Out of box features

Hi All,

I was just wondering if we have any out of box integration with following in webMethods

  • Sharepoint
  • Outlook
  • Word
  • Excel

I know we can build custom solutions using API. However wondering if we have anything out of box like in other BPM suites (Oracle BPM, Filenet BPM etc…)

Regards,
Sumit

check Developer User Guide. “Creating Client Code”.
VB, Excel is supported as client. I guess other MS products should also work.

Hi,

I am talking about workflow/BPM.
In a typical workflow you will have : Tasks, Document Manipulation, Document Management etc…

If we have out of box features to support above like :

  1. Easy way of accessing Tasks from Outlook client (out of box with no coding)
  2. Easy way of opening word/excel document from Tasks

This is available in other products

Regards,
Sumit

1- Use task notifications to send emails. The user will get a email with a link to the task.

2- You can use Attachment tools, for example when a new task arrives it can have a DOC or EXCEL file linked to it. You open the task, and assignt it to a user. User open files, modifies the file and upload the modification, them completes the task.

  1. Outlook integration is different than task notification. It means user can directly hookup to MWS task engine with outlook as a client. There is a sample on advatage but it is not official supported and hence is not an out of box feature

  2. Yes i agree this is possible. However what i was looking for is something like inbuilt document repository. The MWS should support opening word/excel document within the task context (not externally) and should allow them to be saved on the fly (without manually attaching them again).

Software AG claims to be “independant” company, as such they (thanks god) offer the software for the mayor OS’s, however some components such Designer/Developer still misses this important key (They only work on Windows, yiaks! ).

With this in mind, creating a “Outlook plugin” is shown as an example from which you can implement your solution, else I woould fint unfair not doing the same for Lotus Domino, or the nice and lovely Linux evolution.

You can always purchase professional services assistance to implement solutions based in your needs, if your company does not have the proper resources (Yes I know you do not want to pay any extra cost).

The attchment solution built in MWS, lets you add documents as part of task context and you can open/modify and complete the task. (I’m sorry but a link to a document on webdav or jsr container is a valid solution).

I do not understand very well how you expect to modify something in the “Fly” without using any kind of storage. As I mention you can open directly a document sitting on a container, modify and save changes which gets persisted on same container. When you complete the task the document is ready to go for the next step.

Aside from the built in plugin, the other solutions exist already out of the box.

Maybe other products has nicer approaches, but more weakness in other areas.

All is about balance pros/cons and decide which software suits better for you.

Maybe you should consider using this other software you mention? just balance your expection, price and results.

Good luck :smiley:

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Yes I agree but for building a solution which we would expect out of box from a BPM vendor is bit weird. Well I am a strong supporter of webMethods however these little things give an edge over others. I could not find an out of box solution and hence was disappointed on this front. Well better I raise a brainstorm section on this. And yes I will take care to include lotus domino, thunder bird and outlook :cool:

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Sorry I did not specify exactly what I am looking for. Task attachments are one way but I am looking for out of box approach for document access layer (DAL)
· Any off-the-shelf scaled down version of ECM (Enterprise Content management layer) which we can use in MWS
OR
· Integration between BPM and external ECM/DMS vendors (filenet, documentum)

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Yes totally agree but again I wanted to know what is not offered in webMethods and then can raise a brainstorm section to get it in next release or whenever SAG plans…Your votes please :smiley:

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Well this is not a choice, we have webMethods :confused:

Raised the issue in brainstorm… please vote

Out of box support for workflow integration with major mail clients

[url]http://softwareag.force.com/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087200000008a2m[/url]