1. Using Common Features for HCM
  2. Configure Notifications in Career Development Using Reports

Configure Notifications in Career Development Using Reports

You can configure workflow email and in-app notifications for the career development business process using Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher reports.

You use Microsoft Word to edit the .rtf template used for notifications. You can modify the BI Publisher templates only if you have the BI Administrator role.

The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario.

Decisions to Consider

This Example

Which template do I update?

CareerDevelopmentFYINotification, for changes to worker development goal content

Do I add prompts and headers to the template?

Yes

Do I add data model attributes to the template?

Goal ID

Which language do I use for the .rtf template?

English (United States)

Summary of the Tasks

Configure a career development notification by:

  1. Exporting the data model XML file.

  2. Downloading the report layout template.

  3. Editing prompts and headers in the template.

  4. Previewing the document.

  5. Adding data model attributes to the template.

  6. Uploading the modified report layout to the BI Publisher catalog.

If you only want to add or edit prompts and headers in the template, use tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. To only add data model attributes to the template, use tasks 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.

Prerequisites

  1. Download and install the Oracle BI Publisher Desktop: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-publisher/downloads/index.html.

  2. Download and install the Template Builder for Word to use Microsoft Word to edit the layout templates. To download, install, and set up Template Builder for Word, see Creating RTF Templates by Using BI Publisher 11g Template Builder for Word: http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/obe/fmw/bi/bip/tb4word/tbwordbip.htm.

  3. To preview the configured templates, download a local copy of the subtemplate that applies to your custom own report layout template:

    • Sign in to the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role to open the Oracle Business Intelligence Home page.

    • Click Catalog.

    • In the BI catalog, go to Shared Folders > Common Content > Templates for the predefined subtemplate.

    • Click Edit for Workflow Notification Subtemplate.

    • In the Templates section, click the link in the Locale column.

    • Save the subtemplate .rtf file to your computer.

  4. Click Catalog to open the Catalog page.

Exporting the Data Model XML File

In this task, you export the XML file that includes the data model attributes predefined for the notifications. Perform this task to enable previewing your modified template. This task is also required if you intend to add data model attributes to the template.

  1. Sign in to the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role to open the Oracle Business Intelligence Home page.

  2. Click Catalog to open the Catalog page.

  3. In the Folders section, expand Shared Folders > Human Capital Management > Workflow Notifications and select Data Models to display the data models in the right pane.

  4. Under CareerDevelopmentFyiDM, click Edit to open the Diagram tab on the CareerDevelopmentFyiDM Data Model page.

    Note:

    To ensure that all data sets include requested elements with null values in the output XML data, do the following:

    • In the Data Model section, select Properties.

    • In the Properties section, select Include Empty Tags for Null Elements.

    • In the Data Model section, select Data Sets.

    Note:

    To add data model attributes to the template, perform steps 5 and 6. Otherwise, skip to step 7.

  5. Click the Data tab.

  6. Enter the following attributes for an existing goal that are key attributes and enable you to pull in all the goal attributes:

    • GoalID

    • NotificationType

  7. Click View to see the sample data in the report, and all the available attributes.

  8. Click Export to open the Opening CareerDevelopmentFyiDM dialog box.

  9. Select Save File and click OK.

  10. Save the CareerDevelopmentFyiDM_.xml file to a local drive.

Downloading the Report Layout Template

In this task, you create a copy of the report layout template in the Custom folder, and download a copy of the template to your local hard drive to modify it.

  1. Sign in to the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator role to open the Oracle Business Intelligence Home page.

  2. Click Catalog to open the Catalog page.

  3. In the Folders section, expand Shared Folders > Human Capital Management and select Workflow Notifications to display the templates in the right pane.

  4. Under CareerDevelopmentFYINotification, click More, and then select Customize. A copy of the CareerDevelopmentFYINotification is created automatically in the Custom folder.

  5. On the CareerDevelopmentFYINotification page, under CareerDevelopmentFYINotification, click Edit.

  6. Save the template to your local drive with the name UpdatedCareerDevelopmentFYINotificationLayoutrtf to distinguish it from the original template.

Editing Prompts and Headers in the Template

To modify workflow email and in-app notifications, you edit a local copy of the .rtf report layout templates in Microsoft Word.
Note:

The exact steps can vary depending on your version of Microsoft Word.

