In order to activate Order Approval, you should set up the processing options to enable approval processing. It is also required that you set up the order activity rule to activate Order Approval. The Order Approval is based on the Approval Route, which can be activated through Originator's address, Originator's User Profile, Branch Plant, or Default Location.
You should set up the following application Processing Options before performing this task:
- Processing Options for Purchase Order (P4310)
- Processing Options for Purchase Order Approvals (P43081)
- Select Procurement and Subcontract Management | Daily Processing | Stock Based Purchasing | Purchase Order Processing, click the arrow next to Enter Purchase Order (P4310) , and then select Values.
- On the Approvals tab, enter a Route Code to specify which code the system uses for approval processing. The system provides various options depending on business needs.
- For Order Awaiting Approval Status, enter the Next Status for the system to use when the order enters the Approval Route.
- Enter the Approved Status for Next Status as per order activity rule setup for the system to use when the order is automatically approved, for example 280.
- Specify whether the system activates approval processing for certain types of modifications to a purchase order line that has already been approved.
- Specify the Approval Hold Code that the system uses when placing the order on hold for the approval process. If you leave this Processing Option blank, the system does not place the order on hold.
- Select Procurement and Subcontract Management | Daily Processing | Stock Based Purchasing | Order Generation/Approval/Release, click the arrow next to Order Awaiting for Approval (P43081), and then click on Values.
- On the Process tab, enter a value from UDC 40/AT that specifies the Awaiting Approval Status in the processing cycle for this order type. You set up the steps for the processing cycle on the Order Activity Rules form.
- Enter the Approved Status from UDC 40/AT that indicates the next step in the order flow of the line type.
- Enter the Rejected Status from UDC 40/AT that indicates the last step that this order line has rejected in the processing option.
- Enter the Budget Hold Code from UDC 42/HC that identifies why an order is on budget hold.
- Enter the Approvals Hold Code from UDC 42/HC that identifies why an order is on approval hold.
- On the Default tab, enter the Order Type from UDC 00/DT that identifies the type of document. This codec also indicates the origin of the transaction. There are document type codes for Vouchers, invoices, receipts, and time sheets, which create automatic offset entries during the post program.
- The Enter '1' to protect address number from input field enables you to prevent other users from entering or changing the address number.
When you set up the approval route, the system notifies those persons responsible for approving the order. The system sends a notification e-mail to the first authorized person for approval If the person approves the order, the system either sends a message to the next person responsible for approving the order, or updates the order to an approved status (if no other approvals are necessary) and sends an approval message to the order originator. If a person rejects the order, the system returns a rejection message to the originator. If the originator amends the order, the system restarts the approval process.
You can use e-mail for the approval process even if you do not use the electronic mail system from Oracle on a company-wide basis. You can access the messages from the e-mail form that is set up specifically for approval processing, or from any e-mail form on which you have a mailbox. If you use the approval processing e-mail form, processing options enable you to determine which mailboxes appear on the form.
If a person assigned to multiple approval routes leaves the company or goes on a vacation, you can transfer approval authority to another person. After you create an approval route, you can assign it to an order. The system does not allow further processing of the order until it is fully approved.
You can locate all orders that are awaiting approval and select individual orders to review for approval or rejection. You can also locate all orders that you originated, in order to review the status of each, such as Approved, Rejected, or Pending. You locate orders based on the address book number. You can also locate orders based on the age of the order, in order to identify orders that require immediate attention. If you originate orders, you can specify that only approved or rejected orders appear. You can access an order's status summary to identify who is responsible for approving the order, and to review a history of the actions that have occurred for that order.