ABAP FAQ

Former Member · ‎2007 Sep 14

Hi,

Can you provide me the questions related ABAP realtime Project?

It is urgent...

and can anybody tell what is ABAP Workflow with giving some manual and guide?

Former Member · ‎2007 Sep 14

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_datadictionary.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_abap_realtime_questions.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_abap_reports.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_abap_internaltables.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_sapscripts_smartforms_abap.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_bdc_lsmw_abap_sap.html

http://www.allsaplinks.com/faq_miscellaneous_sapabap.html

http://abap4.tripod.com/SAP_and_ABAP_Links.html

http://www.techinterviews.com/?p=303#more-303

Developing a simple application using steps "User Decision" and "Mail"

Basic terminology used in the workflow:

The workflow definition is the set of rules that determine the path that the process takes. For example, how a purchase requisition is processed, from the initial request to the creation of the purchase order

A Workflow Instance, which is often simply referred to as the workflow, is a single workflow run. For example, the processing of a single purchase requisition for computers.

The Tasks are the steps in the process, which have to be performed either by people or automatically by the software. For example, to check for the availability of the spare computers in the company.

A Work item is the task instance that is performed as a single workflow step. For example, check that there are no spare computers available in the company.

Agents are the people who process the tasks (via the work items). For example, requisitioner and a member of the purchasing department.

Container is the place where all the data used in the workflow is collected.

Binding is the set of rules that define which data is passed to which part of the process.

Building a simple workflow application

The central tool for creating, displaying and processing a workflow is the workflow builder (Transaction SWDD). Within the workflow builder you can create all components of a workflow, including all the containers you need for getting the data from one step to another.

Generally, most of the workflows are started by an event (for example, when a material is created or when a new purchase requisition arrives). You define which data from this event needs to be passed to the workflow via binding.

However you can also start any workflow directly. Let us create a simple workflow and start the workflow directly, using the testing tools.

Call transaction SWDD. When the workflow builder is called for the first time, a newly created initial workflow definition appears or else last created workflow appears. In such cases you can opt to create a new workflow by pressing “Create New Workflow”(ctrl + shft + F5). The following screen appears.

The initial workflow screen has the following parts:

a. The start of the workflow definition, indicated by .

b. The end of the workflow definition, indicated by .

c. The area in which you insert the new workflow definition is indicated by .

Now select the undefined step and select Create step or double click the undefined step. Now among the different steps chose the User Decision by double clicking on it.

Developing a simple application using steps "User Decision" and "Mail"

Now enter the title for the user decision “ Please make a decision”. Also enter the decision texts as Approve and Reject. On pressing enter, the outcome values default to the Decision texts but you can specify your own names, if desired. Now we need to select the agent. Agent is the person to whom the work item needs to be sent.. Since this is just a beginning, we would hardcode the user name. Select the User from the drop down list and enter the user name to whom the work item needs to be sent. In general, this type of agent assignment is not done. Agents are generally assigned using the expression, agent assignment rule or organization object (job, position etc.).

Now select Transfer and to graphic button. Following screen appears:

Now we need to include a mail step to be sent to the requestor. Now select the line “Approve” and do a right click. Different options on shown on the context menu. Select Create.

Now select the step “Send Mail” from the list.

Developing a simple application using steps "User Decision" and "Mail"

...Previous

Now enter the subject and the body of the message for the mail to be sent.

Do not change the recipients. Our mail is intended for the persons who triggered this workflow. &_WF_INITIATOR& contains the value who executed the workflow. Since this is a test object, we are using &_WF_INITIATOR&. But we wouldn’t be using this variable in real time scenarios. We would discuss about this in the coming documents.

Now select Transfer and to graphic button.

A popup appears requesting for the abbreviation and the name for this task. Enter the same and press enter.

Now enter the package as local object and press enter.

Follow the steps 5 through 9 for the step “Reject”. The following screen appears:

Press SAVE to save the workflow application. You need to enter an abbreviation and name for your workflow as shown below. You can change any of these at any later point. After saving, a number is assigned to your workflow starting with WS, as shown below.

Developing a simple application using steps "User Decision" and "Mail"

...Previous

To execute the workflow, activate it by choosing the activate button.

