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Diagnosing a Workflow Process That Has Failed in a Production Environment

This topic describes how to diagnose problems that occur in the production environment. For more information about some of the tools described in this topic, see Monitoring a Workflow Process.

Using Tracing to Diagnose a Workflow Process

You can use tracing to diagnose a workflow process that has failed.

To use tracing to diagnose a workflow process

1. Turn on tracing for the server component that runs the workflow process.

   Example server components include Workflow Process Manager, Workflow Process Batch Manager, or the Application Object Manager. For details on how to turn on tracing, see Setting Monitoring Levels for Tracing and the Event Log.

2. View the event log files.

For details on how to turn on tracing, see Setting Monitoring Levels for Tracing and the Event Log.

Using Instance Monitoring to Diagnose a Workflow Process

You can use instance monitoring to diagnose a workflow process that has failed.

To use instance monitoring to diagnose a workflow process

1. In the Siebel client, navigate to the Administration-Business Process screen, and then the Workflow Deployment view.
2. In the Active Workflow Processes list, choose the workflow process you must monitor.
3. Set the monitoring level to 3-Detail or 4-Debug.

   Siebel CRM stores the state and process properties values for each workflow process step, regardless of the server component that runs the step. The 3-Detail and 4-Debug monitoring levels affect performance of the Workflow Engine. You must use these levels for troubleshooting purposes only.

4. Navigate to the Administration-Business Process screen, Workflow Instance Monitor, and then the Process Instances view.
5. View the monitoring information and fix problems, as required.

Using the Business Service Simulator to Diagnose a Workflow Process

You can use the business service simulator to diagnose a workflow process that has failed.

To use the business service simulator to diagnose a workflow process

1. Run the workflow process from the Business Service Simulator using the Workflow Process Manager business service.

   This step runs the workflow process in the Application Object Manager.

2. In the Siebel client, navigate to the Administration-Business Service screen, and then the Simulator view.
3. In the Simulator list, create a new record, and then set the fields using values from the following table.

   Field	Value
   Service Name	Workflow Process Manager
   Method Name	RunProcess
   Iterations	1

4. In the Input Arguments list, create a new record, and then do the following:
   1. Set the Test Case # field to 1.
   2. Choose and open the Property Name field.
5. In the multi-value applet that Siebel CRM opens, click New, and then set the fields using values from the following table.

   Field	Value
   Property Name	ProcessName
   Value	(Enter the name of the workflow process.)

6. Click Save.
7. Repeat Step 5 and Step 6 for other parameters that Siebel CRM passes to the workflow process, especially RowId, if necessary.
8. In the multi-value applet, click OK.
9. In the Simulator list of the Simulator view, click Run.

TIP:   To increase the data that is available to you for troubleshooting, you can set the monitoring level to 4-Debug, as described in Step 3, start the workflow process with the Business Service Simulator, and then view information about the workflow process in the Workflow Instance Monitor views.

For more information, see Business Service Simulator and Removing a Workflow Process from the Run-Time Environment.

Avoiding Excessive Records in the S_WF_PROP_VAL Table

The S_WF_PROP_VAL table stores values of process properties for a workflow process. When a workflow process runs, Siebel CRM creates records in the S_WF_PROP_VAL table along with a new S_WF_STEP_INST record.

The S_WF_PROP_VAL table might become very large over time because a workflow process typically contains five or more process properties. Siebel CRM might add five records to the S_WF_PROP_VAL table for each workflow process instance. If you enable Persistence on a large number of workflow processes, then the S_WF_PROP_VAL table might become very large. To avoid this situation, you can disable persistence on your custom workflow processes.

To avoid excessive records in the S_WF_PROP_VAL table

• To disable persistence, set the Auto Persist property to NO on your custom workflow processes.

  For more information, see Configuring Events.

How to Get Help with an Error of a Workflow Process

To get help with a workflow process error, you can create a service request on My Oracle Support. Alternatively, you can phone Global Customer Support directly to create a service request or get a status update on your current service request. Support phone numbers are listed on My Oracle Support. Be prepared to do the following:

• Send the log files. To create log files see Monitoring a Workflow Process.
• Send the error code and error message. Except for a service workflow process, if a workflow process encounters an error, then the state of the workflow is persistent with a status of In-Error. If a workflow process encounters an error in a sub process, then the state of the sub process is also persistent. Siebel CRM saves the error code and the error message in a process property. You can examine the error code and error message in the Process Properties list of the Workflow Process Instance Admin view. If you choose a record in the All Workflow Process Instances list, then the related instance list displays the parent and child workflows.