6

Defining and Managing Approvals

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Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Describe the approval management workflow
• Set up approval management
• Describe approval policy configuration
• List the steps for defining approval groups

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Topics

• Approval Management
• Task Configurations
• Managing Approvals
• Managing Rules

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 Procurement Process

Requisitions
Catalog and
Content Management
Purchase Orders

RFQs/Quotations
P2P
Sourcing
Receiving

Analysis
Invoice/Payment
Supplier Management
Reporting
Supplier Performance

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Approval Management for Procurement Setup and Maintenance

The tasks in the Approval Management functional area are used to define approval routing
structures and controls for Procurement usage.

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Approval Management Foundation

• Workflow is an automated process in which tasks are passed from a user, a group of
users, or the application to another user or group for consideration or action. The tasks
are routed in a logical sequence to achieve an end result.
• A workflow human task is anything that requires attention or action from users.
Examples of tasks include approving a requisition or purchasing documents.
• For workflows, Oracle Applications Cloud uses the approval management extensions of
the human workflow services from Oracle SOA Suite, as well as the Oracle BPM
Worklist application.

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Approval Management: Overview
Use the following setup tasks, accessed from the
Approval Management functional area, to set up
approval management. These tasks take you to Oracle
BPM Worklist.
• Manage Approval Groups: Optionally create and
maintain sets of users who can act on workflow
tasks, for example, a chain of approvers for expense
reports. Uses Oracle BPM Worklist.
• Manage Task Configurations for Procurement:
Create task-level settings. Uses Oracle BPM
Worklist.
Use the other Manage <area> Approvals tasks to
manage approval configuration for the given area.

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Approval Management: Key Concepts

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Hierarchies and Job Levels

Employee Position Hierarchy Job Levels

Supervisor Hierarchy

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Requisition Approval Stages

Header Pre Approval

Stage

Header Stage

Header Post Approval

Stage

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Task Configurations

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Task Configurations

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Task Configurations

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Demonstration 6-1

• Managing Task Configurations

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Managing Approval Groups

You can optionally use the Manage Approval Groups interface to define sets of users that
can be selected for an Approval Group. Tasks would be routed to the specified group of
users. Example:
• You have a special, ongoing project that involves a wide range of employees. You can
create an approval group of the managers involved, who must approve expenses related
to the project.
• You have certain categories of requisitions that require preapproval from a select group
of people. You can create an approval group containing the users who must all approve
such requisitions in parallel before additional approvals can be made.
Approval Groups are managed in the Oracle BPM Worklist. Access it by clicking the Manage
Approval Groups task on the Setup page, in the Approval Management functional area.

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Managing Approval Groups

Approval Groups: You select specific users to include in the group and specify the flow of
tasks from one user to another. If the group is used in a rule set that is predefined with
parallel routing, then the task is passed to all users in the group at the same time.

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Demonstration 6-2

• Managing Approval Groups by Using the BPM Worklist Application

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Approval Management for Procurement Using Approval Rules Setup
Interface
Managing Requisition Approvals Task

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Manage Requisition Approvals

Defining Approval Management Rules for Procurement

Access the Manage Requisition Approvals page from the Manage Requisition Approvals task in
the Approval Management functional area in the Procurement offering on the Procurement:
Setup page.
Using the Manage Requisition Approvals page, you can set up approval rules for:
• Requisitions
• Agreements
• Purchase orders
• Change orders
• Supplier registration
• Sourcing

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Managing Requisition Approvals

Setting Up Document Approvals

The document approval request tasks allow you to send approval requests to approvers
enabling them to make decisions and thus advancing the request-to-pay business process.
A different approval task is created for each approval need based on the business it serves.
Example, purchase requisitions approvals; expense reports approvals, and so on.
From the setup task manager, you can pick the corresponding task to setup approvals for
procurement document objects. Example:
• Manage Requisition Approvals
• Managing Purchasing Document Approvals

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Conditions Using the Procurement Category Hierarchy Top Ten

• If you create approval rule conditions that use item level

categories, changes to the categories require corresponding
approval rule changes.
• You can simplify approval rules by using conditions that apply
to the top ten levels of categories in the Procurement
Category Hierarchy.
• For example, in the Procurement Category Hierarchy, you
have Root > Office Technology > Computers > Laptop
Computer > Laptops.
• One approval policy that apply to the Computers category is
easier to maintain than policies that apply to each specific
type of laptop computer.
• Note that setting up and using the Category hierarchy is
optional.

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User-Defined Attributes

• When setting up approval rules for an approval task, you can create user-defined
attributes. Attributes are defined once and can be used across rules within the same
approval task.
• You can create two types of user-defined attributes:
– Currency-based attributes
– Summation attributes

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Currency-Based Attributes

You can define currency-based attributes to convert transaction amounts into a common
currency, then define approval rules for only that specific currency. For example, requesters
may be creating requisitions in multiple currencies. If your approval policy requires that
requisitions with amounts over 500 USD need approval from the requester manager, then
you can define this approval routing rule by defining an attribute Requisition amount in USD
and use it in a rule condition.

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Currency-Based Attributes

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Summation-Based Attributes

Summation allows you to use values computed based on specific attributes across lines,
schedules, and distributions within a document. You can specify a rule condition to use a
value based on summation data. For example, you can set up a Procurement Category
Hierarchy through the setup task: Manage Procurement Category Hierarchy where you can
define a hierarchy of grouping of purchasing categories.

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Summation-Based Attributes

If the approval policy is: If the requisition contains lines from IT where the lines total is
greater than 500, then route the requisition to the IT group for approval.
To achieve this, create a User Defined attribute for IT Spend as follows:
• User-Defined Attribute: IT Spend
• Type: Summation
• Attribute: Distribution Amount
• Match Using: Hierarchy
• Category Name Rolls up To: IT

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Summation-Based Attributes

When defining summation attribute, you can use distribution amount or the distribution
approval amount. You can also apply up to three filter criteria on the lines or distributions of
the transaction by using attribute or hierarchy. For a match using hierarchy, the following
hierarchies can be used:
• Balancing Segment
• Category Name
• Cost Center
• Management Segment
• Natural Account

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Standard Attributes

In addition to user-defined attributes, each approval workflow has its own standard
attributes. These are documented in the Setting up Document Approvals, Oracle
Procurement Cloud whitepaper for each of the following workflows:
• Self Service Procurement
• Purchasing
• Supplier Registration
• Sourcing
• Supplier Spend Authorization
• Supplier Profile Change Request (very limited set of attributes updated through Supplier
Qualification Management only)

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Demonstration 6-3

• Creating a Nested Condition

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Demonstration 6-4

• Creating User-Defined Attributes

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Demonstration 6-5

• Creating a Condition with Category Hierarchy

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Resources

Documentation
Available in the Oracle Help Center: http://docs.oracle.com/
• Oracle Procurement Cloud Implementing Procurement
• Oracle Procurement Cloud Using Procurement
White Paper
Available on My Oracle Support (MOS):
• Setting Up Document Approvals in Oracle Procurement Cloud
(document ID 2264952.1)
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=2264952.1

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Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Describe the approval management workflow
• Set up approval management
• Describe approval policy configuration
• List the steps for defining approval groups

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