  1. Open the UpdatedCareerDevelopmentFYINotificationLayout.rtf template in Microsoft Word with the Template Builder installed, if not already open. The document contains all notifications for the career development business process except approval notifications.

  2. Scroll to the notification with the header Development Goal Added.

  3. Place your curser at the end of the Development Goal Added header.

  4. Enter to Your Development Plan. The text now reads: Development Goal Added to Your Development Plan.

  5. Place the cursor at the end of the text PPERFORMERNAME added development goal GOAL_NAME for you..

  6. Enter a new sentence: You can access the goal to track your development.

  7. Save the document.

  8. Proceed to the task Previewing the Document.

Previewing the Document

Before uploading the .rtf files to the business intelligence (BI) catalog, you should preview the output with the changes you made. You can avoid uploading a broken report that displays an error in the emails sent to users.

  1. In the Ribbon, open the BI Publisher tab and click Sample XML within the Load Data group.

  2. Browse to and select the CareerDevelopmentFyiDM)_.xml file you downloaded to import sample data from the data model.

  3. In the Data Loaded Successfully dialog box, click OK.

  4. At the top of the document, replace the path with the location of the downloaded subtemplate file on your computer. For example, change <? import:xdoxsl:///Common Content/Templates/Workflow Notification Subtemplate.xsb?> to <?import:file:C:///Template_Directory/Workflow Notification Subtemplate.rtf?>.

  5. From the BI Publisher tab in the Ribbon, click HTML in the Preview group.

  6. If the preview reflects your changes as expected, then change the path back to the original location.

  7. From the BI Publisher tab in the Ribbon, click Validate Template in the Tools group.

  8. Also in the Tools group, click Check Accessibility.

  9. Save your changes in Word.

Adding Data Model Attributes to the Template

In this task, you add to the report template attributes that exist in the predefined data model. You will add the Goal ID and Category Meaning data model attributes to the template.

  1. Open the UpdatedCareerDevelopmentFYINotificationLayout.rtf template in Microsoft Word with the Template Builder installed, if not already open.

  2. Select the BI Publisher tab.

  3. In the Load Data section, click Sample XML.

  4. In the dialog box to select XML data that appears, browse to open the CareerDevelopmentFyiDM_.xml file you saved in the Exporting the Data Model XML File task and click Open.

  5. In the Data loaded successfully dialog box, click OK.

  6. Scroll to the Development Goal Added notification.

  7. Place the cursor after the sentence: PPERFORMERNAME added development goal GOAL_NAME for you. and press the Enter key.

  8. On the new line, enter Goal ID:.

  9. Enter a space after Goal ID:

  10. On the BI Publisher tab, in the Insert section, click the 123 Field button to open the Field dialog box.

  11. In the DATA_DS folder, select PGOALID and click Insert. The field appears in the document.

  12. Click Close to return to the UpdatedCareerDevelopmentFYINotificationLayout.rtf template.

  13. Preview the template using the steps in the Previewing the Document task.

  14. Save and close the document.

  15. Proceed to the task Uploading the Modified Report Layout to the Oracle BI Publisher Catalog.

Uploading the Modified Report Layout to the Oracle BI Publisher Catalog

You must perform this task to use the modified report layout for notifications.

  1. Sign in to the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role to open the Oracle Business Intelligence Home page.

  2. Click Catalog to open the Catalog page.

  3. In the Folders section, expand Shared Folders > Custom > Human Capital Management and select Workflow Notifications.

  4. Under CareerDevelopmentFYINotification, click Edit.

  5. On the CareerDevelopmentFYINotification Data Model page, on the right side of the page, click Add New Layout to open the page with the Create Layout and Upload or Generate Layout sections.

  6. In the Upload or Generate Layout section, click the Upload icon.

  7. In the Upload Template File dialog box, in the Layout Name field, enter Updated Career Development Notifications Template.

  8. In the Template File field, browse for the modified UpdatedCareerDevelopmentFYINotificationLayout.rtf template on your local drive, select the template, and click Open.

  9. On the Upload Template File dialog box, from the Type list, select RTF Template.

  10. From the Locale list, select English (United States).

  11. Click Upload to open the Processing dialog box.

  12. On the CareerDevelopmentFYINotification Data Model page, on the right side, click View a list to open the Layout page.

  13. In the row for the Updated Career Development Notifications Template, select the Default Layout check box.

  14. On the right side of the page, click the Save Report icon.

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