BPEL Processes

This appendix covers the following topics:

• The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning Business Process
• The Sales and Operations Planning Business Process
• Custom Business Processes

The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning Business Process

The sequence of the Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning subprocesses is:

1. Run the ASCP Collections subprocess.

2. Run the Demantra Collections and Download subprocess.

3. Launch the Forecast subprocess.

4. Review the Forecast subprocess.

5. Run the Inventory Plan subprocess.

6. Run the Supply Chain Plan subprocess.

7. Review the Supply Chain Plan subprocess.

This diagram illustrates the Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning business process:

Running the ASCP Collections Subprocess

The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning business process flow starts with the ASCP Collections subprocess, and waits for it to finish. This subprocess begins by verifying that all detailed subprocesses and activities within the subprocess are executed.

If the Skip check box is selected for an activity, the process bypasses that specific activity and proceeds with the next activity.

A user can do this if some planning process steps are not required for each planning cycle, for example, if forecasting and supply chain planning occur once every week, and inventory planning occurs once a month. In this case, the user can select the Skip check box for the Run Inventory Plan activity on the Planning Processes page for those planning cycles for which inventory optimization is not required.

See Accessing the Planning Processes Page

If an activity is complete, it is skipped. This may occur if a downstream activity goes into an error state, which halts the process. After the error is corrected, the process is relaunched. Depending on a user option, the process skips the completed activities and resumes with the first incomplete activity.

This diagram illustrates the Run ASCP Collections subprocess:

Understanding the Escalation Chain

The delivered BPEL processes use a two-tier escalation chain. Each activity can have a primary and an alternate owner. When the primary owner does not respond to a task within the time designated, ownership of the task transfers to the alternate owner.

The primary owner, alternate owner, and designated due date are defined on the Process tab. See the Managing Scenarios chapter, Managing Scenarios section, Creating New Processes sub-section.

See Working with Planning Processes

For example, in the ASCP Collections subprocess, if the Collections activity goes into an error state, a notification is sent to the primary owner of the activity. If the primary owner does not acknowledge the error within the amount of time specified in the Finish by field, then a notification is sent to the alternate owner.

This logic is captured in the Notify Activity Owner (Escalation Chain) activity within the ASCP Collections subprocess.

This diagram illustrates the Notify Activity Owner subprocess:

Running the Demantra Collections and Download Subprocess

The Demantra Collections and Download subprocess begins when the ASCP Collections subprocess finishes. It executes a series of collection and download activities. It runs download activities by invoking Web services that exist in Demantra Demand Management workflows. This assumes that a generic Web service exists that takes a Demantra workflow name as a parameter and executes that workflow.

The BPEL process calls a Web service called Check Demantra Workflow Status, which determines when each download operation is complete. This assumes that a generic Web service exists that uses a Demantra workflow name as a parameter and returns the completed status of that workflow.

This is the first of three diagrams that illustrates the Run Demantra Collections and Download subprocess:

This is the second of three diagrams that illustrates the Run Demantra Collections and Download subprocess:

This is the final diagram that illustrates the Run Demantra Collections and Download subprocess:

Accessing Embedded Demantra Worksheets

This feature allows you to access and update a Demantra worksheet without having to leave the APCC application. It is a variation of the Demantra Anywhere functionality, which allows an external user to log into Demantra. Using standard worksheet functionality, you can make adjustments to historical data or the statistical forecast, run simulations, and save any changes.

Enabling Demantra Anywhere

To log in to the Demantra Anywhere process, you need an Oracle Single Sign On (SSO) and both applications must be registered with the same SSO server.

CConfiguring Demantra Anywhere

1. Disable OBIEE SSO, log in to Answers as Administrator.

2. Create a new report and save (for example) in the Shared/Others folder.

3. Add Scenario, Item, Organization, Budget, and Budget

4. Change second Budget formula to:

   '< a href="'||valueof(NQ_SESSION.APPS_SERVLET_AGENT)||'/MscObieeSrvlt?ParamType=Name&Wnd=DMA&QueryName=Export OBI Data&CombinationName=Item,'||"- Item".Item||';Demand Class,'||"- Demand Class"."Demand Class"||';Organization,'||"- Organization"."Organization Code"||'"> >) > < /a> '

5. Set the data format to HTML.

6. Add narrative view with following content as prefix:

   <a href="@{biServer.variables["NQ_SESSION.APPS_SERVLET_AGENT"]}/MscObieeSrvlt?ParamType=Name&=DMA&ueryName=Export OBI Data"> Export OBI Data< /a> 

After creating the custom report, you can run the report as described below.

