Oracle Workflow User's Guide

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Oracle Workflow User's Guide Release 2.6.4 Part Number B15854-02 |
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# Glossary

### A

Access Level
  A numeric value ranging from 0 to 1000. Every workflow user operates at a specific access level. The access level defines whether the user can modify certain workflow data. You can only modify data that is protected at a level equal to or higher than your access level.

Activity
  A unit of work performed during a business process.

Activity Attribute
  A parameter that has been externalized for a function activity that controls how the function activity operates. You define an activity attribute by displaying the activity's Attributes properties page in the Activities window. You assign a value to an activity attribute by displaying the activity node's Attribute Values properties page in the Process window.

Agent
  A named point of communication within a system.

Agent Listener
  A type of service component that processes event messages on inbound agents.

Attribute
  See Activity Attribute, Item Type Attribute, or Message Attribute.

### B

Background Engines
  A supplemental Workflow Engine that processes deferred or timed out activities or stuck processes.

Business Event
  See Event.

### C

Cost
  A relative value that you can assign to a function or notification activity to inform the Workflow Engine how much processing is required to complete the activity. Assign a higher cost to longer running, complex activities. The Workflow Engine can be set to operate with a threshold cost. Any activity with a cost above the Workflow Engine threshold cost gets set to 'DEFERRED' and is not processed. A background engine can be set up to poll for and process deferred activities.

Concurrent Manager
  An Oracle Applications component that manages the queuing of requests and the operation of concurrent programs.

Concurrent Process
  An instance of running a non-interactive, data-dependent function, simultaneously with online operations. Each time you submit a request, a concurrent manager processes your request, starts a concurrent process, and runs a concurrent program.

Concurrent Program
  A concurrent program is an executable file that performs a specific task, such as posting a journal entry or generating a report.

Concurrent Queue
  A list of concurrent requests awaiting completion by a concurrent manager. Each concurrent manager has a queue of requests waiting in line to be run. If your system administrator sets up your Oracle Application to have simultaneous queuing, your request can wait to run in more than one queue.

### D

Directory Services
  A mapping of Oracle Workflow users and roles to a site's directory repository.

### E

Event
  An occurrence in an internet or intranet application or program that might be significant to other objects in a system or to external agents.

Event Activity
  A business event modelled as an activity so that it can be included in a workflow process.

Event Data
  A set of additional details describing an event. The event data can be structured as an XML document. Together, the event name, event key, and event data fully communicate what occurred in the event.

Event Key
  A string that uniquely identifies an instance of an event. Together, the event name, event key, and event data fully communicate what occurred in the event.

Event Message
  A standard Workflow structure for communicating business events, defined by the datatype WF_EVENT_T. The event message contains the event data as well as several header properties, including the event name, event key, addressing attributes, and error information.

Event Subscription
  A registration indicating that a particular event is significant to a system and specifying the processing to perform when the triggering event occurs. Subscription processing can include calling custom code, sending the event message to a workflow process, or sending the event message to an agent.

External Functions
  Programs that are executed outside of the Oracle Database.

External Java Functions
  Java programs that are executed outside of the Oracle Database by the Java Function Activity Agent.

### F

Function
  A PL/SQL stored procedure that can define business rules, perform automated tasks within an application, or retrieve application information. The stored procedure accepts standard arguments and returns a completion result.

Function Activity
  An automated unit of work that is defined by a PL/SQL stored procedure.

### G

Generic Service Component Framework
  A facility that helps to simplify and automate the management of background Java services.

### I

Item
  A specific process, document, or transaction that is managed by a workflow process.

Item Attribute
  See Item Type Attribute.

Item Type
  A grouping of all items of a particular category that share the same set of item attributes. Item type is also used as a high level grouping for processes.

Item Type Attribute
  A feature associated with a particular item type, also known as an item attribute. An item type attribute is defined as a variable whose value can be looked up and set by the application that maintains the item. An item type attribute and its value are available to all activities in a process.

### L

Lookup Code
  An internal name of a value defined in a lookup type.

Lookup Type
  A predefined list of values. Each value in a lookup type has an internal and a display name.

### M

Message
  The information that is sent by a notification activity. A message must be defined before it can be associated with a notification activity. A message contains a subject, a priority, a body, and possibly one or more message attributes.

Message Attribute
  A variable that you define for a particular message to either provide information or prompt for a response when the message is sent in a notification. You can use a predefine item type attribute as a message attribute. Defined as a 'Send' source, a message attribute gets replaced with a runtime value when the message is sent. Defined as a 'Respond' source, a message attribute prompts a user for a response when the message is sent.

### N

Node
  An instance of an activity in a process diagram as shown in the Process window.

Notification
  An instance of a message delivered to a user.

Notification Activity
  A unit of work that requires human intervention. A notification activity sends a message to a user containing the information necessary to complete the work.

Notification Mailer
  A type of service component that sends e-mail notifications to users through a mail application, and processes e-mail responses.

Notification Worklist
  A Web page that you can access to query and respond to workflow notifications.

### P

Performer
  A user or role assigned to perform a human activity (notification). Notification activities that are included in a process must be assigned to a performer.

Process
  A set of activities that need to be performed to accomplish a business goal.

Process Definition
  A workflow process as defined in Oracle Workflow Builder, which can be saved as a flat file or in a database.

Process Activity
  A process modelled as an activity so that it can be referenced by other processes.

Protection Level
  A numeric value ranging from 0 to 1000 that represents who the data is protected from for modification. When workflow data is defined, it can either be set to customizable (1000), meaning anyone can modify it, or it can be assigned a protection level that is equal to the access level of the user defining the data. In the latter case, only users operating at an access level equal to or lower than the data's protection level can modify the data.

### R

Result Code
  The internal name of a result value, as defined by the result type.

Result Type
  The name of the lookup type that contains an activity's possible result values.

Result Value
  The value returned by a completed activity.

Role
  One or more users grouped by a common responsibility or position.

### S

Service Component Container
  An instance of a service or servlet that manages the running of the individual service components that belong to it. The container monitors the status of its components and handles control events for itself and for its components.

Service Component
  An instance of a Java program which has been defined according to the Generic Service Component Framework standards so that it can be managed through this framework.

Subscription
  See Event Subscription.

System
  A logically isolated software environment such as a host machine or database instance.

### T

Timeout
  The amount of time during which a notification activity must be performed before the Workflow Engine transitions to an error process or an alternate activity if one is defined.

Transition
  The relationship that defines the completion of one activity and the activation of another activity within a process. In a process diagram, the arrow drawn between two activities represents a transition.

### W

Workflow Definitions Loader
  A concurrent program that lets you upload and download workflow definitions between a flat file and a database.

Workflow Engine
  The Oracle Workflow component that implements a workflow process definition. The Workflow Engine manages the state of all activities for an item, automatically executes functions and sends notifications, maintains a history of completed activities, and detects error conditions and starts error processes. The Workflow Engine is implemented in server PL/SQL and activated when a call to an engine API is made.

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