Aug Sep 2001 issue of SAP Insider and appears here with ...

by Alan Rickayzen, SAP AG

This article provides a brief introductionto the Workflow Builder, a graphical toolby SAP designed specifically for creatingworkflow processes.We’ll look at a simpleworkflow built specifically for this article.But first, a few words of warning:

■ For the purposes of this article, I use

an example that highlights a CRM

business scenario. However, this work-

flow can be built in any SAP system,

since it only uses components available

in the technology basis.1

■ One of the great advantages of the

Workflow Builder is its graphical

features. Although the screenshots

are taken from a 4.6C system, the

graphical elements are available from

Release 3.0a and up — those of you

using earlier releases will notice the

difference.The functionality described

in this article is available in all

releases, even if it is not always as

user-friendly as in later releases.

■ This article offers a basic overview

of the Workflow Builder. For more

details and background, see the “For

Further Information” section at the

end of this article.

In this article, I’ll look at a simplebusiness scenario in which a customer

Create Custom Workflows with SAP’s Workflow Builder

sends an e-mail enquiry.This triggers aworkflow to ensure that the e-mail isprocessed properly, quickly, and with aminimum of effort. After first looking atthe process definition, we’ll run throughthe creation of this workflow using theWorkflow Builder.

Workflow Process DefinitionThe process runs as shown in Figure 1:After the e-mail has been received (Step 1), an automatic reply is gener-ated as a courtesy to the customer(Step 2).

A manual dispatcher decides whowould best process this e-mail, anddispatches it accordingly (Step 3).If it is a sales or support issue, anoperator drafts a reply (Steps 4 and 6)and this is sent by the system (Steps 5 and 7).

This is, of course, a deliberatelysimple example, and could definitely be improved. In fact, all sorts of refine-ments are possible — loops, qualitychecks by a supervisor, or automaticparsing of the e-mail, to give just a few examples.

Figure 1 Workflow Process Definition for a Customer Enquiry Scenario

1 The mySAP CRM solution also provides its own standard workflow, which simply needs to be activatedto be used in the production environment.

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This article appeared in the Jul ■ Aug ■ Sep 2001 issue of SAP Insider and appears here with

permission from the publisher, Wellesley Information Services (WIS), www.WISpubs.com.

Overview of the Workflow BuilderThe Workflow Builder screen is dividedinto several frames, as shown in thecompleted workflow in Figure 2.

The central portion of the builder, theWorkflow frame, displays a flow diagramthat is very similar to the process defini-tion in Figure 1.This is one of the biggestbenefits of the Workflow Builder: you cansee at a glance what the process is about.To the right of the Workflow frame, youcan see the complete process — theOverview frame. You can zoom in andout on the portion of the workflow shownin the Workflow frame by resizing thecursor in the Overview frame. By slidingthe cursor around, you choose whichsection of the flow you want to display.With some workflows containing dozensof steps, this method of navigating isextremely fast and convenient.

The Navigation frame lists, in treeformat, all the steps in the workflow.Clicking on one of the entries in the listhas the same effect as double-clickingon a step in the graphical Workflowframe — it zooms in to show thedetailed information about that partic-ular workflow step.

Below the navigation tree is theObjects frame, which includes:

■ The “Workflow container.” The

Workflow container allows you to view

and edit all the data that is passed

through the workflow. I’ve added two

elements to this workflow container:

“enquiry” and “reply.”The Workflow

Builder can automatically generate

container elements based on the steps

you add to the workflow.

■ The “Document templates” view.This section of the Objects frame lists

the PC document templates that will

be used in the workflow. For example,

if the e-mail reply is to include an

MS Word document as an attachment,

the document is defined as a template,

and variables (such as a product or

distributor name) can be referenced

and filled in automatically as the work-

flow progresses.

■ The related-tasks list. When you

click on the “My Workflow and Tasks”

bar, the Tasks frame appears, listing

the last workflow that you worked on,

together with all the workflows, sub-

workflows, and tasks that you have

subscribed to. A subscription can be

made to your favorite workflows and

tasks, to a development class, or to

a Business Object. So, if you have

subscribed to the Business Object

“Purchase Order,” you will see all the

tasks and workflows related to purchase

orders. Later when you edit your own

workflow, you can pull workflows and

tasks from this frame directly into

the process definition displayed in

the Workflow frame.

