter options available in table control

Elementary search helps, Collective search help.

Elementary search helps defines a search path where we will define the table from which the data has to be read and the selection criteria. Through import and export parameters. Used when we gets the data rom a single table.

Collective search helps: Combination of elementary search helps. When we need to fetch data based on multiple selection criteria's. More than one tables are Selection from multiple tables

Difference between Search Helps and Match Codes

search help: adding f4 functionality is search help(adding help for any topic)

match code: adding search help for the input field is called as math code object

   Have you created database tables?

YES , IF WE HAVE CUSTOMISED DATA TO STORE IN TABLE , WE CREATE A TABLE.

   Difference between client dependent and client independent tables?

tables which can be access by all user are client independent (no mandt field in table)

tables which can be access by some specific user are client dependent (use mandt field in table)

   How to create client independent tables?

the table in which the first field is not mandt is the client independent tables

mandt is the field with mandt as the data element

automatically client which we login is populated to mandt

   Have you created Maintenance dialog or Table Maintenance?

At the time of creating table through, there is a check box for table maintenance allowed.So if you want to activate the table maintenance, just mark this box. Once table gets activated, u can change its contents through SM30 ot Through Table Maintenance.

   List the various advantages of SAP Business Workflow

Workflow provides numerous advantages to SAP users and consultants:

It allows consultants to create new business processes without modifying the standard SAP code.

Workflow ensures that the tasks are executed in the correct sequential order, involving the relevant personnel.

SAP Business Workflow may be run through the internet or intranet web applications via the Webflow Engine.

Deadline Monitoring functionality is also incorporated within SAP Workflow.

The timely execution of activities is guaranteed even when a number of parties (users) are involved.

Workflow reduces both time and expense involved in managing business activities.

  What is a work item? How does it differ from a simple SAP office mail item?

A work item is a runtime object generated by a step within a workflow. Whenever user interaction is required, the respective users are informed via work items. These work items will be received by the user in their Business Workplace inbox, or other email application such as Microsoft Outlook&rights;

The work item may be a user decision or a dialog form that allow you to enter data for starting a process within SAP, or a confirmation of whether a particular task may be performed. The user then chooses an appropriate option which determines the subsequent behavior of the workflow in question. There are a variety of applicable work items. Each work item has a status reflecting the stage of processing at any given point in time.

A work item comprises of text explaining what action needs to be taken, whom to refer to and any information pertinent to the business object involved.

Unlike simple SAP office mails, work items are active entities, as they determine the subsequent direction of the workflow. SAP office mails can also be deleted from the inbox without viewing them whereas a work item has to be executed to have it removed from your inbox.

   What is a background work item? Are they displayed in the Business Workplace?

A background work item (code B) represents tasks that do not require any user interaction. They are controlled and executed automatically by the workflow system, and do not appear in the Business Workplace. However, you may view them using the Work Item Selection Report.

  Which method is executed if space is passed for the method parameter of macro SWC_CALL_METHOD?

The Default method of the object type is executed if a space is passed as the method parameter value. You can find the default method by viewing the applicable object using transaction SWO1 and going to menu option "Goto -> Basic Data" and clicking on the Defaults tab. The default method is located in the field "Method"

  Name the tables used for storing the event linkages?

SWETYPECOU - Type Linkage Table

SWEINSTCOU - Instance Linkage Table..

SAP Workflow FAQ Techniques

What differences are there between a work item and a notification mail? 
a) The work item cannot be used to notify several users.  Mails can be routed to several users, just like work items. When a mail is sent, and one recipient reads and deletes the mail, all other recipients will still have access to their own copy in their own inbox. However, when a work item is processed by one of the recipients it will automatically disappear from all the other inboxes.  So you can see that a work item is unsuitable for notifying several users. It is also worth noting that a mail can be forwarded in many different ways (fax, internet...) whereas the work item cannot.

b) The work item holds up the workflow
When the workflow sends a mail (usually as a background step) it continues with the process immediately after transmitting the mail. When a work item is generated, the workflow will not continue until the work item has been processed. This slows down the process. Occasionally this is what is intended (using the work item as an approval step without the ability to reject) but
usually you will better off using mails for notifications.

Note: You can send business objects as references with the mail either as a business object reference attached to the mail or as an URL (ABAP required).

