Material Master creation workflow

[Former Member]

Hi everyone....

Last week I went on the BIT601 training course and I'm now tryinig to create my first workflow for material master creation, so please forgive my rather noobish questions. I think this must be a common workflow but I'm sure every company has a different process.

My process is as follows:

- User creates basic data view for material master in MM01.

- Workflow is triggered when material is saved.

- Work item arrives in inbox of master data enigneer who completes all material master views.

- Mail is sent to workflow initiator to inform that material is complete.

- End of workflow

I have defined the start event CREATED from business object BUS1001006 in my workflow definition. I have defined a standard task for the first step in my workflow using bus object BUS1001006 with method Create. The workflow starts correctly however ...

My question is how do I get the material number to pull through to my first step? I am assuming I need to setup some binding to pull the material number into the workflow container?

Can someone please point in the right direction.

Many thanks,

Neil

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Neil,

This is indeed a noobish question, but then again, basically you are a sort of noob

In the binding from event to workfow you bind evtobject to a container with the BUS definition.

Now in the WF you can use al of the instantiated attributes.

Also in SWO1 for that business object you can instantiate it with the material number.

Have fun!

Kind regards, Rob Dielemans

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

wow, thanks for the super quick reply Rob!

I figured it must be some binding I had not done.

So ... I go to my Start events in my workflow header, I see I have only the "auto-generated" binding i.e. EVTCREATOR > WFINITIAOR ....

now, I see EVTOBJECT as a possible container object from the event side of the window (left hand side) but what do I link it too? I was kinda expecting to see my business object as a possible container object in the workflow side of the screen (right hand side).

I really hope that makes sense... If I understand correctly, the idea is to link the event object to the business object container element ... but if thats the case why can't I see my business object in the workflow side of the binding window?

Many thanks for taking the time to help a noob

[edit] ... I may have partially answered my own question ... I think I need to define the properties of my business object in my workflow container element such that its is an input field? ...

I'm going home now... will carry on with this in the morning.

Edited by: Neil Ward on Oct 4, 2010 6:17 PM

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Create a workflow container with the properties of the business object. Now you can link evtobject to the business object.

What happens when the event has a workflow as a receiver and this binding is active, it will instantiate the business object.

Just as would've happened if you instantiate the business object yourself in SWO1.

In due time we'll make an expert out of you, don't you worry

Kind regards, Rob Dielemans

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Rob,

So I've made some progress... but still fumbling about a bit.

I have made a binding in my start event from EVTOBJECT -> BUS1001006 which I can now see pulls the material number into my workflow container ... but it's still not pulling through into the first step of my workflow.

I presume I need to make further bindings in my first step to pass the material number from the BUS1001006 object to one of the objects in the step? but which one ... I have "NewMaterial", "newmaterialEVG", "materialEVG" or perhaps "_Wi_Object_ID"?

Thanks again for your help.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Neil,

Ths is more of a functional question.

Ask your local MM consultant which attribute of the business object should be used.

Linking object to your business object should not pull the number to the workflow.

It should instantiate the entire business object for usage in your workflow.

Kind regards, Rob Dielemans

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Neil,

Rather than going for Create method, i would suggest to use DIsplay method and use Automatic binding for learning purpose..

This would give you a fair idea about the binding, later you can make use of create method too.

Regards,

Sangvir Singh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

lol ... I am the MM consultant!!! ... (actually I am the MM/PP/QM and a now workflow person ... Yes I tend to be pretty busy!)

We have a very small SAP team and I volunteered to learn workflow as it would be used mostly in MM and QM and I like learning new stuff.

OK, I guess I'll check out the attributes of BUS1001006 and see which one seems correct.

Thanks again... I have a feeling I'll be back to sponge more info from you

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

oops!

What is the first step in the workflow?

Binding is very important in workflow steps and tasks and methods. If it is a standard task, go to PFTC choose standard task, provide the number, click display and then click the where used button, now check if it is used in SAP standard flows.

And then find out how SAP is using this task.

Kind regards, Rob Dielemans

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

no problem.

both excellent suggestions rob and sangvir ... thank you very much for pointing this workflow noob in the right direction!

chat soon.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

ok just to close off this thread.

I have created new standard tasks using other methods of my business object like "display" and "createviews" ... both of these tasks have automatically created binding from BUS1001006 -> WIOBJECT_ID ... and both of these work when I use the tasks in my workflow!

So it looks like I will use the "Createviews" task as it seems to serve my purpose... but still, I wonder why it doesn't work with the standard "create" method?

anyway, I'm making progress.

thanks for the help.