Oracle Vorkilow tustomization

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Oracle Workflow Customization Page 2
Oracle Vorkilow tustomization
Lecutive Overview..........................................................................................
Introduction.......................................................................................................
Access Protection..............................................................................................
Access Level .................................................................................................. +
Protection Level ............................................................................................ +
Allow access to everyone ........................................................................ +
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own ............... 3
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own or
higher ......................................................................................................... 3
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own or
lower........................................................................................................... 3
tustomization Level..................................................................................... 3
Allow modiiications to customized objects.............................................. 6
Loading Deiinitions .......................................................................................... 6
Loading Vorkilow Design.......................................................................... 6
Loading 1ranslated Deiinitions..................................................................
Standalone tustomers.............................................................................
Oracle Applications tustomers .............................................................
tase Study .......................................................................................................... 8
tustomization Goal ..................................................................................... 8
Original Process........................................................................................ 8
tustomized Process................................................................................. 8
Shipped Vorkilow Design.......................................................................... 8
Item 1ype .................................................................................................. 8
Process ....................................................................................................... 9
lunction Activities................................................................................. 10
tustomized Vorkilow Design ................................................................. 11
tustom lunction Activity..................................................................... 11
tustomized Process............................................................................... 11
Preserve tustomizations....................................................................... 11
tonclusion........................................................................................................ 1


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Oracle Vorkilow tustomization
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
Oracle Vorkilow lets you automate and continuously improve business processes,
routing iniormation oi any type according to business rules you can easily change
to people both inside and outside your enterprise. One oi the key ieatures oi
Oracle Vorkilow is the ability to adapt to the business process oi any enterprise
and also be able to adapt to the continuous changes in business processes with
ease.
1his technical white paper describes how Oracle Vorkilow supports
customizations and provides technical details on the implementation process.
INTRODUCTION
Oracle Vorkilow lets you easily customize Oracle Applications workilowenabled
transactions to reilect your business practices. \ou can create alternative
processing paths to accommodate new business processing rules or introduce new
procedures. \ou can modiiy message content ior improved decisionmaking. \ou
can etend a process to include eternal system processing. Oracle Vorkilow
supports your modiiications without changing Applications code. Some workilow
products iorce you to stop their workilow engine to make changes or to introduce
new process deiinitions to the system. Oracle Vorkilow introduces your
modiiications without interrupting active processes while the Vorkilow Lngine
continues to eecute. Oracle Vorkilow embedded in Oracle Applications provides
ease oi change and ease oi implementation, enabling you to quickly respond in the
rapidly changing world oi ebusiness.
ACCESS PROTECTION
Access protection is a ieature oi Oracle Vorkilow that prevents workilow seed
data created by an Applications product team irom being modiiied by Applications
customers. In Oracle Vorkilow, seed data reiers to any oi the iollowing.
Vorkilow object deiinitions that can and should be modiiied to meet a
certain consumer's needs.
Vorkilow object deiinitions protected against modiiication because they
represent standards that may also be upgraded in the iuture by the Oracle
Applications product team.
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1ranslated workilow deiinitions ior which only translated iniormation is
uploaded, no design time iniormation, such as process activities or process
activity transitions, is uploaded.
Oracle Vorkilow assigns a protection and customization level to every workilow
object deiinition stored in the database and requires every user oi Oracle
Vorkilow to operate at a certain access level. 1he combination oi protection,
customization, and access levels makes up the access protection ieature and
determines whether a user can modiiy a given workilow object. 1he level in all
three cases is a numeric value ranging irom 0 to 1000.
Access Level
Lach user oi Oracle Vorkilow operates the system at a certain access level
according to the range oi levels listed above. A "user oi Oracle Vorkilow," in this
case, represents someone who is operating the Oracle Vorkilow Builder or the
Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader program which loads workilow process deiinitions
irom a iile into a database. \ou should always operate Oracle Vorkilow Builder at
the same consistent access level because the level you work at aiiects the
protection level oi the seed data you create.
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\ou can view your access level as iollows.
In Oracle Vorkilow Builder, select About Vorkilow irom the lelp menu.
Ii you are going to run the Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader program to
download workilow process deiinitions irom the database to a iile, check
the value ior the environment variable Vl_AttLSS_LLVLL on your
workilow server. Ii you do not deiine this environment variable, the
Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader simply assumes a deiault access level oi 1.
Protection Level
Vhen a workilow object is created in the Oracle Vorkilow Builder, the object can
be protected at a certain access level. An object's protection level controls whether
other users can modiiy the object based on their access levels.
Allow access to everyone
By deiault, all users are allowed access to an object ii both Preserve
tustomizations and Lock at this Access Level are unchecked in the Access tab.
Oracle Applications product teams should not ship workilow process with this
coniiguration ii.
1he workilow process can be customized
1here may be upgraded versions oi the workilow process in the iuture
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tustomers customizing objects with this coniiguration can check the Preserve
tustomizations and Lock at this Access Level check boes to protect their
customizations irom iuture upgrades irom the Oracle Applications product teams.
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own
Ii you check both Lock at this Access Level and Preserve tustomizations you
ensure that the object cannot be modiiied by anyone other than users operating at
your current access level.
Oracle Applications product teams should ship workilow processes with the Lock
at this Access Level checked to protect any objects that they want to deiine as
Standard components.
tustomers customizing workilow processes must protect their customizations
irom being overwritten by checking both the options.
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own or higher
Ii you check Preserve tustomizations in the Options region oi the Access tab,
you designate the object as being customizable by anyone with an access level
equal to or higher than your current access level. \ou should only mark objects as
customizable ii you are sure that you will not be providing upgraded versions oi
this object in the iuture that would overwrite other users` customizations to it.
Oracle Applications product teams do not ship workilow processes with only
Preserve tustomizations checked ii there may be upgraded versions oi the
workilow process in the iuture.
Limit access to users with access levels equal to your own or lower
Ii you check Lock at this Access Level, you protect the object and ensure that
only users with an access level equal to or lower than your current access level may
modiiy the object. Users operating at a higher access level will see a small lock on
the workilow object's icon, indicating that the object can be used but not modiiied.
Oracle Applications product teams should not ship workilow processes with the
Lock at this Access Level checked unless they are protecting objects that they want
to deiine as Standard components that will not change unless they provide a
global upgrade.
It is important that you always operate at the same consistent access level.