Test the workflow by choosing Test. The following screen appears.

Now choose Execute to start the workflow.

Now the recipient would receive a work item in his SAP® inbox (Transaction SBWP).

Now execute the work item by pressing “Execute”. The following screen appears:

Choose one among Approve or Reject as part of the user decision. He can select the third option to retain the work item in his inbox and make the decision later. Now suppose that the recipient has chosen one of the first options. Now a mail would be sent to the requestor with the status of his request.

Creating a Container element

This document details about creation of a container element in workflow and using it in the step "Mail".

Pre-requisites:

It is assumed that the reader of this Tutorial is aware of creating a workflow definition with the step “Mail”. If not, please go through the document on creating the same available, by clicking here.

Steps:

1. Create a workflow definition using the transaction SWDD.

2. Let’s create a container element for Carrier id. Click on the “Workflow Container” on the left side of the screen (as shown in the screenshot below):

3. Now double-click on “Double-Click to Create”

4. Enter the details pertaining to CARRID here.

5. Click on tab “Properties” and select “Import”.

6. Click on “Confirm (Enter)”.

7. Now the element created could be seen on the left side, below the “Workflow Container”.

Creating a Container element

2. Enter the recipient details in the “Recipients” box.

3. In the subject line, enter “Carrid value entered is:” and click on “Insert Expression”.

4. Select the element “Carrid” from the list.

5. Similarly enter the content in the “Body” area.

6. Save and activate the application.

Testing the Workflow application:

7. Test the workflow by clicking F8.

8. Enter the value of the Carrid as shown above and press execute.

9. A mail would be sent to the recipient mentioned earlier with the carrid value entered.

Condition Step

Agenda:

This document details about the steps “Condition”.

Pre-requisites: It is assumed that the reader of this document has a preliminary understanding of workflow and has worked with the container elements earlier. If not, please go through the first two Tutorials of workflow available in this site. (More details)

Procedure:

1. Create a new workflow definition.

2. Create a container element, CARRID (as demonstrated in tutorial 2).

3. Now click on undefined step and create the step “Condition”.

4. Enter the step name of your choice.

5. We would have the following condition here:

If carrid = ‘AA’.

Do this.

Else.

Do this.

Click on “Click here to create a new condition”. Following screen appears.

Double click on “Carrid”. Next click on “=” and enter the value “AA” in the constant field and press ENTER.

Enter the outcome names of your choice as shown above.

Click on “Transfer and go to graphic”.

As shown above, there are two branches here. One navigates to true, if CARRID = ‘AA’ else the control takes the branch “False”.

Test the above scenario by inserting mail steps in the above 2 branches and by passing different CARRID values.

Condition Step

Agenda:

This document details about the steps “Multiple Condition”.

Pre-requisites: It is assumed that the reader of this document has a preliminary understanding of workflow and has worked with the container elements earlier. If not, please go through the first two Tutorials of workflow available in this site. (More details)

Procedure:

1. Create a new workflow definition.

2. Create a container element, CARRID (as demonstrated in tutorial 2).

3. Now click on undefined step and create the step “Multiple Condition”.

4. Enter the step name of your choice.

5. We would have the following condition here:

If carrid = ‘AA’.

Do this.

Elseif carrid = ‘AH’

DO this.

Elseif carrid = ‘SQ’

Do this.

Else.

Do this.

Select the “CARRID” using the F4 help for the comparison basis field.

Enter the values of the carrid under the Comparison values with the corresponding outcome name (of your choice)

Double click on “Carrid”. Next click on “=” and enter the value “AA” in the constant field and press ENTER.

Click on “Transfer and go to graphic”.

As observed above, there are different branches for each value of CARRID mentioned above.

Test the above scenario by inserting mail steps in all the branches and by passing different CARRID values.

Using "Container Operation" step

Agenda: Usage of step “Container Operation”.

Pre-requisites: It is assumed that the reader of this tutorial has worked in the concepts that are dealt in earlier tutorials. (click here for more details)

Scenario: In this tutorial, we would deal about how to work with the step “Container Operation” with an example of calculating the available seats by subtracting occupied seats from the maximum seats at the workflow level.

