PERSONNEL OBJECT WORKLIST

Summary

This document describes configurations required for using POWL based Inbox in Manager Self-Service
in SAP ERP 6.0 EhP5 and above. It includes backend table configurations for the inbox, configuring
actions and POWL configurations.

Introduction
UWL is generally used for displaying and acting on the workflow tasks in Manager Self-Service. Since
SAP ERP 6.0 EhP5, POWL (Personal Object Worklist) based inbox is available which can be used as an
alternative to UWL. It has most of the features available in UWL and it can be connected to different
backend systems. Various features offered are –

 It is WebDynpro ABAP based

 Connect different backend system to inbox and retrieve workitems from that system
 Standard actions(Forward, resubmit) available for tasks
 Additional actions can be configured for tasks
 Additional POWL queries can be added

This document describes backend configurations for POWL based Inbox in order to achieve following
things in Manager Self-service -

 To retrieve workitems for custom workflow tasks in the POWL inbox

 To connect different backend system to Inbox
 Configuring additional actions for tasks
 Adding custom queries by POWL configurations

Prerequisites

SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) 6.0 with SAP enhancement
package 5

MSS Add-On 1.0

Overview of POWL Inbox in MSS

POWL (Personal Object Worklist) based Inbox is provided in Business Suite Foundation layer for
processing work items, alerts and notifications. The inbox is used in Manager Self-Service add-on 1.0
(Work overview section) for processing MSS specific workitems and notifications by manager users.
AdditionalPOWL queries are available in this inbox for MSS like – leave approvals. If MSS is deployed
on SAP Enterprise Portal then also itis possible to use the POWL inbox as an alternative to UWL. An
iview can be created in portal to display WebDynpro ABAP application of POWL inbox. Following are
technical details to create such an iview-

WebDynpro Application name – IBO_WDA_INBOX

WebDynpro Application configuration – HRMSS_AC_POWL_INBOX
POWL Application Id – MANAGER_MSS_INBOX_2

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This document does not go into details of creating this iview in SAP portal, but it gives more details on
various configuring possibilities of the POWL Inbox.

In order to understand the configuration, let’ s say you havea custom workflow for shopping cart and the
manager’s approval is needed after shopping cart is raised and you would like to bring this workitem in
POWL inbox of MSS.

Configure Workflow tasks for POWL Inbox

The inbox provides standard POWL query for processing Workflow based tasks (in “Workitems” query).
For the MSS inbox, it filters
workflow tasks based on task id’s defined in customizing. In order to display additionalworkitem
corresponding to custom workflow task of shopping cart approval, provide the task id against POWL
application id MANAGER_MSS_INBOX_2 in the maintenance
view IBO_C_WF_TA_P_SC. The type in this maintenance view is the “POWL type” ofstandard
Workitems query. IMG Path for
this customizing step is as follows:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
-> Assign Task ID’s to POWL Types

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Configure Workflow tasks from Different backend

If the workitem should come from a different backend system, as you have different backend system for
shopping cart application, then the RFC destination id of the system has to be assigned to the POWL
application id in the maintenance view IBO_C_BE_SYST. The IMG path for this customizing:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
->Assign Connected Backend Systems to Inbox

Note that Business function FND_IBO_MULTIBE_1 has to be activated in order to use multi-backend
capabilities of Inbox. Also appropriate roles have to be assigned to end user and service user in both
systems. For more details refer to SAP help link in related content section.

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Configure actions for tasks

With the above configuration the shopping cart approval

workitem would appear in in the Workitems query of inbox. It is possible to have a default action for this
workitem. The default action is triggered when user clicks on the workitem link.
Follow below steps for configuring this action -

1. First create all actions which are possible for MSS application id in the maintenance view
IBO_C_WF_ACC. The IMG path to this customizing is:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
->Define Tasks and Actions

The type of action can be

OBJECTNAVIGATIONLAUNCHER – An Object Based Navigation is triggered
a. FUNCTIONMODULEHANDLER – A function module is called
b. LAUNCHPADACTIONHANDLER- Launchpad(lpd_cust) navigation

Also a button id can be assigned for action which is referenced in POWL query. The refresh type can be
OPTIMISTIC or
no value. Optimistic refresh indicates removal of the line from query results.

2. Define properties for actions in the maintenance view IBO_C_WF_APC. The IMG path to this
customizing is:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
->Define Tasks and Actions

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For OBJECTNAVIGATION type of action, properties like OBJECTNAME, OPERATION,

OBJECTVALUE etc. can be configured here. If the value has to be read from a variable in Workflow
container, then
configure it like - ${ITEM.EXTERNALID}.

For FUNCTIONMODULEHANDLER type of action, property FUNCTIONMODULE can be set to the

name of function module that would handle the action.

For LAUNCHPADHANDLER type of action, properties like ROLE, INSTANCE and alias can be
configured. The corresponding
application configured in Launchpad would be launched.

3. Now configure in the maintenance view IBO_V_WF_TTAC list of possible actions that are possible
for the task id
corresponding to shopping cart approval workitem. The IMG path to this customizing is:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
->Define Tasks and Actions

If the action has to be triggered for completed task the enter X in the field here.

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4. Finally specify default action for the shopping cart approval task id. This step has to be done in the
maintenance view
IBO_C_WF_TAC, the IMG path is:

Cross-Application Components -> Process and Tools for Enterprise Applications -> Inbox
->Define Tasks and Actions

POWL Configurations for Inbox

This section gives only brief overview of POWL configurations of Inbox. Details about POWL query
configurations can be found
in the links provided in related contents section.

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In the POWL transaction FPB_MAINTAIN_HIER you can find the application id for MSS POWL inbox.

For this application id several POWL types are registered by default like – Notifications, Workitems, and
Leave approvals. You can view all the POWL types registered against application id in transaction
POWL_TYPER.

You can define new POWL types and associate with your feeder class in transaction POWL_TYPE.

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You can also create new POWL types and assign to the MSS application id. This way you can have
custom queries configured in the MSS Inbox. Further properties of POWL queries can be defined in
POWL_QUERY and
POWL_QUERYR transaction. Please read POWL configuration details from related content

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