Administering PeopleSoft Workflow

This chapter provides an overview of scheduling workflow processes and discusses how to:

• Set workflow defaults.

• Define worklist messages.

• Monitor worklist volumes.

• Check for worklist timeouts.

• Review work items online.

• Run workflow reports.

• Set notification options.

Scheduling Workflow Processes

You can run several types of processes to monitor workflow applications. These processes can perform a variety of monitoring tasks, such as checking worklists for timed-out work items. This PeopleSoft application delivers some workflow processes (discussed in the following section), and you can add your own.

Although the processes that PeopleSoft delivers are already defined in PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, you must submit Process Scheduler requests to specify when, where, and how often to run each process.

You must schedule Application Engine programs that you have built to facilitate batch workflow processing, including both programs that you created and several predefined Application Engine programs that are used to monitor workflow.

When you initiate a workflow, you usually set up these processes to run on a recurring schedule. If you do, you do not need to start the processes every time that you want them to run. You must restart them only if the schedule that you specify expires or to change their schedule.

Setting Workflow Defaults

Before you start routing work items, you should perform some administration tasks. Unlike most administration tasks, you must perform this set of tasks only once (or at least infrequently).

This section provides an overview of workflow defaults and discusses how to set workflow system defaults.

Understanding Workflow Defaults

When you define a role as a query, the system determines who should receive work items at runtime. Possibly, no users meet the criteria for the role. For instance, a query that returns the buyer assigned to work with the vendor of the ordered item might fail to return a user if someone orders an item from a new vendor.

The default user should be someone in your information systems department who is an expert in PeopleSoft Workflow. This administrator is typically responsible for reassigning the work items to another user and for updating the route control information so that future items are routed appropriately.

PeopleSoft Workflow can route work to users through the user’s worklist or by email message. You can suspend all routings of a particular type by clearing the appropriate option: Worklists Active or Email Active. Before PeopleSoft Workflow performs a routing, it checks these settings.

The Delete Pooled WL When Select option allows the user to specify when the system should remove pooled worklists from another user's queue. The Previous User field reflects only the last user ID assigned to a worklist item. The system updates the value when a user accesses the Worklist and Worklist Detail pages, the Worklist tab for a user profile, or the Worklist Entry Updates page. If you have developed any custom worklist maintenance pages, you must update this field manually.

Page Used to Set Workflow Defaults

Setting Workflow System Defaults

To access the Worklist System Defaults page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Defaults & Messages, Set Workflow Defaults.

User ID	Select a system default user.
Worklists Active and Email Active	Specify which types of routings are active: Worklists Active: Enables worklists for your users. Email Active: Enables the system to send email to workflow users. Your application server Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) system needs to be configured before sending email notifications.
HR Installed (human resources installed)	Specify whether you are using PeopleSoft HCM applications. The system uses this setting to determine a role user’s supervisor: If the check box is cleared, a Supervisory Role User field appears on the user’s profile. The system uses the user ID in this field when it must forward a work item to a user’s supervisor. If the check box is selected, the system determines a user’s supervisor as it does throughout PeopleSoft HRMS applications: from the user’s PERSONAL_DATA record.
Delete Pooled WL When Select	Select to delete pooled worklists.
Resubmit VA Worklist	The last field for this group box controls how Virtual Approver handles reassigned and resubmitted approval process.

Resubmit VA worklist

To help you understand the options within this group box, the following scenarios are provided, which assume the process is already at manager level.

Note. These three scenarios also apply for a user accessing the approval page directly, in which case the worklist will not be dropped from the list.

Specify how the system should handle reassigned Virtual Approver worklist items.

Defining Worklist Messages

This section provides an overview of worklist messages and discusses how to:

• Define a default message.

• Send a message.

• Receive and respond to worklist messages.

Understanding Worklist Messages

PeopleSoft Workflow administrators frequently communicate information to system users. For example, an administrator might send everyone the backup schedule or send managers a weekly update about the work that their groups performed. Workflow Administrator provides a page for creating and sending this kind of general message. You can send the message by email or to the users’ worklists.

For standard messages that you send out regularly to the same people, Workflow Administrator enables you to define default messages and default routings for those messages so that you need only type them once.

A default message is a saved version of a common message that you can use over and over. When you open the Worklist/Email Message page to send a message, you can select from the list of default messages. Then, you can add to or change the message before sending it.

Default messages are also a good way of defining standard mailing lists. You can define default messages without default text, but they are addressed to a default list of users, such as all managers. When you are ready to send a message to the managers, you select the default message and add the text; thus, you do not have to select the managers individually each time.

