Notification Page Templates

General Description

Notification templates are used when an application has Oracle Workflow installed. A user completes a transaction in an application that requires an action to be taken by his/her manager(s). The information regarding the transaction (i.e., purchase order, pay raise, etc.) gets fed into workflow, and a notification is produced.

The following information is provided in this guideline:

• General Principles of Notifications Templates
  • Notifications Portlet
  • Notifications Section on an Application Home Page
• Notifications Object List Template
  • Application Specific
  • Cross Application
• Notification Object Detail Template
  • Sections of the Notification Template
    • Page Title
    • Breadcrumbs
    • Page Stamp
    • Contextual Information
    • Application Specific Region(s)
    • Action History
    • Related Applications
    • Response
  • Actions/Navigation
  • Email Client vs. Web Browser

Guideline Attributes

Interaction and Usage Specifications

General Principles of Notifications Templates

• A user may access a notification from:
  • the Oracle Workflow application
  • the Oracle Portal - "Notifications" portlet with a combination of notifications from all applications
  • an Application Home page - "Notifications" section with application-specific notifications
  • an email client
• Both the Oracle Portal and Application Home page display a limited number of notifications, along with a control to display the full list of notifications:
  • Oracle Portal: The "Full List" link in the portlet takes the user to the complete Notifications List for all applications.
  • Application Home Page: A section level action/navigation button labeled "Full List" takes the user to the complete Notifications List for that specific application.
• The Notifications List template is a form of the Object List Template.
• Selecting a link to any individual notification from any of the lists above displays the Notification Detail template.
• A notifications detail template may require user response, or may be view-only (FYI) to provide information without requiring a response.

Notifications Portlet

The notifications portlet on the Oracle Portal is an aggregated view of notifications from all applications. Selecting the "Full List" link in the portlet will take the user to the Notifications List for all applications. Selecting the subject of a specific notification takes the user to a specific notification.

By default, the portlet displays a list of notifications sorted by date, with most recent at the top, but this can be configured at customer sites and personalized by individual users.

See Portal Guidelines for more information regarding details of Notifications portlet and portlet functionality.

• Portal Guidelines

Notifications Section on Application Home Page

• A short or quick list of application specific notifications can be placed on a home page template.
• The list may be the most recent notifications, or pending approval notifications. The specific types of notifications listed on the home page should be determined by the context of the application.
• The header that describes the shortened list of notifications should also reflect the categorization. For instance, the header should read "Most Recent Notifications" if the list only reflects the most recent. It may also read, "Notifications at a Glance" if it is not categorized but displays only a short list of notifications (such as 5).
• A section level action/navigation button labeled "Full List" accesses the Notifications List template, for all the notifications regarding the specific application.
• By default, the contents of the list are sorted by date, with most recent at the top.
• The common columns that are displayed are:
  • From
  • Type
  • Subject
  • Sent
  • Due

Notifications Section on Application Home Page

Notifications Object List Template

The Notifications Object List Template has several differences depending on whether it is displayed:

• From the "Full List" link in the Notifications portlet of the Oracle Portal, or
• Within a specific application

Application-Specific Notifications List

• The notifications list page that resides "within" an application only shows notifications that are specific to that application.
• This template is based on the Object List Template with Select/Act.
• The product identification (branding) is the application name.
• The page title is "Worklist: {ApplicationName}", to distinguish it from other Notifications lists.
• If more than 1 user has access to the same notifications, the page stamp is "Worklist for {User Name}"
• From this page users must be able to:
  • Select a personalized view (or personalize another view). Seeded views include:
    • All Notifications - this view is sorted by date. Other views may be sorted and filtered by other criteria.
    • Open Notifications
    • FYI Notifications
    • Notifications From Me
    • To Do Notifications
  • Respond to multiple notifications simultaneously by using a checkbox and the "select and act" model (table with a control bar for actions.) The actions that can be taken are:
    • Open - Opens one or many notification template(s) to view contents of notification
    • Reassign - takes user to reassign page
  • Switch to another user's worklist
  • Setup vacation rules
  • Grant worklist access to other users
• The recommended common columns that are displayed by default are:
  • From
  • Type
  • Subject
  • Sent
  • Due
  • Status - values are Open, Closed, Canceled, Error
• Other columns that can be displayed are:
  • Description
  • Notification ID
  • To
  • Priority

Cross-Application Notifications List

The cross-application Notifications List page is the same as the page viewed within an application EXCEPT:

• The page has Oracle Workflow branding instead of application-specific branding.
• The page provides an aggregated view of all notifications from all applications.
• The page title is "Worklist", to distinguish it from application-specific Notifications lists.
• Breadcrumbs are omitted.

