Getting started with workflows and tasks in duet enterprise

Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP enables you to see your SAP business processes as workflows in Microsoft SharePoint 2010. A workflow is a series or set of required tasks in a process. A workflow might include the series of tasks that are required to approve a business expense, or the tasks that are required for an employee to receive an approval for a vacation. Workflows help organizations use and manage consistent business processes. Workflows improve the efficiency of your organization and increase productivity because the people who perform these tasks can concentrate on performing the work rather than managing the workflow.

In this article

• About workflows

• Using workflows

  • View or respond to a workflow task from an e-mail notification

  • View a workflow task from Tasks Center

  • Respond to a workflow tasks from Tasks Center

About workflows

One way workflows are used is to approve business requests. For example, when a business expense needs approval, a workflow can send an expense approval task to several people for review and approval. When the workflow author starts the workflow, Duet Enterprise uses SAP business processes and approval rules to create and assign tasks to the workflow participants. Workflow participants receive an e-mail message that notifies them that they have a task. The message contains a link to the document they need to approve.

The workflow will end when the participants complete their tasks. After the workflow ends, Duet automatically notifies the SAP system that the workflow is complete.

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Using workflows

After a Duet workflow starts, you can begin to work on your tasks. You can manage your tasks directly from Microsoft Outlook 2010, or from a Duet site. A site designer can include an SAP workflow in any Duet site. Because of this, you might find tasks in a variety of locations. Often, an administrator creates a Tasks Center for tasks, but you might also find tasks in other areas, such as the Customer Center and the Products Center. For assistance locating tasks in your environment, talk to your workflow manager or your site administrator.

The way the workflow manager sets up workflow tasks determines the actions that you must take to complete the task. The most common actions are Approve and Reject, but your task might include additional options. For example, you might have the option to Rework or Reassign your task. You might also be able to request changes to the task, or view documents related to the task. In some cases, the act of completing a workflow task can generate another task in the workflow.

View or respond to a workflow task from an e-mail notification

When a task is assigned to you, you will automatically receive a task notification in your Outlook Inbox. You can open the task from the notification message.

To view or respond to a workflow task from an e-mail notification:

1. From your Outlook Inbox, open the message that contains a task.

2. Click Open this task .

3. On the task window, choose an outcome for the task as appropriate, such as Approve, Reject, or another outcome that your task supports.

View a workflow task from Tasks Center

If a workflow records all workflow tasks in the default Tasks list for a site, you can locate and view your workflow tasks on a Duet workflow-enabled site, such as a Tasks Center site.

To view a workflow task from the Tasks Center:

Note:  This procedure shows steps to complete a task from a Tasks Center. If your site does not have a Tasks Center, contact your site administrator for information about site-specific navigation.

1. From the browser, open your Duet site and click Tasks Center.

2. On the Tasks Center page, click All Site Content.

3. On the All Site Content page, under Sites and Workspaces, click the name of the workflow that contains the task you want to view.

4. On the workflow page, click My Workflow Tasks, and then select the task you want to view. The Task Details page shows the business process options that are available for your SAP authorizations and SharePoint permission levels.

Respond to a workflow tasks from Tasks Center

If a workflow records all workflow tasks in the default Tasks list for a site, you can respond to your workflow tasks on a Duet workflow-enabled site, such as a Tasks Center site.

To respond to a workflow task from Tasks Center:

1. From the browser, open your Duet site and click Tasks Center.

2. Select My Tasks on the View menu to locate your workflow task.

3. On the Tasks Center page, click All Site Content.

4. On the All Site Content page, under Sites and Workspaces, click the name of the workflow that contains the task you want to view.

5. On the workflow page, click My Workflow Tasks, and then click the task that you want to complete. This opens the Task Details page.

6. On the Tasks Details page, review all the available information such as links, or attached documents to help you complete the task.

7. Click the appropriate task outcome such as Approve, Reject, or another outcome that your task supports.

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