Pages Used to Define Worklist Messages

Defining a Default Message

To access the Default Message page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Defaults & Messages, Worklist/Email Default Msg (message).

To define a default message:

1. Search for an existing message ID or add a new one.

   Use the standard search or add method to enter the message ID and access the Default Message page.

   Note. Messages are keyed by user ID and message ID.

2. Enter a subject line and message text in the Subject and Message fields.

   You can enter as much or as little of this information as necessary. You can enter the remaining information when you actually send the message.

3. Specify whether to send the message by email or to a worklist.

4. Assign a routing priority to the message.

   Select High, Medium, or Low.

5. If you always send this message to the same set of users, select their role user names in the Default Routing field.

6. Click the plus button to add additional role users. You can enter as many or as few users as needed. You can change the list when you actually send the message.

7. Save the page.

Sending a Message

To access the Worklist/Email Message page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Defaults & Messages, Worklist/Email Message.

To send a message (either by default or for a particular purpose):

1. If a default message contains the text to deliver to users, select its message ID.

   The information from the default message appears on the page. You can add or change this information without affecting the default message.

2. Enter a subject and message text.

   The subject that you enter appears as the subject line of an email message or the description of a worklist entry.

3. Select a routing option and priority.

4. Select the role users to whom you want to send the message.

5. Click the plus button to add (or the minus button to remove) role users from the list.

   You can enter as many or as few users as needed.

6. To preview a message, click View HTML.

7. To send the message, save the page.

Receiving and Responding to Worklist Messages

To receive and respond to worklist messages:

1. In your worklist, select the message to answer.

   You can also access the message from the Worklist/Email Reply page.

   The Worklist/Email Reply page appears.

2. To reply to the original sender, click the Reply button and complete the message on the Reply to Message page.

   By using the Reply button, rather than the alternate means of navigation, you populate the Subject and Reply To fields based on the original message. Normally, you accept the default Subject and Reply To values. If they don’t appear properly, or if you prefer different values, make the necessary changes.

3. To forward the message to another user, click the Forward button and complete the message on the Forward Message page.

   By using the Forward button, rather than the alternate means of navigation, you populate the Subject field based on the original message. Normally you accept the default subject. If it doesn’t appear properly, or if you prefer a different subject, make the necessary changes.

4. Click Save to send the message.

Monitoring Worklist Volumes

To set up and run worklist monitors, use the Configure Worklist Monitor (WF_MONITOR_SETUP), Schedule Worklist Monitor (RUN_WL_MONITOR_DBA), and Review Notification (WL_MONITOR_NOTIFY) components.

This section provides an overview of worklist volume monitoring and discusses how to:

• Configure a worklist volume monitor.

• Schedule worklist volume monitors to run.

• Review notifications sent by a volume monitor.

Understanding Worklist Volume Monitoring

Workflow Administrator includes an Application Engine program that monitors for overloaded worklists. The program checks for worklists that contain more than a specified number of work items and sends you a warning message when overloaded worklists are found.

To use this program, you define the monitoring parameters. Each set of monitoring parameters is considered a separate worklist volume monitor. You must set up separate worklist volume monitors for different worklists. You can create one or more for each worklist that you want to monitor.

Pages Used to Monitor Worklists

Configuring a Worklist Volume Monitor

To access the worklist volume monitor Setup page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Configure Worklist Monitor.

To configure a worklist volume monitor:

1. Search for an existing business process name, worklist name, or worklist monitor setup ID, or add a new one.

   Use this page to specify which worklist to monitor, how many work items to allow in the worklist, and which message to send when the worklist exceeds the threshold.

2. In the Notification Message group box, specify when you want the worklist volume monitor to inform you about the number of worklist entries.

   Use the two drop-down list boxes on the first line to identify the worklist that you want to monitor. In the left box, select the business process; in the right box, select the worklist name.

3. Specify a date and time range during which the monitor counts work items.

   By default, the worklist volume monitor counts work items added to the worklist starting from today, the day that you define it, through two years from now. To count work items that are already in the worklist, change the value in the From Dttm (datetime) field to an earlier date.

4. Specify which work items to count.

   The Status drop-down list box specifies which work items to count, based on their status. Available values are Available (default), Selected, Worked, and Cancelled.

5. In the Notify Trigger box, enter the number of work items that constitute the worklist’s threshold.

   When the worklist contains this number of entries, the worklist volume monitor sends a warning message.