Cross-Application Notifications List

Notification Object Detail Template

• Notifications can be surfaced in three contexts:
  • In the context of the Oracle Workflow product: The user navigated here from a master list of notifications in Workflow.
  • In the context of a given application
  • As an e-mail (HTML-formatted)
• The notifications template has standard sections that appear on all notifications, as well as a configurable section, where application-specific information can be displayed.
• Notifications may require different response actions, with different action/navigation buttons.

Notification Object Detail Template requiring a response

• Notifications may be view-only (FYI), providing information without requiring any action.

Notification Object Detail Template informational

Sections of Notification Template

Page Title

The Notification page title is composed with one of the three syntaxes, depending on the content of the notification and whether it is FYI (For Your Information) or response required.

For response required notifications, use the following:

{ObjectType}{ObjectID} for {Requester} ({MainValue})

• "ObjectType": The type of object requiring approval.
• "Object ID": The unique identifier for the object.
• "Requester": The name format varies by locale. In US English the format is, "last name, first name"
• "MainValue": Amount in case of the Purchase Requisition, or whatever is the most critical piece of info for the user to act on this notification.

• Requisition 2079 for Green, Terri (58,536.42 USD)
• Expense 52164 for Leung, Ivy (4,598 USD)

In certain cases, especially in HR applications, the notifications title may need to include a second person's name as the "MainValue". In this case, use the following alternate syntax:

{ObjectType} [ObjectID] Proposed by {Requester} ({MainValue}[, ReferenceType] [Reference ID])

• "ObjectType": The type of object requiring approval, such as an offer.
• "Object ID": The unique identifier for the object.
• "Requester": The name format varies by locale. In US English the format is, "last name, first name"
• "MainValue": The name of the person for whom the HR action is being performed.
• "ReferenceType": An underlying object type, such as "Vacancy" for an employment offer.
• "ReferenceID": The ID of the "ReferenceType"

• Offer Proposed by Simpson, Chris (Ramey, Harry, Vacancy 6274735)
• Bonus Proposed by Black, Alice (Woo, John)

For FYI notifications use the following syntax:

{ObjectType}{ObjectID} for {Requester} ({MainValue}) {Action Completed}

• "ObjectType": The type of object requiring approval.
• "Object ID": The unique identifier for the object.
• "Requester": The name format varies by locale. In US English the format is, "last name, first name"
• "MainValue": Amount in case of the Purchase Requisition, or whatever is the most critical piece of info for the user to act on this notification.
• "Action Completed": The action taken by the user on the object type/object id, such as "has been approved"
  

Examples:

• "Requisition 2079 for Green, Terri (58,536.42 USD) has been approved
• "Expense 52164 for Leung, Ivy (4,598 USD) has been rejected
  

Note: The page title syntax for notifications is an exception to the BLAF standards, because it contains two fields separated by a preposition, which requires special handling in translation.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are required and should be composed with the following breadcrumb syntax:

{Object List}

Examples:

• Worklist
• Worklist: Sales Online

Page Stamp

Page stamp is required if more than 1 user has access to the same notification. It should be composed with the following syntax:

Worklist for {User Name}

Examples:

• Worklist for Kevin Hudson
• Worklist for Mary Snider

Contextual Information

• Read only information regarding the notification. This section is mandatory and appears directly below the page title.
• Workflow data is placed on the left; application-specific data is placed on the right.
• The information shown should be a superset of that included in the columns of the Notification List, as shown below. Additional view-only information may be added as needed.
• Notifications fields (on left):
• From
• To
• Sent
• Due
• Notification ID
• Application-specific fields (on right) might include:
• Total Amount
• Description
• Attachments
• [Other fields]

Note: Contextual information for notifications is an exception to the BLAF standards as it does not have the separator (blue dotted line) between the data and page contents.

History

• Displays reassign or request information questions and comments.
• This section ONLY appears if a user has reassigned a notification or requested information about a particular notification.
• If reassignment or request for information has occurred, this section is mandatory and appears directly below the header section.