Running the Report

To run the custom report, first enable OBIEE SSO, then open the report from any of the dashboards (for example, the Sales and Operations Dashboard). There is no limit on which applications can use embedded Demantra as long as they have the same SSO and can pass the relevant URL and context. The internal syntax for each application may differ in order to formulate the correct call to Demantra.

Generating the Forecast Subprocess

The Generate the Forecast subprocess launches the Calculate Forecast workflow in Demantra Demand Management. This subprocess is the first half of the Forecast Calculation and Approval workflow.

This diagram illustrates the Generate Forecast subprocess:

Reviewing the Forecast Subprocess

The Reviewing the Forecast subprocess launches the Approve Forecast workflow in Demantra Demand Management. This subprocess is the second half of the Forecast Calculation and Approval workflow.

When the Approve Forecast workflow finishes in Demantra Demand Management, the final forecast is automatically archived and uploaded to the planning server.

The Assign plan name to Demantra forecast output subprocess invokes a service that changes the demand scenario name of the uploaded Demantra output from that of the export integration profile to a name of the user's choosing. The user specifies this name in the process user interface. This covers the case in which multiple scenarios are being executed during the course of sales and operations planning.

This process is not applicable anymore other than to ensure backwards compatibility and to support the Demantra Web Service profile.

This is the first of two diagrams that illustrate the Review Forecast subprocess:

This is the final diagram that illustrates the Review Forecast subprocess:

Running the Inventory Plan Subprocess

This diagram illustrates the Run Inventory Plan subprocess:

Running the Supply Chain Plan Subprocess

This diagram illustrates the Run Supply Chain Plan subprocess:

Reviewing the Supply Chain Plan Subprocess

The Review Supply Chain Plan subprocess notifies the owner of the activity to access the ASCP application to verify, change, and release the results. The escalation logic is executed if the primary owner does not respond to the notification within the amount of time specified in the Finish by field of the activity.

This diagram illustrates the Review Supply Chain Plan subprocess:

The Sales and Operations Planning Business Process

The sequence of the Sales and Operations Planning subprocesses is:

1. Run the ASCP Collections subprocess.

2. Run the Demantra Collections and Download subprocess.

3. Review the Financial Plan subprocess.

4. Review the Marketing Plan subprocess.

5. Review the Demand Plan subprocess.

6. Review the Sales Plan subprocess.

7. Upload the Forecast subprocess.

8. Run the Supply Plan subprocess.

9. Review the Supply Plan subprocess.

10. Approve the Consensus Demand subprocess.

11. Run an Executive Review subprocess.

Note: APCC supports a custom product hierarchy from Demantra DM and custom series from Demantra DM and RTS & OP. APCC also supports plan-specific forecasting measures. For more information, refer to the chapter Demantra Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center in the Oracle Demantra Implementation Guide.

This diagram illustrates the Sales and Operations Planning business process:

The basic structure of most subprocesses is similar to those of the Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning BPEL process. See BPEL Processes appendix, The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning Business Process section.

See The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning Business Process

Running the Supply Plan Subprocess

The Run Supply Plan subprocess uses Oracle's Strategic Network Optimization (SNO) application as the supply plan evaluation engine. The Sales and Operations Planning BPEL process automates the Real Time (RT) - Sales and Operations Planning to SNO to RT-Sales and Operations Planning cycle.

The Download Plan Scenario Data step requires a service, which can launch an existing workflow in Demantra Demand Management with a level member context.