Customization Level
Lvery workilow object, in addition to having a protection level, also records a
customization level equal to your access level when you modiiy the object and save
it to a database or iile.
1he customization level indicates that only someone operating at an access level
equal to or higher than the customization level can iurther modiiy the object. Ii
you are operating at an access level lower than an object's customization level, you
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will see a small lock on that workilow object's icon, indicating that the object can
be used but not modiiied.
1his ensures that a customizable object that has been customized never gets
overwritten during a seed data upgrade because the upgrade always occurs with the
Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader operating at an access level below the customized
object's customization level. 1he iollowing range oi access levels are presumed by
Oracle Vorkilow.
09 Oracle Vorkilow
1019 Oracle Application Object Library
2099 Oracle Applications development
100999 tustomer organization. \ou can determine how you want this range to
be interpreted. lor eample, 100 can represent headquarters, while 101
can represent a regional oiiice, and so on.
1000 Public

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Allow modifications to customized objects
1his is an option in the lelp About window oi the Vorkilow Builder. thecking
or unchecking this check bo dictates the mode in which the Vorkilow Loader
operates when called by the Vorkilow Builder.
thecking this check bo makes the Vorkilow Builder operate in UPLOAD mode.
1hus the Vorkilow Builder can save your edits, overwriting any protected objects
that you have access to modiiy as well as any previously customized objects.
Unchecking this check bo makes the Vorkilow Builder operate in UPGRADL
mode. 1hus the Vorkilow Builder can save edits only to protected objects that you
have access to change, leaving objects that have been previously customized
untouched.
Oracle Applications users must operate with this check bo unchecked
UPGRADL mode,.
LOADING DEFINITIONS
Vorkilow deiinitions are loaded using two utilities. VlLOAD and lNDLOAD.
Loading Workflow Design
VlLOAD is used to load the workilow design iniormation. Oracle Applications
customers must always load the deiinitions in UPGRADL mode. 1he VlLOAD
program will load only the US language version oi workilow deiinitions.

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Loading Translated Definitions
lNDLOAD is used to load translated workilow deiinitions. 1his program only
uploads the translated portions oi the workilow deiinition iile, not the design itseli.
1his is achieved by running the lNDLOAD utility in NLS mode. As a result,
changes made to US deiinitions oi workilows that are uploaded using the
Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader VlLOAD, do not need to be applied to translated
versions oi the same workilow that are uploaded using lNDLOAD.
Standalone Customers
Standalone customers can open a translated workilow deiinition in the Vorkilow
Builder and save the deiinition in that language. Standalone customers can also use
the wfload program to load translated workilow deiinitions.
Oracle Applications Customers
Oracle Applications customers cannot load translated deiinitions in the Vorkilow
Builder and save them to the database. Instead, the deiinitions are loaded using the
lNDLOAD utility. Ii customers would like to view upgraded deiinitions and
compare them with their eisting deiinitions, they must.
Save the current deiinitions to a iile.
Load the new upgraded, deiinitions ior the language using lNDLOAD.
Open the new deiinitions irom the database using the Vorkilow Builder.
Open the previous older deiinitions irom the saved iile in another Vorkilow
Builder client.

