| Previous | Next |  | Contents | Index | Glossary

## Workflow Processes

Oracle Workflow manages business processes according to rules that you define. The rules, which we call a workflow process definition, include the activities that occur in the process and the relationship between those activities. An activity in a process definition can be an automated function defined by a PL/SQL stored procedure or an external function, a notification to a user or role that may optionally request a response, a business event, or a subflow that itself is made up of a more granular set of activities.

A workflow process is initiated when an application calls a set of Oracle Workflow Engine APIs. The Workflow Engine takes over by driving the relevant work item defined by the application, through a specific workflow process definition. According to the workflow process definition, the Workflow Engine performs automated steps and invokes appropriate agents when external processing is required.

The following diagram depicts a simplified workflow process definition that routes a requisition to a manager or set of managers for approval.

We refer to the whole drawing as a process or process diagram. The icons represent activities, and the arrows represent the transitions between the activities. In the above example, new items are created for the process when a user creates and submits a requisition in the appropriate application.

This process contains several workflow activities implemented as PL/SQL stored procedures, including:

- Select Approver--to select, according to your business rules, who should approve the requisition.

- Verify Authority--to verify that a selected approver has the spending authority to approve the requisition.

| Previous | Next |  | Contents | Index | Glossary