6. Specify whether to measure the threshold by an individual user’s number of work items or the number of total work items.

   If you enter the threshold for each individual user, select Total by Individual. If you enter the threshold for the entire worklist, clear the check box.

   For example, if a worklist has work items that wait for a manager’s approval, you can monitor how many work items are in each manager’s worklist or how many are in all managers’ worklists.

7. In the Worklist User Pool box, select the users whose work items you want to include in the count.

   When the worklist volume monitor counts work items, it includes only those assigned to a user ID that appears in this box. Click the Add button to add as many users as needed.

8. Set the notification message.

   The Notification Message box defines the message that the worklist volume monitor sends when a worklist contains too many work items. The default message is fine for most circumstances, but you can select any message from the PeopleTools Message Catalog. When you select the set and message, the subject and text of the message appear to the right.

   Note. The subject of the message is always High Volume Worklist Warning.

9. Specify how to deliver the message.

   The worklist volume monitor delivers messages to a user’s worklist, through email, or both. Select Notify by Worklist or Notify by Email.

10. Specify to whom to send the message.

    In the User Notification List box, enter the users to whom you want the monitor to send the warning message.

11. Save the page.

Scheduling Worklist Volume Monitors to Run

To access the Worklist Volume Monitor page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Sched Worklist Volume Monitor.

To schedule worklist volume monitors to run:

1. In the Workflow Monitor Setup ID field, select one of the worklist volume monitors that you defined.

   When you define a worklist volume monitor, you can specify the volume threshold either as the number of work items that an individual user has or as the number of total work items. The Total by Individual check box indicates which option you specified for the selected worklist volume monitor. This information is important on the Process Scheduler Request page.

2. Click the Run button.

   The Process Scheduler Request page appears.

3. Select a program to run.

   The Application Engine program determines whether to monitor by group or by individual, based on whether the Total by Individual check box is selected in the worklist volume monitor that you are processing.

4. Complete the Process Scheduler Request page.

See Submitting and Scheduling Process Requests.

Reviewing Notifications Sent by the Volume Monitor

To access the Review Notifications page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Review Notification.

To review notifications sent by the volume monitor:

1. Search for existing worklist monitor setup ID and datetime created values.

   Because one volume monitor can send multiple notifications, you need both values to identify a notification.

2. Review the notification.

   Use the standard search method to access the Notify page.

   Total Counted	Indicates how many worklist items the worklist volume monitor found. Notifications are sent only when the number of worklist items exceeds the specified threshold.
   Subject and Message	Indicate the text of the notification. If the message specified in the Worklist Monitor Setup page included bind variables, the variables are resolved in this message.
   Notification Criteria , User Notification List , and Worklist User Pool	Indicate the original worklist monitor setup parameters that triggered this notification.

Checking for Worklist Timeouts

To check for worklist timeouts, use the Timeout Exceptions (WF_RUN_TIMEOUT) and Worklist Timeout Data (WF_TIMEOUT_DATA) components.

This section provides an overview of worklist timeouts and discusses how to:

• Check for worklist timeouts.

• Check worklist timeout data.

Understanding Worklist Timeouts

When you define a worklist, you can set a timeout condition, which specifies how long a work item can remain unworked in a worklist before the system forwards it to another worklist. Define this in PeopleSoft Application Designer in the Worklist Attributes dialog box.

The system uses an Application Engine program to check for work items that have timed out and to forward them according to the timeout parameters. You must schedule the Application Engine program to activate this process.

Pages Used to Check for Worklist Timeouts

Checking for Worklist Timeouts

To access the Timeout Exceptions page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Process Timeout Exceptions.

To check for worklist timeouts:

1. Search for an existing run control ID, or add a new one.

   Use the standard search or add method to enter a run control ID and access the Timeout Exceptions page. This page displays the run control ID but doesn't contain editable controls.

2. Click the Run button.

   The Process Scheduler Request page appears.

3. Select the WL_TIMEOUT Application Engine program.

4. Complete the page.

See Submitting and Scheduling Process Requests.

Checking Timeout Worklist Data

Timeout parameters include an option to send timeout notifications to the user’s timeout worklist.

When users open items in their timeout worklists, they are transferred to the Timeout Worklist Data page for that work item. On this page, the user can view information about the timed-out work item, enter comments about the item, or reassign the item to another user ID.

You can also access this page directly by selecting PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Update Timeout Data.

