Business Process Management Overview
Through business process management, you can use standard protocols to call advanced Vision functionality or third-party applications.
Business Processes
The business processes are as follows:
-
User Initiated Workflow — The User Initiated workflow is triggered when you add, edit, or delete an Info Center record. For example, you could trigger a workflow whenever you save a new
project record in the Info Center. If you set up such a workflow,
Vision can send an email message on your behalf, present a validation warning or error message to the user, or even pass along information about the
project to an external program or stored procedure that you write yourself. Then the external program or stored procedure could extend the workflow, for example, by passing the information to a
project team collaboration site, where the
project's information is routed to the
Principal for approval.
In addition to non-programming actions like email messages and dashboard alerts, user initiated workflows can use the following advanced actions: custom methods, functions, stored procedures, and web services.
-
Scheduled Workflow — The Scheduled workflow is triggered when you click a user-defined button or starts according to a set schedule. For example, you could add a
Project Meeting Audit Scheduled Workflow button. When an impromptu
project meeting is called because a
client has scheduled an unexpected site visit, you can open the
project record, click the
Project Meeting Audit Scheduled Workflow button, and trigger a chain of scheduled workflows to alert the team members, validate
project data, and update the
project collaboration site.
In addition to non-programming actions like email and dashboard alerts, scheduled workflows can use the following advanced actions: custom methods, functions, stored procedures, and web services.
- Web Services Workflow — You can use Web Services that you write to extend Vision business logic in many different areas, including Time and Expense, Purchasing, Resource Planning, and from any user-initiated or scheduled workflow. For example, you could specify a web service that sends purchase order information to another workflow program when a purchase order is submitted. That workflow program could initiate a two-tiered approval system where POs equal to or less than $10,000 are approved by the employee’s manager only and all POs over $10,000 must be first approved by a manager and then a director. Once the workflow has completed in the other workflow program, your custom web service program could mark the PO as approved in Vision by updating the appropriate field in the SQL Server database.
Advanced Actions
In both User Initiated Workflows and Scheduled Workflows, business processes can be further extended using advanced actions. Advanced actions allow you to tailor business processes to meet your organization’s requirements. Some of these advanced actions are defined and configured by Vision, and others are completely customizable through advanced programming. The advanced actions include:
- Custom Methods — A custom method is a program that you can write (in the form of a DLL) that resides on the Vision application server. For example, you can use a custom method to modify your Vision database if the standard Vision behavior doesn't suit your company's needs. Custom methods allow you to use the same database connection and transaction being used by Vision itself. Therefore, they can be particularly useful when you want to make additional updates to the Vision database, and include those updates in the same transaction as the original action being performed by the user (for example, saving a new project record).
- Expressions — You can use an expression in the Column Change Workflow action to automatically populate data in a User Initiated or Scheduled Workflow. For example, you could have a project user-defined field for Total Contract Value. This field could be automatically updated with the sum of the Compensation, Consultant Fee and Reimbursable Allowance whenever one of those three fields is changed on a project.
- Functions — You can use functions to input parameters on a method that you insert on a form in Vision. After selecting the method, you can use the SQL Expression builder to create an argument that defines the function.
- Stored Procedures — If you do not want to write Visual Basic or C# code in the form of a custom method, you can instead used stored procedures to execute custom SQL on the Vision database. Although creating a stored procedure requires knowledge of T-SQL, it is an efficient method to use. However, there are some limitations to stored procedures, including that you are limited to operations inside the database and that you cannot pass back validation messages to the user.
- Web Services — You can call a web service to integrate Vision data with another application. For example, you could specify in a web service that, when you save an Employee Info Center record, it interfaces with the Vision Info Center to share employee information between the Employee Info Center and your organization's third-party human resource application. Rather than entering employee information in both applications, the Web Service could automatically update your human resource application with the information from the Employee Info Center so that the databases remain consistent and up-to-date.
- Workflow Alerts — Workflow alerts are configurable and provide the flexibility to trigger and schedule alerts based on your company’s requirements. These differ from the standard System and Company alerts that are pre-configured in Vision.
Applications that Use Advanced Actions
Advanced actions are used in the following Vision applications:
| Advanced Action | Application |
|---|---|
| Workflow Alerts |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms |
| Custom Methods |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms; Auto Numbering |
| Expressions |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms; Auto Numbering |
| Functions |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms |
| Stored Procedures |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms; Auto Numbering |
| Web Services |
Scheduled and User Initiated Workflow for Info Centers and Billing Terms; Web Service Workflow for Time; Expense; Transaction Center; Purchasing; Inventory; Planning; Auto Numbering |
Standard Features for Automating Business Processes
You can also use some standard features to automate business processes.
- Approvals — You can configure an approval process in the Time, Expense, Purchasing, and Transaction Center applications. If approvals are enabled and configured, Vision automatically alerts approvers of newly submitted records. Once approved, those records are ready for posting.
- Standard Alerts — Standard alerts are pre-configured in Vision and are designed to remind you when tasks need to be assigned or approved, when you need to submit timesheets, and when your opportunities advance from one stage to the next.
- User Defined Workflow Button — The Vision Screen Designer includes a feature that allows you to insert a user defined workflow button on a form to initiate a workflow. For example, you could create a Scheduled Workflow called Validate Address, which has a web service action that validates a contact’s address through a mapping Web site. Then, when a user enters a contact’s address, he or she could click on a button to start that workflow process and actually validate the address. This feature is accessible on forms where the Screen Designer and Workflow are both available.
Additional Documentation
For additional information, see the following documents on the Deltek Customer Care site.
- Deltek VisionXtend Extending Data Validation Business Logic for Expense Reports
- Deltek VisionXtend Extending Data Validation Business Logic for Timesheets
- Deltek VisionXtend Invoking a Custom Method to Process Workflow Action
- Deltek VisionXtend Invoking a Web Service to Process Workflow Actions
- Deltek VisionXtend Test Client Application for Vision Web APIs/Web Services
- Deltek VisionXtend Web Services and APIs for Deltek Vision