Workflow Transaction Open Interface Overview

PPM includes an open interface for importing workflow transactions. Workflow transactions are all of the actions that can be performed at a workflow step for a package line or request, such as a file migration or a design approval. The open interface supports the following workflow transactions:

• Submit. A user can submit a package (and all of its lines) or a request.

• Decision. A user can make a choice at a decision workflow step. For example, a user could decide to approve a workflow step (that has choices Approved and Not Approved).

• Delegation. A user can delegate the choice at a Decision step to another user.

• Execution. A user can perform an execution at a workflow step. This execution could be object type or request type command execution, a SQL statement, a PL/SQL function, a token evaluation, or a workflow step command.

• Schedule execution. A user can schedule an execution to be performed at a later date or time.

• Bypass execution. A user can bypass an execution and manually provide the result instead. For example, if a file did not need to be migrated to an environment, a user could bypass the migration and supply the result Succeeded instead.

• Override result. A user can override the result at any non-eligible step that is still active. For example, if a migration failed and there is no transition defined from the step on the Failure result, a user could override the Failure with another result.

• Cancel. A user can cancel a package line or a request.

• Force transition. A user can force a transition from one workflow step to another, even if there is no standard transition between the two steps defined in the workflow.

The Workflow Transaction Open Interface is a set of tables within the PPM database. Data added to these tables is validated and workflow steps within package lines and requests are acted upon based upon the information.

The primary purpose of the Workflow Transaction Open Interface is to allow integration with products other than PPM. You can use relevant information from these products to perform workflow transactions for package lines and requests. You can also use the open interface as a mechanism to convert data from a legacy system into PPM during initial implementation.