Approval Workflows

Approval workflows allow you to set up an approval process for records that you enter in certain Vantagepoint applications.

You can set up an approval process for:

• Purchase requisitions
• Request for price quotes
• Purchase orders (including change orders and release orders)
• Accounts payable vendor invoices
• Employee absence requests
• Expense reports
• General Ledger budgets

You must use an approval workflow for processing Inventory item requests.

Approval workflows identify the steps in an approval process, the approvers (employees) assigned to each step, and the notification alerts to send for each step to keep the approval process on schedule.

Configuration

You create and configure approval workflows for each type of record or application in Settings > Workflow > Approval Workflows in the desktop application. You can create simple or complex, multitiered, conditional steps for approval workflows.

If you use organizations in Vantagepoint, you can specify approver roles at the organization level. In Settings > Organization > General, you create approval roles for all your organizations. In Settings > Organization > General or Settings > Organization > Individual, you assign approval roles to your organizations and assign one employee to an approval role. You assign these roles as approvers for approval workflow steps in Approval Workflows Configuration.

You turn on approvals for each application and specify the approval workflow that it will use in the following locations:

• Settings > Purchasing & Inventory > Company on the General tab in the desktop application for Purchasing applications.
• Settings > Purchasing & Inventory > Company on the Inventory tab in the desktop application for Inventory item requests.
• Settings > Cash Management > Accounts Payable for accounts payable vendor invoices.
• Settings > Accounting > Time Analysis where Benefit accrual codes are set up and configured for the type of absences, such as vacation, sick, or personal leave, that you want to go through the approval process.
• Settings > Expense > Expense Approvals to enable Approvals-related settings for expenses.
• Settings > General Ledger > Options for General Ledger budgets.

Approving a Record

In the various applications where you enter records that need to be approved, you click the Submit option on the toolbar of the entry form to start the approval process. If you are a designated approver for the current approval step, the toolbar on the entry form displays an Approvals option. You use the options in Approvers drop-down menu to take action for an approval step, such as approving, rejecting, reassigning, and so on.

Reopening a General Ledger Budget

In the General Ledger and General Ledger Group applications, you can reopen budgets or budget groups that have already been approved. The toolbars on the forms have a Reopen or Reopen All as one of the options in the drop-down list in the Approvals option. The option displays if you have been granted the right to reopen approved budgets and budget groups.

Assigning a Delegate to Perform Your Approval Assignments in Your Absence

If you normally approve records, you can temporarily assign another person as a delegate to perform approval duties in your absence. You assign delegates on the General tab of User Options.

Viewing the Progress of Records Being Approved

You can see the progress of a record going through the approval process in several places on the Purchasing, Inventory, and AP Invoice Approvals entry forms -- on the record lookup (in the Search field), in the State and Step fields on the General tab, and on the Progress tab. These places show you whether or not the approval process has started, the record is in approval or in review, and the approval is completed. You can see the current approval step that the record is in and related details on the Progress tab.

Troubleshooting Approval Workflows

All the approval workflows that you enter and save in Approval Workflows Configuration are copied automatically to User Initiated Workflows Configuration and Scheduled Workflows Configuration. Here you can see all of the details on how an approval workflow progresses from step to step while it is in the approval process. This is helpful to administrators for troubleshooting any issues with a workflow.

If You Do Not Use an Approval Workflow for the Purchasing or AP Invoice Approvals Application

If you do not use an approval workflow for the Purchasing or AP Invoice Approvals application: When you create a record in the application and click the Submit button on the toolbar of an entry form, the record is automatically approved.