ABAP OO novice and scared!

Question

Hi all,
we are in ECC6.0 and about to start implementing lots of HR workflows.
I am very comfortable using Object Types but I know that ABAP OO is the way to go from now on.
I am aware of Jocelyn Dart's blogs (thanks Jocelyn!) but I sense that I need much more than that to start the implementation. Any other ideas on how to get to know ABAP OO within the workflow world better? Which SAP out of the box workflows are delivered that are using ABAP OO?
For example, we will be building lots of workflows around Or Management (Create Org Unit Request, Create Position Request, etc) and I am really unsure if I should use ABAP OO or use and extend the Object Types delivered by SAP.
For Leave Request, I know I will be using CL_PT_REQ_HEADER, but for other workflows I am really not sure which path to take.
In your experience, for HR Workflows, what is worth doing? It is so easy to use BUS1065, EMPLOYEET; I can't see I strong reason to use ABAP OO in this case.
Much thanks and regards,
Cristiana

Answer 1

Hi Cristiana,
I say relax and go for it! OO is fun and it's a pleasure not to be working in the stone-age editor that BOR uses
There are a small number of OO-only workflow implementations out there, I have done one where the only Z-BOR object was a ZUSR01, simply because it really wasn't worth the effort just for a single 'emailaddress' attribute. The rest was completely class based. These days all new stuff I do is OO.
OO has an initial development overhead to create the objects but the end result is a lot more useful when you can share code/functionality with your development team. WF developers always tended to be a little isolated in their BOR world, making it seem a little like a 'black art'.
There are certain limitations in 6.20, but in ECC6 that is no more. A couple of very minor niggles remain but nothing major - stuff like being able to navigate into tables of BOR attributes on a class in a container view. Probably the biggest change is functional methods where you previously used virtual attributes. Oh, and one tip is that you can use a class which has a BOR object as an attribute. Have a look at the SAP help too at
<a href="http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw2004s/helpdata/en/47/058a422dfad665e10000000a155106/frameset.htm">http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw2004s/helpdata/en/47/058a422dfad665e10000000a155106/frameset.htm</a>
That makes all the BOR stuff available in your class, but rather than go into major technical detail here I'd suggest posting new questions on individual issues.
Have fun,
Mike
PS. If you are going to ASUG/Sapphire in Atlanta there is a presentation on exactly that.