Park Docs and Workflow_1

TFIN50 Lesson: Document Parking and Workflow

Lesson: Document Parking and Workflow

Lesson Overview

The workflow option for parking documents is presented in this lesson. Extensive

knowledge which cannot be provided by this course is required to set up the

workflow. The lesson is intended to enable the Financial Accounting application

manager to design a plan for this area and ensure coordination between the

relevant department and specialists in the workflow area.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe how to use the workflow when parking documents

Name the advantages of using workflow when parking documents

Business Example

Various employees are involved in posting Financial Accounting documents

within the relevant department. One employee parks the documents, another one

checks the account assignment and supplements account assignment objects, if

necessary, and then ensures the posting is made in order to update the transaction

figures. The department would like to find out to what extent the SAP system is

able provide support for this process flow.

Workflow in One Sentence

Figure 182: Workflow in One Sentence

2006/Q2 2006 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 431

Unit 8: Parking Documents TFIN50

In the SAP business workflow, the four process dimensions

Organizational structure (Who?)

Process structure (When? In what order? Under what circumstances?)

Function (What?)

Information (With which data?)

are combined to allow business processes to be carried out as efficiently as

possible.

The process to be displayed as workflow is stored in the system in parameters

using a graphic definition tool. During the process the workflow manager - and

hence the system - performs all the tasks that were worked out when the process

was defined. As a result, the user is relieved of any avoidable organisational tasks

and can concentrate on the aspects of his or her actual work.

Figure 183: The Five Essential Questions on Every Business Process

432 2006 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2006/Q2


Figure 184: Benefits of the SAP Business Workflow

The SAP Business Workflow supports processes of your company within an SAP

system. It also supports the communication between business processes operated

on different systems.

The SAP Business Workflow provides the end user with all information required

to perform the next step.

SAP provides standard workflow templates in order to depict business processes.

You can customize these SAP workflow templates or create your own.

Figure 185: Workflow Management Architecture



Workflow Management Architecture

In short, workflow means getting the right work to the right employee at the right

time.

The SAP Business Workflow is structured in three layers. This modularization of

the components involved is the basis for a high degree of flexibility.

The right work: Whatever you wish to perform during the workflow: it must

be implemented in the Business Object Repository as a method of a business

object type.

At the right point of time: The process level describes the business process in a

sequence of individual steps. The worklow definition is the total of all steps put

together. Individual steps can refer to methods of the BOR (Business Object

Rep.), but they can also be used to control the process, i.e. to, for example,

enable loop-type processing, query conditions, provide values in the interface (=

container). Workflow Builder is the tool used for the maintenance of the process

level.

To the right processor: The organizational level establishes a link to the

organizational structure.

There is a group of potential processors available for each task which is able

to be perfomed as part of the workflow.

This group can be restricted by specifications on the processor in the

workflow step. The selected processors receive a work item at their business

workplace during the runtime. The corresponding method of the business

object type is started once the work item is performed.



Workflow

Figure 186: Workflow: Design and Procedure I

Workflows are usually initiated by a triggering event. Events are used to display

the changes in status of objects within the system. Like methods, they are defined

in the object repository for each object type. Events are initiated in the respective

applications.

Example: The workflow for account assignment approval (WS0100000) is

started by triggering themarking for organizational change event when saving a

parked document with the specification of a measure.

Work items represent single-step tasks during runtime. They are sent to the

responsible processors by the workflow manager.

Whenever a processor accepts a work item in order to process it, the work item

disappears from the inboxes of the other processors.

Whenever a work item is processed, the corresponding object method is called up.



Figure 187: Example: Designing the (Entire) Workflow for a Parked

Document

For every business step, ask yourself:

What work has to be done?

You consequently know which object type and method you require.

With dialog steps: Who is carrying out the work?

You consequently know which processors are responsible.

What text is supposed to be displayed at the workplace of the person

receiving the work item?

This text is treated as a task when creating the step. Store your answers in

the design.



Figure 188: Workflow: Areas of Application

WHAT Is Carried Out? Tasks Related to the Workflow

Posting invoices

Releasing purchase requisitions

Changing material masters

Approving leave

Creating customer accounts

Deleting purchase orders

Creating requirement requests via the Internet

Tasks represent steps of the business process. The process to be shown must be

divided into individual tasks during the definition. The definition of the workflow

determines the tasks and the order in which they are to be carried in the process.

Tasks refer precisely to one object type of the business object repositories and to

exactly one of their methods defined there. In exceptional cases a business process

may only have one task. A workflow definition should be created even in these

cases, however. Tasks are represented by work items during the runtime of the

workflow. The work items appear in the inbox of the receiver.



Figure 189: Task Definition: Possible Processors WHO is doing

something?

Each task must be assigned possible processors. This is the group of employees

at your company, who come into question for carrying out the respective task.

WHO Is Doing Something?

Figure 190: WHO Is Doing Something? Workflow Steps and Responsible

Processors



You define a workflow step when you enter a job in the workflow definition.

In this workflow step you can enter responsible processors. Furthermore you

can exclude processors explicitly. The slide shows you how to assign processors

during the step.

