Configuring the Rule-Based Workflow

This document explains how to configure the rule-based workflow for a change request process that you have described using a process diagram as explained in Designing the Change Request Process.

Prerequisites

You have completed the Customizing settings as described in Workflow Set-Up.
You have created a diagram of the change request process that you want to configure as described in Designing the Change Request Process.

Process

Enhance Process Diagram
Enhance the process diagram with further information required by the rule-based workflow. For each non-user agent change request step, determine the appropriate Process Pattern and add the information to the diagram.

To activate the change request, you need to use the process pattern 06/Activation.

For each arrow pointing to a change request step, choose a 3 digit identifier for the condition alias. It is common to use abbreviations of the step’s meaning for better readability, for example APP for an approval step.

The arrow pointing to the change request step Activate is labeled with the condition alias ACT.

For information about an example of a process diagram that is enhanced for the rule-based workflow, see Add User-Agent Steps.
Create Change Request Type
In Customizing activity Create Change Request Type under General Settings Process Modeling Change Requests , create the change request type for which you want to define the process flow. Assign the rule-based workflow template WS60800086 to the change request type.
Define Change Request Steps
In Customizing activity Define Change Request Steps for Rule-Based Workflow under General Settings Process Modeling Workflow Rule-Based Workflow , define the process steps that are used in the process diagram of your change request type.
Service Names
In the case of a complex workflow scenario, for example, when using a handler to merge the results of parallel processing, you need to define service names for the BAdI implementations that you need to use. For more information, see the documentation of Customizing activity Define Service Names for Rule-Based Workflow under General Settings Process Modeling Workflow Rule-Based Workflow .
Build Decision Tables
Start Customizing activity Configure Rule-Based Workflow under General Settings Process Modeling Workflow Rule-Based Workflow and enter your change request type to open the BRFplus workbench and to enter the values for the decision tables.

Note
If you perform this activity the first time for this change request type, the BRFplus application is generated. Depending on the settings of the client, you are asked to assign a transport request and a software component.

End of the note.
1. For each arrow in your process diagram, enter a row in the Single Value Decision Table DT_SINGLE_VAL_<change request type>. Use the step numbers on each end of the arrow as the values for CR Previous Step and New Chng. Req. Step. The action code of the previous step that triggers this connection is the value for Previous Action. The labels on the arrow provide the values for Condition Alias and New CR Status.
  
  The arrow of this diagram leads to the following values in the decision table: CR Previous Step = 90. New Chng. Req. Step. = 91. Previous Action = 03. Condition Alias = ACT. New CR Status = 02.
  
  Note
  You can use the condition columns Chng. Req. Priority, Chng. Req. Reason, CR Rejection Reason, CR Parent Step, and Parallel Agt Grp No. as additional parameters to make the process flow more specific.
  
  End of the note.
  
  You can enter a time limit for the processors of the next change request step in Hours to Completion. This uses the feature of the requested end deadline monitoring of the SAP Business Workflow. The rule-based workflow will send a notification to all processors of this change request step as a reminder to complete this task.
  
  The result columns Merge Type and Merge Parameter are used for parallel processing. For further information, see Parallel Processing.
  
  Instead of providing values for the result columns in the decision table, you can provide a service name in Dyn Agt Sel Service to link to an implementation of BAdI: Dynamic Selection of Agent in Rule-Based Workflow. For more information, see the documentation of BAdI: Dynamic Selection of Agent in Rule-Based Workflow in MDG Customizing under General Settings Process Modeling Workflow Rule-Based Workflow Business Add-Ins .
2. For each user agent step in your process diagram, enter a row in the User Agent Decision Table DT_USER_AGT_GRP_<change request type>. If you followed the recommendation in Designing the Change Request Process to use the same condition alias for all arrows that point to a change request step, use this value for the column Condition Alias. If you use different aliases, you need to create multiple rows, one for each alias.
  Transfer the values for Step Type, User Agent Type, and User Agent Value from the diagram into the table. The valid values for User Agent Type and User Agent Value are defined by your organizational structure (for example, see Customizing activity Edit Organizational Plan) and identify an organizational object, for example, the purchasing department. If you use SU for User Agent Type you can use INIT (Initiator) as User Agent Value to select the requester of the change request as processor. Furthermore, the value LAST for User Agent Value selects the processor of the previous step as the processor.
  
  If the overall group of processors for the change request step consists of multiple organizational objects, create a row for each object. In this case and unless you want to configure parallel processing of the change request step, use the same value for User Agt Grp No. for this condition alias.
  
  You configure parallel processing of the change request step by using different values for User Agt Grp No. for the same condition alias. For further information, see Parallel Processing.
  
  The information from this diagram leads to the following values in the decision table: Condition Alias = APP. User Agt Grp No. = 001 (arbitrary value). Step Type = 02. User Agent Type = AG. User Agent Value = MD Experts (assuming there is a PFCG role named MD Experts and all users assigned to this role should be processors).
3. For each background step in your process diagram, enter a row in the Non-User Agent Decision Table DT_NON_USER_AGT_GRP_<change request type>.
  If you followed the recommendation in Designing the Change Request Process to use the same condition alias for all arrows that point to a change request step, use this value for the column Condition Alias. If you use different aliases, you need to create multiple rows, one for each alias.
  
  Transfer the value for Process Pattern from the diagram into the table. If required by the chosen process pattern, specify the Service Name. Unless you want to configure parallel processing in this change request step, choose any value for Agent Group, for example 001. For more information, see Parallel Processing.
  
  The information from this diagram leads to the following values in the decision table: Condition Alias = ACT. Process Pattern = 06. Service Name = <not required>. Agent Group = 001 (arbitrary value).
Caution
The decision tables are processed in sequence Therefore, the table entries should be arranged starting with the most specific ones, followed by more general ones.

End of the caution.

More Information

For information about examples of process diagrams related to the rule-based workflow, see Creating a Basic Change Request Process and Add User-Agent Steps.