Approval Maps

Form ID: (EP205015)

You can use this form to create and edit approval maps for expense claims, expense receipts, journal transactions, time cards, projects, pro forma invoices, project quotes, change orders, change requests, cost projections, daily field reports, engineering change orders, engineering change requests, progress worksheets, cash purchases, cash returns, cash transactions, sales orders, sales quotes, subcontracts, purchase orders, requests, requisitions, accounts payable bills, accounts receivable invoices, accounts payable checks, and accounts receivable payments.

For the entity type you select, you can create any number of steps, each of which may include any number of rules. Steps may be executed in a sequential, parallel, or sequential-parallel fashion.

For more information about how you can manage approval maps, see Approval Configuration: Approval Maps.

Summary Area

You use the elements in this area to create a new approval map or to select an existing map to view its details.

Element Description
Map The identifier of the approval map. For a new approval map, the <NEW> string is displayed, indicating that a new identifier will be generated.
Name The name of the approval map.
Entity Type

The type of entity that should be assigned for approval.

The entity type can be one of the following:

  • Bills and Adjustments for the approval of AP documents created on the Bills and Adjustments (AP301000) form
  • Cash Purchases for the approval of documents created on the Cash Purchases (AP304000) form
  • Cash Sales for the approval of documents created on the Cash Sales (AR304000) form
  • Cash Transactions for the approval of cash transactions created on the Cash Transactions (CA304000) form
  • Change Orders for the approval of change orders created on the Change Orders (PM308000) form
  • Change Requests for the approval of change requests created on the Change Requests (PM308500) form
  • Checks and Payments for the approval of documents created on the Checks and Payments (AP302000) form
  • Cost Projection for the approval of cost projections created on the Cost Projection (PM305000) form
  • Daily Field Report for the approval of daily field reports created on the Daily Field Report (PJ304000) form
  • Employee Time Cards for the approval of time cards created on the Employee Time Cards (EP406000) form
  • Engineering Change Order for the approval of change orders created on the Engineering Change Order (AM215000) form
  • Engineering Change Request for the approval of change requests created on the Engineering Change Request (AM210000) form
  • Equipment Time Cards for the approval of time cards created on the Equipment Time Cards (EP407000) form
  • Expense Claim for the approval of expense claims created on the Expense Claim (EP301000) form
  • Expense Receipt for the approval of expense receipts created on the Expense Receipt (EP301020) form
  • Invoices for the approval of sales invoices created on the Invoices (SO303000) form
  • Invoices and Memos for the approval of AR documents created on the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form
  • Journal Transactions for the approval of batches of GL transactions created on the Journal Transactions (GL301000) form
  • Payments and Applications for the approval of AR documents created on the Payments and Applications (AR302000) form
  • Pro Forma Invoices for the approval of pro forma invoices created on the Pro Forma Invoices (PM307000) form
  • Progress Worksheets for the approval of progress worksheets created on the Progress Worksheets (PM303000) form
  • Project Quotes for the approval of project quotes created on the Project Quotes (PM304500) form
  • Projects for the approval of projects created on the Projects (PM301000) form
  • Purchase Orders for the approval of purchase orders created on the Purchase Orders (PO301000) form
  • Requests for the approval of requests created on the Requests (RQ301000) form
  • Requisitions for the approval of requisitions created on the Create Requisitions (RQ504000) form
  • Sales Orders for the approval of sales orders created on the Sales Orders (SO301000) form
  • Sales Quotes for the approval of sales quotes created on the Sales Quotes (CR304500) form
  • Subcontracts for the approval of subcontracts created on the Subcontracts (SC301000) form

The specific entities available depend on your license and the set of features enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.

Steps Pane

This pane displays a list of the steps and rules of which the approval map consists. A deactivated step or rule is marked with the (Inactive) prefix.

The pane toolbar buttons are listed in the table below.

Button Description
Add Step Adds a new step, which appears at the bottom of the list.
Add Rule Adds a new rule to the bottom of the list of rules within the selected step.
Move Node Up Moves the selected node one position up in the list.
Move Node Down Moves the selected node one position down in the list.
Delete Node Deletes the selected node.
Show Steps Pane/Hide Steps Pane Shows or hides the Steps pane.

Unlabeled Pane

This pane contains tabs and elements that you can use to specify, review, or edit the settings of the step or rule selected in the Steps pane.

Table 1. Pane Summary Elements
Element Description
Description The description of the step or rule, depending on which is selected in the Steps pane.
Active A check box that indicates (if selected) that the step or rule, depending on which is selected in the Steps pane, is active and the system executes it in accordance with the specified conditions. You clear this check box to deactivate the step or rule, which is then marked with the (Inactive) prefix in the Steps pane.

Conditions Tab

You use this tab to specify the conditions that must be met to execute the rule or to complete the step.

Table 2. Summary Elements
Element Description
If No Approver Found

The directions for the system to execute if no approver has been assigned at this step.

The following options are available:

  • Reject Document: The document or record is rejected.
  • Approve Document: The document or record is approved.
  • Go to Next Step: The system proceeds to the next step in the approval map. If the system has reached the last step in the map and no conditions have been met to assign an approver yet, no approver is assigned to the document or record.
Execute Step

An extra condition for executing the step. The following options are available:

  • Always (default): The step is executed regardless of whether the conditions in any previous step have been met and an approver has been assigned to the record.
  • If No Approvers Found at Previous Steps: The step is executed only if all the conditions in all the previous steps have not been met and no approvers have been assigned to the record. If at least one approver has been assigned to approve the record after all the previous steps in the map have been executed, the system does not execute this step.
Table 3. Table Buttons
Button Description
Insert Inserts a new row above the selected row.
Up Moves the selected row one position up in the list.
Down Moves the selected row one position down in the list.
Table 4. Table Columns
Column Description
Active A check box that indicates (if selected) that the condition is active and the system meets this condition when executing the rule. You clear this check box to deactivate the condition.
Brackets The opening bracket or brackets for enclosing a logical expression. Brackets are used to designate the order of operations.
Entity The entity the approval map is associated with.
Field Name The name of a field (element) that stores a property of the entity. The property in this field will be compared to the specified value to determine whether the condition is true or false.
Condition The logical operation to apply to the value of the chosen data field. The following options are available: Equals, Does Not Equal, Is Greater Than, Is Greater Than or Equal To, Is Less Than, Is Less Than or Equal To, Contains, Starts With, Ends With, Does Not Contain, Is Between, Is Empty, and Is Not Empty.
Value The condition's first value to be compared with the data field value. Most of the conditions require only one value, while Is Between requires two values.
Value 2 The second value, if required by the selected condition.
Brackets The closing bracket or brackets for enclosing a logical expression.
Operator The logical operator to be used to connect logical expressions of separate lines. Brackets are used to designate the order of operations.

Rule Actions Tab

This tab contains settings that determine how the system assigns an approver to a record of the specified type, how the approval process proceeds, and whether an approver has to enter a comment when approving or rejecting a record of the type.

If you create multiple rules that are configured in such a way that the same approver could be assigned multiple times to approve one record, the system will create at most one approval request per record for this approver.

Table 5. Approval Settings Section
Element Description
Approver

The source of the employee to whom the record or document should be assigned for approval. To select an employee in accordance with the selected option, you use the Employee box or the Employee filter described below.

The following options are available:

  • Employee: Gives you the ability to select an employee from the full list of employees.
  • Employee from Document: Gives you the ability to use a selector tool for drilling down to any level of detail of the underlying document and selecting a system entity that defines the employee.
  • Employees by Filter: Gives you the ability to use a filter table in which you can specify conditions for selecting one employee or multiple employees.
    Attention:
    If multiple employees are listed in the filter table, the system will require approval from all the listed employees regardless of the value specified in the Operator column of the filter table.
Employee The employee to whom the entity should be assigned for approval if the conditions in the Conditions tab are satisfied. One of the following options may be available:
  • An employee selected from the full list of available employees if Employee is selected in the Approver box
  • A system entity that defines the employee if Employee from Document is selected in the Approver box
Workgroup The workgroup to which the entity should be assigned for approval if the conditions in the Conditions tab are satisfied. If you specify a workgroup, any employee that belongs to this workgroup or any workgroup higher in the company tree hierarchy can approve the record.
Allow Reassignment of Approvals A check box that indicates (if selected) that the approver assigned by the system based on this rule can be changed. If the check box is cleared (which is its default state), the system does not allow a user to change the approver that has been assigned in accordance with the rule.
Decision Wait Time The time period within which the assigned approver should approve or reject the record. A zero wait time would mean that the record may await approval for an indefinite period of time.
On Approval The directions for the system to execute after the approver assigned by this rule has taken an action. The following options are available:
  • Collect All Approvals from This Step: After one approver approves the record, the system waits until other appointed approvers (if any) also approve the record.
  • Complete Step: After one approver approves the record, the system proceeds to the next step without following the remaining rules in this step (if any).
    Attention:
    If Employees by Filter is selected in the Approver box and multiple employees are listed in the filter table, the system will require approval from all the listed employees regardless of the value specified in the Operator column of the filter table.
  • Approve Document: The document or record becomes approved after one approver approves it; the remaining rules and steps are ignored by the system.
    Attention:
    If Employees by Filter is selected in the Approver box and multiple employees are listed in the filter table, the system will require approval from all the listed employees regardless of the value specified in the Operator column of the filter table.
Table 6. Reason Settings Section
Element Description
Reason for Approval Defines whether an approver has to enter a comment when approving a record of the specified type. The following options are available:
  • Is Not Prompted: The system does not require the approver to enter a comment about the approval of the record; it also does not display the Enter Reason dialog box to prompt the approver to enter this comment.
  • Is Optional: If the approver attempts to approve a record on the entry form, the system displays the Enter Reason dialog box, in which the approver can leave a comment about their decision. The approver can instead click Cancel at the bottom of the dialog box to proceed without leaving any comment.
  • Is Required: Each time the approver attempts to approve a record on the entry form, the system displays the Enter Reason dialog box, and the approver has to leave a comment about their decision in order to proceed with the approval procedure. If the approver clicks Cancel at the bottom of the dialog box, the dialog box closes, and the document retains the Pending Approval status. An approver can use only the corresponding entry form to approve a record for which a comment must be entered upon approval; these records cannot be approved on the Approvals (EP503010) form.
Reason for Rejection Defines whether an approver has to enter a comment while rejecting a record of the specified type. The following options are available:
  • Is Not Prompted: The system does not require the approver to enter a comment about why the record is being rejected; it also does not display the Enter Reason dialog box to prompt the approver to enter this comment.
  • Is Optional: If the approver attempts to reject a record on its entry form, the system displays the Enter Reason dialog box, in which the approver can leave a comment about their decision. The approver can instead click Cancel at the bottom of the dialog box to proceed without leaving any comment.
  • Is Required: Each time an approver attempts to reject a record on its entry form, the system displays the Enter Reason dialog box, and the approver has to leave a comment about his or her decision in order to proceed with the procedure. If the approver clicks Cancel at the bottom of the dialog box, the dialog box closes, and the record retains the Pending Approval status. An approver can use only the corresponding entry form to reject a record for which a comment must be entered upon rejection; these records cannot be rejected on the Approvals (EP503010) form.

If a reason is specified during the rejection process and then the record is returned for editing, that rejection will be saved on the entry form of the record, and all other rejections and approvals will be removed.