Procedure:

1. Create a new workflow definition using the transaction SWDD.

2. Create two container elements MaxSeats, Occ_Seats with the “import” property set. You can use the reference fields sflight-seatsmax, sflight-seatsocc for this.

3. Create another container element AvailableSeats without setting either import or export property as this is calculated within the workflow and used within the workflow. You might use any of the above reference fields as data types.

4. Define a new step “Container Operation” in the workflow definition by double-clicking on the “Undefined step”.

5. In this step, we would calculate the available seats from the max seats and seats occupied.

I would recommend entering all the container elements from the F4 help instead of typing them manually.

6. Return to the main screen.

7. Create a mail step after this to send the available seats information.

8. Test the above functionality by passing some values to the maximum and the seats occupied.

9. Result would be as follows:

Triggering Events Programmatically

Purpose: This document details the procedure in triggering the business object events programmatically.

Pre-requisites: It is assumed that the reader of this document is aware of the business object concepts and good in ABAP.

Procedure:

In this document, we would take an example of the business object BUS1001006 (Material) and the event CREATED. In general, this event is triggered whenever a material is created using a standard procedure like MM01 or any others. Now we would trigger this event from our own programs.

Following are the screenshots of the business object BUS1001006 and the event CREATED. Go to transaction SWO1 for more information of the business object.

Double-clicking on the key field parameter gives you technical information of the field.

In order to trigger an event programmatically, we would use the function module SWE_EVENT_CREATE.

Following is the sample code to trigger the events programmatically:

REPORT ZDEMO_TRIGGER_EVENT.

DATA: KEY LIKE SWEINSTCOU-OBJKEY.

KEY = '1163'. “ Material Number (hard-coded)

CALL FUNCTION 'SWE_EVENT_CREATE'

EXPORTING

objtype = 'BUS1001006'

objkey = KEY

event = 'CREATED'

CREATOR = ' '
TAKE_WORKITEM_REQUESTER = ' '
START_WITH_DELAY = ' '
START_RECFB_SYNCHRON = ' '
NO_COMMIT_FOR_QUEUE = ' '
DEBUG_FLAG = ' '
NO_LOGGING = ' '
IDENT =
IMPORTING
EVENT_ID =
TABLES
EVENT_CONTAINER =

EXCEPTIONS

OBJTYPE_NOT_FOUND = 1

OTHERS = 2

.

IF sy-subrc <> 0.

MESSAGE ID SY-MSGID TYPE SY-MSGTY NUMBER SY-MSGNO

WITH SY-MSGV1 SY-MSGV2 SY-MSGV3 SY-MSGV4.

ELSE.

WRITE 'Event Triggered'.

ENDIF.

COMMIT WORK.

In order to test whether the event is getting triggered or not, we can make use of Event Trace. Switch on the event trace using the transaction SWELS.

Press ‘Switch On”.

Now execute the program developed earlier. Now switch-off the event trace using the same transaction SWELS.

Now go to transaction SWEL. Here you can list out the events triggered in the particular period of time. Here is the event-trace list:

Deadline Monitoring in SAP Workflow

A major advantage of workflow is the ability to monitor the workflow steps according to a predefined schedule. Following are different deadlines that can be monitored against each workflow step:

• Requested Start

• Latest Start

• Requested End

• Latest End

In this example, we will define a deadline to the User Decision example created earlier (click here). Following is the screenshot of the application developed using the User Decision example:

We would extend this example to the deadline monitoring.

In the User Decision step, click on the “latest end” tab.

By default, No deadline monitoring is active (as seen in the above screenshot).

Choose the “Work Item Creation” from the list box.

After selecting “Work Item Creation”, chose an offset of 5 minutes. This means that the work item must be executed within 5 minutes of the creation, if not this would trigger.

Deadline Monitoring in SAP Workflow

Enter recipient details to whom the message to be escalated, if the work item is not executed with in 5 minutes after work item creation.

Save and activate the workflow definition.

Testing the workflow application:

• Execute your workflow.

• Check for the work item in the SAP Inbox. This time do NOT execute the work item.

• Wait for the deadline to be triggered. After that, a deadline message is delivered to the recipient mentioned in the “Latest End” tab. See the screenshot below.

