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Understanding Business Projects

This section lists common elements and discusses:

Field or Control

Definition
Time Units

Enter the units for defining how long a task, phase, or business project takes to complete. Options are Minute(s), Hour(s), and Day(s).

Standard Time and Maximum Time

Enter the average and maximum amounts of time for a task, phase, or business project, measured in the units of time in the Time Units field.

Standard Calculated Time and Maximum Calculated Time

Displays the sum of the standard and maximum times for all tasks in a phase or all phases in a business project. A business project's calculated times are based on the assumption that all phases have transitions to their default phases.
Recalculate Times

Click to update the values in the Standard Calculated Time and Maximum Calculated Time fields.

Depending on the time units, a calculated time can be rounded down to zero. For example, if a phase is measured in hours and consists of tasks that are measured in minutes, then the phase time is calculated as zero hours if the total of all the task times is less than 30 minutes.

Note: The Recalculate Times button on the Phase page does not recalculate the time entered in the Task page. The functionality of this button is to recalculate times of the tasks included in the phase and to adjust them to the unit specified on this page.

For example, assume there is a Phase 1 with a standard time of 25 minutes and a maximum time of 35 minutes. Also, assume that the phase has 2 tasks, T1 and T2, each having standard and maximum times of 10 and 15 respectively using minutes as the unit. When you click the Recalculate Times button, the system goes through the task list for Phase 1 ( T1 and T2 ) and displays the standard calculated times field as 20 (T1 x 2) and 30 (T2 x 2). If you change the unit to hours on the Phase page, clicking the Recalculate Times button will recalculate the time for Tasks T1 and T2 and convert them to hours.
Currency Code and Total Cost

Enter the cost for the task, phase, or business project (if billable), and enter the currency of the cost. The billing information fields are for informational purposes only; they do not affect billing processes.

Business projects are structured, workflow-enabled task lists. You use business projects to coordinate and track the work involved in performing tasks.

Organizational Processes

You can create business projects to codify and manage an organization's internal business processes. For example, a help desk might create business projects for commonly performed processes, such as upgrading a user's computer. Service orders, support cases, and helpdesk cases all support this use of business projects, enabling you to:

  • Codify the best practices of an organization into a reusable template.

  • Enforce the proper sequence of tasks.

  • Automate work-related notifications.

  • Coordinate any combination of manual processes and automated processes.

Business projects can be instantiated manually (as a related object, for example), or automatically through the Active Analytics Framework (AAF) as a result of the evaluation of business rules. Only one business project can exist for each parent object. For example, you can have only one business project for each case.

Automated Processes

PeopleSoft delivers business projects that manage certain predefined application processes. For example, in PeopleSoft Order Capture, the delivered CORE_ORDER_BP business project manages the order fulfillment process. This business project coordinates automated tasks such as publishing the data to an order fulfillment system and creating an installed product record. Using a business project to manage these tasks simplifies the management of conditional logic.

Refer to the documentation for a specific application to learn about application processes that you can implement using business projects.

Tasks are the basic unit of work in a business project. Task definitions describe the work to be performed and the amount of time that the task normally takes. Phases are groups of tasks. Phases can also incorporate sub-business projects, which are business projects that are nested within other business projects.

Task Sequencing

When you set up a phase, you define the sequence of tasks in the phase.

Tasks within a single phase can be performed either in parallel or in sequence. For example, when you set up an employee in a human resources (HR) system, the first task might be to enter employee personal information into the system. After this task is complete, you might enter other information in parallel, for example, tax withholding elections and benefits elections.

A task begins when all preceding tasks or sub-business projects in a phase are complete. For example, consider a phase that starts with three parallel tasks. These tasks are followed by two other parallel tasks that cannot start until the first three tasks are complete. The first three tasks begin when the phase begins, and the next two tasks begin when the first three tasks are complete.

When you set up a phase, you indicate required tasks and sub-business projects. The sequencing of tasks and sub-business projects, however, is not affected by the phase setup. So in the preceding example, the fourth and fifth tasks do not start until all three of the previous tasks are complete, even if only one of the three preceding tasks is required.