Application Specific Region(s)

• These sections are configurable by each development team depending on the content that is sent through workflow.
• Each section should have a subheader
• The following elements are NOT permitted:
  • links
  • buttons
  • updateable standard web widgets (radio buttons, input fields, text areas, checkboxes, choicelists)
  • functional icons
• The following elements ARE permitted:
  • status icons
  • record navigation
  • master/detail
  • read only tables/hGrids
  • hide/show regions
  • subtab layout
  • ppr

Application Specific Region with Table

Action History

• Displays a table containing a row for each previous execution of the notification activity in the process, as well as a row for the initial submission of the process.
• This section is optional but highly recommended.
• Columns which appear in the Action History table are:
  • Num
  • Name
  • Action
  • Action Date
  • Note

Action History

Related Applications

• Provides links to navigate to other applications in case the user wants more specific information about the notification content.
• If clicked, the related application page MUST include a 'Return to Notification' link.
• This section is optional and appears as the last or 2nd to last section on the page. If the Response section is present, Related Applications appears as the 2nd to last section on the page. If the Response section is absent, Related Application is the last section.

Related Applications

Response

• Allows a user to enter comments regarding his/her notification approval.
• Elements may include:
  • Text area for a note
  • Text area for justification
• This section is optional and appears as the LAST section on the page.

Response

Actions/Navigation

• The notification actions are listed page level buttons
• The response actions may vary based on the type of notification that is opened AND the notification reassign mode set by each development team.
• Action buttons for an action required notification may include:
  • Approve - approves notification.
  • Reject - rejects notification
  • Delegate - forwards notification to another user, without change in ownership
  • Transfer - forwards and changes ownership to another user
  • Reassign - allows to choose whether to delegate OR transfer the notification
  • Request Information - allows user to ask a question to a previous notification recipient
• Delegate, Transfer and Reassign are mutually exclusive actions. ONLY 1 can appear on the notification.
• Action buttons for an information only notification may include:
  • Close - closes the notification
  • Reassign - allows to choose whether to delegate OR transfer the notification
  • Request Information - allows user to ask a question to a previous notification recipient
• If the number of actions on a notification exceeds 4, keep the mutually exclusive Delegate, Transfer, or Reassign actions as a button, keep Request Information as a button, and display the remaining actions in an Actions choice list, together with a Go button.
• Follow the default button configuration as shown below.

Button Order

(Note: The button order shown is an EXCEPTION to standard BLAF button order.)

• Navigation
  • If "Display Next Notification After My Response" is checked, Approve, Reject and Close navigate the user to the next notification selected in the Notifications object list..
  • If "Display Next Notification After My Response" is NOT checked, Approve, Reject and Close navigate the user back to the notifications object list.
  • The checkbox (above the page content bottom line) should default to checked if multiple notifications have been selected from the preceding object list. Once finished viewing the last notification selected from the notifications object list, the user returns to the notifications object list.
  • The Return to XXX link allows users to navigate back to the Notifications List.

(Note: This interaction flow is an EXCEPTION to the normal batch detail behavior.)

• Delegate, Reassign, Transfer, and Request Information take the user to another page to perform the action. The user is eventually returned to either the notification object list or the next notification selected from the notification object list.

Email Client vs. Web Browser

• When a notification appears within an email client the following elements are removed:
  • Chrome (branding, global buttons, tabs)
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Page Title
  • Page Level Buttons
  • Batch processing navigation
  • Ski/Footer
  • Return to XXX link
• The subject of the notification email should follow the notification page title syntaxes described above, but the title should be preceded by either the text, "Action Required:", or "FYI:", depending on the type of notification.
  Examples:
  
  
  • Action Required: Requisition 2079 for Green, Terri (58,536.42 USD)
  • FYI: Offer Proposed by Simpson, Chris (Ramey, Harold, Vacancy 6274735)
  • FYI: Expense 52164 for Leung, Ivy (4,598 USD)
  
  
• Notification actions will be links instead of buttons, appearing at the top and bottom of the email.
• Components using partial page rendering will be recast to a non-partial page rendering state.
  • Table with record navigation becomes a table with all rows displayed in the first record set
  • Hide/show elements will be shown with no ability to hide
  • Master/detail will be recast to expose all the details for each master in the master section
  • Subtabs will be recast as vertical sections
  • HGrids will be shown in the 'expand all' state with no ability to collapse or focus

Open/Closed Issues

Closed Issues

09.2002 - There are 5 BLAF exceptions shown in this guideline within the notification template. These should not be used in any other product:
• Standard Batch Detail mode is not followed.
• Page level button order is not standard.
• Page title syntax is not followed
• Key notation for currency is not present
• Separator line is missing from contextual/header information