5. Provides Communications for Routing Workflow Send work items to responsible persons Application Change Customer Master Change document SD-Clerk Prod. Manager Credit-clerk Sales Rep. Change Production plan Adjust Credit limit Arrange visit Entry in each Business Workplace
6. Business Workplace in R/3 Automatic grouping Your logo and text Tips/Tricks Related objects Task description Overview tree Worklist Work item preview Work item text Special work items
8. Business Workplace - More Functions Processing work items - display - forward - replace - execute - set to ‘done’ - change deadlines - change priority - create attachment - reserve - resubmit Individual configuration of displayed columns Dynamic columns
9. Technical Work Item Display Description is not formatted Technical info can be seen
10. Work Item Display Description is formatted Attachments appear immediately and can be viewed by clicking No technical details can be seen Attractive appearance and clear structure improve acceptance from users
11.
12. Workflow Log Graphic workflow log Workflow log Details section Chronological view of the process Details for each step Green line shows process progress Shows all recipients, possible and excluded agents
13.
14. Views - Inbox SAP GUI for Windows SAP GUI for HTML SAP GUI for Java MAPI client
15.
16. SAP Workflow Course PwC Consulting TM refers to the management consulting services businesses of the member firms of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organisation. 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers. All rights reserved.
Editor's Notes
The Business Workplace plays an integral part in the SAP Business Workflow runtime environment. The Business Workplace is the vehicle by which documents and work items to be processed via the SAP business applications are routed to the appropriate person(s) that are required to provide needed input in order for the process to continue. Through the structuring of organizational units that define responsibilities within the companies business structure, the proper delegation of work to be done is routed to the appropriate agents for a given process. The worklist contains a list of all work items (that is, the list of all activities to be processed) assigned to this user. It is significantly easier for an employee to access the information important to him or her. It is no longer necessary to access different information channels, or log on to different systems and use different dialogs and interfaces. The Business Workplace is therefore the most important interface for an employee in his daily work. In addition to the worklist (list of work items), the documents inbox (E-Mail, Internet mail and fax) is also displayed in the Business Workplace. This simplifies significantly an employee's access to the information which is important to him/her.
The Business Workplace has three screen areas: Overview tree: On the left side of the Business Workplace, you find the overview tree. There you can for example choose, if you see work items for executing, workflows you have started or documents. Worklist: The worklist is displayed in the upper right corner of the Business Workplace screen when you mark the folder Workflow. The system groups entries of this folder automatically. There are special folders, where you can find work items, which are overdue, or missed deadline work items. If you mark inbox within the overview tree, you will see all work items and documents in this screen area. Work item preview: In the lower right corner of the Business Workplace screen , the work item selected in the worklist is displayed in a preview. Not all the functions of the work item display or the workflow log are available. It is possible, to execute a user decision from the work item preview. A user exit can be used to configure the work item preview to suit your individual requirements. The example above shows the work item preview of a demo workflow.
The worklist contents are set up for the specific user so that the worklist displayed always corresponds to the roles, which can change according to the organizational assignment of the employee. The worklist is therefore not compiled until the Business Workplace is called by the user. The worklist provides comprehensive functionality for work items, allowing forwarding within defined responsibilities, resubmission of work items, creating and activating substitutions, and providing views of other employees' work items as a control instrument for superiors. Recipients can view the attachments of the work item und append new ones. Many type of documents you can attach to a work item, including SAPscript-documents, Microsoft Office documents or internet pages. Application objects can be linked to work items so that the subsequent agent can also process these objects by clicking on them. The work items can be processed directly from the worklist. The related applications are started directly by a double-click and provided with the required data. The workflow system determines the recipients of the work item. All recipients can see the work item in their Business Workplace and can execute it. However, only one user can execute the work item, so if one user starts the execution, other recipients can’t execute this work item. A recipient can reserve a work item. A reserved work item can only be executed by the user, who has reserved it. By choosing Replace the user can release the work item from its reserved status and make it available again to all recipients.The work item status is set back to the status ”ready”.
You can configure the worklist individually by choosing fields to be displayed. Choose the arrow to the right of Choose display variant and then Change display variant to get a list of all selectable fields. Mark the fields to be displayed and use the appropriate arrow-button. There are six dynamic columns accessible, too. Data shown in this dynamic columns can be configured for each task individually. Processing work items - If you mark a work item, you will see the work item preview. By choosing Display , the work item display is opened. You can execute the work item by double-clicking on it. You can forward a work item to another user for execution. It is defined at the task, if you can forward a work item to the possible agents of the corresponding task or to all users. You have the option with it of also making the work item accessible to users who were not recipients. You can resubmit a work item if you want to execute it at a specific date in the future. You can define that the completion of executing a workflow step is to be confirmed explicitly. After executing a work item, you will get a dialog box, where you can complete the work item execution. If you choose Cancel at this point, the work item remains in the worklist and is set to “executed”. Within the worklist you can choose Set to “done” for work items with the status “executed”. As long as this does not occur, the work item can be executed or forwarded several times. Missed deadline work items must always be confirmed explicitly.
The technical work item display contains technical information, such as: Work item ID Messages Containers Etc. Attachments must be called using pushbuttons and do not appear immediately. The work item description is not formatted and the work item can be changed. This work item display is suitable for the purposes of diagnosis. You see the work item ID, the deadlines and can access all the technical details.
The standard work item display hides the technical information not required for day to day work. The fact that attachments appear and can be called immediately makes it easier for the user. The work item description is also integrated, making SAPscript formatting possible. The priority can be changed ad hoc. All additional information (such as users, attachments) can be accessed by single-clicking on a link. The work item display covers the tab pages ‘Basic data’ and ‘Available objects’ as standard. The work item display can be expanded with a user-defined tab page.
The extended work item display aims to collect in one interface all information and activities which are relevant in the environment of the work item display. The extended work item display supports the end user (agent) not only in the processing of the current work item, but also enables an activity list to be put together which is either seen as a personal work queue for the end user (agent) or can be forwarded with the work item. The extended work item display only refers to dialog work items and can only be reached from the Inbox.
The workflow log contains all information about a business process. Dependent on the role there are different views: Standard view, this view is available in different forms: Chronological: What was done by whom and when? Agents: Who has done what kind of activities and when? Objects: Which objects were touched by whom and in what way? Technical view Graphical workflow log The workflow log answers the following questions: What is the status of his request Who fulfilled a specific task What kind of information led to a specific decision. The log allows access to deeper information until you get to the workitems themselves or the contents of attached documents and so on. Within any view you may select additional, more technical information such as failures that occurred, conditions for task routing or even container elements (internal workflow information).
You can use MAPI clients (e.g. MS Exchange, Outlook, cc:Mail) as your inbox for the SAP workitem messages. The SAP MAPI Service Provider is delivered on the SAP presentation CD. During runtime you will receive the work item messages in your inbox. Open such a message and you will receive a Mail window, which has two attachments. Double click on the ”Execute” button and after the SAP logon process for your SAP user ID you are directly in the SAP transaction, which is used by this workflow step.
![Business Workplace ,[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)