| Field | Description |
|---|
| Step
|
When you insert a step into this grid, this field prefills with the next sequential number. It specifies the order in which the step is performed in the workflow. The steps in the grid display automatically in step order. Use the
 Move Up and
 Move Down options to change the order of steps.
|
| Description
|
Enter a short name or description for the approval step that helps identify the step.
|
| Conditions
|
Conditions are optional for an approval step. Click in this field, and then click
 to open the Conditions dialog box and define conditions under which a step occurs.
For example, you might want to create a condition that says if the total amount of a purchase requisition is greater than $10,000, then the requisition will be routed to the organization administrator for approval.
You can create a condition based on fields related to the record being approved, such as fields from a purchase requisition record, purchase order record, and so on), fields from the cost distribution project that is associated with a purchasing record being approved, and the purchasing item categories of the purchasing item.
During the approval process, conditions are evaluated at the beginning of the step. If the condition is not met, the next action that occurs is based on the action that you select in the
Action if Conditions Not Met field in this grid.
The
Conditions field displays
<Conditions Defined> when a condition is created for an approval step.
|
| Action if Conditions Not Met
|
If you entered a condition for the approval step, select one of the actions from the drop-down list in this field to determine what to do when the condition is not met. Conditions are evaluated at the beginning of the step.
The possible actions are:
- Skip to Next Step — This moves the approval to the next step in the workflow. When the step is skipped, none of the associated actions for the step (the alerts) will take place. You cannot use
Skip to Next Step for the last step of an approval workflow.
- Approve Step — The marks the step with the unmet condition approved by the approval administrator who is specified on the General tab of Approvals Configuration. Any associated actions (alerts), including applicable, end-of-step actions for the step will be taken. An assignment is made to the approval administrator. If an approval notification is sent to "currently assigned," it is sent to the approval administrator.
- Assign to Administrator — This assign the approval step to the employee who is entered in the
Approval Administrator field on the General tab of Approvals Configuration.
- Mark as Final Approved — This skips any remaining approval steps in the workflow and marks the approval as final approved. The approval administrator will be added in the
Responsibility column of the approval history grid. Any completed notifications that are sent to the employee who is currently assigned would be sent to the approval administrator. No approval alerts would be sent. The record is marked final approved.
|
| In-Progress Workflow Status
|
Select one of the options from the drop-down list to determine the actions that an approver can take for this step:
- In Approval — This option allows approvers to approve, reject, or reassign the record (if the
Allow Approvers to Reassign check box is selected on the General tab of Approvals Configuration), but they cannot edit the record to be approved.
- In Review — This option allows approvers to edit the record, as well as approve, reject, or reassign it (if the
Allow Approvers to Reassign check box is selected on the General tab of Approvals Configuration).
|
| Assigned To
|
Click in this field and then click
 to select the role of the employees who can take action for this step in the approval process. This opens the Field Selection dialog box where you can select one or more roles. To select multiple roles, press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard while you click each role with your mouse. The list of roles may differ based on the application that you selected in the
Application field on the General tab of the Approvals Configuration form for the approval workflow.
You can select employee roles in addition to or instead of selecting specific employees by name in the
Specific Employees field in this grid. You must select at least one role or one specific employee to take action for a step.
You select roles and/or specific employees who
can take action for this step in the approval process in the
Assigned To and/or
Specific Employees field. You also choose who
must complete the step in the
Who Must Complete field in this grid.
Possible roles that you can select in the
Assigned To field on the Field Selection dialog box are:
- Approval Administrator — This is the employee who is entered in the
Approval Administrator field on the General tab on the Approvals Configuration form.
- Buyer — This role applies only for approval workflows for the Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Change Order, and Purchase Order Release applications. This is the employee who is entered in the
Buyer field for the purchase order, change order, or release order to be approved.
- Buyer's Supervisor — This role applies only for approval workflows for the Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Change Order, and Purchase Order Release applications. This is the supervisor (entered in the Employee Info Center) for the employee who is the buyer specified for the purchase order, change order, or release order to be approved.
- Company Buyer — These are the one or more employees who are listed on the Buyers tab of in
for the active company. All the employees on the Buyer tab must take action for the approval step when the approval process occurs in the Vision company for which they are designated as the company buyers.
Company Buyer does not apply for approval workflows that you create for the Inventory Item Requests application.
- Create User — This is the employee who created the record in the Purchasing or Inventory application to be approved.
- Currently Assigned — This does not apply for approval steps. Select another option.
- Inventory Manager — This role applies only for approval workflows for the Inventory Item Request application. These are the one or more employees who are entered in the Manager grid on the Inventory tab in
. All the employees in the Manager grid must take action for the approval step when the approval process occurs in the Vision company for which they are designated as inventory managers.
- Principal-in-Charge — This is the principal-in-charge who is assigned to the project (in the Project Info Center) that is associated with the record to be approved.
- Project Biller — This is the biller who is assigned to the project (in the Project Info Center) that is associated with the record to be approved.
- Project Manager — This is the project manager who is assigned to the project (In the Project Info Center) that is associated with the record to be approved.
- Project Supervisor — This is the project supervisor who is assigned to the project (in the Project Info Center) that is associated with the record to be approved.