What is the difference between sending a mail to a recipient list compared to sending individual mails via a dynamic loop? 
Performance. Sending 1 mail to 20 recipients will cost considerably less performance than sending 20 individual mails. If the mail is sent as a SAP Office mail (as opposed to e-mail, fax...) disk space will also be a factor because the SAP office mail will only exist once in the database, with references being created for each of the recipients.

The only time you need to consider individual mails with a dynamic loop is when the text of the mail varies from one recipient to another.

How do I send a standard text as an e-mail from workflow? 
It is very easy sending standard text , which may include data from the workflow. You simply create a background step which sends the work item description. This may include variables which will be substituted when mail is sent.

In early releases you have to create your own task based on the method SELFITEM SendTaskDescription. In later releases a wizard is available for creating the step and in release 4.6 there is even a step type which does this all for you automatically.
Whichever path you take, there is very good online documentation describing exactly what has to be done.

How do I send a complex text from the workflow? 
You may create mails using SAPscript. These mails can include conditions which are evaluated in order to determine which text blocks which are used in the mail. Workflow variables can be used in these conditions and workflow variables can be substituted into the body of the e-mail text.

How do I send really complex mails from the workflow? 
If you this is not enough for you will probably want to write your own ABAP routines for generating the text and generating the attachments to go with the text.

Use the function group SO01 which contains functions of the form SO_*_API1 which are ideal for creating your own sophisticated messages. There are plenty of advantages of how these are used within the SAP system.

How do I send reports? 
There are wizards (Release 3.1) which will create workflows for you to send reports to a distribution list. You can specify whether the results should be transmitted or evaluated at the time the recipient wishes to view the report. It is usually better to send the evaluation because this allows the recipient to see the results instantaneously, without having to wait for the
report to execute first.

Deadlines
How can I configure the workflow so that different types of messages are sent out to different people depending on how late the processing is? 
Follow these steps:

1. Specify a deadline period for the step.
2. Specify a name for the event. This adds new branch from the step. More...
3. Add a new step to the branch which sends a mail message.
4. Add another step to the branch which sends out the second deadline warning (see mail steps above). Use deadlines in this step to configure an earliest start so that the second message is not sent until a further time has elapsed.
5. Repeat step 5 as often as you like.

How can I configure the workflow so that when the deadline is missed the workflow step is simply skipped?
This is tricky to explain but easy to implement once you know how.
Follow these steps (in later releases there is a wizard which takes you through the steps):
1. In the terminating events view of the workflow step activate the  "obsolete" event and give it a name. More...
2. Specify a deadline period for the step.
3. Specify a name for the event. This adds new branch from the step. More...
4. Add a new step to the deadline path. This step must be of type "process control".
5. Select the control "Make step obsolete" and use the search help to specify the workflow step that has the deadline. Only steps with obsolete paths defined will be displayed (see step 1).

How do I trigger a workflow with an e-mail? 
You can customize the system to call a BOR method when an external mail (fax, e-mail...) arrives in the system. You BOR method should either trigger the e-meil directly or trigger an event. To customize this user exit use the transaction SCOT.

How can I make sure that user's access their tasks via the workflow and not via the menu or launch pad? 
The routing mechanism for work items uses roles and organizational assignments to determine who receives which work item. However the routing does not provide extra authorization checks based on the routing configuration. If you want to ensure that the  tasks are executed within the workflow, and not via the standard transaction, service or MiniApp, then you will have to apply your own protection.
The simplest way of doing this is to remove the standard transaction from the user's menu or Workplace role (but include it in the supervisor's role, just in case).

If you want to allow the user to execute the task from the menu if and only if they have received the work item then you should replace the standard transaction with your own custom built transaction. Your own transaction simply calls the standard transaction but performs its own authorization check first, based on the routing mechanism used in the workflow. 

How to Create a Basic SAP Business Workflow

Business Workplace and work items

Work items are displayed to the user for execution in their Business Workplace. Work items are instances of a workflow at runtime. Their are various types of work item. Only certain types are displayed in the Business Workplace.

