White Paper on Advanced Approval using Approval

Management Engine - AME

If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old- as
Peter F. Drucker says many organizations are stop doing old and keep
innovating new technologies to stay in the competitive market. Thanks to
customer expectations, Organizations are updating the existing products with
new technology to delight the customer with enhanced features.
Oracle has also steering to achieve more customer satisfaction by keep
updating their products. Recently Oracle E-Business suite updated from their
R11i to R12.1.3. Oracle has added many new features in R12.1.3 version
which spanning across different modules.
In this white paper, we would like to discuss about enhanced
Advanced Approval Support features in iProcurement Module using Oracle
Approval Management Engine (AME). The enhanced Advanced Approval
Support features are:
1.
Position Hierarchy Based Approvals

Position Hierarchy can be used for Purchase Requisition approval using

Oracle Approval Management (AME)
2.
Parallel Approvals

Simultaneous approve by multiple approvers for Purchase Requisition

to speed up the Requisition approval
3.

Supports FYI Notifications

For Your information (FYI) notification are enabled to notify the action
taken on the purchasing decision to certain individuals where the decision
need to be communicated.
4.

Graphical display of Approval Chain

A graphical view of approval chain and requisition status display

provided to view during purchase requisition creation in iProcurement.
The above enhanced features, Setup required to use the features with some
examples are detailed in this white paper.

Introduction

Thanks to the global technology advancement, all organizations are

updating or implementing new technologies to grow faster and to be
successful in the current competitive world. Oracle Corporation has released

an updated version of Oracle E-Business suite (EBS) 11i to R12 to sustain in

the fast growing technology world. There are number of new features
introduced and some of the existing features are enhanced to give full benefit
to the customer.
However, we are limiting this document to discuss only on Advanced
Approval Support features in iProcurement R12.1.3. Oracle Corporation has
released next version of Oracle EBS R12.2. But no further new or enhanced
features are added with respect to Advanced Approval support.
The new / enhanced approval support such as Position Hierarchy
Based Approvals, Parallel Approvals, Supports FYI Notifications and Graphical
display of Approval Chain will enhance the Customer approval process in
Purchase Requisition Process. Features like Parallel Approval will speed up
the buying process which enables the buyer to procure items on time.
This white paper discusses the details about all new and enhanced
approval support, setup required to enable the features with examples.

Position Hierarchy Based Approvals for Purchase Requisition

Organizations are used to have Position Based approval to overcome
the personnel changes. This type of approval hierarchy ensures the
organization work seamlessly even if the approver moves out of the
organization. This new feature allows the organization to use Position
hierarchy for Purchase requisition approval without any change. Approval
Management engine enhanced to support Position based Hierarchy approval
for Purchase requisitions transaction type.
There are 2 new action types such as HR Position Level and HR
Position is introduced to support position hierarchy approvals. HR Position
level will be used to get approval based on position level (Ex: Require
approvals up to first two positions up) and HR position will be used to
approval from a particular HR position (Ex: Requires approval up to HR
Positions: MM400.Materials Manager)

Setup required for Position Hierarchy Based Approvals for

Purchase Requisition
1.

Define Job

2.

Define Position.

3.

Define Employee and assign Job and Position to employee

4.

Define Position Hierarchy

5.
Define Rule in Approval Management engine using HR Position
Level action type for Purchase Requisition transaction type
a.
Navigate to Approval Management Engine Business
Analyst Responsibility and select Purchase Requisition
Approval as transaction type and click on Setup button.

Navigate to Rule button and click on Create to create a Rule

based on Position Hierarchy.
b.

Enter Name, Rule type asList Creation and Start date during
Step1.
c.

d.

Add condition In Step2

d. Add Action Type HR Position Level and select Required

action in Step3

f. Review all the details and click finish button to create Rule.

g. You will get confirmation message once the rule has been
created.

Select PURCHASE_REQ as Approval Transaction Type for Purchase

Requisition Document Type
6.

Example
1.
Raise a Non catalogue Purchase requisition (PR) in iProcurement
for $100.

2.

Check out from the shopping cart.

3.
Based on the Approval Limit Approval hierarchy generated. In our case,
Approval hierarchy generated using the Position Hierarchy level. Click on next
to go to review page

4.

Review and submit the requisition for approval.

5.
Requisition submitted and Click on requsition number to see the
current status.

Please navigate to Approval Management Business Analyst

responsibility to cross check and to confirm the rules used to generate
approval hierarchy. Please note that I have shown these details to confirm
that the rule created based on Position hierarchy are used and this is not a
step to create purchase requsition from iProcurement.
A.

