Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide > Adding Workflow Process Steps > Adding Steps and Connectors >

Adding a Business Service Step

A business service step is a type of workflow process step that allows you to run a predefined or custom action in a workflow. The following items are examples of predefined business services:

• Notification. Siebel CRM can use the Outbound Communication Server business service to send a notification to an employee or a contact.
• Assignment. Assignment Manager can call the Synchronous Assignment Manager Request business service to assign an object in a workflow process.
• Server task. You can use the Asynchronous Server Requests or the Synchronous Server Requests business service to run a server component task.

For a list of some of the more commonly used predefined business services, see Predefined Business Services.

To define your own custom business service, you can use Siebel Tools or the Administration-business service view in the Siebel client. You can use Siebel VB or Siebel eScript to define your own custom business service that you call from a workflow process.

To add a business service step

1. Add a business service step to a workflow process.

   For more information, see Adding a Step to a Workflow Process.

2. Make sure the step you added in Step 1 is still chosen in the Process Designer.
3. In the Business Service Name property, choose the name of the business service that this workflow process must call.

   This drop-down list contains the business services that are defined in Siebel Tools or the Siebel client. For more information about defining a custom business service, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.

   CAUTION:  A business service that Siebel CRM calls from a workflow process must not include a browser script. A business service only works with a server script. If Siebel CRM runs a business service, and if this business service includes a browser script, and if a workflow process calls this business service on the Siebel Server, then the business service might fail.

4. In the Business Service Method property, choose the method that calls the business service. The choices available for this property depend on the business service you defined in Step 3.
5. Make sure the business service step is chosen.
6. Use the MVPW to define input arguments and output arguments.

   For more information, see Defining a Step Argument in the MVPW.

Making a Business Service Visible to a Workflow Process

A business service includes the business service, business service method, and business service method argument. Each of these objects include a Display Name property and a Hidden property. To display each object in various drop-down lists in Siebel Tools, the Hidden property of the object must be set to FALSE. For example, Siebel Tools displays the methods and arguments that you define in a business service in the drop-down lists in the Arguments list. Siebel CRM does not hide a business service that you define in the Siebel client, by default.

To make a business service visible to a workflow process

1. In Siebel Tools, in the Object Explorer, click Business Service.
2. In the Business Services list, locate the business service you must modify.
3. In the Properties window, change the Hidden property to FALSE.
4. In the Object Explorer, expand the Business Service tree, and then click Business Service Method.
5. In the Business Service Methods list, locate the method you must modify, and then change the Hidden property to FALSE in the properties window.
6. Repeat Step 5 for each method, if necessary.
7. In the Object Explorer, expand the Business Service Method tree, and then click Business Service Method Arg.
8. In the Business Service Method Arguments list, click the argument you must modify.
9. In the Properties window, change the Hidden property to FALSE.
10. Repeat Step 9 for each method argument, if necessary.

Using the Pass By Reference Feature with a Business Service

You can use the PassByRef user property on a predefined business service. For more information, see Using the Pass By Reference Feature with a Sub Process.