Workflow Processes Configuration Overview

Workflow Processes allows you to define your company’s business processes using the Process Designer in Siebel Tools. Using Workflow Processes, you can define a process that consists of process steps such as start steps, decision points, subprocesses, or business services steps to complete tasks. A task can be completed with either a predefined business service or a custom business service. Predefined tasks include updates to the Siebel database, notifications (such as an email or page), integration messages to external systems, and calls to invoke server tasks. Custom tasks can be defined by using Siebel VB or Siebel eScript.

Workflow Processes Administration Overview
Workflow Processes can vary from a simple process such as entering a product order to a complex process such as managing call center workflow. Complex processes can comprise multiple smaller processes. Workflow Processes are administered through the Administration - Business Process views in the Siebel Client.

Using Workflow Processes
Workflow processes can be invoked from events in the Siebel application or from external systems. Within the Siebel application, a process can be invoked from a workflow policy, an event (such as an insert of a record or a button click), or a server component. From an external system, processes can be invoked using COM or CORBA.

Workflow Process Types
Siebel Business Process Designer has four types of workflow processes that characterize run-time behavior. The processing type is set in the Workflow Processes list editor of Siebel Tools, using the Workflow Mode field. The workflow process types are as follows:
■ 7.0 Flow. A 7.0 workflow process provides backward compatibility for existing Siebel 7 (pre-7.7) workflows.
■ Long Running Flow. A long-running workflow process is a persistent workflow that can last for
hours, days, or months.
■ Interactive Flow. An interactive workflow process navigates the user across Siebel views.
■ Service Flow. A service workflow process executes a set of operations upon event invocation.

Workflow Management Server Components
The Workflow Management server component group includes the following server components:
■ Workflow Process Manager (WfProcMgr)
■ Workflow Process Batch Manager (WfProcBatchMgr)
■ Workflow Monitor Agent (WorkMon)
■ Workflow Action Agent (WorkActn)
■ Workflow Recovery Manager (WfRecvMgr)
■ Generate Triggers (GenTrig)

Workflow Process Manager and Workflow Process Batch Manager
The Workflow Process Manager server components act as the application object manager to run
workflows. The Workflow Process Manager server components are specialized server components configured and tuned to run workflow processes. Like all server components, the Workflow Process Manager server components provide a multi-threaded environment. The Workflow Process Manager uses the Siebel Object Manager framework and runs workflows as a
business service. The Workflow Process Manager hosts the Business Object layer and the Data Object layer. It is a scalable architecture with the ability to run multiple object managers and multiple tasks for each object manager.
NOTE: The name Workflow Process Manager refers to both the Workflow business service (referred to as the Workflow engine) and the workflow server components.

Workflow Monitor Agent
The Workflow Monitor Agent executes Workflow policies. Workflow Monitor Agent monitors policies, and executes actions once the policy conditions are met.

Workflow Action Agent
The Workflow Action Agent processes requests logged in the action request table (S_ESCL_ACTN_REQ) for a policy group and invokes all actions linked with the Workflow policy being processed.

Workflow Recovery Manager
The Workflow Recovery Manager polls the Workflow engine to check workflow instances running on the server. The Workflow Recovery Manager recovers crashed instances and resumes instances that have been waiting beyond a due date.

Generate Triggers
Generate Triggers allows you to create database triggers. The Workflow Policies module of Siebel Business Process Designer uses these database triggers to identify which records may match policy conditions. The Generate Triggers server component needs to be rerun whenever new policies are created or deleted. You can run the Generate Triggers server component from either the Server Manager graphical user interface, or command line mode.