A "process" is a series of actions taken to achieve a specific result. The Process Navigator utilizes Oracle Workflow to depict each of your business processes with a workflow diagram. A process diagram contains an icon for each step in the process; each icon acts as a visual cue and as an access point for the actual form associated with each step. You can navigate to any form involved in the process simply by clicking on the appropriate icon.
Oracle Workflow allows you to define business processes using a drag-and-drop designer. You can route relevant information to decision makers, automate processes, deliver electronic notifications to users in a given workflow, and monitor your processes as they are implemented. You can display any workflow diagram as a process in the Process Navigator. For more information, see the Oracle Workflow documentation.
A seeded process is one that is delivered to you ready to use. Oracle E-Business Suite includes several seeded business processes which you can use as they are.
Before you begin, you should be aware that simply referencing a form from a process does not provide the required permissions for the responsibility to access the forms in the process. Form Functions for each form referenced from a process must be added to the Function Security Menu for the responsibility. If the Form Function is not accessible, the user will receive an error when attempting to access the form from the process in the Process Navigator.
You must use Oracle Workflow Builder to create or customize any of the processes that are displayed in the Process Navigator. These instructions describe how to create new processes for the Process Navigator.
The following table lists the terms/components of a Process Navigator process and the corresponding components in Oracle Workflow Builder that define them.
| Process Navigator Component | Description | Controlling Oracle Workflow Builder Component(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Process | The diagram that appears in the Process Navigator. | Process activity and process diagram |
| Process description | A description of the displayed process. | Process activity |
| Step | An icon in the process, which takes you directly to an Oracle E-Business Suite form when you double-click on it. | Notification activity |
| Step description | A description of the selected process step. | Message |
| Form associated with a step. | The Oracle E-Business Suite form that appears when you double click on a step in a Process Navigator process. | Form-type Message attribute |
Note: The following procedures do not address most of the functionality of Oracle Workflow Builder, but are tailored to creating processes for the Process Navigator. The Oracle Workflow Builder is a tool used to design workflow processes. Workflow processes can range from routing documents through an approval process to setting up your Oracle E-Business Suite. See the Oracle Workflow documentation for more information.
To create a new process for the Process Navigator, you must first create the necessary components in Oracle Workflow Builder. The components you create make up the process definition, which is then saved to the database or to a flat file. The Process Navigator then reads the process definition from the database to display the process and its information and provide you access to the related Oracle E-Business Suite forms.
Note: For more information on creating a process, see the Oracle Workflow Developer's Guide.
Open Oracle Workflow Builder.
Create an item type. An item type is a repository that will contain all the components associated with the process you wish to build.
Create an Item Attribute of type role, whose internal name is USER_NAME.
Note: Enter a new display name for the message using the format <Verb><Form Title>. If the form title already contains a verb, then simply use the form title as the display name. If the form title does not contain a verb, then consider using one of the following verbs:
Define / Assign / Run / Load / Convert / Open / Set / Generate / Review
Create a message to describe the task that is to be accomplished by a Process Navigator process step.
Create a form-type for the message. The seeded processes generally assign these message attributes an internal name of Open Form, but this is not required.
Create a notification activity to represent a Process Navigator process step.
Create a process activity to represent a Process Navigator Process.
Note: Enter a display name for your process. This name appears in the Process Navigator's process list. The naming convention for the process should be a functional name followed by the word "Process."
Enter a description for your process. The description appears when a user selects a process in the Process Navigator. The description is limited to 240 characters.
Draw the Process Diagram. Once you create a process activity, you can draw the process diagram that is associated with it. The process diagram is what appears when you display a process in the Process Navigator.
Note: The Performer type of the Notification Activity you include in a process diagram for the Process Navigator must be set to the item attribute USER_NAME.
Save your changes. When you save your work to a database, you actually save everything in the current data store that has been modified. When you save your work to a flat file, you actually save everything in the current data store to the file.
Note: It is highly recommended that for new processes created for the Process Navigator that you always save a copy of your workflow process definition as a flat file and check that file into a source control system to maintain a working version of your process definition. Then when you want to update your definition in the database, you can pull up the flat file and save it directly to the database. Avoid using the process definition stored in your database as your source controlled version, as others with access to the database can update the definition.
Enable access to your process.
Before a process may be accessed in the Navigator you must complete the following two steps. Create a new function for your process in the Form Functions window, and add your process to a responsibility by adding the function you just created, to the responsibility's top menu in the Menus window.
Use the following procedure to create a function:
As the System Administrator navigate to the Form Functions window (Application->Function).
Enter a Function Name for your process using the format:
<app>_<processname>
Where <app> can be any application short name and <processname> is the internal name you entered when you created your process activity.
Enter a User Function Name. The name you enter here appears in the Navigator.
Enter "PROCESS" as your function type.
In the tabbed region 'Form' use the following format to enter a value in the Parameters field:
<itemtype>:<processname>
Save your work. No other fields are required to create your process function.
In order for a user to access a process in the Navigator, the process must be added to a menu referenced by the user's responsibility. To determine the menu referenced by a particular responsibility use the Responsibilities window (Security->Responsibility->Define).
As the System Administrator navigate to the Menus window (Application->Menu).
Use the Find window to access the desired menu.
In a new row use the LOV to select the function you created for your process in the Functions field. You may optionally enter a description for the function. DO NOT enter any other fields. The Sequence field is automatically populated and the Navigator Prompt and Submenu fields must remain empty.
Save your work.
To access the seeded processes, use the following procedure:
Run the Oracle Workflow Builder from your client PC.
Select Open from the File menu.
Choose Database.
In the User field, enter the user name for the APPS schema.
In the Password field, enter the password for the APPS schema.
In the Connect field, enter the connect string or alias for your database as shown in the <ORACLE_HOME>\network\admin\tnsnames.ora file on your client PC:
In the Show Item Types window, select the item type(s) associated with the seeded processes you wish to view. To select more than one item type, hold down your control key as you select the item types. Choose Show, and then choose OK.
Use the following procedure to find the form function name:
Log into Oracle E-Business Suite and navigate to the form of interest.
Choose About Oracle Applications... from the Help menu. Scroll down to Form Information and make note of the form name.
Now log into Oracle E-Business Suite using the Implementation System Administration responsibility and navigate to /Application/Form. Within the Form window, query for the form name you just made a note of in the Form field.
Make note of the value in the User Form Name field once your query completes.
Close the Form window and navigate to /Application/Function. Within the Function window, query for the User Form Name value that you just made a note of in the Form field.
The value that is returned in the Function field is the form function name that you need to associate a Process Navigator process step to a form.