SAP EP – Netweaver Portal

Symptom

Some SAP Business Workflow work items cannot be executed in the Universal Worklist iView and some of the behaviour in the Enterprise Portal is different from that of the Business Workplace.

Reason and Prerequisites

The Universal Worklist does not yet support all the features of the Business Workplace (in the SAP GUI for Windows) but offers other powerful features instead in the Web Browser. This note describes the restrictions.
Solution

Short Answer:Most customer and SAP workflows are supported by the Universal Worklist because it can launch the different User Interfaces involved seamlessly. However there are exceptions to this rule.
Detailed Answer:Workflows created by SAP or customers can be executed via the Universal Worklist once the SAP Enterprise Portal has been configured to access the relevent Business Suite. Older component releases are supported using the WP plugin but to be sure that your release combination is supported you should check the latest information in this Notes system.
The different UIs used in the workflows are supported automatically (e.g. iView, SAP GUI for Windows, WebFlow services…).
The limitations are listed below:
1.Substitution.From SAP Netweaver 04 SPS12, users can define their substitutes in the UWL. Both active (e.g. vacation) and passive (e.g. illness) are supported and substitution profiles, too.
Solution prior to this release:The Business Workplace (requires the SAP GUI for Windows) or the ITS inbox can be used to switch on or off the active substitution.2.Synchronous Dialog Chains(Also known as “Chained Execution” or “Guided Navigation”). In the GUI for Windows environment this causes a sequence of dialog steps to be executed one after another without returning to the inbox. To the user it looks as if they are navigating from screen to screen. E.g. the workflow calls a display step followed by an decision step in an approval process with the synchronous chain enabled..
This does not work in the UWL. The user has to return to the inbox after displaying the object and refresh the list before making the approval. This technique is sometimes used to background-process objects under a users name (e.g dialog task without a UI that batch-updates the status of an object under the user磗name.)
Solution:A new method needs to be developed that combines the logic from both steps. This is only possible if if the application supplies the the necessary APIs.
The generic decision has been extended to allow comments so that in many cases where synchronous dialog chains where necessary (e.g. to enter a reason following a rejection) this is no longer necessary.3.ArchiveLink.The processing of scanned invoices is a common legacy scenario. This involves calling the Web AS ArchiveLink to display the scanned document (TIFF format) from the document archive (separate hardware). ArchiveLink does not support a Web (BSP or iView) tiff-viewer, so scenario cannot be used in the UWL without support from the document management system (DMS/ECC) vendor.
Solution:Many ECC vendors now provide their own browser plugins for displaying archived documents. Check with your vendor to determine whether this is possible or not..4.Workflow log.From SAP Netweaver 04s SPS05, users can display a workflow log showing what has happened so far, who is holding up the process or where the flow is going to next.
Solution prior to this release:The log can be viewed in the HTML GUI but this is not sufficient for the EBP users. As with (4) this is too clumsy for most customers.5.Secondary methods.From SAP NetWeaver 04 SPS14 and SAP Netweaver 04s SPS05, this technique is available in the UWL. It calls up two windows simultaneously.
Solution prior to this release:Train the users to click on the attachments (objectlink) because the second method is nearly always a display method.6.Ad Hoc Attachments.From SAP Netweaver 04s SPS04, users can add attachments to work items using the attachment manager in the UWL. Users can also write memos to work items in the UWL.
Solution prior to this release:Display the Work item in the GUI for HTML and add the attachment from here.7.Forwarding work items.Work items cannot be forwarded in EP releases prior to SAP NetWeaver 04 SPS04.
Solution prior to this release:Display the Work item in the GUI for HTML and forward it from here.8.Document-based work items.Workitems based on the step-type “Document” (e.g. MS Word) can only be executed in the SAP GUI for Windows. Opening a task in the Universal Worklist, which comes from a SAP System, executes by default in WebGUI. You can change the execution mode from WebGUI to WinGUI by setting the property SAP GUI Type to SAP GUI for Windows.a) The iView parameter to change the mode from WebGUI to WinGUI is at the iView used by UWL for launching SAP Transactions. Navigate to this iView: Content Administration > Portal Content > Portal Users > Standard Portal Users > Universal Worklist > UWL – Launch SAP Transaction
(pcd:portal_content/every_user/general/uwl/com.sap.netweaver. bc.uwl.uwlSapLaunch)b) Under Property Category choose Content – Transaction.c) Set the property SAP GUI Type to SAP GUI for Windows