- Requestor — This role applies only for approval workflows for the Purchase Requisitions, Requests for Price Quote, and Inventory Item Requests applications. This is the employee who is entered in the
Requested By field for the purchase requisition, request for price quote, and inventory item request to be approved.
- Requestor's Supervisor — This role applies only for approval workflows for the Inventory Item Requests, Purchase Requisitions, and Request for Price Quotes applications. This is the supervisor (entered in the Employee Info Center) for the employee who is the requestor of a purchasing or inventory item to be approved.
- Submitter — This is the employee who submitted the record to be approved in the Purchasing or Inventory application. Do not assign step 1 to the submitter (the submitter is not logged until a record is submitted).
- Any approval roles that you set up at the organization level in Organization Configuration (if you use organizations in Vision). Vision uses the cost distribution project to identify the organization. If no cost distribution project is entered, Vision uses the organization of the requester. This allows organization-level approvers to be used even if cost distribution projects are not used.
- Any custom field that you create for the Project Info Center that contains employees.
To determine the employee to assign for roles that are related to a project, such as the project manager or project supervisor, Vison looks for the project in the following places in the order listed:
- The cost distribution override project that is entered for the purchasing or inventory line item to be approved. This is entered on the Cost Distribution tab for purchase requisitions and request for price quotes. It is entered on the Default Distribution tab for purchase orders. To see the override project, click the
View Details button on the Items grid for a line item in the Purchasing or Inventory entry form.
- If no cost distribution override project is entered on these tabs, Vision looks to the cost distribution project for the record. If multiple projects are found, then multiple approval assignments can be made for the step. For example, nine projects each with a different project manager would produce nine different approval assignments. However if all projects belonged to the same project manager, then Vision would make only one approval assignment.
Approval workflow failures can occur when an employee has not been entered for a role that is assigned to an approval step. For example, if you select
Project Manager in the
Assigned To field, and a record going through the approval process has no employee entered in the
Project Manger field in the Project Info Center, a workflow failure occurs. In this situation, the approval would be sent to the employee who is specified as the approval administrator entered in the
Approval Administrator field on the General tab on the Approvals Configuration form.
|
| Specific Employees
|
Click in this field, and then click
to select one or more specific employees by name who can take action for this step in the approval process. You can select specific employees in addition to, or instead of, selecting employee roles in the
Assigned To field in this grid. You must select at least one role or one specific employee to take action for a step.
You select roles and/or specific employees who
can take action for this step in the approval process in the
Specific Employees and/or
Assigned To fields. You also choose who
must complete the step in the
Who Must Complete field in this grid.
|
| Who Must Complete
|
Use the drop-down list in this field to select which roles and/or employees that you selected in the Assigned To and/or
Specific Employees fields are required to complete the action for this approval step. You select roles and/or specific employees who
can take action for this step in the approval process in the
Assigned To and/or
Specific Employees fields. You choose who
must complete the step in the
Who Must Complete field in this grid.
Options in the
Who Must Complete drop-down list are:
-
Any — Any of the one or more roles or specific employees who are assigned to this approval step (in the
Assigned To field in this grid) can complete the step by marking the record as approved. After one employee approves the record, it moves to the next step in the approval process.
- All — All of the one or more roles or specific employees who are assigned to this approval step (in the
Assigned To field in this grid) must mark the record as approved for the step before it is complete and can move to the next step. If there are multiple approvers and any one of them rejects the record, then the record is rejected.
|
| Days Allotted
|
Enter the number of days in which an assigned approver must complete and approve this step. The day count begins when a purchasing or inventory item is submitted. If the approver does not take action on the step within the allotted number of days, any applicable reminder or escalation alerts that you add for a step will be sent.
|
| Review Action
|
This field applies only if you selected
In Review in the
In-Progress Workflow Status field.
In Review allows approvers to edit the record for approval, as well as approve, reject, or reassign it as applicable.
The option that you select in the
Review Action field determines what happens after an approver edits a record that is undergoing approval.
Options are:
-
Approve — Select this option to approve the record after an approver edits the record. The workflow continues on to the next step in the approval process. You may want to avoid this option if all steps in a workflow use conditions. It would be possible for the approver to edit the record so that none of the subsequent step conditions are met.
-
Restart Approval — Select this option to send the record back to step 1 of the approval process after an approver edits the record for the approval step. This allows approvers from earlier steps to review and approve the record.
After an approver edits a record for this approval step, the
Approvals option on the toolbar of the application form no longer displays the
Approve,
Reject, and
Reassign options in the submenu. Instead, only a
Review option displays. When an approver clicks the
Review option, Vision follows the review action that was specified for the approval workflow step (either approve the step or restart the approval process).
|
| Reject Action
|
This setting determines what happens when a reviewer rejects a record that is going through the approval process.
Options are:
- Assign to Submitter — The approval record is assigned to the employee who originally submitted it, so they can revise and resubmit it.
- Cancel — This rejects the record (purchase requisition, request for quote, purchase order, or item request) and cancels the approval process (the remaining approval workflow steps are ignored). The status of the record is changed to Rejected. The record is also closed and no more changes can be made to the record. Any applicable reject notifications are sent.
- None — There will be no reject option for the approval. The record can only be approved.
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