Can I set deadlines for the latest processing of work items?

this is where you can use deadline monitoring for work items. In the Workflow Builder, you can set dates for a requested/latest start/end date for each individual step. You must schedule the SWWDHEX job via transaction SWU3 for this. Schedule the job permanently in the production system otherwise it is difficult for the job to schedule individual deadline monitoring scenarios when workflow is heavy.

How can I configure the workflow so that when the deadline is missed the workflow step is simply skipped?

This is tricky to explain but easy to implement once you know how.

Follow these steps (in later releases there is a wizard which takes you through the steps):

1. In the terminating events view of the workflow step activate the "obsolete" event and give it a name.

2. Specify a deadline period for the step.

3. Specify a name for the event. This adds new branch from the step.

4. Add a new step to the deadline path. This step must be of type "process control".

5. Select the control "Make step obsolete" and use the search help to specify the workflow step that has the deadline. Only steps with obsolete paths defined will be displayed (see step 1).

How can I configure the workflow so that different types of messages are sent out to different people depending on how late the processing is?

Follow these steps:

1. Specify a deadline period for the step.

2. Specify a name for the event. This adds new branch from the step.

3. Add a new step to the branch which sends a mail message.

4. Add another step to the branch which sends out the second deadline warning (see mail steps above). Use deadlines in this step to configure an earliest start so that the second message is not sent until a further time has elapsed.

5. Repeat step 5 as often as you like.