Reviewing Work Items Online

To review work items, use the Review Work Items (WF_MONITOR_01), Review Work Items via Context (WF_MONITOR_03), and Update Worklist Entries (WF_MONITOR_UPDATE) components.

This section provides an overview of online work item review and discusses how to:

• Search for work items based on workflow properties.

• Search for work items within a worklist.

• Update work items.

Understanding Online Work Item Review

Worklist Monitor enables you to review the work items in a workflow, regardless of where they are. It provides detailed status information about each item and enables you to update individual work items by:

• Assigning them to different users.

• Changing their status.

• Editing their worklist entries.

Depending on how you want to search for work items, you can access Worklist Monitor based on the:

• Item workflow properties, such as status or the user to whom it’s assigned.

  You can find items wherever they are in the workflow.

• Fields in the item worklist entry.

  You can search for items within a single worklist.

Pages Used to Review Work Items

Searching for Work Items Based on Workflow Properties

To access the Review Work Items - Search Criteria page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Review Work Items, Search Criteria.

To search for work items based on workflow properties:

1. Select the check boxes for the properties to include in the search, and enter search criteria in the corresponding controls.

   To search for all worklist entries, clear all of the check boxes.

   Bus Proc / WL (business process and worklist)	Select to search for work items by Business Process Name and Work List Name fields.
   WL Datetime Range (worklist datetime range)	Select to search for work items that were created during the time period between the From Datetime and To Datetime values.
   User Assigned	Select to search for work items that are assigned to the specified user ID.
   Originator	Select to search for work items that entered the workflow because of an action taken by the specified user.
   WL Status (worklist status)	Select to search for work items with the specified instance status.
   WL Instance ID	Select to search for the work item with the specified ID.

2. Click the Search button to perform the search.

   When the search is complete, Worklist Monitor displays the total worklist entries that it found, that is, the number of worklist entries that meet your criteria.

3. Move to the Worklist Entries page.

   The Worklist Entries page appears, displaying the entries that meet your search criteria. Each line displays information for one worklist entry, including the business process, work list, instance ID, status, and user ID (Oprid).

4. (Optional) Review additional information about an entry.

   The buttons at the end of each line provide additional processing.

   C (context)	Click to display additional context information about the work item in the WL Context box at the bottom of the page.
   T (transfer)	Click to transfer the work item to the page group used to work on the work item. You can work the work item just as if you selected it from its worklist.
   U (update)	Click to display the update page so that you can update this work item.

Searching for Work Items Within a Worklist

To access the Review Work Items via Context - Search Criteria page, select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Review Work Items via Context, Search Criteria.

To search for work items within a worklist:

1. Select the business process and worklist to search.

   After you select the worklist, the user-defined fields from the worklist record definition appear in the Worklist Search Criteria group box. A Search Value drop-down list box is next to each field.

2. Enter search criteria in as many or as few of the fields as needed.

3. Click the Search button.

   Worklist Monitor displays the total worklist entries that it found; that is, the number of worklist entries that meet your criteria.

4. Move to the Worklist Entries page.

   The Worklist Entries page displays the entries that meet your search criteria. See the previous procedure for details about this page.

Updating Work Items

To update work items:

1. Click the U button on the Worklist Entries page, or select PeopleTools, Workflow, Monitor Worklist, Update Worklist Entries.

   The Update page appears. This page enables you to change the worklist entry for a work item.

2. Update the work item information.

   You can change the user to whom the work item is assigned, its status in the worklist, or its description. You can also change the date and time information that the system usually updates, although it’s not as common. One reason to change the date and time information is to delay the processing of a work item. To do this, change the available datetime value to a future time.

   Note. The Worklist Entry Updates page enables you to reassign individual work items by changing the assigned user. To reassign all items that are assigned to a user, however, this method can be tedious. You can use PeopleTools Security to reassign all work items from one user to another.

   See Specifying Workflow Settings.

3. Save the page.

Running Workflow Reports

To run workflow reports, use the Worklist Averages (WF_RPT_AVERAGE) and Worklist Totals (WF_RPT_TOTALS) components.

This section provides an overview of workflow reports and discusses how to run workflow reports.

Understanding Workflow Reports

PeopleSoft delivers standard reports that provide status information about the work that your users are accomplishing. The reports fall into two categories:

• Worklist Averages reports, which provide average processing times for completed work items.

• Worklist Totals reports, which count work items by status.

For both types of reports, you can see information about all of your users for all of your business processes, or you can limit the report to specific users or business processes.

The following table describes the available reports and notes the required parameters.

