Upload or Download Oracle Workflows using WFLOAD Command Line Utility

Oracle Workflows are Database Applications whose definitions are stored in different Database Tables.

We can easily Upload/Download these definitions of the Workflows to the flat files using WFLOAD command line utility.

Workflow files are stored under <Application Top>/patch/115/import/US/ (Ex: PO_TOP/patch/115/import/US/powfpoag.wft)

To Upload

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WFLOAD apps/<apps_password> <Access_Level> Y <upload_mode> <file_name>.wft

Example: WFLOAD apps/appspwd 0 Y FORCE powfpoag.wft

To Download

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WFLOAD apps/<apps_password> <Access_Level> Y DOWNLOAD <file_name>.wft

Example: WFLOAD apps/appspwd 0 Y DOWNLOAD powfpoag.wft

Different Access Levels Used:

0 -  9	Reserved for Oracle Workflow
10 - 19	Reserved for Oracle Application Library
20 - 99	Reserved for Oracle E-Business Suite
100 - 999	Reserved for Customer Organizations
1000	Public

Different UPLOAD modes used while uploading the WFT file to the database.

UPGRADE	Honors both Customization and Protection Levels of Data.
UPLOAD	Honors only Protection. Customization Levels are not respected.
FORCE	Both Customization and Protection Levels are not honored.

Usually all the Oracle Patches run the Workflows in UPGRADE mode and access level of 20 and hence our customizations are protected if properly preserved.

How to see Account Generator Workflows in Status Monitor of Workflow Administrator

By default, Oracle Account Generator Workflows does not show up in the Workflow Status Monitor screen of Workflow Administrator. To be able to see them in the status monitor, couple of profile options should be enabled to “Yes”.

           1. PO: Set Debug Workflow ON

           2. Account Generator:Run in Debug Mode

Timeout Functionality on Workflow Notifications

Timeout functionality can be set on the Workflow Notifications. This will enable notifications to get Timed Out after desired time and as per the requirement if a reminder is needed, reminder notification can be sent and if reminder is not needed, notification can be escalated to the supervisors.

Below is the Approval notification properties of the Expense Report Approval Workflow

Go to Node Tab where you will see the option for Timeout. There are 3 options in here. 

Relative Time: This can be set when the Timeout period you want to set is Constant. If relative time is chosen and Timeout is set then if the Timeout needs to be changed in the future, Workflow has to be touched to set a new Timeout.

Item Attribute: This is a better option to choose when there might be a change in the Timeout period in the future. When Item Attribute is selected, we set the Timeout period from the back end code by setting the Timeout period in Minutes to the Workflow Attribute. Make sure this attribute value is set before sending the notification for approval.

How to create a Result Type in a Notification

To display a new Result Type in the notification we need to create a new Lookup Type in the workflow builder and Lookup Codes that you want to display in the notifications.
Steps to Create a New Lookup Type and Assign it to a Notification
1. Right Click on Lookup Types -- Select New
   

2. New Lookup Type will be displayed under the Lookup Types 
     

3. Right Click on the New BPA Approval Lookup that we created and Select “New Lookup Code”

    
4. Enter the following Properties for the New Lookup Code and Click Apply and OK
     

5. Create a new Lookup Code for “Reject” similarly as did for “Approve”
       

6. To be able to see these Lookup Codes as buttons in the Approval Notification, Create a New Message with the Result Type as BPA Approval Lookup
7. Create a new Message and in the Result Tab, Enter the following Properties as shown below.
     

 

8. Click Apply and OK.

9. Now assign this Message and Result Type to the Notification where you want to have this Results Displayed as Buttons inside the Notification
   

10. Include this Notification in your Process and when Run, you would be able to see the selected Resulted type of Buttons in the Notification

    

Hiding Re-Assign Button and Keeping the Vacation Rules intact in Approval Notifications

We had a requirement where in we need to hide the Re-Assign button in the PO Requisition Approval Notifications. We have added a new attribute #HIDE_REASSIGN in the workflow approval notification and set the attribute type as look-up and it default value to 'Y'. When we did this, vacation rules were not working as #HIDE_REASSIGN property will over-write the vacation rules for the users. Users will not be able to Delegate or Transfer the Notification. To handle this, we have changed the Attribute type to Text and the Constant value as 'B'. This solved the issue.