Purchase Order Approval Process and Workflow Notifications

This section outlines the prerequisites and data flow for the Purchase Order Workflow.

Prerequisites

Following are the requirements for using the Purchase Order Workflow:

• Select the Purchase Orders? 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.

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

• Set up approval requirements for purchase orders in Purchasing's Approval table. If your organization already uses approvals for batch budget transfers, you may not need to update the table.
  The table's Purchase Order tab defines the users authorized as approvers, as well as the dollar-amount ranges that require approval. Purchase Order Workflow uses this information to determine the users to notify when a purchase order that requires account-based approval has been entered. The settings in the Workflow Configuration Profile's Purchase Order Forms tab determine the order notifications are sent and to whom.

• Set up requirements for account-based purchase order approvals in Purchasing's Account Approval table. If your organization already uses account approvals for purchase orders, you may not need to update the table.
  The table's Purchase Order tab stores the user IDs of authorized approvers and alternate approvers, as well as the account ranges requiring approval. The workflow uses this information to determine the users who receive notifications when a purchase order requiring approval is entered. The settings in the Purchase Order Forms tab determine the order notifications are sent and to whom.

• 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 purchase orders as well as those who process approvals.

Menu Path

From the Purchasing menu, select Entry & Processing. From the Purchase Order Processing menu, select Purchase Orders.

Purchase Order Approval Data Flow

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

1. On the Purchase Order List page, click Add New.

2. Enter the purchase order and its line items. Click Save.
   If the Approval or Account entered is defined in the Approval or Account Approval tables as requiring approval, the purchase order is routed for approval.
   Based on the settings in Workflow Configuration Profile's Global Settings and Purchase Orders options, the Needs Approval notification will be sent to the appropriate user defined in the Approval or Account Approval tables.

3. The user who receives the Needs Approval notification can display the Purchase Order Approval page by clicking the URL link in the email or the activity on the Activities panel of the home page.
   The URL for the Purchase Order Approval 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 Purchase Order Forms tab.

4. In the Purchase Order Approval page, complete the approval necessary for the purchase order. 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 no other approvals are required:
     The Posted notification is sent to the user who entered the purchase order.

   • If the approval action was Approve, additional levels of approval 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 purchase order is deleted or the approval group or account that requires approval is changed:
     The Canceled notification is sent to the users based on the Notify on Cancel setting.