Click on Run Real Transaction Test button

B.
Enter Requsition_header_id of the Purchase Requisition and
click GO

C.
Click on Run Test Case(2)" button and results will be shown as
below:

6.
Login as Horton and Approve PR and Once approved, PR will go the
next approver.

7.
Login as Brown and Approve PR and Once approved, PR will get
approved.

8.
Login as requestor to see the PR status and you can see that PR is fully
approved.

Parallel Approvals for Purchase Requisition

Oracle introduced Parallel Approval process to speed up purchase
Requisition approval. Due to high volatile environment, organizations can not
depend on one approval authority. The buying process delayed or stopped
when the approval authority is not available to provide his approval for the

requisition. To continue the buying process without any gap or delay,

organizations are depending on another approval authority, who can approve
the request.
Parallel approval process allows multiple approvers to approve the once
purchase Requisitions simultaneously. This ensures the buying process in an
organization is moving continuously.

Setup required for Parallel Approvals for Purchase Requisition

1.
Navigate to Approval Management Business Analyst
Responsibility and Select Purchase Requisition transaction Type. Click
on Setup button to modify the setups

2.
Navigate to Action Type and create new action type (if required) or
use existing action types. We are using existing action type Approval Group
chain of authority action type.
a.
Select ordering method as Parallel to setup Parallel
approval process. (Serial ordering mode is normal approval

Process. i.e. Approval goes from one approver to next approver in

a sequence )
b.
Select Voting method. Oracle provides multiple options in
voting method.
i.
Serial:
Serial voting is a normal voting method where approvers are notified one
after other. All approvers must approve the request to get Purchase
Requisition approval
ii.
Consensus:
All Approvers are notified in parallel. All approvers must approve the request
to get Purchase Requisition approval.
iii.
First Responder Wins
All Approvers are notified in parallel. The first responders choice will be
groups response. Purchase Requisition will get approved, if the first
responder approves. Purchase Requisition will get rejected, if the first
responder rejects.
Note: First Responder Wins option used here to explain the
functionality

3.
Create approver Groups with voting method as First Responder Wins
and add all Approvers in the approval group.

4.

Create Rule using Parallel approval Action type and approver Groups.

Example:
1.
Create Non catalogue request using SUPPLIES.FACILITIES as
category and check out

Approval and Notes section displays the approval group selected

for this purchase requisition.

In our example Facilities Approval Group selected for approval.

This group consist 2 approvers namely Horton and Smith. Both

the approvers will be notified once request submitted.

2.

Review the PR and Submit for Approval.

3.
Click on the status to know the status of the notification. Both
approvers are notified for approval.

4.

Login as Smith to view the Purchase Requisition approval notification.

5.
Login as Horton to see the notification for the same purchase
Requisition and Click Approve button to approve the Request.

6.
Login as Requestor to check the status of the Purchase Requisition and
you can see the request is approved by Horton and no action taken by
Smith.

For Your Information (FYI) Notification support for Purchase

Requisition
Recent technical advancements bring bigger organizations closely.
Industries are operating with less manpower to cut down expenses to
increase profit. Also, Employees are started working in multiple locations.
Due to these advancements, Requestor or Buyer may require to inform
buying decision to other person who would like to have information. These
persons are not in the approval hierarchy and their approval is not required
for buying.

Setup required to configure For Your Information (FYI)

Notification
1.
Navigate to Approval Management Business Analyst
responsibility and click on Configuration variables.

2.
Select Transaction type as Purchase Requisition Approval and click
Go. Then Select YES under Transaction type for the variable name Allow
For your Information Notifications

3.

Save the Changes and you will get below confirmation message

4.
Create new rule with the category For Your Information or update
existing rule

5.
Add condition to the Rule, Action Type, and Action. Complete the rule
creation.

Example
1.
Create Non catalogue Request to test this FYI information
notification.

2.

Add to Cart and Checkout.

3.
Approval and Notes page displays the Approval Sequence. Both FYI
notification and Approval Authority shown in the display.

4.

Review and Submit the Request.

5.

Check the Status of the Request in Approval History.

6.

Login as FYI Notification user. User notified with FYI message.

7.

Login as Approver and Approve the Request.

8.
Once all Approvers are approved the PR, Check Approval History of the
PR. History displays the Request approved only by approval authority and FYI
user only got FYI notification.

Graphical display of Approval Chain

As Napoleon said A picture is worth a thousand words, Oracle
enhanced purchase Requisition approval page (Step 2 of 3 Page) with
graphical display to show PR approvers. This feature enables the user to
clearly understand approval sequences without any confusion. Oracle also
enhanced the Approval notification with the graphical display to show the
approval sequence.
Different symbols are used to indicate to represent whether it is an
Approval notification or it is a FYI notification.

Setup required for Graphical display of Approval Chain

No Specific Setup required for this functionality. This is a standard
feature from R12 of Oracle EBS.

Example
1.
Below example depicts approval required from one approver in a
sequence.

2.
Below example depicts approval required from group of approvers.
Click on the Group name to view all approvers attached with this Group

3.
Below example depicts approval required from Series of Approvers and
For Your Information Notification approvers.

4.
Below example depicts Graphical display of approvers in the PR
Approval Notifications.