Pages Used to Run Workflow Reports

Running Workflow Reports.

Access the Worklist Averages or Worklist Totals page.

Because the two types of reports have similar reporting parameters, the pages look similar. The pages behave differently, however. Worklist Averages reports the work items completed during the specified time range, and Worklist Totals reports the work items in the worklists by status.

To run workflow reports:

1. Enter the time span for the report to cover.

   The two date and time boxes specify the time period for the report. On the Worklist Averages Run page, enter values for the Worked Datetime From and Worked Datetime To fields. The reports include only work items that are marked as worked during the specified time period. On the Worklist Totals Run page, enter values for the Available Datetime From and Available Datetime To fields. The reports include only work items that are added to the worklists during the time period.

2. Specify the business process on which to report.

   Most of the reports include data about all your business processes, organized by worklist, by user, or both. However, you can report on a single business process. If you want the data for only one business process, select its name from the Business Process Name drop-down list box.

3. Specify which users’ work items to include in the report.

   By default, the reports include work items that are assigned to all users. Limit the report to a specific set of users by selecting their user IDs in the WL User Reporting Pool field. If this field does not list users, the report includes all work items. If the field lists users, the reports include only work items that are assigned to those users.

4. Click Run.

   The Process Scheduler Request page appears. The list box at the bottom of the page displays the available reports.

5. Select the reports to run.

   The reports differ in how they organize the data. Both Worklist Averages and Worklist Totals offer reports organized by:

   • Business process and worklist.

   • Business process, worklist, and user.

   • User.

   • Business process and worklist with all users.

   • Information for a single business process only.

6. Complete the Process Scheduler request.

Setting Notification Options

This section discusses how to:

• Enable the Notify toolbar button.

• Set workflow routing options.

• Set delivery options.

Enabling the Notify Toolbar Button

To enable an end user to send notifications from PeopleSoft components, the Notify toolbar button must be enabled on the Component Properties dialog box.

To enable the Notify toolbar button:

1. Open PeopleSoft Application Designer in PeopleTools.

2. Open the component definition for which you want to enable the Notify button.

3. Open the Component Properties dialog box by selecting File, Definition Properties.

4. Select the Internet tab in the Component Properties dialog box.

5. Select Notify in the Selected Toolbar Actions group box.

6. Save the component definition.

   If Notify is cleared, the Notify toolbar is not visible for that component. If Disable Toolbar is selected in the component properties, the Notify toolbar is not visible for that component.

Setting Workflow Routing Options

After enabling the Notify toolbar button, set the workflow routing options for the role.

If Notify is selected in the component properties and Allow Notifications is selected for the role, the Notify toolbar (the Notify icon at the bottom of the component’s browser page) is available in that component for all users in that role.

If Allow Notifications is cleared for the role, the Notify toolbar is not visible for all components for all users in that role.

If Allow Recipient Lookup is selected, all users in the role can search for recipients by prompting against the User Profile table or the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) address book.

Set workflow routing options for each user role.

To set workflow routing options:

1. Select PeopleTools, Security, Permissions & Roles, Roles, Workflow.

2. Select the Allow Notification and Allow Recipient Lookup check boxes.

3. Save the page.

Setting Delivery Options

At runtime, the Send Notification page references the routing preferences for each recipient to determine the default delivery options. Therefore, the system assumes that:

• Security administrators have set this value for any user on the User Profile page.

• Users have set this value on their My System Profile pages.

Setting Preferences on the User Profile Page

To set preferences on the User Profile page:

1. Select PeopleTools, Security, User Profiles, User Profiles.

2. Enter the user ID.

3. Select the Workflow tab.

4. In the Routing Preferences group box, select Worklist User, Email User, or both.

   Note. The Email User check box controls email notifications sent using the Send Notifications page. If the check box is not selected, email notifications are not sent to the user through the Send Notifications page. If you are sending email notifications using PeopleCode, this check box has no effect. You must create your own checking logic for sending email notifications.

Setting Preferences on the My System Profile Page

To set preferences on the My System Profile page:

1. Select PeopleTools, My System Profile.

2. In the Workflow Attributes group box, select the Email User check box, the Worklist User check box, or both.

   Based on the routing preferences, Delivery Options are set for each recipient, as shown in the following examples:

   When you click the notify button on a page, the send notification page appears.

Note. Users should enter notification recipient names in the format Last_Name,First_Name.

Use the Lookup Recipient link to search for recipients.

Use the Delivery Options link to select the delivery format for each recipient.