General Procedures for Setting up Business Processes

Business processes must be set up before use. The general procedures apply to company-level and project-or shell-level business processes, with some differences.

Workflow Business Processes

Workflow business processes can have one or more BP setups, which define the workflow setup options. These include configuring the workflow and each step. These options control step behaviors as the BP moves through the steps of the workflow. Each step can have an associated duration and the workflow (consisting of all the steps) can have an overall duration, which facilitates project or shell data flow-through and tracking. BP setup is the process of choosing a configuration, assigning users or groups to each step, configuring the actions they can take on that step, and setting the durations.

You may want to create multiple workflows per BP to accommodate different ways for the workflow to operate. For example, you can configure an RFI workflow with or without a coordinator. You may or may not have a need for both workflows on your project or shell.

Non-workflow Business Processes

For non-workflow business processes, one setup is allowed. Setup includes adding the list of users who can create a new non-workflow BP.

Set up of auto-creation of business processes or line items

Both workflow and non-workflow BPs support auto-creation. Auto-creation can be based on a:

Condition that is met
Date that passes
Condition and a date
Frequency (at periodic intervals, for example)
Condition and frequency

You can auto-create BPs or line items from the upper form or the detail form, using creator elements. See Set up auto-creation for a non-workflow BP or planning item for non-workflow auto-creation setup and Set up auto-creation for a workflow BP for workflow auto-creation.

Auto-creation of BPs based on workflow steps

You can specify that some workflow BPs include steps during the workflow that enable the auto-creation of BPs from an S-Step. Define the Business Process Workflow for details.

Special setups

There are special setup procedures for blanket purchase order BPs and Request for Bid (RFB) BPs. There is an additional option for auto-creation of a commitment-level cash flow curve in setups for base commit business processes.

See Also