Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide > Developing a Workflow Process > Process of Planning a Workflow Process >

Considering Object Management in Siebel Tools

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

When planning a workflow process you can identify project management requirements, such as whether there are special requirements for merging, archiving, importing data maps or copying message tables. If a team of developers is involved in the development environment, you should consider how Project check in and check out is to be used.

When you develop a workflow process in Siebel Tools, you work on a local database where Siebel Workflow is a repository object, and where a workflow process belongs to a project.

Though compiling a Siebel Repository File is a standard practice for other repository objects, Siebel Workflow provides its own deployment mechanism. You do not compile an SRF after you have developed a workflow process. For more information, see Process of Deploying a Workflow Process.

Although these behaviors are standard for other repository objects, the behaviors a workflow process does not participate in include:

• Merge. A workflow process does not participate in three-way merge. When a workflow definition is imported into the repository, it maintains versioning provided by Siebel workflow.
• Object Comparison. is disabled in Siebel version 8.0.
• Archive. A workflow process does not participate in .sif archive. Instead, a workflow can be archived as an XML file using the Workflow export utility.

Typically, developers use a local database to develop workflows. When using a local database, you must check out workflow definitions from the master repository.

When developing workflows on a local database, the local database must have the referenced data objects. For those data objects that are not docked and hence not packaged as part of the database extract, developers must import them into the local database. Objects not docked or referenced by Workflow include:

• Data maps. To import data maps to the local database, you use the Siebel Dedicated Web Client connected to the local database, and the client side import utility.
• Message tables. You can copy message tables over to the local database. Alternatively, you can define messages using the unbounded picklist. While this technique allows for the creation of messages, it does not check the validity of the message at definition time.

By locking the project in the master repository, you can also develop or modify workflows using Siebel Tools connected to the development database. This way, it is not necessary for you to make sure lists of values are made available to the local database.