Don’t worry if the deadline message doesn’t appear immediately after 5 minutes. This depends on various factors including how the deadline monitoring program is scheduled and also on the availability of the background processors.

Use SWWA to check how the deadline monitoring program is scheduled in program.

For example, assume that our work item has been created at 09:10 hrs and the deadline message is expected to trigger at 09:15 hrs. From the above screenshot, it is understood that the background program is scheduled to execute for every 3 minutes. Assume that the last run of the program is at 09:14hrs and the next run is expected at 09:17hrs. So even our deadline expires at 09:15, the deadline message would appear only at 09:17hrs after execution of the background program.

Some more points

In our above example, we have used the deadline on the “Work Item” creation time. i.e., 5 minutes after creation time, the deadline message would be sent. Now we would check the other option “Expression”. Here we can mention the date and time, when the deadline message should appear irrespective of the work item creation date/time.

As seen in the above screenshot, we can provide the target date and time by which the task should be finished. Container elements could be used in this case. Please refer to our example on creation of container elements (click here).

Personal Substitute in Workflow

Requirement: Need to have at least one substitute who can act upon work items in your absence.

Important: The appointed substitute would be able to see all your work items. A substitute cannot be assigned for only particular area of organization or any other item. So need to ensure that the substitute have the necessary authorizations to act upon the work items.

Procedure:

1. Go to SAP Business Work Place (TCode: SBWP)

2. Now from the menu bar, select Settings à Workflow settings à Maintain Substitute

3. Highlight/Select the name on the window, in this case SAPDEV02 and click on “Create Substitute”.

4. List of users available in the system are displayed.

5. Select the required substitute user name. Following screen appears.

Validity field describes about the period in which the setting would be active. Note that the dates on the screen would range from the current date to 31st Dec 9999.

Regarding the checkbox “Substitution active”, it is advised to leave this checkbox unchecked for system performance reasons. A check in this box indicates that the substitution is “permanent” and if left unchecked it is treated as “as-needed”. A permanent substitute will automatically receive the primary users work items in their own box. In the case of “as-needed”, substitute must manually adopt the work items from the primary user’s inbox.

6. Save the entries

7. Click Enter to leave the screen.

Adopting a Substitute in Workflow

If you have been designated as an “as-needed” substitute, you must manually adopt the substitution. If you are designated as a “permanent” substitute, the work items would automatically appear in the inbox.

Before adopting a substitution, there are 19 work items in the inbox. See the screenshot below:

To adopt a substitution, select Settings à Workflow settings à adopt substitution.

Select the corresponding User-id (if you have been assigned as a substitute for multiple people, then this option would allow you to select the user name of whom you would to check the work items)

The corresponding user’s work items would appear in our inbox now.

You can end the substitution, by selecting settings à Workflow settings à End substitution.

Note: Substitutes can only adopt work items that are directly routed to the person for whom they are a substitute. If you are a substitute for a user (SAPDEV02) who has been made a substitute for another user (SAPDEV01), you will only see work items for user SAPDEV02 and not of the user SAPDEV01.

Notification of Work Items via e-Mail

SAP provides us with a facility of notifying the user via the email address of your choice when there are any pending work items in the SAP Inbox..

1. Go to Transaction SO13.

2. Click on Automatic Forwarding tab.

3. Click on Create icon .

4. Enter the details in the above screen.

5. Click ENTER to complete the entries.

6. Now the notification would be received at the provided email address if there are any pending work items in the inbox.

Filtering the Work Items in the SAP Inbox using BADI

This document details about the procedure in filtering some of the work items from the SAP inbox using a BADi.

Following is the screenshot of the SAP inbox, before implementing BADi:

The BADi that is used in filtering the work items is WF_BWP_SELECT_FILTER. To implement the BADi, go to transaction SE18. From the menu, select Implementation à Create. (See the screenshot below)

Enter the implementation name and press ENTER

Enter any meaningful short text for the implementation and click on the tab “Interface”

The implementing class, ZCL_IM_BWP_SELECT_FILTER, is automatically proposed. Double click on the implementing class name.

