Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide > Workflow Policies > About Customizing Workflow Policies with Siebel Tools >

Siebel Tools and Workflow Policies

Using Siebel Tools, you can define new workflow policy objects and modify existing workflow policy objects to meet your business needs. A brief discussion of basic Siebel Tools concepts is provided here as they relate to Workflow Policies. For a complete discussion of Siebel Tools, see Using Siebel Tools and Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications.

NOTE:  When you use Siebel Tools to modify or create workflow policy objects on your local system, the changes are not available on the server until they are applied to the server.

Siebel Tools consists of an Object Explorer window and one or more Object List Editor windows. Figure 7 shows the Object Explorer and Object List Editor window. The Object List Editor window lists object definitions for each object type and allows you to edit object type properties. The Object Explorer provides navigation between each group of object definitions of a particular object type.

Object type is an entity that is displayed as a node on the Object Explorer. An object type is the template from which object definitions are created and have a predefined set of properties. Workflow policy programs, workflow policy columns, and workflow policy objects are all object types.

An object definition implements one piece of the software such as Service Request or Contact. This object definition consists of properties. Properties are characteristics of the software that the object definition implements. For example, the properties of workflow policy column (object type) Service Request Severity (object definition) include Name (Service Request Severity), Table Name, Picklist, and so on.

NOTE:  Workflow policy objects are not included in the Object Explorer by default. Click View > Options > Object Explorer to add the workflow policy objects to the Object Explorer view.

Properties correspond to the columns in Object List Editor windows. The information entered under the columns is values. You can also use the Properties window to edit the properties of the currently selected object definition in an Object List Editor window by changing the values in the columns. You may change the property values in an object definition but not the set of properties to which values are assigned.

Object type definitions have a specific set of properties, as discussed above. They also have hierarchical relationships with other definitions called parent-child. The arrangement of folder icons in the Object Explorer is hierarchical (in the Types view). An object type (folder) beneath and slightly to the right of another is the child object type of the one it is below. The one above the child object type is the child's parent object type. Figure 11 shows parent-child relationships in the Object Explorer. A parent object type can have multiple child object types.

Figure 11.  Parent-Child Object Type Relationships in the Object Explorer

Siebel Workflow Policies accesses the following object types to create workflow policies, workflow actions, and workflow conditions:

• Workflow policy program
• Workflow policy program arguments
• Workflow policy column
• Workflow policy object
• Workflow policy component
• Workflow component column

Workflow policy programs and program arguments must be created and defined in Siebel Tools for use by workflow policies in the Workflow Policies Action view. Workflow policy objects, workflow policy components, workflow policy component columns, and workflow policy columns must be created and defined in Siebel Tools for use by workflow polices in the Workflow Policies Policies view.