Major Features and Definitions
Oracle Workflow Builder
Oracle Workflow Builder lets you create, view, or modify a business process with simple drag and drop operations. Using the Workflow Builder, you can create and modify all workflow objects, including activities, item types, and messages. See: Workflow Processes.
At any time you can add, remove, or change workflow activities, or set up new prerequisite relationships among activities. You can easily work with a summary-level model of your workflow, expanding activities within the workflow as needed to greater levels of detail. And, you can operate Oracle Workflow Builder from a desktop PC or from a disconnected laptop PC.
Workflow Engine
The Workflow Engine embedded in the Oracle7 server monitors workflow states and coordinates the routing of activities for a process. Changes in workflow state, such as the completion of workflow activities, are signaled to the engine via a PL/SQL API. Based on flexibly-defined workflow rules, the engine determines which activities are eligible to run, and then runs them. The Workflow Engine supports sophisticated workflow rules, including looping, branching, parallel flows, and subflows.
Workflow Definitions Loader
The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that moves workflow definitions between database and corresponding flat file representations. You can use it to move workflow definitions from a development to a production database, or to apply upgrades to existing definitions. In addition to being a standalone server program, the Workflow Definitions Loader is also integrated into Oracle Workflow Builder, allowing you to open and save workflow definitions in both a database and file.
Complete Programmatic Extensibility
Oracle Workflow lets you include your own PL/SQL procedures as activities in your workflows. Without modifying your application code, you can have your own program run whenever the Workflow Engine detects that your program's prerequisites are satisfied.
Electronic Notifications
Oracle Workflow lets you include users in your workflows to handle activities that cannot be automated, such as approvals for requisitions or sales orders. Electronic notifications are routed to a role, which can be an individual user or a group of users. Any user associated with that role can act on the notification.
Each notification includes a message associated with it, which contains all the information a user needs to make a decision, as well as possible responses. Oracle Workflow interprets each response and moves on to the next workflow activity.
Personal Inbox
Users who connect to Oracle Applications can see all the notifications awaiting their attention in a common Notification Viewer form, or Personal Inbox. Choosing a notification takes users to a Notification Details window that describes any actions they need to take. The Notification Details window can take users directly to an Oracle Applications form where they can perform the necessary action.
Electronic Mail Integration
Electronic mail (E-mail) users can receive notifications of outstanding work items and can respond to those notifications using their E-mail application of choice. An E-mail notification can include an HTML attachment that provides another means of responding to the notification.
Internet-Enabled Workflow
Any user with access to a standard Web browser can be included in a workflow. Web users can access a Notification Web page to see their outstanding work items, then navigate to additional pages to see more details or provide a response.
Monitoring and Administration
Workflow administrators and users can view the progress of a work item in a workflow process by connecting to the Workflow Monitor using a standard Web browser that supports Java. The Workflow Monitor displays an annotated view of the process diagram for a particular instance of a workflow process, so that users can get a graphical depiction of their work item status. The Workflow Monitor also displays a separate status summary for the work item, the process, and each activity in the process.
