creation of workflows in document um using workflow

8/7/2019 Creation of Workflows in Document Um Using Workflow

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Creation of Workflows in Documentum using

Workflow Manager

Workflow is the automation of a business procedure, during which it specifies how content

(document, information or tasks) is routed for review/approval from one participant to other,before it is released to the system. Users are notified by e-mail when they have some content toreview.

Role of Workflows in business:

Workflows help to streamline the business process.Reduced time, fewer mistakes and improvedquality of work. Information about the task readily available at any point of time.

Uses:

1.

Improved change management.2. Improved services and management.3. Inter-Organization communications.4. Reduces operating costs.5. Improved productivity by automating routine and repetitive tasks.

Every workflow has a number of logical steps. This is called as an Activity. An Activity couldinvolve manual interaction or can use machine resources. Activity involving manual interaction

is called as a Manual activity. Manual activity has a performer. Activity which doesnt requiremanual intervention is called as an Auto activity. Its performed using machine resources.

Flows are the connectors. They connect the activities. They also specify the sequence ofactivities. Workflows may be parallel or serial. In serial workflow, tasks follow one after anotherin a sequence. In parallel workflow, two or more activities can happen concurrently.

Steps to create a workflow:

Once the business process is known, before creating the workflow, answer these questions for abetter workflow design.

(Plan the workflow using the following points)

1. Who initiates the workflow?

The person going to initiate or start the workflow should have relate permission on theworkflow template to start the workflow.

2. Decide which activities are going to be manual activities and which are auto activities

Whether activities will be performed in serial or parallel


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3. Who is going to perform the manual activities?

Whether its going to be a specific user, a group, or some number of performers from a groupwill be included in the decision making process,

Whether the performers will be chosen at runtime or will the performer name be hard coded inthe workflow template.

4. When does an activity start?

When an activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many activities

should complete before this activity begins. This is the trigger for an activity.

5. What are the activities that happen next?

How is the next activity chosen? Whether the performer chooses the next activity, or all the

activities connected to this one is chosen, or the next activity can be chosen based on someconditions.

6. What documents are passed along the activities?

Some documents will be passes along these activities, on which some actions are performed.

Packages can be added, through flow inspector connecting the two activities.

Given below is a sample workflow.

This workflow depicts a scenario of bank, wherein the concerned department receives

application for loans, the loan papers are sent for review to the manager who then decideswhether to grant the loan.

Now, lets answer these questions for the above scenario.

1. Who initiates the workflow? The clerk who receives the loan application from thecustomers. He/She should be given relate permission on the workflow. When a new loan

application is received and it needs an approval from the manager, the clerk applies a workflowon the loan application.

2. Decide which are going to be manual activities and auto activities:

Manual activities include a task where in the manager approves or rejects the loan. Auto Activity

will include the business logic when the loan is rejected or approved.We can call the Review activity by the manager as a manual activity.

3. Who is going to perform the manual activity? The performer has to be decided. Managerwould be the performer. Instead of hard coding the manager id in the performer name, the


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performer could be chosen at runtime by the initiator. (This makes the workflow template morereusable.)

4. What will trigger an activity in the workflow? The next activity depends in the action

taken by the performer. If approved, Approve Loan activity will be triggered, else if rejected,

Reject Loan activity would be triggered.

5. What documents are passed along the activities? The documents passed along the activities

in this case could be the loan papers, and other documents required in the process of Loansanction.

This is the workflow template for the above given scenario.

Review is a manual activity. (The option, the activitys work is performed: By one moremanual performers is chosen)

To select the performer, click on the select performer tab.


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While selecting performers, Select option some users from a group, if there are many managers

who review the document. Or select single user from a group, if the task will be sent to onlyone manager for review.

The Option Multiple sequential performers will send tasks to the reviewers in serial fashion.


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To choose the reviewer at runtime, select the option, Have performer(s) of activity determine performer(s) of this activity.

Transition tab is to specify which activities should be started next. The option Let the activitysperformer choose


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If there are three reviewers, and if the task is sent in parallel, and two of the three reviewersapprove, and one reviewer rejects the loan, then we can chose either reject activity as the next

activity, or approve activity as the next activity, as per the requirement.


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Reject Loan is an auto activity. When a loan is rejected, the business logic is written in a javaclass, and that java class will be specified in the section, Execute this method automatically.

To get a method in this dropdown, create a method in DocApp, select option use as workflow

method. To set up a java method as a workflow method, click here


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Auto activity is executed using some permission. There are 4 options to choose from. The auto

activity will execute depending on these permissions.

Review complete activity is another manual activity, which notifies the workflow supervisor thatthe workflow is complete. Again this activity solely depends on the requirement.


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Flow inspector is used to pass the necessary documents between two activities.

To add a document, click on Add New package and enter respective name and package type tobe routed through the activities.


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To set up a new JAVA method to run as an automatic Workflow method:

Create a method using DocApp with the following attributes.

Name:Method Name

Command: or

Place the resultant class file where the Java run time on the Content Server machine can find it.

E.g.: 1) package.com.cs.server.classname- the class file should be present in the package.

2) Classname- the class file should be present in \dba\java_methods.

Run synchronously: True

(Time out in seconds)

Minimum: 60

Default: 100

Maximum: 300


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Run as Server: True.

Trace launch: True

Use Method Server: True

Launch directly: False.

Use as workflow method: True.

You must check the option Use as workflow method to make this method available for use in

workflow templates. When Use as workflow method is set to True, the attributea_special_app will be set to workflow. In order to have a custom method available for use in

an Activity in Workflow Manager, the attribute, a_special_app must be set to workflow.

Setting Trace launch to True in the method attributes will allow you to see this debug

information printed to the server log, log4j.log. This can be used for debugging purposes.


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Now, the created .class file should be placed in any of these two locations. As specified incommand attribute of DocApp method.

1. package.com.cs.server.classname the class files should be present in the given hierarchy.

2. The class file should be present in \dba\java_methods

The java class file should contain acquire() and complete() methods for it to run as anAutomatic workflow method.

acquire(): Acquires a work item for the current user.

Work items are tasks in the workflow. After a work item appears in a performers inbox, the

performer must acquire the work item before beginning work on the item. The user issuing thismethod must be the work items performer, the workflow supervisor, or a user with Sysadmin or

Superuser privileges.

Executing this methods changes information in the queue item associated with the work item

complete(): Marks a work item as finished.

The user issuing this method must be the work items performer, the workflow supervisor, or a

user with Sysadmin or Superuser privileges. The work item must be in the acquired state. If themethod is successful, it sets the work items state to finished. Executing this method changes

information in the queue item associated with the work item

// custom code needs to be added.

Steps to set up a custom workflow method in docbasic:

Create a method in DocApp

Set the type to dmbasic.

In the command tab, give the path as: .\dmbasic

f\Documentum\product\5.2\install\admin\ebs file> e

E.g.: -fD:\Documentum\product\5.2\install\admin\Loan_Approval.ebs -eLoanApprove

Place the file in the following location: \Documentum\product\5.2\install\admin


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creation of workflows in document um using workflow

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