Oracle Workflow Questions and Answers

1. What is Oracle workflow?

Oracle Workflow is a complete workflow management system that facilitates business process reengineering. Oracle Workflow automatically processes and routes information of any type, according to business rules you can easily change, to any person inside or outside your enterprise. You can easily include customers and suppliers in your workflow using the Internet and the Worldwide Web.

2. What are the rules supported by Workflow?

Looping, Branching and Parallel Flow.

3. What are the components of workflow?

          1. Workflow builder.

          2. Workflow Definitions Loader.

          3. Workflow Notifications System

          4. Workflow Engine

          5. Workflow Monitor

4. What is workflow builder?

Oracle Workflow’s graphical Workflow Builder lets you create, view, or modify a business process with simple drag and drop operations. Using the builder, you can create and modify reusable workflow objects, including activities, rules, messages, and users.

5. What is the function of workflow definitions loader?

The Workflow Definitions Loader is a utility program that moves workflow definitions between database and corresponding flat file representations.

6. What is workflow monitor?

The Workflow Monitor displays an annotated view of the process diagram for particular instance of a workflow process, so that users can get graphical depiction of their work item status. The Workflow Monitor also displays a separate status summary for the work item, the process, each activity in the process.

7. What is Workflow Engine?

The Workflow Engine embedded in the Oracle8 server monitors workflow states and coordinates the routing of activities for a process. Changes in workflow state, such as the completion of workflow activities, are signaled to the engine via a PL/SQL API or a Java API. Based on flexibly–defined workflow rules, the engine determines which activities are eligible to run, and then runs them. The Workflow Engine supports sophisticated workflow rules, including looping, branching, parallel flows, and subflows.

8. Why do we require notification systems in workflow?

Notifications are used to handle activities that cannot be automated such as approvals for requisitions or sales orders.

9. What is deferred process?

The workflow process run as background process is known as deferred process.

10. Define an Item?

A specific process, document, or transaction that is managed by a workflow process. For example, the item managed by the Requisition Approval Process workflow is a specific requisition created by Oracle Internet Commerce’s Web Requisitions page.

11. What are the item type attributes available in workflow?

          -Text

          -Number

          -Date

          -Lookup

          -Form

          -URL

          -Document

          -Role

          -Attribute

12. What is the purpose of directory services?

A mapping of Oracle Workflow users and roles to a site’s directory repository.

13. What is access level in workflow?

A numeric value ranging from 0 to 1000. Every workflow user operates at specific access level. The access level defines whether the user can modify certain workflow data. You can only modify data that is protected at a level equal to or higher than your access level.

14. What is a process?

A set of activities that need to be performed to accomplish a business goal.

15. What are the two windows available in workflow builder?

Navigator Window.

Process Window.

16. What is a function activity?

An automated unit of work that is defined by a PL/SQL stored procedure.

17. What is Top Down design?

If you prefer to approach your design from a high level, you can first sketching out the process diagram with activities, then go back later to create the supporting objects for each activity.

18. What is Bottom Up design?

If you prefer to take a more programmatic approach to your design, you can first define each of the supporting objects of your process before attempting to create a higher level process diagram.

19. What are the types of Standard activities available?

And/Or Activities

Comparison Activities

Compare Execution Time Activity

Wait Activity

Block Activity

Defer Thread Activity

Launch Process Activity

Noop Activity

Loop Counter Activity

Start Activity

End Activity

Role Resolution Activity

Notify Activity

Vote Yes/No Activity

Master/Detail Coordination Activities

Wait for Flow Activity

Continue Flow Activity

Assign Activity

Get Monitor URL Activity

20. What is Noop activity?

The Noop activity acts as a place holder activity that performs no action. You can use this activity anywhere you want to place a node without performing an action. This activity calls the PL/SQL procedure named WF_STANDARD.NOOP.

21. What is the purpose of purging?

Deleting the workflow items which no longer needed by calling WF_Purge API.

22. What is   Lookup type?

A predefined list of values. Each value in a lookup type has an internal and a display name.

23. What is persistence in workflow?

The amount of time the workflow item won’t be purged  even the activity is completed.

24. What is ‘SEND’ attribute in workflow?

It is a type of message attribute defined as a ’Send’ source, a message attribute gets replaced with a runtime value when the message is sent.

25. What is ‘RESPOND’ attribute in workflow?

It is a type of message attribute defined as a ’Respond’ source, a message attribute prompts a user for a response when the message is sent.

26. What are the main workflow APIs?

WF_STANDARD

WF_ENGINE

WF_CORE

WF_PURGE

WF_DIRECTORY

WF_PREF

WF_MONITOR

WF_QUEUE

FND_DOCUMENT_MANAGEMENT

WF_NOTIFICATIONS

27. How to launch a workflow?

          1. Define workflow Items

          2. Define Workflow Process

          3. Draw Workflow Process Diagrams

          4. Then through System Admin Responsibility you can launch your      Workflow

          OR

          Through Concurrent program

By writing a PL/SQL procedure which calls WF_ENGINE.CreateProcess, WF_ENGINE.StartProcess, WF_ENGINE.LaunchProcess APIs we can

Launch a workflow.

28. What is Timeout in a workflow?

The amount of time during which a notification activity must be performed

before the Workflow Engine transitions to an error process or an alternate activity if one is defined.

29. What is Transition in a workflow?

The relationship that defines the completion of one activity and the activation of another activity within a process. In a process diagram, the arrow drawn between two activities represents a transition.

30. Who is a Performer?

A user or role assigned to perform a human activity (notification). Notification activities that are included in a process must be assigned to a performer.

31. What is a Role?

One or more users grouped by a common responsibility or position.

32. What is Cost in workflow?

A relative value that you can assign to a function or notification activity to inform the Workflow Engine how much processing is required to complete the activity.

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