Accounts Payable Approval Process and Workflow Notifications

This section outlines the prerequisites and data flow for the Accounts Payable Workflow.

Prerequisites

Following are the requirements for using the Accounts Payable Workflow:

• Select the Accounts Payable? field on the Global Settings tab of the Workflow Configuration Profile's Global Settings option.

• Choose whether your organization will be using a Custom Email Task Scheduler on the workflow server, or define the settings on the Email Task Scheduler Settings tab of the Workflow Configuration Profile's Global Settings Tab.

• Define your settings on the Accounts Payable Email and Accounts Payable Forms tabs of the Workflow Configuration Profile's Accounts Payable option.

• Set up approval requirements for payables in Fund Accounting's Approval table. If your organization already uses approvals for payables, you may not need to update the table.
  The table's Accounts Payable tab defines the users authorized as approvers, as well as the dollar-amount ranges that require approval. Accounts Payable Workflow uses this information to determine the users to notify when a payable that requires approval has been entered. The settings in the Workflow Configuration Profile's Accounts Payable Forms tab determine the order notifications are sent and to whom. 

• Set up requirements for account-based payable approvals in Fund Accounting's Account Approval table. If your organization already uses account approvals for payables, you may not need to update the table.
  The table's Accounts Payable tab stores the user IDs of authorized approvers and alternate approvers, as well as the account ranges that require approval. Accounts Payable Workflow uses this information to determine the users who receive notifications when a payable that requires account-based approval has been entered. The settings in the Workflow Configuration Profile's Accounts Payable Forms tab determine the order notifications are sent and to whom. For details, refer to the Fund Accounting manual.

• Define the required fields in users' Employee Information detail pages that will be used in workflow notifications. These include the User Login field in the page's General section and the Email field in its Employment tab. The fields must be completed for users who enter payables as well as those who process approvals.

Menu Path

From the Fund Accounting menu, select Entry & Processing. From the Payable Entry menu, select one of the following:

• Batch Accounts Payable

• Post Accounts Payable

• Standard Payables

Accounts Payable Approval Data Flow

Once setup requirements are compete, workflow notifications will be sent when a payable that requires approval is entered. This section outlines the accounts payable process from entry to completion.

Depending on your organization's procedures, you can enter payables through the following options:

• Batch Accounts Payable

• Post Accounts Payable

• Standard Accounts Payable

In the following procedural outline, the steps apply to the entry of payables using Post Accounts Payable and Batch Accounts Payable options.

1. On the selected payable page, enter the payable or batch, and then click OK. If the payable is defined in the Approval or Account Approval tables as requiring approval, the payable is routed for approval. Proceed to Step 4.

2. If required in the payable processing, click Release/Post on the action bar. Select the option to Release and Post.
   If the batch payable is defined in the Approval or Account Approval tables as requiring approval, the payable is routed for approval. Based on the settings in Global Settings and Accounts Payable options in the Workflow Configuration Profile, the Needs Approval notification will be sent to the appropriate user.

3. The user who receives the Needs Approval notification can display the Budget Transfer Approvals page by clicking the URL link in the email or the activity on the Activities panel of the PowerSchool ERP home page.
   The URL for the Budget Transfer Approvals page is created by combining the value entered in the Application Server field on the Global Settings tab with the value entered in the Base URL/Full URL field of the Budget Transfer Forms tab.

4. On the Approve/Deny Accounts Payable page, complete the approval for the payable. When the approval process is complete, workflow sends one of the following notifications based on the approval action and your organization's setup:

   • If the approval action was Approve and there are no other approvals required:
     The Posted notification is sent to the user who entered the payable.

   • If the approval action was Approve, additional levels of approval are required, and the Notify Approvers is set to Only after all required lower levels are completed:
     The Needs Approval notification is sent to the user on the next level of required approval.

   • If the approval action was Approve on the Account Approval and the Notify Account Approvers is set to Before the approval group:
     The Needs Approval notification is sent to the users on the Approval table based on the Notify Approvers setting.

   • If the approval action was Approve on the Approval Group and the Notify Account Approvers is set to After the approval group:
     The Needs Approval notification is sent to the users on the Account Approval table.

   • If the approval action was Deny, the Denied notification is sent to users based on the Notify on Denied setting.

   • If the approval action was Needs Correction:
     The Needs Correction notification is sent to the users based on the Notify on Needs Correction setting.

   • If the payable is deleted or the approval group or an account that requires approval is changed:
     The Canceled notification is sent to the users based on the Notify on Cancel setting.