Workflow and workflow definition

A workflow must be defined before it can be executed. This workflow definition s made up of steps that control the workflow or refer to the tasks to be executed. You can make additional specifications about agents and deadline monitoring for a step. These specifications are evaluated at runtime by the work item manager. The workflow is started either manually or by the system at runtime. For the system to start a workflow, the workflow definition must contain a triggering event (for example the event "material created"). When the event occurs, the relevant workflow is started automatically.
When you activate a workflow definition , you automatically generate a runtime version. When the workflow is started (manually or automatically), the relevant runtime version is used for the execution. If the workflow definition is changed later and a new runtime version is generated, these changes do not affect workflows that are already being executed.

Tasks

Tasks describe elementary business activities. Tasks always refer to a method of an object type. Possible agents are defined for tasks. Tasks can refer to automatically executable methods (background tasks) or they can need a user to execute them (dialog tasks).

Object types and objects

An object type describes the data with which you want to work in a workflow, for example the object type Material . An object is an individual data record of an object type. Attributes are defined for an object type, which make up its data record (for example, material name or material number). Each object type has methods, in which activities are defined, which can be executed with the data (for example, create material). The transactions and functions of the R/3 System can be called in a method as can your own transactions or other applications. The last important component of an object type are its events. These describe the status changes that an object can undergo (for example, material deleted or material changed). A workflow can be started by an event of this kind being triggered.
The Business Object Repository provides an overview of all object types in the R/3 System. You can use or extend the existing object types as well as create new object types.

Demo Example: Processing a Notification of Absence (BC-BMT-WFM) 

Purpose

This workflow template demonstrates how to process a notification of absence.
It can be used as an example for demonstrating SAP Business Workflow functions, and is particularly suitable for training courses.

Process Flow

An employee enters a notification of absence (leave request) in the R/3 System by filling out the relevant input template.
The direct superior of the employee is responsible for approving or rejecting the notification of absence. The R/3 System determines the direct superior automatically on the basis of the organizational plan maintained.
If the request is approved the creator is notified by mail:

If the request is not approved, the creator is informed and can decide whether to withdraw the notification of absence or revise it. If the superior has given reasons for the rejection in an attachment, the creator can take these into consideration.

If the creator revises the request, it is submitted to the superior for approval again. The applicant can also add an attachment, which can then be accessed by the superior.
This cycle is repeated until either the superior approves the leave request or the creator withdraws it.
The applicant can find out the current processing status at any time by looking in their workflow outbox.

Workflow Modeling 

Purpose

This tutorial uses an example in a series of easy-to-follow units to explain the most important tools in SAP Business Workflow.

The example used here is based on a scenario for approving a notification of absence. At the end of this tutorial, you will have defined and executed a workflow that automatically submits a notification of absence (leave request) to your superior for approval, and informs the requester of the result of the approval process.

You will become familiar with the following areas of SAP Business Workflow throughout the course of this tutorial:

• Definition tools
• Business Workplace
• Reporting and analysis tools
• Using the Workflow Builder

Process Flow

Work through the individual units in this tutorial in the specified order.

Important units are followed by tests that you can use to test what you have learned to date. Please make sure to complete these tests.

Result

Example - the notification of absence

The scenario in this example begins with the completion of a leave request by an employee (requester or creator of the notification of absence).

The completed form is then forwarded automatically to the head of department (employee’s superior).

• If the head of department approves the request, the employee receives a notification and the workflow is terminated.
• If the head of department rejects the request, the employee can decide to revise the request (possibly in accordance with the head of department’s wishes) or withdraw it. If the employee decides to revise it, the request form is resubmitted to the head of department after the revision is made.
  
• 
• Step-by-Step

·         Run Transaction PPOME

1.     Find your Company (C180 will be used in this example). Find the Sales and Marketing Organizational Unit. We will assign SAP Users to the VP of Sales and Marketing and to Sales Rep Central positions.

2.     Right Click on the VP of Sales and Marketing, and select Assign, from the menu.

3.     Select Holder-User from the menu. Find and select your User Account.

4.     Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the Sale Rep Central position (assign the same user so you can receive all messages in this workflow exercise).

5.     Your screen will look like this:

·         Run transaction SWDD (Workflow Builder)

1.     Drag and drop the activity Icon in the Step Type are to the Undefined step in the Graphical Model

2.     In the Control tab, click the Task field, click and arrow to Create a New Task.

3.     The Standard Task window will appear. Type the information as shown in the screen below (except use your own numbers in place of 180).

1.     From the Additional Data menu, select Agent Assignment Maintain and assign the Sales Rep 180 (central) position (as shown below).