The system calculates the intersection of possible processors and responsible

processors for the runtime. It is then checked whether each user included in it has

been excluded in the workflow step definition. If the results of both inspections

are positive, the user receives a work item in his or her inbox and then belongs to

the receivers of the work item.

Figure 191: User Interface: Inbox in the SAP System

The Business Workplace consists of three screen areas:

Selection tree: You can find the selection tree on the left side of the Business

Workplace. Here you can select work items to be executed, workflows which

you have started or documents.

Worklist: The worklist is displayed at the top right of the Business-Workplace

screen in case you want to mark the Workflow folder. The system automaticlly

puts the entries in groups in this folder. There are special folders in which you can

find overdue work items or missed deadline work items. If you mark Inbox in the

selection tree, you can see all work items and documents in this area of the screen.

Work item preview: The work item selected from the work list is displayed in a

preview at the bottom right of the screen. Not all functions of the work item

display or workflow protocol are available. It is possible for the user to make a

decision from within the work item preview.



Figure 192: Inbox

The work items can be performed directly in the worklist. The corresponding

applications are started directly and provided with the required data by

double-clicking on them. Recipients can display the attachments of the work item

and add new ones. You can add various types of documents to a work item as

attachments, e.g. SAPscript documents, Microsoft Office documents or Internet

pages.

The WebFlow Engine determines the recipients of the work item. All selected

recipients can view the work item and perform it at their Business Workplace.

Only one user can perform the work item, however. If, therefore, a user starts to

perform the work item, the other recipients are unable to perform this work item. A

recipient can accept a work item. An accepted work item can only be performed by

the user who has accepted it. By selecting Put Back, you can disable the reserved

status of the work item and make it accessible again to all selected processors. The

status of the work item is then set back to ready. You can define that concluding

the processing of a workflow step has to be confirmed explicitly. After processing

a work item, a dialog box appears in which you can finish processing the work

item. The work item remains in the worklist and is set to performed if you select

Cancel at this point of time. You can set Set to completed within the worklist for

work items with the performed status. The work item can be performed several

times or passed on as long as this has not been done.

Workflow and Financial Accounting

Workflow variants can be created for document parking in Customizing of FI.

Whether the document release is supposed to be active is specifeid here together

with the minimum amount for which this is necessary.



The company codes can be assigned workflow variants. No documents are

released if any company code is not assigned a workflow variant.

Figure 193: Assigning Workflow Variants to Company Codes

It is possible to apply different release procedures to different accounts receivable

and payable. This can be controlled by means of the Release Group field in the

master record of accounts receivable and accounts payable.

The release group is required in order to determine the release approval path at

the time of processing. The release approval path is determined by the workflow

variant in connection with the document type and release group.

The subworkflow which is initiated by releasing the amount and who is to release

are determined by the release approval path and the particular amount. If no

release group is defined, the initial release group is then used for access.

Figure 194: Calculation of the Release Approval Path



The release procedure is represented by subworkflows in the workflow

terminology. For document parking, workflow variants (in combination with

release approval paths) are assigned amounts, which determine the release

procedures to be initiated and performed. The subworkflows control the individual

release procedures, e.g. the number of release approval levels to be run through.

By default, subworkflows are supplied as workflow templates for reference. The

first subworkflow (WS10000052) contains a single-level release, the second one

(WS10000053) a two-level release and the third one (WS10000054) a three-level

release. With the single-level release, a person must release the document. The

principle of dual control can be supported with the two-level release, and the

principle of triple control with the three-level release. The respective subworkflow

is triggered by parked documents during the initial entry.

Figure 195: Assignment of Subworkflows



Exercise 32: Document Parking and

Workflow

Exercise Objectives

After completing this exercise, you will be able to:

Understand the process for parking documents as part of the workflow

Business Example

In your company, you want to use a workflow for document parking. For

documents over 500 EUR, the amount should be released by an authorized

employee.

Task:

First you make sure that the workflow variant 1000 is defined for your company

code. You then park the document and thus start a workflow. Next, another

employee receives the parked document for further processing (to release the

amount). You log on under a different user name and release the amount for your

document.

1. Make sureWorkflow variant 1000 (Variant IDES FIPP-WF) is defined for

your company code AC##.

2. Document parking and processing (workflow variant 1000): Park a

document for a vendor invoice in your company code (AC##) (vendor

AC202-## for EUR 700).

Make sure that you enter the invoice with the park document transaction

FV60 (Accounts Payable! Document Entry! Document Parking!

Park or Edit Invoice).

Choose PARK/SAVE FULLY

3. Display the document that has been parked. Where can you get information

on the subject of workflow and what information is available?

4. You want to get an idea of how the workflow, which was started when your

document was parked, looks. You are particularly interested to know which

group of people are able to release your document.

5. Releasing a parked document: Log on to your system and client using the

user name WF-FI-1. Your instructor will give you the password.

Release the document you parked yourself under a different user name. Take

a look at the protocol for this and log user WF-FI-1 off from the system.