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CASE STUDY
1o illustrate how the Oracle Vorkilow access protection ieature works, consider
the iollowing simple workilow provided by an imaginary Oracle Applications
product team. As we already know, the product team would have created this
workilow deiinition with the Oracle Vorkilow Builder access level set to 20. 1he
screenshots taken below are irom the perspective oi an Oracle Applications
customer, with the Oracle Vorkilow Builder access level set to 100.
Customization Goal
Original Process
1he iollowing is the process that was released by the Oracle Applications product
team and must now be customized.


Customized Process
1he goal is to customize the above process to include a new custom iunction
activity as part oi the process as iollows.



1he iollowing sections describe how this goal can be achieved.
Shipped Workflow Design
Item Type
1he internal name oi the shipped item type is AttSS1S1. 1he display name is
Access Level 1est Vorkilow.
1o look at the access protection properties oi the item type, rightclick on the item
type and click the Access tab.
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As you can see, the entire Access tab is grayed out, as the access level currently
being used is 100. 1his object can only be modiiied by the Applications product
team, who will be operating the Oracle Vorkilow Builder with the access level set
to 20. Note that the Lock at this Access Level option alone is checked. Ii you
change the access level to 20, you will see that Preserve tustomizations and
Lock at this Access Level are both checked.


Process
1he internal name oi the shipped workilow process is NLV_PROtLSS, and
the display name is New Vorkilow Process.
1o look at the access protection properties oi the process, rightclick on the
process and click the Access tab.
Preserve tustomizations and Lock at this Access Level are unchecked. All
users are allowed access to this object to make changes. Note that it is possible ior
an Applications customer to check the Preserve tustomizations and Lock at this
Access Level check boes ior the process, whereas ior the item type above, these
iields were display only protected,.
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Function Activities
1he internal name oi the iirst shipped iunction is lUNt1ION1, and the display
name is lunction 1.
1o look at the access protection properties oi the iunction activity, rightclick on
the iunction activity and click the Access tab.
Preserve tustomizations and Lock at this Access Level are both checked. 1his
ensures that only the Applications product team, who will be operating the Oracle
Vorkilow Builder with the access level set to 20, can modiiy this object.


Another iunction activity, lUNt1ION2, is also created. Apart irom the name and
display name, this iunction activity is identical to lUNt1ION1.
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Customized Workflow Design
Custom Function Activity
1he goal is to eecute a custom iunction activity aiter lunction 1. 1his custom
iunction activity would then transition to lunction 2. 1he Oracle Applications
customer, operating the Oracle Vorkilow Builder at an access level oi 100, would
create a new iunction activity called tustom lunction Activity.
Customized Process
Include the new iunction tustom lunction Activity in the New Vorkilow
Process workilow process as iollows.




Preserve Customizations
Since the Oracle Applications customer wants this customization to be preserved
even aiter new versions oi this workilow are provided by the Oracle Applications
product team, the customer would then check only the Preserve tustomizations
check bo ior the New Vorkilow Process workilow process, as iollows.
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Let`s say that the Oracle Applications product team then provided a patch ior this
workilow deiinition in which the New Vorkilow Process workilow process had
been modiiied as iollows.



Aiter this patch is applied, what would we epect the workilow deiinition to look
like tlose eamination oi the output log iile irom the Vorkilow Deiinitions
Loader when this workilow deiinition was applied would show the iollowing
statement.
ACTIVITY 'ACCSSTST/NLW_PROCLSS' is customized, no changes
were saved.
1his means that the eisting customized workilow process was protected irom this
upgrade, and the workilow process will still look as iollows.
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1his ensures that a customizable object that has been customized never gets
overwritten during a seed data upgrade, because the upgrade always occurs with
the Vorkilow Deiinitions Loader operating at an access level below the
customized object's customization level.

CONCLUSION
Access protection lets seed data providers protect certain data as 'readonly', while
allowing other data to be customized. Also during a seed data upgrade, access
protection lets the seed data provider overwrite any eisting protected seed data
with new versions oi that seed data, while preserving any customizations made to
customizable seed data.
A customizable object that has been customized never gets overwritten during a
seed data upgrade because the upgrade always occurs with the Vorkilow
Deiinitions Loader operating at an access level below the customized object's
customization level.
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Oracle Application product teams must ship all their Standard components with
the Preserve tustomizations and Lock at this Access Level check boes
checked. 1his will ensure the workilow object deiinitions are protected irom
customizations.
Oracle Application product teams should ship workilow deiinitions with Preserve
tustomization and Lock at this Access Level unchecked ior those objects
which must be customized.
Oracle Application customers must always operate at an access level oi 100 and
preserve the customized workilows by checking both the Preserve
tustomization and Lock at this Access Level check boes.


Oracle Workflow Customization
August 2002
Author: Varadarajan Rajaram
Contributing Authors: Mark Craig

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