1.     Save the data. In the Create Object Directory Entry, click on the Local Object button.

2.     Go back to the Workflow Builder and click on the Binding (does not exist) button. Then define the following binding:

1.     Save your workflow. Give it a name like WS_I_180 and make sure it is a local object.

2.     Let’s create another Activity and another task for the Managerial step (approves or rejects the request), as shown below:

1.     Maintain Agent Assignment as shown below:

1.     Save it (select local object as in the previous task).

You need an additional container element in the workflow container to store the name of the user who will execute this step. This user name is to be used later in the notification text that is sent to the requester. Choose the Workflow Container (left side) and then select the entry <Double-click to create> by double-clicking in the Workflow Container. The dialog box for entering a container element is displayed. Make the following entries and save:

1.      

2.     Change the Binding to include the following:

1.     Build (Generate Runtime Version) and Test your workflow.

2.     THE END.

Create a workflow having custom Business object referencing standard Business Object for Purchase Order (BUS2012). In this BO, create a custom method for displaying PO (PODisplayNew) similar to standard method „Display‟ and a custom event (POChanged) that should be raised whenever you save the PO.  When the user approves/rejects the PO, a background task should run updating the custom [„Z‟] table with status of PO as approved/rejected respectively.

Flowchart 

Step-by-step procedure

            Create business object Create a custom business object referencing the standard business object „BUS2012‟ and custom event for changed PO.

a. Copy the standard business object and create a new business object OR you can create business object by creating standard business object as supertype and new one as subtype. 

Here I have created new BO that is a copy of standard BO „BUS2012‟. 

            Create Event

a.     Create new event under the „Events‟ node by selecting „Events‟ and clicking on „Create‟ button. 

a.     Enter the required details for the event and click the green arrow.

a.     Check your event will be created under „Events‟ node.

a.     Change the status of Event as implemented and also change the status of business object as implemented „Edità Change release status à Object type à To

Implemented‟. Then generate the business object by clicking on red and white circle „Generate‟ on application toolbar. Now your business object will be available for use.

         Trigger Event

a. To trigger your event when the PO is changed and saved, 

i.     Create a workflow template from transaction „PFTC_INS‟. Enter „Basic Data‟. 

Go to „Container‟ tab and enter the elements required for your workflow. Note that in properties select atleast one parameter.

Finally in the „Triggering Events‟ tab, enter the event details, do the binding and activate the event line item.

This completes your event creation process in workflow. Now for raising and triggering the event follow step ii.

Check in „Workflow builder‟ [click on „Workflow builder‟ button in „Basic Data‟ tab or go to „SWDD‟ transaction and enter the workflow template id] you will see the event is created.

i.     Find out the user exit that is available for PO in case of „Save‟ event. Please note that only when the PO is saved the event should get triggered. In this case the exit is EXIT_SAPMM06E_013 that is invoked prior to “commit work”. Create and raise the event for POChanged in the above mentioned exit. [Include ZXM06U44]

b. Now whenever a PO is changed and saved, the above custom event will be triggered.

           Create Method

a.     Creating custom method to display the PO.

b. Create method in the similar way as that of event creation i.e. select „Methods‟ and click on create. It will ask you „Create with function module as template?‟ then select „No‟ as we want to create a „Dialog‟ and „Synchronous‟ method for displaying the PO. Change the status of method as implemented. 

a.     Select the method and click on „Program‟ button. It will ask you if you want to generate a template automatically for the missing section. Click on „Yes‟. It will navigate you to program with begin and end of method block. Write the code for the method in this block.

a.     Once this is done click on „Generate‟ button. Now this method could be used in the workflow task.

               Create Step

         Activity Step-Display PO

a.     Go to workflow builder and double click to add a new step. Select the step as „Activity‟ as we just want to display the PO whenever the event is triggered. 

Create a new task in the step and enter the business object details in it. Save it.

.     Do the binding. Once binding is done you can see green color. 

a.     Assign the agents as workflow initiator or any user whose inbox this display PO activity should go. 

b.     In „Task Properties‟, set the attribute of „Agent Assignment‟ as „General Task‟ by clicking red button next to it. 

