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Preparing the Run-time Environment for a Workflow Process

This task is a step in Process of Deploying a Workflow Process.

This topic provides information about work you must perform to make sure the run-time environment is capable of running the workflow process. It includes the following topics:

• Making Sure Objects the Workflow Process References are Current
• Activating Fields Used by a Workflow Process
• Deploying a Workflow Process to the Siebel Mobile Web Client
• Deploying a Workflow Process on a Regional Node
• Deploying a Workflow Process in a Multilingual Environment
• Deploying a Workflow Process as a Web Service

Although you do not necessarily need to perform these topics in the order presented, you should consider each topic to determine if it applies to the workflow process you are deploying.

Making Sure Objects the Workflow Process References are Current

If the workflow process you are deploying contains Sub Process steps or references new repository objects such as business components, business services, and views, you must first make sure these subprocesses or repository objects are available to the workflow you are deploying. In the case of Sub Process steps, deploy the subprocess before deploying the parent workflow, so the subprocess is accessible to the parent workflow process. In the case of new repository objects, first compile the new repository objects so they are accessible to the workflow process you are deploying.

Activating Fields Used by a Workflow Process

Fields that are not activated by the Object Manager must be activated for Workflow to be able to reference and use them. When fields are exposed on the user interface, they are activated by the Object Manager, so a workflow process running on the Object Manager that references these fields is able to run properly. But when fields are not exposed on the user interface, they are not activated by the Object Manager. In this case, a workflow process running on the Object Manager cannot use these fields, and an error is generated.

To activate the fields necessary for a workflow process to run, perform one of the following tasks:

• In Siebel Tools, in the Fields Object List Editor (OBLE), explicitly activate the field by setting the field's Force Active property to TRUE.
• Expose the fields on the user interface.
• Activate the fields through scripting, such as a business service that activates the fields to be used before the workflow process uses them.

Deploying a Workflow Process to the Siebel Mobile Web Client

The Replication field in the Workflow Deployment view allows you to choose whether to route a workflow process definition to your Siebel Mobile Web Client. Routing only the workflow process definitions that your Siebel Mobile Web Client needs allows you to reduce the amount of data in the local database.

To set the Replication parameter, navigate to Administration-Business Process > Workflow Deployment > Active Workflow Processes. Table 56 describes possible values for the Replication field.

For more information, see Deploying a Workflow Process on a Regional Node.

Restricting Siebel Mobile Web Client Routing

When modifying the Replication field to choose whether to route a workflow process definition to your Siebel Mobile Web Client (MWC), keep in mind that changing the Replication field value from None to All adds the workflow process definition and related records to the Siebel Mobile Web Client or regional node when it synchronizes with the server.

Behavior with Full Copy Nodes

Note that if you extract a regional node with the routing group set to FULL COPY then workflow process definitions with Replication set to None are routed to the MWC. You can perform the following to confirm this behavior:

1. Modify two existing or create two new workflow processes, one with Replication set to All and the other with Replication set to None.
2. Extract a regional node with the routing group set to FULL COPY.
3. Examine the dx file in the regional node outbox to confirm that both workflow processes were routed.

Run-Time Event Behavior for Mobile Clients

There is some variation in the way run-time events behave in mobile clients compared with other Siebel client types.

NOTE:  It is recommended that the processing mode be Local synchronous or remote asynchronous. If remote asynchronous is used for mobile clients, the workflow process is triggered after you synchronize with the server. For more information, see About Remote Synchronous Processing.

Periodically Notifying Mobile Users Who Have Not Synchronized

You can configure a workflow process to send a notification email to mobile users who have not synchronized over a given period of time. For more information, see 476188.1 (Doc ID) or 476275.1 (Doc ID) on OracleMetaLink 3.

Deploying a Workflow Process on a Regional Node

You can execute a workflow process on regional nodes. The workflow can be called from script or run-time events.

When executing a workflow process on a regional node, the workflow must reside on the regional node. The settings and environment must be replicated entirely on the nodes. The objects the workflow is referencing must be available on the regional node.

Deploying a Workflow Process in a Multilingual Environment

A workflow process deployed from one language's object manager are not available on another language's object manager until after a restart.

For example, you create a workflow process that is called in a business component write-record event routine by scripting. You publish and activate this workflow, then restart the servers. You see that the workflow is called, both for callcenter_enu and callcenter_esn. Then you revise and publish this workflow from Siebel Tools. From within callcenter_enu, you activate this workflow. You see that callcenter_enu uses the revised workflow, but callcenter_esn does not. If you activate this workflow in callcenter_esn, an error results. You must restart the callcenter_esn object manager to get the new workflow.

When deploying a workflow that is used in multi-language deployments, the object managers for each language must be restarted.

Deploying a Workflow Process as a Web Service

A workflow process can be deployed as a Web service.

To deploy a workflow process as a web service

1. In Siebel Tools, in the Workflow Designer, examine definitions in the MVPW to determine if a process property has the Data Type argument field set to Integration Object. If so, make sure that each of those process properties has a value specified in the Integration Object argument field.

   If you have hierarchical data in a business service used by the workflow process, you must set Data Type for the process property to Integration Object, then specify an integration object in the Integration Object argument field.

   If no integration object is specified, the following error occurs: The selected workflow process contains hierarchy type process properties without having the integration object name specified.

   For more information, see About Process Properties.

2. Make sure the workflow process you need to deploy is published and activated.

   For more information, see Publishing a Workflow Process.

3. In the Workflow Processes OBLE, right-click the workflow process you need to deploy, then choose Deploy as Web Service.

   The Expose Workflow Process as Web Service dialog appears.

4. In the top window of the dialog, specify the operation name for the new Web service.

   Typically, you specify an underlying business service method name without spaces, such as CreateAccount. Use a method for a business service defined in the workflow process.

5. In the bottom window of the dialog, specify the URL that identifies the address for the Web service. Replace [webserver] with a valid host name and [lang] with a valid language code, such as enu.
6. (Optional) To generate a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file, click the Generate WSDL checkbox, then specify a location to save the WSDL file.
7. Click Finish.

   The Web service is created.

8. To view the Web service you just created:
   1. In the Siebel client navigate to Administration-Web Services > Inbound Web Services.
   2. Query the Name column in the Inbound Web Services applet for the workflow process name you clicked in Step 3.

      To display Web services created from workflow processes and business services, query the Namespace column for http://siebel.com/CustomUI.

For more information, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.