AME SSHR - Part 2 - How AME relates to Self Service HR

Written by Anil PassiWednesday, 29 April 2009 23:04

In this article we will discuss basic tech stack used in Self Service HRMS. We will also see howAME is related to SSHR Workflow. The concept covered in this article must be understoodbefore you can begin using AME in Self Service HRMS. In Self Service Oracle HumanResources there is a workflow named "HR". The short code of this workflow is HRSSA. Thisworkflow is initiated as soon as any business activity is initiated in Self Service HRMS. Stepswithin this Workflow process can be mapped to a specific screens in OA Framework. Thereforethe HR workflow guides which screen the user navigates through when making changes to datain self service HRMS. At this stage you might wonder why such an approach is required. Well there is no official explaination from Oracle for usage of a workflow to drive the flow of thescreens. However prior to using OA Framework in Self Service HRMS, SSHR was built usingPL/SQL Web Cartridges and latter AK Developer was included. Those days OA Framework didnot exist in the current form. When the very first version of SSHR was built by Oracle, back thenthe methodology of transaction state management of web based applications was notstandardised across eBusiness Suite modules. Use this link to understand how OA Frameworkevolved . Therefore OracleHRMS Product Development team decided to use a "Workflow process" to keep all the loosebits of screens tied together into one single transaction. If you open the HR [HRSSA] workflow,you will notice that there are many Workflow Activities that are mapped to PL/SQL Functionnamed HR_WORKFLOW_SERVICE.BLOCK. These activity/steps in workflow correspond to ascreen. This is how user navigation from one screen to other is controller in Self Service HRMS.

How does WF Activity know which OA Framework page to openThe Workflow activity is mapped to the OA Framework page via an AK Region. In earlier daysof SSHR, AK Regions were used for developing the screens in SSHR [Self Service HR]. Latterthese AK Regions were migrated to OA Framework pages. A file named regionMap.xml existsin the $PER_TOP/mds where this mapping exists. regionMap.xml is also loaded into theDatabase into MDS. Therefore, when a user logs into SSHR page, a Workflow Process fires.Within that WF Process there is an activity with Function"HR_WORKFLOW_SERVICE.BLOCK". To this activity the AK Region name is passed asparameter. The AK region is mapped to an OA Framework page. All these steps are explainedin the image below

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AME SSHR - Part 2 - How AME relates to Self Service HR

Written by Anil PassiWednesday, 29 April 2009 23:04

 The image shown above uses a workflow process named Person Information. However, foreach distinct menu item in Self Service HRMS, there exists a corresponding Workflow Process. Thus there are numerous processes within this HRSSA workflow. For example there is anotherworkflow process that starts when user navigates to "Extra Information Types" screen.

How does Oracle know which workflow process to initiate when a user enters "PersonInformation" screen in SSHRWhen user clicks on SSHR Menu Item, the name of the workflow process is passed as aparameter to the form function. Therefore, the sequence of events are

- User clicks on a menu in SSHR responsibility - Form Function attached to Menu is invoked. - This Form Function invokes AK Region HR_CREATE_PROCESS_TOP_SS [See WebHTML of Form Function HR_PERINFO_SS]

This AK region is mapped to OAF Page /oracle/apps/per/selfservice/workflowservice/webui/CreateProcessPGIn some cases SSHR Function directly invokes an OA Framework page, specifically holds truefor pages developed post-AK-Developer era

- Parameter pProcessName is read and the Workflow Process named "PersonalInformation" is initiated - All these steps are illustrated in image below

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AME SSHR - Part 2 - How AME relates to Self Service HR

Written by Anil PassiWednesday, 29 April 2009 23:04

 

How does Oracle know which AME Transaction Type to use for that screenAs shown in image above, two parameters named pAMETranType and pAMEAppId are passedas parameter to the Form Function. This tells which AME Transaction Type will be used by theSSHR screen. However the decesion of whether AME is switched ON or OFF is decided by aWokflow Activity named "Review Page". Every SSHR Workflow Process as a step named"Review Page". As shown in image below, when you double click on activity Review Page youwill notice that this Workflow Function is passed a parameter namedHR_APPROVAL_REQ_FLAG. If this WF Activity parameter is Yes or "Yes - Dynamic Approval"then the AME is called for Approval processing. To change the standard Approval processing inOracle Self Service HRMS, you can customize this property to enable or disable the ApprovalProcessing for specific screen in HRMS.

Further details of how you can implement differing AME logic for different SSHR screens will becovered in a future article.Note- It is in Self Service HR [HRMS] that the AME Trx Type is passed as passed as parameterto the screen function. Every calling module can have its own specific way using which the AMETrx Type to be used is configured.For example, in iRecruitment we have the following profile options that dictate the AMETransaction Type being used         IRC: Vacancy Approval Transaction Type         -Identifies the vacancy approvalstransaction type to be is used.        IRC: Offer Details Approval Transaction Type    -Offer Details Approval Transaction Type        IRC: Extend Offer Duration Transaction Type    -Extend Offer Duration Transaction Type

Do we directly customize the Workflow Process to change the AME behaviour for ascreen?Not really. You will copy the existing workflow process and create a new workflow process. For

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AME SSHR - Part 2 - How AME relates to Self Service HR

Written by Anil PassiWednesday, 29 April 2009 23:04

example a new workflow process named XX will be created. The review page property withinthis workflow process will be modified to use/remove AME. Thereafter you will create a newcustom Form Function and attach that Custom Form Function to the Menu. This Custom Formfunction will be passed in the parameter pProcessName with Custom Workflow Process Name.This function must also be included within the menu named"HR_GLOBAL_SS_FUNCTIONS_CUSTOM". This will facilitate usage of the custom FormFunction in SSHR.

Some further infoWhen a user makes changes to the data via SSHR, the following tables are populated.    HR_API_TRANSACTIONS     HR_API_TRANSACTION_STEPS     HR_API_TRANSACTION_VALUES The table HR_API_TRANSACTION_VALUES contains the old and the new values of the eachpossible column/attribute that was changed by the user.

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