             User Decision Step - Provide Approve or Reject Option

User can approve or reject the PO.

a.     Create „User decision‟ step with title „Kindly Approve or Reject the Purchase Order‟. Assign agent who will approve or reject the PO. In this case, I have entered as workflow initiator. Enter the „Decision Texts‟ and its „Outcome Names‟. Decision texts will appear as buttons on the screen where agents can approve or reject the PO while the outcome names will appear as the step text in the workflow logs. 

a.     After creation of above step, you will find 2 options one as approve and other as reject.

            Steps to Approve PO

a.     Double click to create a step for approve option. Select this step as „Activity‟ *[Update custom table with approve/reject]. Note that we need to create a background step that will update the custom „Z‟ table with status as either approved/rejected. For this we will have to first create a new method „UpdateTable‟ under „Methods‟ node in „ZCUST_PO‟ business object. In order to create task as background, note that the method should not be a dialog method i.e. uncheck „Dialog‟ in method properties.

a.     Create a „Z‟ database table with fields‟ mandt, po number, date, time, status and description. 

b.    To get the value of approval or rejection from User Decision (UD) step, you will have to create additional step between UD step and approval activity step. This step could be created by double clicking [or right click and create] *‘PO Approved’ i.e. the outcome name as highlighted below. Select this step as „ContainerOperation‟ *[zapp_po]. After creation of this step your workflow will look like as given below:

[P.S.: * indicates check the below screenshot for step information]

d.    To capture the status of PO create container element status. In properties, check import and export parameter.

d.    Now in the „ContainerOperation‟ step for approval, enter the following details:

4 Steps to Reject PO

Follow the same steps as of step 5.3. The only difference would be the „Expression‟ value, which will be „R‟ instead of „A‟.

                 Create Task

a.     Now for the main background step i.e. for updating the table, create a new task in this step with following details: 

Write the above code in business object program. Above we are declaring a variable „Status‟ to accept approve/reject i.e. A or R value. Next get the value of „Status‟ [container element declared in task]. This will contain the value that will be obtained from „ContainerOperation‟ step from the workflow container element „Status‟ [as we have done binding for task container and workflow container].

[In the command, “SWC_GET_ELEMENT CONTAINER „STATUS‟ STATUS”, container is the container for the element, first „status‟ is the element name and second status is the field/variable that you have declared in the method.]

It could be seen that in the method, we are calling F.M „ZPO _UPDATE_TABLE‟. It will have the following code in it:

            Workflow Completed

Now your workflow is completed. Save it and activate it. 

            Test Workflow Test the workflow. Go to transaction ME22N or ME22. Enter the PO number „4500016119‟ and change the quantity and save it. As soon as the PO is saved, a workitem will appear in your inbox (as we have kept the agent as workflow initiator).

          Business Workspace

a.      Go to SBWP to check the workitem. „Inbox à Workflow‟ path. You will see the task description on the right hand side. 

Debugging a background Task in SAP Business Workflow

Background Task

Quite often while testing a WF (Workflow), we come across a situation where the WF hangs at some background step but the WF log and transaction ST22 does not show any error/dump which can help us identify the problem.

In such cases it becomes necessary to debug the background method that is used by the WF task in question.

Debugging Background Method

Following steps must be followed in order to debug a background method and determine root cause of the problem.

1.     Set the BO method as well as the WF task as Dialog (both were originally required to be set as background activities) for testing purpose.

2.     Set the agent for the task as your own user ID.

3.     Set a breakpoint in the BO method. 

4.     Trigger the WF. Now the step at which the WF had stopped/hanged earlier will appear as a WI (Workitem) in your inbox. 

5.     Go to the inbox and execute the WI. Since a breakpoint was set in the BO method, debugger will start on execution of the WI and then we can proceed with normal debugging. 

6.     When we are done with debugging, BO method and WF task must be once again set to their original status i.e. background activities. 

Since debugging is one of the most basic approaches while identifying the cause of a problem, the approach mentioned above would be of great help in case of WF testing. 

Basic Function Modules in Workflows?