On the far right of the WorkflowBuilder screen, the Step Types frameshows all the types of workflow steps oriterations — tasks, XML steps for collab-

orative scenarios over the Internet, loops,conditions, branches, etc.These can beselected one by one and dropped intothe workflow. If you prefer not to workwith icons, you can select the task froma list of step types by pressing the “Newstep” button.

The Information frame at the bottomof the screen displays information anderror messages during workflow creation.So if you try to create a loop without anend condition, a warning is displayed atthe bottom of the screen. Clicking onthe warning takes you to the offendingsection of the workflow definition.

Workflow Data “Workflow data” can be defined eitheras simple data elements and structures,or as references to SAP Business Objects.These Business Objects are defined bySAP and maintained in the BusinessObject Repository (BOR).Their attrib-utes are the information that you use inthe workflow to end loops, to automati-cally branch, or to simply display theinformation to the work item recipient.

Figure 2 Workflow Builder Display

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The BOR is key to this process. Byusing it, you avoid any worries abouthow the attributes are defined — thishas been taken care of by SAP. Anyinternal changes in application tables or function modules that take placefrom release to release are hidden fromyou by the BOR, making the repositoryvery stable and easy to use. Becauseattributes themselves can be referencesto Business Objects, too, you can drilldown into the BOR for as much detailas you like. For example, you can drill down from workflow data to the dispatcher, and from there to thedispatcher’s telephone number.

The workflow I am creating herereferences two Business Objects: theenquiry (type MESSAGE) and the reply(also type MESSAGE).

Building a WorkflowFigure 2 showed you what this workflowlooks like at the completion of theWorkflow Builder process.This workflowbegan as a new, undefined workflow,starting at the Workflow Builder screen(Transaction SWDD) with a blankworkflow, as shown in Figure 3.Thefollowing sections give you a basicoverview of the steps you will take tocreate the new workflow specified in our workflow process definition.

Transmitting the Auto Reply (Step 2)The first step in our new workflow isactually the second step in the originalprocess description — the “Auto Reply.”This step sends an e-mail that gives thecustomer a case number to use for futurereference. In Figure 4, you see theworkflow step detail obtained by double-clicking on an individual step in theWorkflow frame.

For example, in the description,you can see the e-mail address of themessage’s sender (&ENQUIRY.SENDER.ADDRESSSTRING&) and

Figure 4 Workflow Step Detail with Auto Reply

Figure 3 An Undefined Workflow, with “New Step” and “New Workflow” Buttons

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the case number (#&_WORKITEM.WORKITEMFATHER.WORKITEMID&),which is an attribute of the workflowitself.

The resulting message is shown inthe reply shown in Figure 4.

Because this reply is sent automati-cally, with no human intervention, thetask is configured as a background task.(It is possible to create entire workflowsthat consist only of background tasks,but this would not take full advantageof workflow technology, which is mainlyabout improving team cooperation in a business process.) In our processdescription in Figure 1, Steps 5, 7, and 8 are also background steps.

Deciding How to Process the Enquiry (Step 3)The “Dispatch” operation (Step 3) ishandled by a “user decision” step, whichallows you to type in a question (includingvariables) to be put to the user receivingthis work item, along with possibleresponses (see Figure 5).

It is up to you how many responsesyou create (in our example, there arethree: “Brochures requested,” “Salesrequest,” and “Technical support issue”).The Workflow Builder automaticallygenerates one branch in the workflowfor each possible response.

As you can see, user decisions are notonly very easy to create, but they alsohave the advantage that they can beused without displaying the SAP GUI— they can appear in a user’s Webbrowser inbox (either mySAP Workplaceor the Easy Web Transaction) and canbe integrated with Microsoft Outlookand Lotus Notes.