You are now navigated to the class builder. Now double-click on the method name shown on the screen (see the snapshot below)

Now let us filter out the work items belonging to the task TS2000066. See the code below:

Activate the method and also the implementation. In the state of active, you wouldn’t be able to make any changes. To make any changes, we need to deactivate it and then make the changes.

Now check the inbox and would notice that the work items related to that task are no more appearing.

check the following link

http://www.saptechnical.com/Tutorials/Workflow/WorkflowTutorialOne/WorkFlowTutorial4.htm.

Regards

Vasu

Former Member · ‎2007 Sep 14

Thank you Mr Vasu,

I got my answer about workflow.

Monalisa.

Former Member · ‎2007 Sep 14

Hi vivsit the links for abap interview questions

http://www.sap-img.com/abap/abap-interview-question.htm

http://sap.ittoolbox.com/documents/popular-q-and-a/abap-sample-interview-questions-3240

http://www.geekinterview.com/Interview-Questions/SAP-R-3/ABAP

http://www.techinterviews.com/?p=202

http://www.allinterview.com/Interview-Questions/ABAP.html

ABAP WORKFLOW

SAP Workflow ensures " the right work is brought in the right sequence at the right time to the right people". It is a tool designed to facilitate and automate business processes that require tasks to be performed by people. Ideal for casual or non-SAP users, since all the work items can be performed outside of SAP by simply responding to an email, SAP workflow can be linked to Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes. Each step of a business transaction can be easily monitored and processes are completed from the beginning to the end. Workflow allows process owners to keep an eye on deadlines, provides statistics on the length of time to complete work processes, determine the workload with regard to individual employees and save processing time.

Since Workflow delivers work items to employees automatically via email, they do not have to wait or inquire about the status of a particular transaction. SAP Business Workflow can also be used to respond to errors and exceptions - it can start when predefined events occur. For example, an event can be triggered if particular errors are found during an automatic check of the data SAP workflow is particularly useful when there is a business process involving more than one person, when an automatic notification can replace a manual communication and when there is a defined set of individuals and/or documents implicated. It organizes one's work, alerts users and directs traffic by sending work items - once the user executes the work item, then another one can be sent to another user. For example, a Manager could use workflow to approve a vacation request from an employee. The workflow application would ensure that each person involved uses the correct online form and successfully completes their step before the planned leave was entered into SAP - either by an Administrator or automatically. By the same token, if someone registers for a training class, Workflow can act as an alert tool by notifying the supervisor in question or reminding the individual of an upcoming class.

Before implementing SAP Business Workflow, organizations should start by asking a series of questions, such as: - Which HR processes do we want to automate? - To what extent can we change current procedures and pass them over to electronic control? - What steps are these procedures made up of? - Who are the individuals involved and what are their roles? - How do we get the Workitem to go to the right people?

Even though Workflow can be implemented via user-defined tables without the Organizational Management component in place, having a pre-defined organizational structure adds tremendous value and saves time. A clear reporting structure made up of positions and position holders that is maintained by the HR department, ensures the ongoing ease-of-maintenance effort. The ability of HR personnel to add and delete users from positions as people come and go, without affecting your core workflows, is a tremendous long-term benefit. If you have Personnel Administration in place, employee's email addresses can also be maintained by the HR department in addition to employee's respective Time/HR and Payroll administrators who might be involved in the Workflow.

There are basically three options for connecting workflow to external email: Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, Lotus Notes or SAP Connect and Internet Mail. A key factor in SAP R/3 4.6 implementations and upgrades will be the use of a Web browser as the main workflow interface.

Benefits of SAP Workflow

Although the advantages gained by using workflow are not of financial nature, the time saved by optimizing processes could easily be translated into money. - The quality of your processes will be assured by sending relevant information directly to the user. Managers don't have the time to search for information. For example if an employee obtains a qualification as a result of hard work or training, their Managers can be notified immediately. - Cycle time is reduced by providing all the necessary information needed: people can check their list of pending tasks and determine which tasks can be completed the next day without any negative impact. I.e. A Payroll Administrator might be notified immediately of an employee address change via ESS that might implicate taxes. - Workflow allows to monitor deadlines.