SWW_WI_POPUP_FOR_COMPLETION                          “shows the completed status of a workflow

SWW_ADDR_KEY_CREATE_FROM_USER                    “display the address of the user or recipient

SWW_WI_DELETE                                                          “delete work item

SWW_WI_CREATE_VIA_EVENT                                     “create work item as result of event

SWW_WI_DEADLINE_CHANGE                                     “change of deadline attribute of work item

SWW_WI_COMP_EVENT_RECEIVE                               “complete work item using events

SWW_WI_REJECT                                                         ”reject work item

SWW_WI_EVENT_RECEIVE                                          “retrieve event for a workflow

SWW_WI_DISABLE                                                       “lock work item against execution  

SWW_WI_ENABLE                                                        “remove lock against execution of work item 

SAP Workflow:  General Transaction Code

Transaction Code	Description
SW10	Delivery Verification
SWB3	Maint. of Conditional Event Linkage
SWB_COND	Maint. Condit. Linkage (BC-BMT-WFM)
SWB_PROCUREMENT	Maint. Condit. Linkage (Procurement)
SWDC	Workflow Definition: Administration
SWDD	Workflow Builder
SWDD_CONFIG	Workflow Configuration
SWDM	WF: Workflow Explorer
SWDN	Number Range Maint.: SWD_WDID
SWE2	Display/Maint. Event Type Linkages
SWE3	Display Instance Linkages
SWE4	Change event log status (on/off)
SWE5	Checks for Event Linkages
SWEAD	Event Queue Administration
SWEC	Event Linkage for Change Documents
SWECD	Call RSWE_INVOKE_CHANGE_DOCU
SWECPLGRM	Configure Selective Logging
SWEC_OLD_VERSION	Linkage: Change Doc.->Workflow Event
SWED	Assignment chng.doc./WF object type
SWEF	Field Restrictions for Change Docs.
SWEHR1	Linkage: Object Type to HR Infotype
SWEHR2	Event - Infotype Operation (SAP)
SWEHR3	Event-Infotype Operation (Customer)
SWEINST	Display Event Instance Linkages
SWEINSTVC	Display Evt. Inst. Links. (W/O Sel.)
SWEL	Display event log
SWELOG	Maintain Event Log
SWELS	Switch Event Trace On/Off
SWEM	Configure Selective Logging
SWEO	Switch Event Log On/Off
SWEQ	Configure Selective Logging
SWEQ1	Batch Job Event Queue
SWEQADM	Event Queue Administration
SWEQADM_1	Queue Administrator Maintenance
SWEQBROWSER	Event Queue Browser
SWEQCAND	Maint. Trans. for Queueing Events
SWEQCAND0	Event Queue: Selected Events
SWEQCAND1	Event Queue: Excluded Events
SWEQCONT	Maintain SWEQCONT
SWEQDEL	Delete Event Queue
SWEQENABLE	Table Maintenance SWEQENABLE
SWEQENABLE2	Enable Event Queue
SWEQSHAREDBUF	Call rsweq_shared_buffer
SWEQUEUE	Maintain SWEQUEUE
SWEQVIEW	Maintain Join Event Queue, Container
SWETYPV	Display/Maint. Event Type Linkages
SWE_CD_TST	Test Environ. for Change Documents
SWE_SET_DELEGATION	Create Delegation in BOR
SWF3	WF: Workflow Wizard Repository
SWF4	WF Wizard Repository (Development)
SWI1	Selection report for workflows
SWI11	Where-Used List for Tasks
SWI13	Task Profile
SWI14	Workflows for Object Type
SWI2_ADM1	Work items without agents
SWI2_ADM2	Work Items with Deleted Users
SWI2_DEAD	Work Items With Monitored Deadlines
SWI2_DIAG	Diagnosis of Workflows with Errors
SWI2_DURA	Work Items By Processing Duration
SWI2_FREQ	Work Items Per Task
SWI3	Workflow Outbox
SWI30	Unlock Workflows
SWI4	Task Analysis
SWI5	Workload Analysis
SWI6	Workflows for Object
SWIA	Selection rep. for work items(admin)
SWID	Diagnosis of Workflows With Errors
SWL1	Settings for dynamic columns
SWLC	Check Tasks for Agents
SWLD	Workbench for Workflow 4.0
SWLD_INPLACE1	Demo Embedded Inbox
SWLD_INPLACE2	Demo Embedded Inbox (Professional)
SWLO	Display work items for objects
SWLP	Copy a Plan Version
SWLV	Maintain Work Item Views
SWNWIEX	WF Notif: Edit Work Item
SWO1	Business Object Builder
SWO2	BOR Browser
SWO3	Business Object Builder
SWO4	Business Object Repository
SWO6	Customizing Object Types
