Jerry Held

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Kevin HudsonOracle Corporation October 2001
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Evolution of Workflow _at_ Oracle from Application
to Infrastructure
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Brief History of Workflow _at_ Oracle

• 1993 Oracle Applications Release 10
• Financials
• Manufacturing
• Human Resources
• Not Workflow as we would know it.
• Order Entry Order Cycle and Approvals
• Purchasing PO Approval
• All Workflow capabilities built directly into
  the application

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Workflow Emerges

• 1994 Oracle Workflow
• Traditional Applications based Workflow
• Complete API access to all services
• PL/SQL,
• C
• Java API
• Requirements driven by Oracle Applications
• The move to Self Service Applications
• Common rules engine for Oracle Applications
• Common Worklist for Oracle Applications
• Common configuration model for Oracle Applications

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1995 Workflow Takes Hold

• New Applications see the light
• Engineering Approval
• Self Service Requisition
• Self Service Expense Reports
• Self Service Human Resource
• Predominately driven by the need for
• Worklist Approvals
• Self Service Configuration

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Expense Report Processing
AP Standard Expense Report Process
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Expense Report Processing
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Workflow Marches On

• Established Applications make the move to
  Workflow
• Order Management
• Purchasing
• General Ledger
• Account Receivable
• Workflow becomes a component of the Applications
  development platform

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Internet Procurement 100 Lifecycle Automation
Workflow is much more than approvals
Approved Supplier Lists
Approved
AutoRelease
Procurement Workflow
ASN
Approval Workflow
Create Requisitions
Pay on Receipt
Payment
Search
Catalog (Local or TPN Register)
Suppliers
Content Loads/Updates
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Release 11i Order Management Workflow
Workflow Processes
Order Cycles
Workflow Functions
Cycle Actions
Workflow Notifications
Cycle Approvals
Workflow enforces business rules
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Release 11i Order Management Workflow
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Workflow Enabled e-Business Suite
Release 11i highlights

• CRM
• Call Center
• Service
• Contacts
• Support
• Marketing
• iStore

• ERP
• Order Management
• Internet Procurement
• Self Service Financials
• Advanced Planning System
• Projects
• HRMS
• Candidate Offer
• Career Management Reviews

And many more...
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Workflow Components
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Workflow Engine
Server Side Architecture Ensures Optimal
Performance

• Heavily based on Oracle database technology
• Database Queues (Used internally by the Workflow
  Engine )
• 100 audit trail in relational tables
• Two Phase commit
• Transactional Integrity
• Scalability, Performance

Oracle Applications
Oracle Workflow
o7
Oracle 9i
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So Whats Wrong with all that?

• Nothing!
• But Theres a lot more to Workflow
• But The Oracle Platform has a lot more to offer.
• Workflow was too tightly bound to the
  applications
• Great for Control but what about collaboration?
• What is at the center Workflow or the
  Applications
• We needed to move with the technology
• We needed Business Events

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The Real Break through

• Applications Workflow meets Platform Workflow
• OR
• Oracle Applications meets Server Technology
• OR
• Kevin Hudson meets Dieter Gawlick

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The Story Continues

• 1998 Workflow Business Event System
• Manage Internal and External business processes
  that span information system
• Workflow process can be started or progressed by
  a business event
• Workflow activities can initiate a business event
• Workflow loosely bound to the application
• Respond to and initiate Business Events

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Business Event Driven Workflow

• Business Events System
• EVENTs are things which have occurred that might
  be significant to other objects in a system, or
  to external systems. The set of possible
  events is pre-determined by the applications.
• Business Event ! Message
• Producing the event message may be costly and
  should be avoided unless an active subscription
  requires it.
• Business Event ! IT Event
• Event Based Subscriptions is a super set of
  Publish/ Subscribe
• Publish Subscribe is necessary but not complete
• Event Based Subscription is an extension over
  publish/subscribe

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From Control To Collaboration

• The evolution from classical API driven Workflow
  towards business events driven Workflow
• Applications raise business events
• Workflow consumes business events
• Workflow raise business events
• Workflow that can react and respond to Business
  Events that occur outside their domain
• A whole new type of Workflow
• Essential for Application Integration (EAI)

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Workflow Moving Down the Technology Stack
Server Side Architecture Ensures Optimal
Performance

• Component of Oracle database technology
• Database Queues (Used internally by the Workflow
  Engine )
• Database Queues ( Used for External Communication
  )
• Security, Performance, Scalability ( Only truly
  achievable as part of the platform )
• Database features become more tightly integrated
  and consistent with Workflow
• e.g LDAP

Oracle Applications
Oracle Workflow
Oracle 9i With Workflow
o7
Oracle 9i
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Workflow as a component of the Infrastructure

• Provider and Consumer/driver of platform
  technology,
• Consumes database platform (performance,
  scalability,security )
• Consumes messaging, queuing and pushes the
  platform
• Provides business events ( drives the
  requirements into the platform )
• Cooperates on Composite Events
• Shows the need for LDAP integration

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Model Driven Integration

• Extends message broker model
• Flexible
• Provides process view
• Simple
• Requires a model of the business process

Shipping
Data Warehouse
Order Entry
Human Resources
Warehouse
Workflow
Accounting
Web Store
Credit Management
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Inter-Enterprise Business Processes
Bank
Supplier A
Integration Hub
Integration Hub
Internet
Integration Hub
Integration Hub
Logistics
Supplier B
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Workflow Business Event System
Event driven Workflow processes
Business Events System
Workflow Engine

• Business Events
• New Order
• Update Order
• Cancel Order

Business Events (XML)
Oracle Applications
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Workflow Components
Directory Services
Roles
Users
Notification Services
Workflow Engine
Business Event System
Workflow Builder
Send
Send
Respond
Receive
Workflow Loader
Forward
Raise
Cancel
Listen
Query
Query
Workflow Definition Files
Mail Applications
Oracle Workflow Enabled Application
Workflow Development Client
Browser Client
Oracle server
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Business Event Manager
Application
Matching Event Subscription
Raise Local Events
Workflow Process
Event Dispatcher
Rule Function
Listen External Events
Send Business Event
AQ
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Workflow Agent Ping/Acknowledge
Business Event System
WF_OUT
WF_IN
Event Manager
Workflow Engine
Event Manager
WF_OUT
WF_IN
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Key Messages

• One Oracle Workflow product
• Traditional applications based Workflow
• Still needed
• e-business integration workflow
• Business Events a welcome addition
• Leverages the Oracle technology stack
• 9i
• Database Queuing