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Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide > Administering Workflow Processes > Process of Migrating a Workflow Process > Developing a Migration StrategyThis task is a step in Process of Migrating a Workflow Process. This topic includes the following topics:
When planning a migration strategy for a workflow process development effort, you should perform the following tasks:
Once you have deployed the workflow process, it is ready to be migrated. Migrating is the act of making a workflow process available in other environments, such as migrating a workflow process from a development environment to a production environment. One of three utilities can be used: ADM, REPIMEXP, and Import/Export. Considerations to weigh include:
Comparison of Migration OptionsTable 57 provides a comparison summary of options for migrating workflow processes. Migrating With REPIMEXPThe REPIMEXP utility allows for exporting importing of repository objects. Since this utility migrates repository objects, including your workflows, it is most useful when your organization is ready to roll out an entire release. The Repository Import/Export utility is found in the Using REPIMEXP, you cannot pick and choose which workflows to migrate. To choose a single workflow or only certain workflows for migration, use the Import/Export migration option. Migrating With Application Deployment ManagerApplication Deployment Manager (ADM) is a feature that automates the process of migrating enterprise customization data from one Siebel application environment to another, including from a development environment to a production environment. This customization data can include views, responsibilities, assignment rules, workflow processes, workflow policies, and so forth. ADM is designed to provide a single deployment tool that covers various areas within the Siebel application. The objective is to reduce the potential manual setup and deployment work and provide as much automation as possible to decrease the error rate. A workflow process deployment package in ADM includes the SRF, the workflow processes, their subprocesses, and their run-time settings, such as activation/expiration times, monitoring levels, and so forth. For information, see Siebel Application Deployment Manager Guide. Migrating With the Workflow Admin Service Business ServiceThe Workflow Admin Service business service allows you to perform import/export, deployment, and activation on multiple workflow processes in bulk. Workflows are identified through a search specification. For more information see, About the Workflow Admin Service Business Service. Migrating With Import/ExportYou can use Import/Export for incremental migration of workflow process objects. You use Siebel Tools to export workflows from one environment and to import workflows to another environment. The Workflow import/export feature is designed only to migrate an individual workflow process or a small set of workflow processes. For example, Workflow import/export cannot migrate 150 workflow processes at one time. To migrate large numbers of processes, break them into sets of 10 workflow processes or less. Using Siebel Tools to Migrate a Workflow ProcessUsing Siebel Tools, you import the workflow process definition into the repository of the target environment, then you mark the workflows for migration by clicking the Publish button. After this, the definitions are ready to be activated. This approach makes sure the versions of the workflow definitions that exist in the repository tables and the run-time tables are the same. To use Siebel Tools to import a workflow process, you:
Figure 22 illustrates an incremental migration using the Import/Export utility and Siebel Tools. Using Siebel Tools In Conjunction With the Siebel Client to Migrate a Workflow ProcessYou can import a workflow process definition directly into the run-time tables. This approach bypasses the requirement for you to write the definitions into the repository tables of the target environment and activation from the Siebel client, although these steps are still performed behind the scenes by the Workflow engine. This approach causes the latest version of the workflow definition in the run-time tables, used by the Workflow engine, to be different from the version that resides in the repository tables. NOTE: This is an effective technique for testing a workflow in a different environment. However, it is recommended that this technique not be used for general migration of workflows across environments. To use the Siebel Client to migrate a workflow process, you:
Figure 23 illustrates an incremental migration using Import/Export to export from within Siebel Tools and import from within the Siebel client. Importing and Exporting a Workflow SubprocessWhen importing a workflow process that contains subprocesses, you must first import the subprocesses and then the parent workflow process. Import the parent process only after the subprocesses are successfully imported. This rule also applies for importing workflow processes in batches. It is not necessary to export subprocesses first when exporting a workflow process. Name length must also be considered for subprocesses when importing a workflow process. A subprocess can have a name of up to 100 characters in length. A Subprocess name that exceeds this limit can trigger errors during import. Importing and Exporting Carriage Returns With the Outbound Communications Manager Business ServiceIf a workflow process calls the SendMessage method of the Outbound Communications Manager business service to send email, and the message body uses carriage returns to format text display, the workflow process can be exported. However, when importing the workflow process back into the database, the imported workflow process will not contain the carriage returns. Instead, the carriage returns appear as square characters, and the message body is treated as a single paragraph. To remedy this situation, you must edit the message body, replacing the square characters with carriage returns. A carriage return is entered by pressing the enter key. Redeploying a Workflow After it is MigratedWhen planning a migration strategy, it is important to consider potential redeployment actions that need to be taken after the workflow is migrated. After migrating your workflow process to a production environment, it might be necessary for you to redeploy the workflow before you can run it. Table 58 describes the ways redeployment requirements depend on how the workflow is migrated.
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