Redwood: Search Workflow Approvals

Use the new Product Management Search: Workflow Approvals interface to configure and run fast, efficient searches for workflow approvals that require attention. You can search for both users and roles for participant types of Approver, Optional Approver, or Reviewer. This is supported for change orders, change requests, problem reports, and corrective actions. Data is limited to current status only.

To navigate to the new workflow search, go to Tasks > Product Management Experience > Search Products > Product Management Search: Workflow Approvals

Search for Pending Approvals

Search for Pending Approvals

Here's what you can do when you search for workflow approvals:

  • Select any configured view which can include attributes from:
    • workflow header
    • workflow descriptive flexfields
    • workflow extensible flexfields
    • workflow approval attributes
  • Based on the configuration of the selected view, you can 
    • search by keywords
    • apply one or more filters on the search results
  • Show or hide columns in the search results of the selected view.
  • Use the sort function to sort any column.
  • Export the selected list of changes.
  • Create saved searches. You can create the following types of saved searches: 
    • System searches: Saved searches available to all users (provided you have necessary privileges).
    • Personal searches: Saved searches for personal usage.
    • Personal shared Searches: You can create a search and share the URL with other users. Then they can save it as their personal search.

Depending on the work area from which the search is launched, the workflow type is filtered or restricted to certain change object types; however, you can override the filter to display all change types.

Work Area Change Types Filtered To
Product Information Management Commercialization Change Order
Product Development Engineering Change Orders, Non Revision Change Orders, Engineering Change Requests, Design Change Requests
Quality Management Problem Reports, Corrective and Preventive Actions

When you have a role as a participant and response required from is One, it can be difficult to search for the approvals. We suggest using the following combination of filter chips to aid in your search:

Scenario Participant Participant Role Activity Type

Approval,  and none of the users from the role claimed 

Role Name

Role Name

Approval

Approval, and one of the user belonging to the role claimed 

User (person who has claimed it)

Role Name

Approval

Here are the example use cases for Workflow Approvals Search by a user role:

  • Change / Quality analyst:
    • Workflows pending approvals from a user or roles.
    • High priority workflows pending approval.
    • Overdue pending approvals.
  • Approver or Reviewer: 
    • My pending approvals.
    • Workflows that need my review.
  • Manager:
    • Workflows pending approvals from my group.
    • High priority workflows pending approval from my group.
    • Overdue pending approvals from my group.

This enhancement benefits your business by allowing your product data stewards and change analyst manage open work more efficiently. You can easily view open work for users and roles that require reviews or approvals by user or role for your change orders, change requests, problem reports, and corrective actions.

Here's the demo of these capabilities:

Steps to Enable

Configure Indexes and Search Views

You can configure the index of attributes you want to use in your searches, and create specific search views. To navigate to the Index and View Management page, use the following tasks within the Product Management Experience section in the Tasks panel:

  • Configure Index
  • Configure Views

Configure Index and Configure Views

Configure Index and Configure Views

In the Index and View Management interface, you can:

  • Configure indexing of attributes for each object.
  • Configure multiple search views.
  • Configure display options for each view.

Configure Index

On the Index Management page, you see the objects that are enabled for index configuration. The Configure Index page for each object shows you the list of attributes and attribute groups that are already indexed. You can add or remove attributes and then rebuild the index to include additional attributes, such as header, descriptive flexfields, extensible flexfields and approval attributes. After the rebuilding is complete, you can add the attributes to a search view. You would need to re-build the index after a quarterly update.

Configure Index Page for Workflow Approval Attributes

Configure Index Page for Workflow Approval Attributes

Configure Views

The View Management page displays a list of views that are already configured. You can modify an existing view or create a new one. For each view, you can add or remove attributes that are indexed. The Manage Changes page displays the default view.

For each attribute, you can enable the following:

  • Keyword Search - Search for the attribute by entering a search term in the search field.
  • Display columns - Show a column for the attribute in the search results.
  • Filters - Filter results by the attribute. Filter chips are enabled for attributes which are either date or text. You can’t enable filter chips for long text attributes.

