SAP Workflow workitem status cheatsheet

Self explanatory? If not, shoot me an email at kevin@erpgenie.com

SAP EM Knowledge Bites 14 - SAP EM integration with SAP Business Workflow

In my previous blog I spoke about the benefits as they pertained to the Order to Cash process. Now it’s time to dive in to a little detail on how to configure certain functionality. 1st up is the integration with SAP Business Workflow…

Key steps to scope a SAP Business Workflow solution

What questions should be asked when defining a workflow relevant business process?

Listed below are questions that need to be asked and answered for each step / task of the process.

Difference between SAP Workflow and SAP Event Management

People often confuse workflow functionality with SAP EM functionality and vice versa. Below is the rule of thumb that I follow to separate the understanding of the need for both sets of functionality.

A few helpful Workflow links

1. The following video contains an excellent example on how to build your first workflow model Creating your first workflow (Video)
2. View official workflow tutorials from SAP help.
3. SAP SDN page about Workflow.

SAP Automates Workflow Processes Surrounding HR

Mike Vizard writes...

Time and again, business leaders will acknowledge that the most important resource that drives the success of their business is the people they hire. And yet, when it comes to managing those human resources, most of them have little insight into either the processes those employees directly impact or, vice versa, how much time and effort those employees waste navigating the company’s human resources (HR) bureaucracy.

A day in the life of your Workflow Inbox - Understanding the Work item status...

The following diagram depicts the flow that a workflow item can take. Steps 1, 2, 3a and 3b are the statuses attributed to the most common path a work item takes. They are described in detail below.

• STEP 1: Status = Ready – Ready to be processed by the next applicable agent. Anyone who has this item in their inbox can still execute or reserve this item. Double clicking a work item in this status moves the status to “Started” -> STEP 2

• STEP 2: Status = Started – Busy working with the work item. The agent is still actively in the order summary screen.

Report to check if finance or sales view missing for a customer master record

ISSUE

You find that your master data process leads to customer records that occasionally have missing sales or finance views. How can we easily find these records and address them.

SOLUTION

1. I like to use Workflow to manage the creation of master data to ensure proactive maintenance of master data views - i.e. When a customer is created and it's missing the sales or finance view then send a work item to the sales or finance team in order to have them create it. The workflow is only terminated once the view has been created. Businesses that need to follow a compliance process often use this technique and have the QA team be the last in the process to release the master data object for general use.

Subscribing to changes in business transactions e.g. Sales Order changes

You may have a need to be proactively notified whenever a particular business object is changed. E.g. If I own a particular Sales Order and I want to ensure that I am immediately made aware of any changes to it then I can do the following to "subscribe" to the sales order changes:

SAP EDI Subsystem Certification

Cross Application - Electronic Data Interchange Interface (CA-EDI)

• Certified EDI Subsystems - http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/interface-certifications?rid=/webcontent/uuid/3e580672-0501-0010-8aab-8d61c461bbb1
• Search for certified EDI subsystems at http://www.sap.com/ecosystem/customers/directories/SearchSolution.epx

Built into SAP’s applications are interfaces to EDI messages.SAP provides an open, common interface to EDI translators / subsystems (XA-EDI). EDI subsystems assume responsibility for all EDI-oriented tasks:

• Converting data
• Message or interchange handling
• Communication
• Partner profile administration
• Process monitoring

Read the full article on EDIGenie.COM

SAP Best Practice way of handling inbound posting IDoc errors

I often get asked how IDocs and workflow are connected.... The diagram below should clear up the confusion.

Use transaction WE42 to ensure that the relevant IDoc object is linked to the needed events that workflow uses.

INPUTERROROCCURRED is triggered when the IDoc fails to post. It will then search for linked workflows (configured using transaction SWETYPV) to see what workflow to trigger.

There is a standard single step workflow that is provided but most people want a little more functionality than what is provided SAP standard. Read the full article on EDIGenie.COM

Maintaining a workflow substitute for someone else

As an administrator of workflow you may want to assign a substitute for someone else (e.g. if they are out sick) To do this use T-Code RMPS_SET_SUBSTITUTE

When to use PI, BPM and Business (ABAP) Workflow

Matt Harding has written a great blog detailing the question as to when to us SAP NetWeaver PI vs. BPM vs. SAP Business Workplace (ABAP Workflow).
Check out the article on SCN.

Workitem stuck in READY status but the workflow is COMPLETE

If a work item is being executed and the workflow runtime system tries to access the work item then it will not be successful due to the lock or enqueue currently on the work item.

Performance of SBWP (Available BAdI's)

If you are experiencing performance issues with transaction SBWP (SAP Business Workflow Inbox) the main reason being that users have far too many work items in their inboxes (Several thousand). Some customers have a business need to have all work items in their inboxes rather than to use a more specific agent assignment (Call Center scenario). Therefor several BAdI's were provided to improve performance e.g. reduce the number of work items in users inboxes

Seeing the contents of the BO Event Container

• Using SWETYPV or SWE2 create another entry with the same business object and event that you are trying to view the container for (e.g. BUS2032 -> CHANGED)
• Receiver is your userid
• Receiver function module: SWE_EVENT_MAIL

This sends an email to your SAP inbox with the container entries listed

How to create a Business Object Event container

The following code snippet creates an event container and inserts an element into it.

Five Tips for a Successful Accounts Payable Workflow Implementation

Automating your Accounts Payable (AP) processes such as invoice approval, purchase order matching, and requisitions by implementing a workflow solution is no small undertaking.  While a well-executed workflow implementation can be accomplished in just a few weeks, implementations more commonly become bogged down for weeks, months, or even years by complications in the process itself. […]


https://computersupportservicesinc.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/five-tips-for-a-successful-accounts-payable-workflow-implementation/