Phase Sequencing and Phase Transitions

Phases are always performed sequentially. Consequently, tasks that are performed in parallel must all belong to the same phase. For each phase in a business project, you define the possible target phases and the conditions under which each target is appropriate. These conditions are called transition rules.

Any phase in a business project can have a transition to any other phase in the business project. This architecture enables you to loop through a phase multiple times if necessary. A business project is complete when you reach the system-defined End the Business Project phase. (You cannot modify this phase except to change the descriptive text.)

Transitions can be automatic or manual. A phase that has multiple possible targets can use a combination of automatic and manual transition rules.

Automatic transition criteria are based on the status and outcome of required tasks and sub-business projects in the start phase. If the start phase definition includes elements that are not marked as required elements, the system does not use those elements when evaluating transition criteria.

The outcome of a task or sub-business project can be Canceled, Complete - Success, or Complete - Failed. A sub-business project's outcome can be set manually or automatically, depending on how the sub-business project is defined. If the outcome is set automatically, the sub-business project is considered successful when it is complete. If the outcome is set manually, the user specifies whether the sub-business project succeeded or failed.

The system evaluates transition rules at two points:

  • When a task or sub-business project is completed.

    Because transition rules are based on the success or failure of tasks within phases, the system evaluates transition rules at the completion of a task.

  • When a phase exceeds its maximum time.

    You can specify that an automatic transition occurs when tasks are not completed on time. If you set up this type of transition, then when the phase starts, the system schedules a process to run when the phase exceeds its maximum time. If the phase is still in progress when the process runs, the transition occurs.

Transition Rule Validation

Before you can use a business project, the system must validate its phase transition rules. The following conditions cause the validation process to fail:

  • No default target phase exists.

    Every start phase with a target phase must have a default target phase. The default target phase establishes a default path through the business project tree so that the system can calculate standard and maximum times for the business project. In addition, in an automatic transition, the system starts the default target phase when all tasks are complete but none of the transition criteria are satisfied.

  • Multiple targets have the same automatic transition criteria.

    Automatic transition criteria enable the system to use one of multiple target phases. If multiple targets have the same automatic transition criteria, the system cannot perform the transition.

When the validation process is successful, the system marks the business project as valid and makes it available.

If you change the business project definition, you must validate it again and save it.

Sub-Business Projects

Sub-business projects are business projects that are incorporated into phases of other business projects. The sub-business project functions as a task in this context, even though it may be a complex and multiphased task. The standard task sequencing rules apply regardless of whether a phase has tasks, sub-business projects, or a combination of the two.

You define sub-business projects as you do main business projects. They consist of phases and tasks with specific sequencing and transition rules. Sub-business projects differ from main business projects in two ways:

  • Sub-business projects include a field that determines whether the outcome is set by default or explicitly.

    Main business projects, which have a status but not an outcome, do not have this field.

  • For sub-business projects, you do not need to identify the parent object that uses the sub-business project.

    The parent object for a sub-business project is always the business project to which it belongs.

A business project type indicator prevents main business projects from being used as sub-business projects. It also prevents sub-business projects from being used as main business projects. At runtime, when you prompt for a list of business projects to invoke, only main business projects appear. During the design stage, when you prompt for a list of business projects to include in a phase, only sub-business projects appear.

Like tasks and phases, sub-business projects are reusable. For example, a sub-business project for verifying a customer's credit might be embedded within several main business projects. You can even nest sub-business projects within sub-business projects.

Dynamic Sub-Business Projects

Using the Nested_Business_Project_Start PeopleCode function, you can dynamically add sub-business projects at runtime. For example, if you use a business project for order fulfillment and sub-business projects for each item ordered, you cannot know which sub-business projects will be needed for a specific order.

PeopleSoft Order Capture components incorporate the PeopleCode that is necessary for this processing. To take advantage of it, use the CORE_ORDER_BP business project as the main fulfillment business project. Then make sure that each product definition references the sub-business project that is used when a customer orders the product.

