Oracle Workflow Manager Overview

Oracle Workflow Manager is a component of Oracle Applications Manager that allows system administrators to manage Oracle Workflow for multiple Oracle E-Business Suite instances from a single console.

Using Oracle Workflow Manager, administrators can control Workflow system services, such as notification mailers, agent listeners, and other service components, background engines, purging obsolete Workflow data, and cleanup of the Workflow control queue. Administrators can also monitor work item processing by viewing the distribution of all work items by status and drilling down to additional information. Additionally, they can monitor event message processing for local Business Event System agents by viewing the distribution of event messages by status as well as queue propagation schedules. With this ability to monitor work items and event messages, a system administrator can identify possible bottlenecks easily.

To access Oracle Workflow Manager, log into Oracle Applications Manager and select an applications system. Then, you can follow one of the following navigation paths:

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

You can also use other features to help manage Oracle Workflow.

Gathering Oracle Workflow Statistics

Some Oracle Workflow Manager graphs and lists may summarize large volumes of data, depending on the level of activity in your Oracle E-Business Suite instance. To enhance performance in displaying these statistics, Oracle Workflow Manager periodically runs concurrent programs to gather the statistics and displays the graphs and lists based on the latest data from the concurrent programs.

These concurrent programs are scheduled to run every 24 hours by default. They do not require any parameters. You can optionally cancel the default scheduled requests and run the programs with a different schedule if you want to gather statistics at a different frequency.

Each of these graphs and lists displays the date and time when its statistics were last updated, as well as a refresh icon that you can select to refresh the statistics immediately if necessary. However, note that if your Oracle E-Business Suite instance contains very large volumes of workflow data, you may encounter delays or page timeouts when refreshing the data.

Note: Oracle Workflow Manager statistics that typically represent smaller volumes of data, such as work item details and work item activity details, are queried directly rather than through the concurrent programs.

Oracle Workflow System Status

The Workflow System status page provides a high-level view of the status of your Oracle Workflow instance. The page displays the date and time when the system status information was last updated. To refresh this information, click the refresh icon. To add the information from this page to your support cart, click the Add to Support Cart button.

Note: The system status information is queried directly, separately from the concurrent programs that gather other Oracle Workflow statistics.

The Workflow System status page shows the up, down, or unavailable summary status of the following Workflow features:

For service component features, including notification mailer service components, agent listener service components, and all types of service components grouped together, the summary status icons represent the following statuses:

To submit a concurrent request for a feature that runs as a concurrent program, choose the program you want from the Submit Request For pull-down menu and click the Go button. You can submit requests for the following programs:

Related Database Parameters

This region displays information about database initialization parameters required for Oracle Workflow. For each parameter, the list shows the parameter name, actual parameter value, recommended value, and description. If the actual value does not match the recommended value, the recommended value is marked with a warning indicator icon.

The JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES parameter defines the number of job queue processes for your instance. Oracle Workflow requires job queue processes to handle propagation of Business Event System event messages by AQ queues and for notification mailers. The minimum recommended number of processes for Oracle Workflow is two.

Note: In Oracle Database 10g and higher, you do not need to set the AQ_TM_PROCESSES parameter.

Workflow Metrics

This region displays summary information about work items and Business Event System agent activity.

Work Items

This graph displays the distribution of all work items with the following statuses: Active, Deferred, Suspended, and Error.

Note: A work item can be counted in more than one status. For example, all work items that do not have an end date are counted as Active work items, including deferred, suspended, and errored work items as well as running work items. Also, if an activity within an item is deferred, and the work item as a whole is suspended, the work item is included in the count for both the Deferred and Suspended statuses. Consequently, the total of the counts for all the statuses is greater than the actual number of work items.

Agent Activity

This graph displays the distribution of all event messages on Business Event System agents with the following statuses: Ready, Waiting, Expired, Undeliverable, and Error.

Note: Messages are not explicitly assigned a status of Error. The Error bar in the graph represents messages of any status on the WF_ERROR agent.

Related Links

This region provides links to other Oracle Workflow management features.

Configuration

Click the Service Components link to configure service components, including notification mailers and agent listeners.

Click the Queue Propagation link to view database initialization parameters required for queue propagation and a list of propagation schedules for Business Event System agents.

Throughput