Infor Process Automation examples

Example 1: Simple process to route purchase orders

Suppose your company has three people who need to sign off on purchase orders. You want to create a process that automates the process of routing the purchase order among these individuals.

	Step	How	Who does it
1	Design the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	An IPD developer who is knowledgeable about the business process.
2	Upload the process. After the process has been created and tested, it is ready to be uploaded to the server.	Using Infor Process Designer	IPD developer
3	Schedule the process to run.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / Process Scheduling / By Process Definition	System administrator
4	Work (requesting sign-off on the PO) appears in the Inbasket of the appropriate users.	Happens automatically through process execution	N/A

Example 2: Adding tasks

In Example 1, users are notified directly. The process identifies users through their user IDs as the specific persons whose Inbaskets should receive notifications.

In Example 2, work is assigned to Tasks, rather than directly to users.

In Infor Process Automation, a task represents "users who perform a specific function." Work items are assigned to tasks; tasks are assigned to users.

For our PO sign-off example, we assume that a task called "PO Sign-off" has been created. When the process executes, a work item to sign off on a PO will appear in the Inbaskets of users who have been assigned the task.

	Step	How	Who does it
1	Assign the Task "PO Sign-off" to users. If tasks were not used, the system administrator would not have to perform this step. By default, all Lawson users are automatically IPA users.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Tasks	System administrator
2	Design the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	An IPD developer who is knowledgeable about the business process.
3	Upload the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	IPD developer
4	Schedule the process to run.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / Process Scheduling / By Process Definition	System administrator
5	Work (requesting sign-off on the PO) appears in the Inbasket of users signed this task.	Happens automatically through process execution	N/A

Example 3: Adding filters

In Example 2, users are notified of work items through tasks. In Example 3, tasks are still used but this example introduces an additional feature of IPA, filtering. Filtering is a way to route work items only to tasks (users) who need to see them.

For example, if you have many employees who sign off on POs, but who only do so for their own departments, you would not want them to see all POs that are being routed. You can create a Filter, "Department," with Criteria Values "Accounting," "IT," "HR," and so on. You can then map tasks to filters and values.

In Example 3, when a purchase order for a new piece of hardware for the Accounting Department is routed, the work item appears only in the Inbaskets of users who have been assigned the "PO sign-off" task and the Criteria Value "Accounting" for the Filter "Department."

	Step	How	Who does it
1	Assign the Task "PO Sign-off" to users.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Tasks	System administrator
2	Create Filters.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Filters	System administrator
3	Create User Category criteria for the task.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Tasks	System administrator
4	Design the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	An IPD developer who is knowledgeable about the business process.
5	Upload the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	IPD developer
6	Schedule the process to run.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / Process Scheduling / By Process Definition	System administrator
7	Work (requesting sign-off on the PO) appears in the Inbasket of users who meet the filtering criteria for the task.	Happens automatically through process execution	N/A

Example 4: Using a service to trigger a process

In the previous examples, the process is triggered directly by the administrator. This means that the administrator locates the process on the list of available processes and configures scheduling as needed. For the purposes or keeping our examples simple, we have been assuming that the administrator is notified when a purchase order is launched. The administrator then launches the PO sign-off process. More realistically, an event (rather than a person) triggers a process. Lawson applications deliver many services for triggering processes. You can also develop custom triggers at your site.

In Infor Process Automation, triggers are called services.

A service represents a business event. It adds a level of separation between the process and scheduling. Through application code, it triggers a process to execute.

In Example 4, when a user launches a PO from an application, trigger code launches the PO sign-off process.

	Step	How	Who does it
1	Assign the Task "PO Sign-off" to users.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Tasks	System administrator
2	Create Filters.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Filters	System administrator
3	Create User Category criteria for the task.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / User Configuration / Tasks	System administrator
4	Design the process.	Using Infor Process Designer	An IPD developer who is knowledgeable about the business process.
5	If custom trigger code is used, create the code and test it with the process.	Create in Java or Landmark Pattern Language (LPL).	Java or LPL developer
6	Upload the process. After the process has been created and tested, it is ready to be uploaded to the server.	Using Infor Process Designer	IPD developer
7	Schedule the service.	Using the Process Server Administrator From the menu: Process Administrator / Process Scheduling / By Service Definition	System administrator
8	Work (requesting sign-off on the PO) appears in the Inbasket of users who meet the filtering criteria for the task.	Happens automatically through process execution	N/A

Delivered example processes

A set of example process are delivered with Infor Process Designer. These processes are located in <IPD installed folder>\samples\IPASolutions\.

For details on the example processes, consult the product documentation for the product for which you are creating a process. For example, for Infor Talent Management, see the Infor HR Talent Configuration Guide.