Customizing a Workflow in SAS Solution for IFRS 17

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Introduction

SAS Solution for IFRS 17 uses pre-configured workflows for creating cycles in the solution for process orchestration. Authorized users are enabled to customize the workflow based on your business needs. The objective of the article is to provide developers or implementers an overview of mechanism of making simple customizations to the workflows. The article assumes that you have a basic knowledge of SAS Solution for IFRS 17 on SAS Risk Stratum specifically SAS Risk Governance Framework and can create new cycle and execute tasks.

Learn More: You can obtain more information on SAS Risk Stratum and SAS Solution for IFRS 17 through the following training programs.

Data Preparation, Configuration, and Administration in SAS® Risk Stratum Business Overview of SAS® Solution for IFRS 17 in SAS® Risk Stratum

A Brief Idea of Excel Based Workflows

One of the easier methods to customize a workflow is using Excel based templates available for modifying the workflows. You can find such templates in the federated area. A typical location is as follows:

D:\SAS\Config\Lev1\AppData\SASIRM\fa.ifrs17.10.2021\rgf\rfw_process_definitions.

These Excel files have a typical structure that supports the workflows used in the solution user interface. One such Excel file is IFRS17_v10_2021.xlsx which supports the main workflow IFRS17 - Single Workgroup. It is used as an example in this article and is presented in the following diagram.

Illustration of a standard workflow template

A typical Excel based workflow template has three main sheets. These are:

Tasks
Actions
Transitions

Tasks Sheet

This sheet enables you to make changes to tasks, their labels, due days, associated scripts, their sequence and so on. There are columns like ID,ROLES, DUE DAYS STATUS CODE, LABEL and so on which enables you to identify the areas for making desired changes. For example, You can also enable email notifications using NOTIFICATIONS column and set notification parameters using NOTIFICATION PARAMETERS. The following screenshot illustrates a part of the task sheet.

An illustration of Tasks sheet.

Note that the sheet holds the columns like NODE TYPE, TASK and TASK PARAMETERS which enable you to associate any custom script relevant to a task which executes the script when performed through user interface. You must validate the script and add it to the models workspace. Here is a snapshot of the columns available in the sheet.

Another Illustration of Tasks

A typical customization might involve actions like removing a task like discounting task from the workflow or assigning a new custom script that gets triggered when the task is triggered through the user interface by an end-user.

Actions Sheet

This sheet presents the actions that are defined in the workflow. These are typically actions like reject, approve, run model, adjust or review a task. Following screenshot presents a list of actions on the sheet.

An illustration of Actions sheet.

Transition Sheet

This sheet defines all the possible transitions logically required to accomplish a successful execution of the cycle. The FROM and TO columns define the transition between specific tasks. Using the EXPRESSION column, you can provide specific expressions and you use ACTION column to define corresponding actions to be taken for a transition. You can make a specific action visible in the UI using the VISIBLE column. Specific transition values can be defined in custom properties file on content server and associated with the Excel file using the column TRANSITION VALUE. Following screenshot illustrates the transition sheet.

An illustration of Transitions sheet.

Adding a custom template in the solution

The process of adding a custom workflow template is simple and the following diagram depicts the steps.

An illustration of simple series of steps

Clone

A good starting point is to make a copy of existing Excel template for the workflow. Any desired changes should be made in a copy of the file and not the original template. In this example we will use and load the modified file by the name My_Custom_Cycle.xlsx.

Update

In this step you should make the desired changes. Following is a list of indicative or typical changes:

Update the due dates using DUE DATE column.
Delete Tasks but ensure that transitions are logically connected to the remaining tasks. There should not be any break in the continuity of the workflow. Make necessary modification in the transition sheet for FROM and TO columns.
Change the script by using the TASK PARAMETERS column. Use the ID of the new script. Ensure that the script exists in the model workspace of the solution and is tested beforehand.
Change Labels of the task using the LABEL column in the Tasks sheet.
Change authorization for a task using ROLE column in the Tasks sheet. Ensure that the role exists in SAS Management Console and is synced with the SAS Solution

Here is an example of changes. Notice that the tasks of Data Processing (ID 0200), Run Data Quality (ID 0202), and Review Data Quality (ID 0203) are removed or absent in the file My_Custom_Cycle.xlsx. Note that there are corresponding changes in the transition sheet not shown in the screenshot below.

An illustration of changes done in the Tasks sheet.

Register

log in to SAS Solution for IFRS 17.
Within the solution, navigate to the Workflow Templates
In the upper right corner, click the New
In the Cycle details section, enter or select the following:
1. ID: Leave the default value
2. Name: My_Custom_Cycle
3. Workflow tag: Cycle
To Register workflow template, click Browse. Select the My_Custom_Cycle.xlsx file from the location you saved it.
Check for any errors when the screen refreshes. If there are no errors the workflow diagram should appear on your screen.

Save

Click Save and then close your new template.

Test

Create a new cycle and verify that the tasks are running.

Following diagram compares two templates with example differences.

Illustration of a custom template versus a standard template.

Conclusion

The article presents a series of steps to add a customized Excel based workflow template to the SAS solution for IFRS 17. These steps enable you to try out and test several customized workflows based on your requirements. Such steps might be beneficial in the development and implementation stages of SAS Solution for IFRS 17. For a working demo of above steps or advance knowledge of the topic refer to the training program Technical Overview of SAS Solution for IFRS 17.

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