Solution 32: Document Parking and

Workflow

Task:

First you make sure that the workflow variant 1000 is defined for your company

code. You then park the document and thus start a workflow. Next, another

employee receives the parked document for further processing (to release the

amount). You log on under a different user name and release the amount for your

document.

1. Make sureWorkflow variant 1000 (Variant IDES FIPP-WF) is defined for

your company code AC##.

a) Choose IMG! Financial Accounting! Financial Accounting Global

Settings! Company Code! Enter Global Parameters.

Select your company code (AC##) and click the Detail (F2) pushbutton

in the application toolbar.

In the Processing parameters section, enter 1000 for Workflow variant.

Workflow Variant 1000 (IDES FIPP-WF variant)

Save your entries by clicking on the disk in the standard toolbar.

2. Document parking and processing (workflow variant 1000): Park a

document for a vendor invoice in your company code (AC##) (vendor

AC202-## for EUR 700).

Make sure that you enter the invoice with the park document transaction

FV60 (Accounts Payable! Document Entry! Document Parking!

Park or Edit Invoice).

Continued on next page



Choose PARK/SAVE FULLY

a) SAP Easy Access! Accounting! Financial Accounting! Accounts

Payable! Document Entry! Document Parking! Park or Edit

Invoice (FV60).

Vendor AC202-##

Document date Current date

Posting date Current date

Company code AC##

Amount 700

Currency EUR

Calculate tax x

Select/set switch

Tax code 1I (10% course input tax)

Text Invoice parking

G/L acct 400020

D/C S

Amount *

In the application toolbar, click on Save as completed or follow the

menu Document! Save as completed.

You receive a message in the status bar: "Document 18000000xx

AC## was parked."

Please make a note of the document number.




3. Display the document that has been parked. Where can you get information

on the subject of workflow and what information is available?

a) You can also go directly from the entry screen to the document display

by choosing Document! Display. The parked document is displayed

(title bar: Display parked customer invoice 19000000xx AC## 200x).

Hint: (Alternatively choose SAP Easy Access! Accounting

! Financial Accounting! Accounts Payable! Document

! Display (FB03). Enter the company code, the fiscal year,

and the document number, or use the search function with the

Document List pushbutton on the application toolbar.)

Click theWorkflow tab page. Here you can find information about

workflow control. A release is required. The release path 1000 is

shown.

4. You want to get an idea of how the workflow, which was started when your

document was parked, looks. You are particularly interested to know which

group of people are able to release your document.

a) Choose SAP Easy Access! Office. Double-clickWorkplace. Choose

Outbox! Started workflows. Select the transaction on the right-hand

side of the screen by clicking the work item title, then the Display

Workflow Log button (scroll symbol).

The amount still has to be released.

You can find more information by means of the Processor pushbutton.

5. Releasing a parked document: Log on to your system and client using the

user name WF-FI-1. Your instructor will give you the password.




Release the document you parked yourself under a different user name. Take

a look at the protocol for this and log user WF-FI-1 off from the system.

a) Log on to the system using the user name WF-FI-1.

System is designated by your instructor

Client is designated by your instructor

User WF-FI-1

Password is designated by your instructor

Language: Local language

When the License Information for Multiple Logon dialog box appears,

choose Continue with this log on without ending existing log-ons.

Using work list in the office area you can find a list of documents

available for processing.

Choose Office! Workplace! Inbox! Workflow! Grouped

according to task! Release Amount

On the right of the screen, select the document you want to process

(usually the one posted by you under a different user name).

Click the Execute icon. The document is displayed and checked by

you. The document is OK and can be posted. You release the document.

Click the Release pushbutton on the application toolbar (Release

document).

The amount release process is now finished.



Lesson Summary

You should now be able to:




TFIN50 Unit Summary

Unit Summary


Describe the functionality of document parking

Identify the differences between parking documents and holding

documents

Park Financial Accounting documents

Edit, delete or post parked documents




Unit Summary TFIN50


TFIN50 Test Your Knowledge

Test Your Knowledge

1. A document number is assigned by means of the document type with the

Hold Document function.

Determine whether this statement is true or false.

! True

! False

2. Which statements are right?

Choose the correct answer(s).

! A A company code can be assigned several wokflow variants.

! B A task can be assigned one possible processor only.

! C It is possible to design multilevel workflow sequences.

! D The same workflow variant can be assigned to several company

codes.


Test Your Knowledge TFIN50

Answers

1. A document number is assigned by means of the document type with the

Hold Document function.

Answer: False

A number is assigned by means of the document type with the Park

Document function. With Hold Document, the user assigns a designation.

2. Which statements are right?

Answer: C, D

One workflow variant can be used for several company codes. It is possible

to create multilevel workflow secuences. Individual tasks can usually be

assigned several possible processors.


TFIN50 Course Summary

Course Summary


Create organizational units for Financial Accounting

Maintain master data

Influence the entry of posting transactions

Analyze and explain posting transactions

Display special G/L transactions in the system

Use the document parking function within the system and define it

appropriately


Course Summary TFIN50


Park Docs and Workflow_1

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