Business Project Modifications

You cannot modify tasks, phases, and sub-business projects that belong to a currently instantiated business project. After all instances of the main business project are marked complete, these objects become editable again.

Business projects are effective-dated. You cannot modify the effective-dated row of data if an instance of the business project for the effective date is currently in progress. Instead, create a new effective-dated row of data for the changes.

Changes to a business project definition do not affect existing instantiations of the business project.

Business project workflow automates the process of sending notifications and running processes. When you set up business project workflow, you specify three things:

  • The event that triggers the workflow action.

    These events are predefined in the system, such as when a phase or business project begins, ends, or exceeds a preset time.

  • The workflow action that the system performs.

    Workflow actions can schedule processes (for example, Application Engine processes) or send notifications.

  • (Optional) A correspondence management email template that provides notification text.

    Only correspondence template packages with a usage of Business Project will be available for selection.

    Correspondence management email templates are only required for workflow actions that send email notifications.

When business project workflow sends a notification, the system logs the notification as an interaction, which you can view in the 360-degree view or other interaction lists. You can set up workflow actions at the task level as well.

A task is the smallest unit of work in a business project. It can be performed automatically or manually.

Automatic Tasks

Certain tasks can be performed without human intervention. For example, the system can update inventory balances after an order is shipped.

To automate these tasks, set up workflow to run an Application Engine process that performs the task. When you do this, you need to pass task information to the Application Engine program, and you need to make sure the program updates the task status when it is complete.

Manual Tasks

Certain tasks are assigned to and performed by people. For example, a manual task might be a physical task, such as changing the toner in a printer.

To facilitate manual tasks, set up workflow that sends the assignee an email that describes the task and includes a link to the page where the person can update the system when the task is complete. You can set up additional workflow to notify the overall business project owner whenever a task status is updated.

Default values determine how the system initially assigns a task when the business project begins. The business project owner can change default assignment information before or after the task begins.

To set up workflow that sends notifications for newly assigned tasks, associate the notification with the Beginning of Task event or the Reassignment of Task event (or both). If you send a notification at the beginning of a task, the current assignee receives the notification. Consequently, for the first task of a business project (which starts as soon as the business project starts), the default assignee always receives a notification. For subsequent tasks, the default assignee receives the notification only if you do not change the assignee before the task starts.

The system sends reassignment notifications only for tasks that are in progress, so it does not send a notification if you change the assignee before the task starts.

Note: Task assignment does not trigger notifications unless you set up notification rules based on task assignment.

If a business project is in process, certain user actions may not be appropriate. For example, you may want to prevent users from canceling orders once the shipping phase of an order fulfillment business project begins.

To prevent the action from occurring, the system calls the BusProjectInvalidAction PeopleCode function when the action is attempted. The function determines if the action is invalid for the current phase of the business project. If the action is invalid, the function returns a value of True and sets any variables in the message catalog entry that is associated with the invalid action. The application that called the function can then take appropriate action.

The only component that is delivered with a call to the BusProjectInvalidAction function is the Order Tracking component. When an invalid action occurs in this component, the application prevents the user from canceling the order and displays an error message using text from the message catalog.

As you define a task, you can specify the standard amount of time for the task and a maximum amount of time for the task.

You can roll up that information to calculate the standard and maximum duration of phases and business projects, or you can specify phase durations and business project durations that are separate from the calculated durations. The calculated duration of a phase includes the time required for tasks and for sub-business projects. The calculated duration of a business project is based on the assumption that every transition leads to the default target.

You can set up workflow notifications based on business project, phase, and task times—both calculated times and manually entered times. These timeout notifications enable an organization to monitor delays in the completion of a business project.

As you define tasks, phases, and business projects, you can also specify costs associated with each. The PeopleSoft system does not roll up costs from tasks to phases or from phases to business projects. Likewise, the system does not use the cost information in any processing. The cost information that you specify is for informational purposes only.