1. Implementing Common Features for SCM
  2. Set Up the Approvals Work Area

Set Up the Approvals Work Area

By default, when users click Navigator > Tools > Worklist, they get the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area. You can set things up so that they get the Approvals work area instead with Navigator > Tools > Approvals. The Worklist menu item would no longer be available.

Before You Start

Verify that your environment has the latest fixes applied. Also, ensure it’s enabled for hybrid search:

  1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, on the Setup page, open the Tasks panel tab and click Review Topology. If you don’t see this link, ask your security administrator to give you the Review Topology Manager (ASM_REVIEW_TOPOLOGY_HIERARCHY) privilege.
  2. Select the Enterprise Application Configuration subtab.
  3. In the Enterprise Application list, search for and select Oracle Hybrid Search.
  4. Click the Run icon in the Validate External Enterprise Application Endpoint URL row. The Validate Enterprise Application and Module Endpoint URLs page should show a URL in the External Endpoint URL column for Oracle Hybrid Search.

If your environment doesn't have the latest fixes applied or isn't enabled for hybrid search, contact your help desk and get things sorted out before you set anything up.

Do the Setup

Verify that your environment has the latest fixes applied. Also, ensure it’s enabled for hybrid search:

  1. In the Schedule Processes work area, run the Migrate Approvals Task Statistics scheduled process. This process gathers statistics about the number of existing tasks to be ingested, already ingested, and estimates on how long batches might take to run in your environment.
  2. After the process is completed, review the log file to make decisions about how you want to ingest your historical data.
    • Based on the numbers of approval tasks that exist for each year by month, for example, you might want to delay ingesting more than a month of historical data, and then ingest more later using batches.
    • You can view batches that have been migrated, if any, and those that haven’t been processed to determine your strategy.
    • Using this information, determine how far back you want to go during your migration and consider how you might batch the processing during migration. For example, you might initially want to avoid migrating historic data, or limit it to the recent past.
  3. In the Scheduled Processes work area, run the Create Search Index for Worklist scheduled process. Don’t schedule this to run on a recurring basis. This process creates search indexes for existing workflow tasks. The search engine for the Approvals work area uses these indexes.
    • You can set Batch Reprocess (optional) to Yes to batch the processing. The default is No.
    • When you first run the process, the setting for the Re-create Index parameter doesn’t matter because the index doesn’t exist yet. You can search for the process in the Scheduled Processes work area to check if you ran the process already. In cases where you're running batches, don't re-create the index.
    • Use the Time Value to specify the period you want to use, for example Day, Week, or Month.
    • You can set Reprocess (optional) to Yes to reingest all tasks, including those with Completed status. The index definition is retained.
    • The default parameter for the From date is 30 days, you can set it to index further if you want to. The default for Reprocess Batch Size is 50, but can be increased.
    Note: In rare cases, you might need to run the process again in the future, for example, to fix problems with the index. If this is necessary, at that time set the Re-create Index parameter to Yes so that the existing index is re-created from scratch. This drops the existing index, so make sure this is really needed before you submit the process.
  4. In the event that issues are encountered in the creation of the index or you're updating to a new version of the Approvals work area, you can use scheduled processes to continue processing or maintain an existing index while rebuilding its metadata.
    • Run the Sync Approvals Tasks scheduled process to identify tasks that failed to ingest and try again, checking the status of the process and deleting any unneeded tasks from the index.
    • Run the Reset Approvals Migration Status scheduled process to reset flags after a failed run of the Creat Search Index for Worklist scheduled process.
    • Run the Generate Approvals Smart Search scheduled process to rebuild search metadata from already deployed definition files. When you're updating to a new version of the Approvals work area, this process updates definitions without rebuilding the index.
  5. Make sure the Create Search Index for Worklist process is done running.
  6. Set the Approval Requests UI Enabled (ORA_FND_APPROVALS) profile option.
    1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Applications Core Administrator Profile Values task in the Application Extensions functional area.
    2. On the Manage Applications Core Administrator Profile Values page, search for and select the Approval Requests UI Enabled (ORA_FND_APPROVALS) profile option.
    3. In the Profile Values section, set the profile value depending on whether you want the Approvals work area to be available to all users or only some users.
      • For all users, select Yes in the Profile Value column for the Site level.
      • For only some users:
        1. Leave the profile value set to No at the Site level.
        2. Click the New icon on the toolbar.
        3. In the new row, select User in the Profile Level column.
        4. In the User Name column, select the user you want to make the work area available to.
        5. Select Yes in the Profile Value column.
        6. Repeat steps ii through v to add more users.
  7. Click Save and Close.

Users can get to the Approvals work area next time they sign in.

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