Configure Search View for Change Approvals

Configure Search View for Change Approvals

Tips And Considerations

  1. You can use the filter Response = Pending to search for pending approvals.
  2. You must run the index the first time, and each time you add a new attribute, if you want to use the newly added attribute in your search.
  3. The index is run behind the scenes for new changes that are added after the index was last rebuilt.
  4. You must run the change upgrade process and then run the change index.

    1. Use the Enterprise Scheduler Service job: Upgrade Product Management Data to run on-demand change upgrade and presence indicator scripts:

      • Upgrade Process = Execution
      • Functional Area = Changes
      • Feature = Update all data presence indicators
    2. Rebuild the index from Index Management.
  5. Administrators must make a default search view to display the search results based on the configuration. The default view is applicable to all users.
  6. The Name, Number, Workflow Type, Participants, and Approver Action are the default indexed attributes. You can't remove them from the index.
  7. You can search for multiple changes by entering change numbers separated by space. For example: NPI123 NPI124 ECO123 ECR123.
  8. When you select the object, it will be opened in its respective work area, regardless from which work area you have launched the search.
  9. You must include the application user FUSION_APPS_SCM_ADF_APPID when you add users to the Security tab of the change type.

Key Resources

Access Requirements

Users who are assigned a configured job role that contains these privileges can access this feature:

To search for changes in the new interface:

  • Users with view only access to changes require the following privileges:
    • Access Product Management Change Search (EGO_VIEW_PRODUCT_MANAGEMENT_CHANGE_SEARCH)
    • Get Search View REST (EGP_GET_SEARCH_VIEW_REST_PRIV)
    • GET Product Management Index REST (EGP_GET_PM_INDEX_REST_PRIV)
  • You should have Monitor Product Management Workflow Objects (ACA_MONITOR_PRODUCT_MANAGEMENT_WORFLOW_OBJECTS_PRIV) and one of the following privileges:

For change orders:

  • View Change Order (ACA_VIEW_CHANGE_ORDERS_PRIV) or
  • Manage Change Orders (ACA_MANAGE_CHANGE_ORDERS_PRIV)

For change requests:

  • View Change Request (ACA_VIEW_CHANGE_REQUESTS_PRIV)
  • Manage Change Requests (ACA_MANAGE_CHANGE_REQUESTS_PRIV)

For problem reports:

  • View Problem Report (ACA_VIEW_PROBLEM_REPORTS_PRIV)
  • Manage Problem Report (ACA_MANAGE_PROBLEM_REPORT_PRIV)

For corrective and preventive actions:

  • View Corrective Action (ACA_VIEW_CORRECTIVE_ACTIONS_PRIV)
  • Manage Corrective Action (ACA_MANAGE_CORRECTIVE_ACTION_PRIV)

To configure the index:

  • Manage Product Management Index (EGP_MANAGE_PM_INDEXES_PRIV)
  • Manage Scheduled Job Definition (FND_MANAGE_SCHEDULED_JOB_DEFINITION_PRIV)
  • Grant Search Framework Manager Permissions (FND_SEARCH_FWK_MGR_PRIV)

To rebuild the index:

  • Rebuild Product Management Indexes (EGO_REBUILD_PRODUCT_MGT_INDEXES_PRIV)

To create search views:

  • Manage Product Management View (EGP_MANAGE_PM_VIEWS_PRIV)
  • Manage Scheduled Job Definition (FND_MANAGE_SCHEDULED_JOB_DEFINITION_PRIV)
  • Grant Search Framework Manager Permissions (FND_SEARCH_FWK_MGR_PRIV)
  • Access Product Development Configurations Using a REST Service (ACA_GET_PD_CONFIGURATIONS_REST_PRIV)
  • Manage Search View REST (EGP_MANAGE_SEARCH_VIEW_REST_PRIV)
  • Get View Available Attribute REST (EGP_VIEW_AVAIL_ATTR_REST_PRIV)