Best practice for smooth workflow in PrE?

Hi all. I'm an FCP user for many many years, but I'm helping an artist friend of mine with a Kickstarter video...and he's insistent that he's going to do it himself on his Dell laptop running Win7 and PrE (I believe v11, from the CS3 package)...so I'm turning to the forum here for some help.
In Apple Land (that is, those of us still using FCP 7), we take all our elements in whatever format they're delivered to us and transcode them to ProRes, DVCPro HD or XDCAM...it just makes it easier not to deal with mixed formats on the timeline (please, no snarky comments about that, OK, I turn out broadcast work every week doing this so this method's got something going for it...). However, when I fired up PrE I see that you can edit in all sorts of formats, including long-GOP formats like .mts and mp4 files that I wouldn't dream of working with natively in FCP...I don't enjoy staring at spinning beachballs that much.
Now, remembering that he's working with a severely underpowered laptop, with 2 gig of RAM, and a USB2 connection to his 7200 rpm "video" drive...and also considering that most of the video he'll be using will come in two flavors (AVHCD from a Canon Vixia 100, and HDV from a Canon EX-something or other), what would be the best way to proceed to maximize the ease at which he can edit? I'm thinking that transcoding to something like Motion-JPEG or some other inter-frame compressed AVI format would be the way to go...it's a short video and he won't have that much material so file size inflation isn't an issue...speed and ease of processing the video files on the timeline (or do they call it a "Sceneline") is.
Any advice (besides "buy another computer") would be appreciated...

Steve, thanks, this is helping me now.
I mention MJPEG because, as an Interframe compression method, it's less processor-intensive than GOP style MPEG compressions. Again, my point of reference is the Mac/FCP7 world (so open my eyes as to how an Intel processor running Win7 would work differently), but over there best practice says NOT to edit in a GOP-base codec (XDCAM being the exception which proves the rule, eg, render times), but to transcode everything from, say, h264 or AVCwhatever into ProRes. YES, I know PrE (and PPRO) doesn't use ProRes...not asking that. But, at least at this juncture, any sort of a hardware upgrade is out of the question...this is what he's gonna be using to edit. Now if I was going to be using an underpowered Mac laptop to try and edit, I most certainly would not try to push native AVCHD .mts files or native h264 files through it...those don't even work well with the biggest MacPro towers. What is it about PrE that allows it to efficiently work with these processor-intensive formats? This is the crux of the issue, as I'm going to advise my friend to "work this way" and I don't want to send him down the garden path of render hell...
And finally, your advice to run tests is well-given...since I have no experience with PrE and his computer, I guess that's where we'll start...

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Best Practice for Conversion Workflow

Hello,
I'm converting video files from our "home grown" virtual media reserve to iTunes U. Some of the files are in RM format, some are already compressed .mov's (not H.264) and some I have the original DV files for.
Anyone out there have a best practice for converting these file types for posting to iTunes U? I have Final Cut Studio (Compressor), QT Pro and Squeeze available to me.
Any experience you have with this would be helpful.
Thanks,
Jeana

For converting old files to a podcast compatible video and based on the machine you have, consider elgato turbo.264. It is a fairly priced "co-processor" for video conversion. It is comprised of an application and a small USB device with a encoder chip in it. In my experience, it is the fastest way to create podcast video files. The amount of time that you will save will pay for the device quickly (about $100). Plus it does batch conversion of any video that your system currently plays through QuickTime. it has all the necessary presets and you can create your own. It has a few minor limitations such as not supporting (at this moment) enhanced podcasting features such as chapter markers and closed-captions but since you have old files for conversion, that won't matter.
For creating new content, the workflow varies a lot. Since you mention MP3s, I guess you are also interested in audio files. I would stick with GarageBand, especially if you are a beginner plus it supports enhanced podcasts.
In any case the most important goal is to have the simplest and fastest way to go from recording to publication. The less editing the better. To attain that, the best methods will require the largest investments. For example, for video production the best way is to produce the content live so when you finish recording it is only a matter of encoding and publishing. that will require the use of a video switcher that can ingest at least one video camera and a computer output to properly capture presentation material. That's the minimum. there are several devices that can do this for you. Some are disguised PCs and some connect to a PC for tapeless recording. You can check the Tricaster, which I like but wish it was a Mac and not a Windows Xp PC. Other routes may include video mixers from manufacturers like Edirol, Pansonic or Sony connected to a VTR or directly to a Mac for direct-ti-disc capture. I f you look at some of the content available in iTunes U, you will see what I explain here. This workflow requires preparation and sufficient live support but you will have your material ready for delivery almost immediately after the recorded event. No editing required. Finally, the most intensive workflow is to record everything separately and edit it later, which is extremely time consuming.

