SBL-BPR-00185: Step '%1' references invalid next step id '%2' in process definition '%3'.

Applies to:

Siebel Workflow - Version: 8.0.0.7 [20426] to 8.1.1 [21112] - Release: V8 to V8
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

Comments
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After upgrading to versions 8 or 8.1, customers are encountering errors in workflows either during validation or runtime.

The errors may be at validation:

- Validation failed for the workflow process 'DB LOY Generic Data Map Upsert FMA: 0' for the branch 'Yes1' The 'WF Branch Criteria Value' - field such as LO_.. or HI_.. for the respective data type is null or empty.

... or at runtime:

- SBL-BPR-00176: The workflow engine cannot determine a next step while executing process definition '%1'. The last step that it executed was '%2

- SBL-BPR-00162: error invoking service "" in method "" at step ""

- SBL-BPR-00185: Step '%1' references invalid next step id '%2' in process definition '%3'.

These errors have been reported so far, but other errors may appear as well

Cause

The cause for this behaviors is the upgrade that fails to set the connectors properly. The branches lose their reference to the steps during upgrade and thus there is a gap/failure in the workflow flow.

Errors related to foreign keys and branches can be seen in the upgrade log files, but these may be benign errors.

Solution

Defect 12-1VK09JB(Workflow Validation Problem in Siebel Tools Local 8.1.1.1 patch) has been logged and also fixed in 8.1.1.2 Fix Pack and 8.0.0.9 Fix Pack.

The workaround is to recreate all the branches or the branches that have conditions as mentioned in Document Id (815235.1). However this fix may not be suitable for a large number of workflows.

References

NOTE:815235.1 - Workflow validation failed