It could be used to remind employees of upcoming performance reviews or training or to send payroll year-end tasks items to the relevant Payroll Administrators. Deadline handing ensures that users perform the tasks within the time planned. Escalation measures ensure that the failure to meet a deadline can be corrected by other means. - Users can see at a glance how the process works and who will be selected to perform the different tasks, which creates a transparent work environment. - SAP contains Workflow templates, which can be used as a reference providing more than 200 Workflow samples. - Implementing Workflow will save costs. Ask yourself how much time is spent gathering information, getting hold of people, logging into different systems and trying to understand who to give a task to? How often does this current process fail and how labor intensive is it to fix it? Workflow reduces time and effort spent and the savings in days can be considerable.

How does it work?

There are several components of a workflow: Workflow Definition, Work Items, Triggering Events and at the Receiving end the Organizational Structure. The workflow definition is created in the Workflow builder and is made up of the various steps. Each step of the workflow definition can be a task pointing to a SAP transaction or a decision. A decision might contain specifications about agents and deadline monitoring for a step. The workflow is started either manually or by the system at runtime. For the system to start a workflow, the workflow definition must contain a triggering event (for example the event "Address update by the employee"). When the event occurs, the relevant workflow is started automatically. Tasks or Work items describe the activities involved and can refer to automatically executable methods (i.e. send an email to a supervisor) or they might need a user to execute them (i.e. supervisor has to go and click on a button in his workplace to approve something). Tasks refer to business objects, which are ABAP coding. Events are activities that trigger the workflow - one or several workflows at the time. Once the workflow is triggered, the definition flowchart determines when and in what order work happens. Work items are then received and executed in MS Outlook, Lotus Notes, mySAP Workflow MiniApp or the SAP integrated inbox. Alternatively, the workflow system can transmit e-mail notifications directly to any mail system, informing the user of the need to log in to the SAP system to execute the task. A work item is always assigned to one or more users. Once the task is executed, the work item vanishes from the other users' inboxes.

Integration to Email systems

Usually executable work items are received in the Workflow inbox. But casual SAP users, especially Managers might forget to check their inbox at a regular basis and so it makes sense to set up reminder emails, informing people via a batch job that they have work items in their inbox. Alternatively, an email can be sent directly to their Lotus Notes / Outlook account with a hotlink to the Workflow inbox. All emails, whether they exists in the form of Workflow notifications, Workflow Workitems, or just a standard SAP Office memo, are sent out of SAP through SAPConnect. This provides the all in one gateway between SAP and the mail server. The transport of workflow items between SAPConnect and the mail server (whether that's Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook) has been facilitated by SAP provided add-ons that are fully optimized for the different protocols required for each server. Lotus Notes, for example, uses a 'pipe' called the MTA, or Message Transfer Agent. This was designed jointly between SAP and Lotus to provide full integration between the two systems.

It should be noted that the type of transport medium used is dependent on the mail server and not the mail client. In other words, if the employee uses Outlook on their computer but the mail server is a Lotus Domino server, the MTA would be the mail gateway used. Each workflow background user must have an email address stored in their user profile. It is note worthy that no approval or reply notification will be allowed from an external mail system - in other words external email systems cannot respond back to SAP for security reasons.

Looking ahead…

Workflow is becoming more and more web-oriented which allows external business partners to receive notifications. Companies can adopt Workflow together with "Webflow" where workflows can be initiated via Internet transactions and where different external business partners can receive notifications sent by the workflow. The Web inbox offers access to partner companies logging on to your Web portal and it refreshes itself automatically. Any type of work item can be executed directly from a centralized list of work items, no matter what graphical user interface is needed to run it. Webflow is particularly useful when a company deals with outside partners using different software platforms.

Workflows can make an ERP system more efficient by automating situations in which work processes have to be run through repeatedly, or situations in which the business process requires the involvement of a large number of agents in a specific sequence. It is essential that the Workflow consultant is an expert in ABAP development or has access to ABAP programmers since a good deal of the work is technical. You will also need someone familiar with Lotus Notes / Outlook concepts and development in order to create the interfaces between the systems. The Workflow consultant should also have experience in installing and integrating efficient electronic archive systems.

REWARD IF HELPFUL

VIVEKANAND