Drafting the Reply (Step 4)This “Edit Reply” task (Step 4) isperformed manually by an operator, so itis important to include a clear descrip-tion of the task the user is to perform,as shown in Figure 6. A good descrip-tion will explain exactly what has to bedone (and why) and may also include

Figure 5 Generic User Decision Detail in the Workflow Builder

Figure 6 Workflow Task Description for Users

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links to the company’s intranet site forFAQs and background information.Theoperator will see this description whenhe or she receives the work item.

By making the workflow as user-friendly as possible, you ensure that theoperator will execute the work itempromptly and diligently — the signatureof a good workflow.

Because this task is a “dialog”(rather than “background”) task, youmust specify who is to perform it (thesame applies to the user decisiondescribed above). At the task level,you assign a job (such as hotline support,engineer, or purchasing agent) to thetask, so that any assigned user canperform this task.

At the Workflow Step level, you canadditionally define a role resolution,which limits the number of users further,according to criteria such as product,division, or sales group. Only this subsetof users then receives the work item. Assoon as the work item is processed byone user, it disappears from the otherusers’ inboxes.

There are other methods of assigningusers to the step: office distributionlists, direct agent assignments, etc. Butusing organizational management (e.g.,mySAP.com roles) is the most commonand the most powerful.With this approach,you can take advantage of features suchas a sophisticated substitution mechanism.However, for simplicity’s sake in thisparticular flow, I’ve taken the easy wayout by directly assigning a single user to the step.

Ensuring the Work Is Completed On Time Deadlines can be defined for any dialogstep, as you can see in Figure 7.

There are many ways of handling amissed deadline. One of the simplest isto send a message to the workflowadministrator.The Workflow Builder also gives you the option of creating a text to accompany this e-mail.

The workflow engine monitors thedeadlines automatically, and the dead-line is defined at the step level.The timeallowed for deadlines can vary from step

Figure 7 Deadline Handling

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to step, and some steps may not havedeadlines at all.

Wrapping UpThe workflow described in this articlewas built in under an hour without anyprogramming. It can be configured totrigger automatically whenever an e-mailarrives in the system (Transaction SO28,SAP Office Customizing).

Bear in mind that this uses SAPofficeor the mySAP Workplace (rather thanLotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook) asthe processing center.This is justifiablebecause we are dealing here with a busi-ness function rather than ad hoc e-mails.The tracking and monitoring of the mails(and replies) is critical to the success ofthe interaction center.

Of course, you would need to spendadditional time verifying the workflowwith operational users and improvingthe descriptions accompanying thetasks. You would also have to spendsome time checking that your companyhas the resources to answer e-mails inthe first place — and determine whowill do the replying.

This short overview gives you an ideaof how easy it is to automate a simpleprocess using the Workflow Builder. Andthe additional benefits, such as the work-flow logs, generic object services, andprocess reporting, are automaticallyenabled with no further development work.

Remember, the purpose of the articleis to show how simple it is to create yourown workflow from scratch. If you arealready using the SAP CRM InteractionCenter, then you are obviously better offusing the out-of-the-box CRM workflow,which is far more sophisticated and verysimple to set up.

For Further InformationThere is an excellent online tutorial athttp://help.sap.com that is well worthfollowing for more detailed backgroundinformation. After choosing your release,follow the path through Basis to theonline workflow documentation. Under

the reference section, you will find acomplete section dedicated to tutorials.A direct URL to these tutorials is availableat http://service.sap.com/webflow.

For additional information,including a detailed step-by-stepdescription of how this workflowwas built, see my article “A Beginner’s Guide to BuildingWorkflows with the WorkflowBuilder” in the March/April 2001issue of the SAP Professional

Journal (www.SAPpro.com).

Alan Rickayzen is the product manager of

WebFlow. He has been with SAP since 1992

and in data processing since 1988. In 1995,

he joined the SAP Business Workflow group,

performing development work as well as

consulting for various major U.S. customers, and

as a result amassed a good technical knowledge

of the product. In 1998, he moved to the area

of workflow product management.The author

may be contacted at [email protected].

For more information about SAP Workflow,

please visit http://service.sap.com/webflow.

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