Introduction

While this article is about creating a flow pattern it makes sense to understand what a flow pattern is and the need/importance/advantages of using the same. In simple words a Flow pattern is a combination of multiple Task Flows (seeded/manual actions) along with a provision of creating security options (to ensure who would be allowed to view/edit and execute the same).

We must have seen the guided train stop flows in Oracle Fusion Applications be it during New Hire or during Extract Creation yes you guessed it right they are indeed a Payroll Flow Pattern.

Similar to Task Flows in EBS suite where we can have completely custom processes build with a combination of Reports, Checklists, Sub Tasks, Parameters Flow patterns in Fusion also does the same.

In short a Payroll Flow Pattern may be defined as a sequential process which has certain subtasks supposed to be performed one after another.

One important thing to note here is that while Flow Patterns are generally associated with Payroll the same is used through-out the Application with Create Accounting, Create Batch,……… being the commonly used ones.

Complete details about the same can be found here .

We may add single or multiple tasks within a flow pattern and the same holds true for BI Publisher Reports and HCM Extracts too. Imagine a situation where you want to run a BI Report, verify the data using some checklists and then perform another task. Designing a Flow pattern would help you in accomplishing the same. In this example we will create a Flow pattern for a Custom BIP Report and we would be able to view the output. The Output file will be based on the template of the BIP Report.

This article would also try to address the following important questions:

Q1. When should we use Payroll Flow Patterns?

Ans. We can implement Payroll Flow Patterns to incorporate seeded flows along with checklists and custom reports/extracts/processes.

Q2. Is this just a way of stitching together multiple pre-defined tasks delivered by Oracle in a set?

Ans. The answer to this question is a bit descriptive one and we would need to go through the below table to understand the list of available tasks:

So we can see that although the Activity Type are fixed but it gives a lot of options which can be used and multiple permutations can be used to create a new flow pattern

Q3. Does it allow creation of new tasks or one can only use the seeded prebuilt ones?

Ans. Its both a YES and NO. Yes if you create a Custom HCM Extract / BIP Report / Custom Process, NO Otherwise.

Q4. Does this allows one to Build a Flow as an Activity is Performed (say Journal Entry Creation), followed by another ( Journal gets Approved), which then would get extracted and send as a flat file via BIP

Ans. Yes this can be accomplished. You would need to create one flow of Activity Type Accounting and one flow with Activity Type Statutory (Task Name – Run BI Publisher Report) and then create a third flow which would combine both of them.

So that’s about the theory part and now let-us begin with creating a Flow Pattern based upon a BIP Report.

As a first step login to the application with a user having appropriate roles (user should have access to Payroll Checklist and Data Exchange Area which are present in the Application Roles Payroll Administrator and Human Capital Management Integration Specialist Role).

We would be using hcm_impl user (who has the required roles as mentioned above) in this example.

Next we would need to navigate to the ‘Manage Flow Patterns Task’ and there could be multiple ways of reaching the same. They are:

1. Using Checklists

From the navigator icon click on ‘Checklists’ link which would take you to a new page where in you should be able to locate the Manage Payroll Flow Patterns

2. Via Data Exchange -> Refine Extracts

We may even navigate to the Flow Pattern area using the Data Exchange-> Refine Extract Option

3. From Setup and Maintenance

A click on the ‘Go to Task’ Icon takes us to the next screen. Click on Create icon

One important observation at this point is the fact that out of the above 3 options mentioned only the 3rd option (Setup and Maintenance) provides us the feature of creating new payroll pattern. As we can clearly see the icon only on this page the other two pages are used for search and making edits ( only after a  Pattern has been created).

So we will now click on the icon and a new page will appear which would ask for a specific legislative data group for which we want this pattern to be created. We are interested in running a BIP Report here which would fetch data for all Legislative data groups hence we would keep the same as blank and proceed.                                             

When you click on the ‘Continue’ button, a new page will appear where we need to fill the relevant details as shown:

Click on Next and choose the ‘Yes’ radio buttons for ‘Flow Task Start Notifications’ / ‘Flow Task End Notifications’ / ‘Warning Notification’ and ‘Error Notification’

Once the appropriate radio button options are selected move on the next train stop (using the ‘Next’ Button) which will take you to the ‘Task Sequence’

The first task is the Start Task followed by Run BI Publisher Report and the last one being the End Task.

In the next step we should be defining the parameters for the flow pattern (Yes we need to click on the next button to move on to next train stop)

we do not need to enter any detail ( for this example as we are using a BIP Report which do not has any parameters and this is done specifically  ) and move to the next step where we need to enter the Report name and Report path

Next use the icon to delete all parameters except the report name. We do not need all the other parameters namely: Legislative Data Group (The Report we are going to use fetches data which is independent of any specific legislation) and the other parameters (argument 1, 2 ,3 .. are used in case the BIP report needs input parameter, the current report being used in this example does not has any input parameter).

After you remove the parameters there will be two parameters left as shown:

Once we have populated all the tabs we may move to the review tab to verify the same.

Once the verification is complete click on the Submit button (on the top right hand side of the screen)

Now the setup part is complete and we would now try to run the newly created Payroll Flow Pattern and try to understand the behavior.

For the same navigate to the Payroll Checklist Workarea (Navigator -> Checklists) and click on ‘Submit a Process or Report’

Select the appropriate payroll flow pattern (CustomFlowPattern-SubmitBIPReport) and proceed to next train stop (by pressing the ‘Next’ Button)

Give a name to the payroll flow (for example TestRun1)

Again choose the familiar next button to advance to the next train-stop.

Next we should move to the schedule tab and choose the ‘As soon as possible’ option to run the payroll flow

Now, we are ready to have a quick review of the entire payroll flow before doing a submission of the same. Once we click on the submit button we should get a confirmation message along with an informational text guiding us about what to do next.

A click on the ‘Ok and View Checklist’ takes us to the following screen:

We now need to click on the ‘Go to Task’ to view the results

Reports and processes tab displays a snapshot which when captured appears as:

Next Click on ‘View Results’

Click on the ‘Default Document.pdf’ and the Output appears as shown:

Thus we have now seen how to create a very simple Custom Payroll Flow Pattern making use of a BIP Report. We may add multiple tasks before or after the same to create a complex flow pattern.

This brings me to the end of this article and I hope this was a nice thing to learn.

Do explore more on similar lines and unravel the mystery which is waiting to be discovered

Good Bye ..!!

Ashish Harbhajanka

Add comment