Best Practices for smooth video playback

I'm using a low res. video as a reference movie in a 5.1 project. 23.98 fps, H.264. Video playback is very choppy. In the video playback window the Resolution setting in the pulldown menu is greyed out. It's set to Full Res. How do I change this setting? Also any tips for achieveing smooth video playback?
Thanks.

jasonjantzen wrote:
Ha, typical. No repsonse. Where's Durin when you need him?
Give the man a break - he's probably asleep, and now you're expecting him to work over the weekend...
I'm sorry, but I can't help you with the video problem. The only time I tried this recently, I couldn't get the damn video to play in Audition at all, so I gave up; fortunately it didn't matter. The only thing I know is that the video engine it uses has been changed at some stage (probably CS5.5) - heaven only knows what the implications of this are.

Workflow not completed, is this best practice for PR?

Hi SAP Workflow experts,
I am new in workflow and now responsible to support existing PR release workflow.
The workflow is quite simple and straightforward but the issue here is the workflow seems like will never be completed.
If the user released the PR, the next activity is Requisition released that using task TS20000162.
This will send work item to user (pr creator) sap inbox which when they double click it will complete the workflow.
The thing here is, in our organization, user does not access SAP inbox hence there are thousands of work item that has not been completed. (our procurement system started since 2009).
Our PR creator will receive notification of the PR approval to theirs outlook mail handled by a program that is scheduled every 5 minutes.
Since the documentation is not clear enough, i can't digest why the implementer used this approach.
May I know whether this is the best practice for PR workflow or not?
Now my idea is to modify the send email program to complete the workitem after the email being sent to user outlook mail.
Not sure whether it is common or not though in workflow world.
Any help is deeply appreciated.
Thank you.

Hello,
"This will send work item to user (pr creator) sap inbox which when they double click it will complete the workflow."
It sounds liek they are sending a workitem where an email would be enough. By completing the workitem they are simply acknowledging that they have received notification of the completion of the PR.
"Our PR creator will receive notification of the PR approval to theirs outlook mail handled by a program that is scheduled every 5 minutes."
I hope (and assume) that they only receive the email once.
I would change the workflow to send an email (SendMail step) to the initiator instead of the workitem. That is normally what happens. Either that or there is no email at all - some businesses only send an email if something goes wrong. Of course, the business has to agree to this change.
Having that final workitem adds nothing to the process. Replace it with an email.
regards
Rick Bakker
hanabi technology

Best practices for applying sharpening in your workflow

Recently I have been trying to get a better understanding of some of the best practices for sharpening in a workflow. I guess I didn't realize it but there are multiple places to apply sharpening. Which are best? Are they additive?
My typical workflow involves capturing an image with a professional digital SLR in either RAW or JPEG or both, importing into Lightroom and exporting to a JPEG file for screen or printing both lab and local.
There are three places in this workflow to add sharpening. In the SLR, manually in Lightroom and during the export to a JPEG file or printing directly from Lightroom
It is my understanding that sharpening is not added to RAW images even if you have added sharpening in your SLR. However sharpening will be added to JPEG’s by the camera.
Back to my question, is it best to add sharpening in the SLR, manually in Lightroom or wait until you export or output to your final JPEG file or printer. And are the effects additive? If I add sharpening in all three places am I probably over sharpening?

You should treat the two file types differently. RAW data never has any sharpening applied by the camera, only jpegs. Sharpening is often considered in a workflow where there are three steps (See here for a founding article about this idea).
I. A capture sharpening step that corrects for the loss of sharp detail due to the Bayer array and the antialias filter and sometimes the lens or diffraction.
II. A creative sharpening step where certain details in the image are "highlighted" by sharpening (think eyelashes on a model's face), and
III. output sharpening, where you correct for loss of sharpness due to scaling/resampling or for the properties of the output medium (like blurring due to the way a printing process works, or blurring due to the way an LCD screen lays out its pixels).
All three of these are implemented in Lightroom. I. and II. are essential and should basically always be performed. II. is up to your creative spirits. I. is the sharpening you see in the develop panel. You should zoom in at 1:1 and optimize the parameters. The default parameters are OK but fairly conservative. Usually you can increase the mask value a little so that you're not sharpening noise and play with the other three sliders. Jeff Schewe gives an overview of a simple strategy for finding optimal parameters here. This is for ACR, but the principle is the same. Most photos will benefit from a little optimization. Don't overdo it, but just correct for the softness at 1:1.
Step II as I said, is not essential but it can be done using the local adjustment brush, or you can go to Photoshop for this. Step III is however very essential. This is done in the export panel, the print panel, or the web panel. You cannot really preview these things (especially the print-directed sharpening) and it will take a little experimentation to see what you like.
For jpeg, the sharpening is already done in the camera. You might add a little extra capture sharpening in some cases, or simply lower the sharpening in camera and then have more control in post, but usually it is best to leave it alone. Step II and III, however, are still necessary.

