Troubleshooting Workflow

General Tips

Check the following when troubleshooting Workflow issues:

• Are the WF_QUEUE records being created? There should be new rows in the wf_queue table. You may need to shutdown workflow long enough to check for them. If they are not being created, then it is possible that wfqueue is failing for some reason. One good way to check that is to send its output to a file by changing the wfqueue line in the X_PRINT_CMDS file.

workflow)

wfqueue -v -u $3 -m $5 -j $8 $1 >>$XPORTDIR/.spool/test.log

This may produce more detailed information about what is failing. However, do not leave this setup in place as the output will continue to increase the size of that file over time.

Example: "Can't open database <databasename>"

It is possible that the user MPESPOOLER is running as on that box and is not setup to connect to that database. In that case, you can either setup the bsi (software default) user to connect or change the user MPESPOOLER will run as by adding the XPORT_USER environment variable to the ifas.start.config file on the UNIX host.

• Are there Workflow errors in the Event Viewer?

• Are IM_INFO records being generated?

Receiving POP3 Errors in Workflow Email Setup

The below event viewer error appears when Workflow email has not been set up correctly or the network or email server are not correctly configured:
Event Type: Error Event Source: BusinessPlus Event Category: (5) Event ID: 100 Date: 06/16/2005 Time: 2:55:28 PM User: N/A Computer: SUN2 Description: Workflow cannot connect to e-mail POP3 server, 'servername'. Response is: -ERROR The requested mailbox is not available on this server.

Review the setup in the Workflow server. Refer to Registry Settings for additional details.

PO/PR Process Troubleshooting

The following steps will help the user through determining where the user PR is in the Workflow model and why it is not moving to the next approver:

1. Open the Active PR Model in the Workflow Designer.

2. When a model is marked Active, it can accept and process information when the Workflow Services are running.

3. Go to Tools, then select View Queue to verify that queue records are being processed.

4. If there are records in the queue waiting to get processed, click the Refresh button after 1 to 5 minutes to verify that they are being processed. If the queue records clear out after the refresh, close out view queue and proceed to the next step.

5. If there are no records in the queue waiting to be processed, close out view queue and proceed to the next step.

6. What do I do if the records are stuck and do not seem to be processing through the queue? Refer to the Workflow Queue section.

7. Go to Tools, then select Attach and look for the instance record for the PR number the user is troubleshooting.

8. In Progress Only and Show this Version Only.

9. After the user finds the PR number, highlight it and double-click or click Attach to attach it to the instance record. The system will close the Attach page after the designer has attached to the instance record. Only the model appears.

10. If the instance record for the PR number does not appear, try clearing Show in Progress Only or Show this Version Only. Attach to the PR instance record and proceed to the next step.

11. What if I do not find an instance record for the PR? Refer to the Workflow Queue section.

12. Go to Tools, then select Attach, then View History to check the Status of the instance records and who Workflow has sent them to. Also, make a note of the change and life count on the instance records. Click the Copy button and then paste the history details in Notepad or a similar application. Click Close and proceed to the next step.

13. Go to Tools, then select View Log and review which activities the PR has processed through and which activity is currently pending. Click the Copy button and then paste the log details in Notepad or a similar application. Click Close and proceed to the next step.

14. Go to Tools, then select View Internal Data.

Workflow Queue

How are Workflow queue records created?

A workflow queue is created when a trigger for a particular model has been called to action in order to create, modify, update or delete information. For example: a user creates a PR in POUPPR.

Where are Workflow queue records stored?

In the database table wf_queue.

How do I view the queue records?

In the Workflow Designer click Tools, then View Queue to verify that queue records are being created and processed. 
When the user views the queue through the Workflow Designer, the user sees all queue entries for all models. Once the user loads a model and attach, the user sees only the instances for that model in the attach dialog box. However, the view queue shows the user everything since that particular tool is independent of a model.

How are Workflow queue records processed?

The Workflow Engine processes queue records. This can be found on the server under BusinessPlus Workflow Service. A registry key can be set for the Workflow engine to process queue records more quickly. This is defined on the server under HKLM/Software/BusinessPlus/Workflow/Sleep the value in minutes (for example, create the Workflow Key and the DWORD Sleep with a value of 1, which causes the engine to cycle once per minute; the minimum interval). If this is not present, which often it is not, then the default of 5 minutes is used. If the user changes this to 1 for ease of testing the user may want to change it back to 2 or 3 after testing to avoid excessive processing. There is not one sleep setting that will work for every situation.

What happens to the queue records after they are processed?

A Workflow instance record is created for its respective active model, then that queue record is deleted from wf_queue table.