Scenario based Interview Questions - Part 2

This is the second post in series of Scenario based Interview Questions . I recommend you to read first post of this series where we discussed Siebel Configuration Interview Questions before going through this post.

If you like the questions and would like to see more like this, then please +1 this post on google.

Question 1: Name 3 best practices of workflows? 

Answer: I believe top 3 best practices in Siebel workflow should be:

1. Exception handling using exception path(the red arrow) or by specifying error process name for the workflow
2. Querying based on indexed fields.
3. And last should be adding decision points before querying new data.

Question 2: Can we have multiple STOP and END steps in WF? 

Answer: Yes workflows can have two stop and end steps. For exanple: Vanilla OOB WF - "VORD Validate Complex Product (Order)"  has 2 STOP steps and 2 END steps.

Question 3: Can we have 2 connectors from Start Step?

Answer: Yes we can have conditional branches from start step. See siebelhub quiz for more details.

Question 4: How do you invoke WF in Siebel?

Answer : Read question What are different ways to invoke workflow?

Question 5: How do you call workflow in Asynchronous mode?

Answer : "Asynchronous Server Requests" business service can be used to call an workflow asynchronously. Service can be called from run time event or from a script :

var svc = TheApplication().GetService("Asynchronous Server Requests")
var input = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
var child = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
var output = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
input.SetProperty("Component", "WfProcMgr");
child.SetProperty("ProcessName", "Workflow Name");
child.SetProperty("Object Id", "1-1234");
input.AddChild(child);
svc.InvokeMethod("SubmitRequest", input, output);

Question 6: Tell me some vanilla business services you used in workflows?

Answer: I have used following vanilla business services in workflows:

1. Inbound Email Database Operation
2. SIS OM PC Service
3. Outbound Communication Manager
4. Asynchronous Server Requests
5. EAI Siebel Adapter
6. EAI File Transport
7. EAI HTTP Transport

Please share your list in comments below.

Question 7: Have you implemented looping mechanism in your workflows, can you explain different ways?

Answer: Siebel 8 provides mechanism to loop through records . Siebel operation step now has method NextRecord and output arguments NoMoreRecords,NumAffRows which can be checked to create loop in workflow.

Example of looping through records in Siebel Workflows

Read bookshelf article on how to loop through records in workflow.

Question 8: What is the sub process in Siebel, what is the use of sub process? when do you go for sub process?

Answer: Sub process is way of invoking another workflow within a workflow, subprocess is generally used for reusability of existing function or for working on data which is present in another BO.

Question 9: We have 1 workflow, can we have more than 1 version with Completed status?

Answer : Yes that is possible. If we import completed workflow in tools again it results in two workflows with same name with completed status.However only activated version runs on server.

Question 10. In production how do you debug a workflow, can you please explain?

Answer : Best way to debug a workflow in production environment is to use workflow instance monitor. Workflow monitor can be turned on by increasing log level of activated workflow in Administration -Workflow Deployment view.

Read other parts of the series here:
Scenario based interview questions Config - Part 1
Scenario based interview questions Workflows - Part 2
Scenario based interview questions Scripting - Part 3


Please share your workflow interview questions below.