Best Practices for Workflow Development

Hi,
I'm compiling best practices in developing workflows in TEO/CPO, and accepting inputs. The result will be made available for the community to make use of it, and continuously improve the content. If you have any sort of best practices, please let me know.
Thank you in advance,
Renato Fichmann

Good ones, thanks! Incorporated to the document.
Currently have the following items on my index (yet to be cleaned up)
5    Guidelines.................................................................................................................................. 8
5.1    Style.................................................................................................................................... 8
5.1.1    Naming Conventions..................................................................................................... 8
5.1.2    Capitalization Conventions.......................................................................................... 9
5.2    Usability.............................................................................................................................. 9
5.2.1    Targets vs Target Groups............................................................................................. 9
5.2.2    Global Variables and Extended Target Properties....................................................... 10
5.2.3    Create Alerts, Incidents and Other Tasks................................................................... 10
5.2.4    Classify Processes using Categories........................................................................... 10
5.2.5    Provide Automation Summary................................................................................... 10
5.2.6    Provide Descriptions to Processes, Global Variables and Target Groups.................. 11
5.2.7    Process with trigger based on tasks must have tape name as trigger condition.......... 11
5.2.8    Approve condition activities use approval index instead of approval choice............ 11
5.2.9    Do not put test data into global variables................................................................... 11
5.2.10    Add Knowledge Base to Alerts and Incidents.......................................................... 11
5.2.11    Disable “Resume execution if interrupted” and “Archive complete instances” from monitoring/problem detection processes           11
5.2.12    Make Incident Classes unique in the tap.................................................................. 11
5.2.13    Make Alert Classes unique in the tap....................................................................... 11
5.2.14    Make sure fail activities are not failing the process if the process has to create an incident even when the activities fail        12
5.2.15    Do not include targets in TAP, only target groups based on target type................. 12
5.3    Error Handling................................................................................................................... 12
5.3.1    Assignments and Notification..................................................................................... 12
5.3.2    Error handling outside the step................................................................................... 13
5.3.3    Incidents generated as result of error.......................................................................... 13
5.4    Non-Functional................................................................................................................. 14
5.4.1    Cross-Environment Practices...................................................................................... 14
5.5    Performance....................................................................................................................... 14
5.5.1    To Archive or Not to Archive.................................................................................... 14
5.5.2    Parallelize when possible............................................................................................ 15
5.5.3    Tables and Loops........................................................................................................ 15
5.5.4    Processing Data Tables............................................................................................... 15
5.5.5    Scripting...................................................................................................................... 15
5.5.6    Prefer XPath over regular expressions or text parsing when multiple values need to be retrieved in a single activity    16
5.5.7    Prefer XML transforms rather than sequences of activites or scripts........................ 16
5.5.8    Set the number of active sessions on Terminal targets appropriately........................ 16
5.5.9    Optimizing the Number and Lifecycle of Tasks......................................................... 16
5.5.10    Optimizing Process Database Grooming.................................................................. 17
5.5.11    Spacing Scheduled Automation Loads...................................................................... 18
5.6    Generic BPEL Best Practices............................................................................................ 18
Waiting for more feedback before release the first draft for community review.

Best Practice for Securing Web Services in the BPEL Workflow

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They are all deployed on the same oracle application server.
Defining agent for each?
Gateway for all?
BPEL security extension?
The top level service that is defined as business process is secure itself through OWSM and username and passwords, but what is the best practice for security establishment for each low level services?
Regards
Farbod

It doesnt matter whether the service is invoked as part of your larger process or not, if it is performing any business critical operation then it should be secured.
The idea of SOA / designing services is to have the services available so that it can be orchestrated as part of any other business process.
Today you may have secured your parent services and tomorrow you could come up with a new service which may use one of the existing lower level services.
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Best practices for ARM - please help!!!

Hi all,
Can you please help with any pointers / links to documents describing best practices for "who should be creating" the GRC request in below workflow of ARM in GRC 10.0??
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options are : end user / Manager / Functional super users / security team.
End user and manager not possible- we can not train so many people. Functional team is refusing since its a lot of work. Please help me with pointers to any best practices documents.
Thanks!!!!

