Purging Workflow Data

The Oracle Applications Manager console helps you easily maintain the Oracle Workflow and Oracle XML Gateway database tables. Oracle Workflow and Oracle XML Gateway access several tables that can grow quite large with obsolete workflow information that is stored for all completed workflow processes, as well as obsolete information for XML transactions. The size of these tables and indexes can adversely affect performance. These tables should be purged on a regular basis, using the Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent program.

This program purges obsolete runtime information associated with work items, including status information, any associated notifications, and, if the ECX: Purge ECX data with WF profile option is set to Y, any associated Oracle XML Gateway transactions. By default, it also purges obsolete design information, such as activities that are no longer in use and expired ad hoc users and roles, and obsolete runtime information not associated with work items, such as notifications that were not handled through a workflow process and, if the ECX: Purge ECX data with WF profile option is set to Y, Oracle XML Gateway transactions that were not handled through a workflow process. You can optionally choose to purge only core runtime information associated with work items for performance gain during periods of high activity, and purge all obsolete information as part of your routine maintenance during periods of low activity.

Note: This program does not delete ad hoc users or roles whose expiration date is null. To ensure that ad hoc users and roles are purged in a timely fashion after they are no longer needed, estimate how long they should be active and specify an appropriate expiration date when you call WF_DIRECTORY.CreateAdHocUser(), WF_DIRECTORY.CreateAdHocRole(), or WF_DIRECTORY.CreateAdHocRole2() to create them.

To preserve electronic signature evidence for future reference, this program by default does not delete any notifications that required signatures or their associated signature information. If you do not need to maintain signature evidence, you can choose to delete signature-related information as well.

You can also optionally use this program to purge cached data from the WF_ATTRIBUTE_CACHE and WF_ENTITY_CHANGES tables. These tables contain cached data related to defining users as well as integration with LDAP and Oracle Directory Services.

Note: You can also use the Purge Obsolete ECX Data concurrent program to purge Oracle XML Gateway transactions according to Oracle XML Gateway-specific parameters. For information about this program and about the ECX: Purge ECX data with WF profile option, see: Purge Obsolete ECX Data Concurrent Program and Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data Concurrent Program.

Workflow Purge

The Workflow Purge page shows summary information about the next scheduled and last completed purge requests and about completed work items.

Navigation: Applications Dashboard > (pull-down menu) Workflow Manager > (B) Go > Purge status icon

Navigation: Applications Dashboard > (pull-down menu) Workflow Manager > (B) Go > Related Links > Throughput > Work Items

To view work items with a different status, choose the status you want from the View pull-down menu and click the Go button. You can view items with the following statuses:

Requests Summary

This region displays summary information about the next scheduled and last completed Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent requests.

Next Scheduled

For the next scheduled Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent request, Oracle Workflow Manager displays the request ID, requestor, status, requested start time, wait time, and parameters.

Last Completed

For the last completed Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent request, Oracle Workflow Manager displays the request ID, requestor, status, completed time, duration, and parameters.

To view the log file for the request, click the Request Log link.

Completed Work Items

This region displays the distribution of completed work items across different item types.

For each work item type in the Completed Work Items list, Oracle Workflow Manager displays the work item type name, the persistence type, the retention period in days, the number of completed work items of that type, and the number of items of that type that are available for purging. Click any column heading to sort the list by that column.

Submitting the Purge Program

You perform purging by submitting the Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent program (FNDWFPR). You can enter restrictions to specify the data that you want to purge.

Parameters

When you submit the Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent program, specify the following parameters.

Viewing Concurrent Requests

When you view the Purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data concurrent requests, the Workflow Purge page shows standard request detail information for these requests. For each request, the list displays the request ID, program short name, description, application short name, phase, status, requestor, duration, wait time, and submission date. Click a column heading to sort the list by that column.

Navigation: Applications Dashboard > (pull-down menu) Workflow Manager > (B) Go > Purge status icon > (B) View Purge Requests

Completed Work Item Details

This page shows details about completed work items of a particular item type.

Navigation: Applications Dashboard > (pull-down menu) Workflow Manager > (B) Go > Purge status icon > (B) View Details

To view work items with a different status, choose the status you want from the View pull-down menu and click the Go button. You can view items with the following statuses:

Completed Work Items Stage Summary

This region displays the distribution of completed work items that ended at various activity stages within the workflow process. For each activity stage, the list displays the activity internal name and result, and the number of completed work items that ended at that stage. Click any column heading to sort the list by that column.

Completed Work Item Activity Details

This page shows details about completed work items that ended at a particular activity stage within a particular item type.

Navigation: Applications Dashboard > (pull-down menu) Workflow Manager > (B) Go > Purge status icon > (B) View Details > (B) View Details

To view work items with a different status, choose the status you want from the View pull-down menu and click the Go button. You can view items with the following statuses:

Oracle Workflow Manager displays a list of all completed work items of the selected item type that ended at the selected activity stage. By default, the list shows completed work items that ended within the last 30 days. For each work item, the list displays the internal name of the activity at which the work item ended, the activity start date, end date, user assigned to perform the activity, and item key. Click any column heading to sort the list by that column.

Note: If you perform an action in the Workflow Monitor that changes the status of the work item, then you must refresh your Oracle Workflow Manager web page in order to see the updated information.