Assigned To Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to assign approvers to an approval step for an AP invoice approval workflow.

The assigned approvers will approve accounts payable vendor invoices that are entered in Accounting > AP Invoice Approvals.

You can assign approvers in one of the following ways:
  • Assign employees by role and/or specific name.
  • Set up a role assignment hierarchy based on roles that are associated with certain fields that are entered for an AP invoice on the AP Invoice Approval form.
Parent Topic: Fields and Options

Location

To display the dialog box, complete the following steps:

  1. From the Vision Navigation menu, click Configuration > Workflow > Approval Workflows.
  2. Open an existing approval workflow or create a new one.
  3. In the Application field on the General tab, select AP Invoice Approvals.
  4. Click the Workflow tab.
  5. In the Approval Steps grid, click in the Assigned To field, and then click the ellipsis icon.

Contents

Field Description
Approval Roles and Specific Employee Fields Select the single option (radio) button to the left of the Approver Roles and Specific Employee fields to enable both of the fields. This allows you to assign approvers for the approval step based on an employee's role or specific name. The Assignment Hierarchy grid is not enabled when you select this option.

Click in each field to select approvers for the approval step. You can select a combination or roles and specific employees.

Approval Roles Field

Select one or more of the following roles on the Field Selection dialog box. To select multiple roles, press the SHIFT or CTRL key and click the roles. The employees who have these roles will be assigned as approvers for the approval step.
  • Approval Administrator — This is the employee who is entered in the Approval Administrator field on the General tab of the Approvals Configuration form.
  • Create User — This is the employee who entered and saved an AP invoice to be approved in Accounting > AP Invoice Approvals.
The following roles in the Field Selection list are associated with the project that is entered for an AP invoice in the Project field on the AP Invoice Approvals form in Accounting > AP Invoice Approvals:
  • Principal-in-Charge — This is the employee who is entered as the principal-in-charge of a project in the Project Info Center.
  • Project Biller — This is the employee who is entered as the biller for a project in the Project Info Center.
  • Project Manager — This is the employee who is entered as the project manager for a project in the Project Info Center.
  • Project Supervisor — This is the employee who is entered as the project supervisor for a project in the Project Info Center.
Other fields that display in the Field Selection list are:
  • User-defined fields for the Project Info Center, which you set up in Configuration > General > User Defined Components.
  • Organization-level approval roles, which you enter in Configuration > Organization > General if you use organizations in Vision.

Specific Employee Field

On the Employee lookup dialog box, select one or more employees to add as approvers. To select multiple employees, press the SHIFT or CTRL key and click the employees. The Employee lookup includes all employees.

Assignment Hierarchy Grid

Select the option (radio) button to the left of the grid to enable the grid. Use the grid to set up a hierarchy for Vision to follow to search for and assign approvers for the approval step. The Approver Roles and Specific Employee fields are not enabled when you select the assignment hierarchy grid button.

Setting up an assignment hierarchy for an approval step is useful when some fields on the entry form in AP Invoice Approvals, such as Project or Purchase Order, are left blank. The fields may be left blank when the person entering the AP invoice does not know this information. When fields are left blank, having an assignment hierarchy allows Vision to search multiple AP invoice fields in a specific order to find a field with an entry, so approvers can be assigned.

The assignment hierarchy is based on the fields that are entered for an AP invoice, such as Project or Purchase Order, on the AP Invoice Approvals form in Accounting > AP Invoice Approvals. Vision uses these fields to look for an employee to assign as an approver based on roles that are associated with these fields, such as project manager or project supervisor for the Project field and buyer or submitter for the Purchase Order field.

Vision searches the fields in an AP invoice in the order that the fields are listed in the assignment hierarchy. For the first field that Vision finds with an entry in it, it looks at the approver role that is specified for the field per the assignment hierarchy. All of the employees who are assigned to the role for the entry in the AP invoice field are assigned as approvers for the approval step.

Each row in the Assignment Hierarchy grid represents a field that is entered for an AP invoice on the AP Invoice Approvals form.

For each row in the grid, you:
  • Select whether or not to use it in the hierarchy when searching for an approver.
  • Select an approver role that is associated with the field from the AP Invoice Approvals form (unless the role is pre-defined by Vision).
  • Move the rows up or down in the grid to place them in the order that you want Vision to search for approvers.

Grid Toolbar

Field Description
Assignment Hierarchy Drop-Down

Click the drop-down arrow on a grid header to complete any of the following actions:

  • To print grid data, click Print. On the Print Preview form, click File > Print to send the grid data to your default printer.
  • To export grid data to an Excel spreadsheet, click Export to Excel. When Microsoft Excel opens, use its features to modify, print, or email the grid data, or to save the spreadsheet file locally.
  • To turn on grouping for a grid, click Enable Grouping. When a field displays with the instruction: "Drag a column header here to group by that column," drag and drop column headers into the field, in the sequence that you want them to display.

Not all options are available on all grids.

Move Up and Move Down Select a row in the grid, and then click one of these options to move the row up or down in the grid. The order of the items in the grid determines the order in which Vision searches for and assigns approvers for an approval step.