This diagram illustrates the Run Supply Plan subprocess:

Custom Business Processes

In addition to the two seeded business processes that are described earlier in this appendix, Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center also enables users to model a custom business process to meet specific needs by using any of the seeded web services. This is accomplished by means of BPEL. designer. The Web service operations that can be used are listed in the following table:

Release ASCP Recommendations	Upload Demand
Run ASCP Engine in Batch Mode	Upload Demand Class
Set ASCP Plan Options	Upload Demand Schedule/Supply Schedule
Run ASCP Collections	Upload Item
Run Demantra Collections - Currency Conversions	Upload Item Categories
Run Demantra Collections - Pricing Data	Upload Item Customer Mapping
Run Demantra Collections - Returns History	Upload Item Substitutes
Run Demantra Collections - SCI Data	Upload Item Supplier Flex Fence
Run Demantra Collections - Shipment and Booking History	Upload Job Operation Network
Run Demantra Collections - UOM Conversions	Upload Job Operation Resource
Run ODS Load	Upload Job Operation Resource Instance
Release DRP Results	Upload Job Operations
Run DRP Engine in Batch Mode	Upload Job Resource Requirements
Set DRP Plan Options	Upload Jobs
Run IO Engine in Batch Mode	Upload Location
Set IO Plan Options	Upload Manufacturing Resource
Get Promise Date	Upload Manufacturing Resource Instance
Copy Plan	Upload Network Routings
Purge Plan	Upload Order Types
Check Process Status	Upload Planner
Release SRP Results	Upload Planning Calendar
Run SRP Engine in Batch Mode	Upload Planning Calendar Dates
Set SRP Plan Options	Upload Planning Calendar Exceptions
Assign Plan Name	Upload Planning Calendar Period Start Date
Check Demantra Workflow Status	Upload Planning Calendar Shifts
Run Demantra Workflow	Upload Planning Calendar Week Start Dates
Run Demantra Workflow with Context	Upload Planning Calendar Workday Pattern
Terminate Demantra Workflow	Upload Planning Calendar Year Start Date
Notify user	Upload Planning Organization Parameters
Get Process Information	Upload Planning Shift Dates
Get Activity Information	Upload Planning Shift Exceptions
Get Parameter Values	Upload Planning Shift Times
Update Process	Upload Planning Shifts
Set Activity Status	Upload Planning Simulation Set
Generate SNO Model	Upload Project
Publish SNO Results	Upload Project Task
Download Forecast	Upload Region Site
Download Safety Stock	Upload Regions
Upload Forecast	Upload Reservations
Upload Planned Supply	Upload Resource Capacity
Upload Safety Stock	Upload Resource Group
Archive Plan	Upload Resource Instance Capacity
Archive Scenario	Upload Resource Instance Requirement
Upload Shipment and Booking History	Upload Resource Requirement
Create PO Acknowledgement	Upload Routing
Generate CP Exception	Upload Routing Operation Resources
Publish Order Forecast	Upload Routing Operation Sequence
Publish Supply Commit	Upload Routing Operations
Receive Supplier Capacity	Upload Sales Channels
Release CP Recommendations	Upload Sales Orders
Retrieve Exception from CP	Upload Serial Numbers
Retrieve Notifications from CP	Upload Shipment Method
Retrieve transactional data from CP	Upload Sourcing History
Retrieve VMI Status	Upload Sourcing Rule
Run VMI Engine	Upload Sourcing Rule Assignments
Upload Supplier Commit	Upload Sourcing Rule Details
Run Planning Data Pull	Upload Subinventory
Upload ABC Class	Upload Supplier Capacity
Upload Approved Supplier List	Upload Supply
Upload Available to Promise Rule	Upload Trading Partner Contacts
Upload Bill of Material	Upload Trading Partner Sites
Upload Bill of Material Component Substitutes	Upload Trading Partners
Upload Bill of Material Components	Upload Transportation Details
Upload Bill of Resource	Upload Unit Numbers
Upload Bills of Distribution	Upload Unit of Measure
Upload BIS KPI	Upload UOM Class Conversions
Upload Calendar Assignments	Upload UOM Conversion
Upload Carrier Service	Upload User Company Association
Upload Category Sets	Copy SNO Plan Options
Upload Co Products	Set SNO Plan Options
Upload Collaboration Security Rule

All custom processes and activities that are built using these Web services must follow specific guidelines:

• Custom activities are self-contained and cannot accept parameters.

• Custom BPEL processes must follow a specific naming convention; the process name must start with 'APS'.

To deploy custom BPEL processes, you must:

1. Deploy the processes to the domain that is specified in the profile option MSC:BPEL Domain Name.

2. Run the concurrent program Read Planning Process Activities to import the process into the planning database.

3. Users can then use the Custom BPEL Process in the Scenario Management user interface to assign any new planning process.