SWO_ASYNC	Asynchronous Method Call in BOR
SWPA	WFM: Runtime System Customizing
SWPC	WFM: Continue Workflow
SWPR	WFM: Restart Workflow
SWRK	Administrtation using work areas
SWRP	Dummy for IAC Workflow Status
SWR_WEBSERVER	Customizing Web Server
SWT0	Configure workflow trace
SWU0	Event Simulation
SWU1	User RFC Monitor
SWU10	Delete Trace Files
SWU2	Event RFC Monitor
SWU3	Consistency check: Customizing
SWU4	Consistency Test for Standard Task
SWU5	Consistency Test for Customer Task
SWU6	Consistency Test for Workflow Task
SWU7	Consistency Test for Workflow Templ.
SWU8	Workflow Trace: On/Off
SWU9	Display Workflow Trace
SWUA	Start Verification Workflow
SWUB	Workflow RFC destination maintenance
SWUC	Customizing decision task
SWUC_01	Document Template: Customizing
SWUD	Diagnostic Tools
SWUE	Initiate Event
SWUF	Administration of Runtime System
SWUG	Generate Workflow Start Transaction
SWUH	Test method
SWUI	Start Workflow
SWUI_DEMO	Start Demo Workflows
SWUI_SINGLE	Start Workflow (Parameter)
SWUI_VERIFY	Start Test Workflows
SWUJ	Test role
SWUK	Mapping form type - mail address
SWUL	Customizing: Process Administrator
SWUM	Create/Edit Document Template WF
SWUN	Number Range Maintenance: FORMABSENC
SWUOCHECK	Test Report for Workflow Documents
SWUO_DEL	Deletion Report for Workflow Docs
SWUP	Switch SAPforms Trace On/Off
SWUQ	SAPforms: Form Wizard
SWUR	Send mails for work items
SWUS	Shell for Starting Workflows
SWUT	Namespace for Form Transactions
SWUU	SAPforms: Diagnosis
SWUV	Send R3F Messages Once
SWUW	Number Range Maint.: SWW_WIID
SWUX	SAPforms Administration
SWUY	WF: Workflow-Message Linkage
SWUZ	WF: Generate Tasks from CATTs
SWU_EWBTE	Wizard for Event Linkage (BTE)
SWU_EWCD	Wizard for Event Linkage (Chg. Doc.)
SWU_EWLIS	Wizard for Event Linkage (LIS)
SWU_OBUF	Runtime Buffer PD Org
SWWA	Start Monitoring Report RSWWDHIN
SWWB	Restart of background job SWWDHEX
SWWD	Activate error monitoring WIs
SWWH	WIM: Delete Work Item History
SWWL	WIM: Delete Work Item
SWW_ARCHIV	Display Workflows from Archive
SWW_SARA	Archive Work Items
SWXF	Form Uses: Initial Screen
SWXML	XML Document Selection
SW_WW10	IAC Product Catalog for SAP Store
SWDP	Graphical Workflow Log
SWEQBROWSER	Event Queue Browser
SWF_TRC	Workflow Trace - Display
SWF_TRC_ALL	Workflow trace - Display All Components

Definition of SAP Business Workflow

SAP Business Workflow is a tool included with SAP Net Weaver® that can be used to define new processes and automate processes using existing transactions and functions within SAP. SAP Business Workflow:

Automates and monitors business processes

Provides appropriate business knowledge of how to perform business processes

Enables active flow of information

Bringing the right information at the right time to the right people

Distributing work according to business rules

Supplying exception handling and deadline monitoring

Provides metrics on business processes

Benchmarking, continuous improvement, and KPI alerting

Examples of When to Use SAP Business Workflow

Process is human-centric

Workflow is people-oriented and enables team collaboration

Example: Hiring a new employee includes the employee, manager, payroll, IT, HR benefits and/or insurance teams

Process is repeatable

Process is iterative, may happen occasionally to hundreds of times a day

Process happens in the same way, following business rules and corporate policy

Example: Approvals for financial documents must follow specific rules.

Examples of When to Use SAP Business

Workflow (cont.)

Process needs improvement and/or accountability

You need to do something faster, cheaper, or with higher quality

Example: A service repair notification needs to be addressed within 24 hours

Cost of not automating the process is higher than implementing an automated process

Example: Cost to recall a car because engineering change request delivered a wrong result, causing a defect