Grid Fields

Field Description
Do Not Use Select this check box if you do not want Vision to use the row to search for and assign an approver.
Route To and Approval Role These fields determine approvers for the approval step:
  • The Route To field identifies a field from the AP Invoice Approvals form for an AP invoice. You cannot change the Route To fields, but you can change their order in the assignment hierarchy using the Move Up and Move Down options on the toolbar. You choose whether or not to include them in the assignment hierarchy by selecting or clearing the Do Not Use check box for each.
  • In the Approval Role field, select an approval role that is associated with the field in the Route To column. The approver for the Employee field is pre-defined by Vision, which you cannot change. Ignore the Approval Role field for a row if you have selected not to use the row in the assignment hierarchy.
Route To Approver
Employee Route to Employee — This is a pre-defined selection that you cannot change. This is the specific employee who is entered in the employee Route To field on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form. The employee Route To field is useful when you enter an AP invoice, you do not know the project, and you do not use purchase orders.

Two Route To fields display on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form for approvers only when an assignment hierarchy is used for the approval workflow. The fields are enabled on the form only if a purchase order is not entered for the AP invoice on the form.

To determine whether the Route To fields will display on the AP Invoice Approvals form for approvers of an approval step, Vision looks at whether or not the next approval step is using an assignment hierarchy.

Example
Approval Step Uses an Assignment Hierarchy Route To Fields for the Approvers of the Step Display on the AP Invoice Approvals Form
0 (enter the AP invoice) Not applicable Yes
1 Yes No
2 No No
3 No No
In this example:
  • Step 1 uses an approval hierarchy, so the user entering the AP invoice (step 0) will see the Route To fields.
  • Step 2 does not use an approval hierarchy, so the approvers for step 1 will not see the Route To fields.
  • Step 3 does not use an approval hierarchy, so the approvers for step 2 will not see the Route To fields.

Additional Information about the Route To Fields

In the Route To fields on the AP Invoice Approvals form, you can enter an employee or organization, but not both. In the first Route To field on the AP Invoice Approvals form, you specify whether you want to enter an employee or an organization. In the second Route To field, you enter a specific employee or organization that will be evaluated as part of the assignment hierarchy. For more information, see the description for the Organization Route To field below.

Project Click in this field, and then click to open the Field Selection dialog box. Select roles, such as Project Manager or Project Supervisor, entered in the Project Info Center to determine the employees to assign as approvers when the assignment hierarchy process looks at the Project field on the AP Invoice Approvals form. To select one or more roles on the Field Selection dialog box, press the SHIFT or CTRL key and click the roles.

If you use organizations in Vision, organization-level approval roles are included on the Field Selection dialog box. This allows Vision to look at the project's organization that is entered on the General tab in the Project Info Center. Then it looks for the approval role that is assigned to the organization in Configuration > Organization > Individual and the employee who is assigned to that approval role.

If You Do Not Use Purchase Orders in Vision:

The Project field that Vision looks at on the AP Invoice Approvals form is in the Project grid on the General tab.

If You Use Purchase Orders in Vision:

The Project grid on the AP Invoice Approvals form is not enabled when you use purchase orders in Vision. So when you include the Project row in an assignment hierarchy, Vision looks at the cost distribution projects that are entered for a purchase order on the Default Distribution tab on the Purchase Orders form in Purchasing > Purchase Orders.

Purchase Order Click in this field and then click to open the Field Selection dialog box. Select roles, such as Buyer or Submitter to determine the employees to assign as approvers when the assignment hierarchy process looks in the Purchase Order field on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form. In the Field Selection dialog box, select one or more roles using your mouse and the SHIFT or CTRL keys on your keyboard.

If you use organizations in Vision, organization-level approval roles are included in the Field Selection dialog box. This allows you to select an organization role associated with a purchase order. (You enter organization roles in Vision in Configuration > Organization > General.)

Organization This applies only if you use organizations in Vision.

Click in this field and then click to open the Field Selection dialog box. Select one or more organization-level approval roles to determine the employees to assign as approvers when the assignment hierarchy process looks in the organization Route To field on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form. To select multiple organization-level approval roles, press the SHIFT or CTRL key and click the roles.

The organization Route To field is useful when you enter an AP invoice and do not know the project or employee to enter and you do not use purchase orders.

The Field Selection dialog box available from the Approver field displays all the organization-level approval roles that are entered in Configuration > Organization > General. In Organization General Setup, you assign one employee to each organization-level approval role.

Two Route To fields display on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form for an approver only when an assignment hierarchy is used. The fields are enabled on the form only if a purchase order is not entered for the AP invoice on the form.

To determine whether the Route To fields will display on the AP Invoice Approvals form for approvers of an approval step, Vision looks at whether or not the next approval step is using an assignment hierarchy. For more information, see the example in the Employee Route To field description above.

Additional Information about the Route To Fields

In the Route To fields on the AP Invoice Approvals form, you can enter an employee or organization, but not both. In the first Route To field on the AP Invoice Approvals form, you specify whether you want to enter an employee or an organization. In the second Route To field, you enter a specific employee or organization that will be evaluated as part of the assignment hierarchy. For more information, see the description for the Employee Route To field above.

Vendor Click in this field and then click to open the Field Selection dialog box. Select a user-defined field from the Vendor Info Center (whose data type is Employee) to determine the employees to assign as approvers when the assignment hierarchy process looks at the Vendor field on the General tab of the AP Invoice Approvals form. To select one or more user-defined vendor fields on the Field Selection dialog box, press the SHIFT or CTRL key and click the fields.

Only user-defined fields that you create for the Vendor Info Center with an Employee data type display in the Field Selection dialog box. You create these user-defined fields in Configuration > General > User Defined Components.

If you use organizations in Vision, organization-level approval roles are included on the Field Selection dialog box. This allows Vision to look at the vendor's organization that is entered on the General tab in the Vendor Info Center. Then it looks for the approval role that is assigned to the organization in Configuration > Organization > Individual and the employee who is assigned to that approval role.