In this case, I recommend proposing that the department managers create GRC Access Requests. In order for the managers to comprehend the new process, you should create a separate "Role Catalog" that describes what abilities each role enables. This Role Catalog needs to be taught to the department Managers, and they need to fully understand what tcodes and abilities are inside of each role. From your workflow design, it looks like Role Owners should be brought into these workshops.
You might consider a Role Catalog that the manager could filter on and make selections from. For example, an AP manager could select "Accounts Payable" roles, and then choose from a smaller list of AP-related roles. You could map business functions or tasks to specific technical roles. The design flaw here, of course, is the way your technical roles have been designed.
The point being, GRC AC 10 is not business-user friendly, so using an intuitive "Role Catalog" really helps the managers understand which technical roles they should be selecting in GRC ARs. They can use this catalog to spit out a list of technical role names that they can then search for within the GRC Access Request.
At all costs, avoid having end-users create ARs. They usually select the wrong access, and the process then becomes very long and drawn out because the role owners or security stages need to mix and match the access after the fact. You should choose a Requestor who has the highest chance of requesting the correct access. This is usually the user's Manager, but you need to propose this solution in a way that won't scare off the manager - at the end of the day, they do NOT want to take on more work.
If you are using SAP HR, then you can attempt HR Triggers for New User Access Requests, which automatically fill out and submit the GRC AR upon a specific HR action (New Hire, or Termination). I do not recommend going down this path, however. It is very confusing, time consuming, and difficult to integrate properly.
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-Ken

Best practice for upgrading task definition without deleting task instances

best practice for upgrading task definition in production system without deleting or terminating task instances
If I try and update a task definition with task instances running I get the following error:
Task definition 'My Task - Add User' may not be modified while there are active task instances
Is there a best practice to handle this. I tried to force an update through the console but that didn't work. I tried editing the task from the debug page and got the same error.

1) Rename the original task definition.
2) Upload the new task definition with the original name.
3) Later, after all the running tasks have timed out, delete the old definition.
E.g., if your task definition is "myWorkflow":
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Best practice for distributing/releasing J2EE applications.

Hi All,
We are developing a J2EE application and would like some information on the best
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In particular, the dilemma we have is centered around the generation of stub, skeleton
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Most App. Servers can generate the required classes while deploying the EJBs in the
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? i.e. if we generate a deployable file having the required classes using the 'ejbc'
of Weblogic Ver5.1, can the same file be installed on Weblogic Ver6.1 or do we
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TIA
Regards,
Aasif

Its much easier to distribute schema/data from an older version to a newer one than the other way around. Nearly all SQL Server deployment features supports database version upgrade, and these include the "Copy Database" wizard, BACKUP/RESTORE,
detach/attach, script generation, Microsoft Sync framework, and a few others.
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for the p-system.
My question now:
Could anybody provide me with some links to some whitepapers regarding best practice
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Is it really a good idea to use the static deployment (what is the advantage of
this kind of deployment ???
THX in advanced
-Martin

Hi Siva,
What best practise are you looking for ? If you can be specific on your question we could provide appropriate response.
From my basis experience some of the best practices.
1) Productive landscape should have high availability to business. For this you may setup DR or HA or both.
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3) It should have all the monitoring setup viz application, OS and DB
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5) Users in Production landscape should have appropriate authorization based on SOD. There should not be any SOD conflicts
6) Transport to Production should be highly controlled. Any transport to Production should be moved only with appropriate Change Board approvals.
7) Relevant Database and OS security parameters should be tested before golive and enabled
8) Pre-Golive , Post Golive should have been performed on Production system
9) EWA should be configured atleast for Production system
10) Production system availability using DR should have been tested
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Regards,
Deepak Kori

SAP Best Practices for CRM 5.0 is available

Hello,
I would like to announce the availability of SAP Best Practices for CRM 5.0.
SAP Best Practices for CRM allows a fast, safe and predictable implementation of pre-configured CRM business scenarios.
It can be used to accelerate customer implementation projects as well as setting up demo or evaluation systems.
For details about SAP Best Practices in general please see:
<a href="http://www.service.sap.com/bestpractices">http://www.service.sap.com/bestpractices</a>
For the concrete content of Best Practices for CRM 5.0 please see:
<a href="http://help.sap.com/bp_crmv150/CRM_DE/index.htm">http://help.sap.com/bp_crmv150/CRM_DE/index.htm</a>
Best regards,
Joerg

Hi Devendra!
For the Best Practices you can have all the useful installation and informations guides here.
<a href="http://help.sap.com/">Best Practices for SAP</a>
Choose here the Bast Practices tab on the line-menu.
You have to eb careful while installing the BP -> you have to use all the time the right BP release according to your SAP release.
I hope this helps you!
Best regards,
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I hope I have posted this in the right forum, if not just notify me and i will remove it to the correct area.
What would be considered best practice for storing a phone number.
Number of Varchar2.
Ben

Well I was thinking that Number would have the following disadvantages,
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I was leaning towards a varchar2 type.
Ben

Best Practice for the Service Distribution on multiple servers

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Could you please suggest as per the best practice for the above.
Requirements : we will use all features in share point ( Powerpivot, Search, Reporting Service, BCS, Excel, Workflow Manager, App Management etc)
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Please do not just refer any URL, Suggest as per the requirements.
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srabon

How about a link to the MS guidance!
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=286957

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I believe JDeveloper has a plugin for Dimensions.
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