Approval Maps

Form ID: (EP205015)

You can use this form to create and edit approval maps for expense claims, expense receipts, time cards, projects, pro forma invoices, project quotes, change orders, cost projections, daily field reports, progress worksheets, cash transactions, sales orders, sales quotes, 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 Managing Assignment and 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, Cash Purchases, Cash Sales, Cash Transactions, Change Orders, Change Requests, Checks and Payments, Cost Projection, Daily Field Report, Employee Time Card, Engineering Change Order, Engineering Change Request, Equipment Time Card, Expense Claim, Expense Receipt, Invoices and Memos, Journal Transactions, Payments and Applications, Pro Forma Invoices, Progress Worksheets, Project Quotes, Projects, Purchase Orders, Requests, Requisitions, Sales Orders, Sales Quotes, and Subcontracts. 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 is rejected. Approve Document: The document 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 still no conditions have been met to assign an approver, no approver is assigned to the document.
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 document. 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 document. If at least one approver has been assigned to approve the document 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 directions for the system to assign a proper approver to a record.

If you create multiple rules that are configured in such a way that the same approver could be assigned multiple times to approve one document, the system will create at most one approval request per document 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: Enables you to select an employee from the full list of employees. Employee from Document: Enables you 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: Enables you to use a filter table in which you can specify conditions for selecting one 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 can approve the document.
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 document. A zero wait time would mean that the document 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 document, the system waits until other appointed approvers (if any) also approve the document. Complete Step: After one approver approves the document, 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: After one approver approves the document, the document becomes approved and 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 document; 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 document on the document 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 document on the document 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 document for which a comment must be entered upon approval; these documents cannot be approved on the Approvals (EP503010) form.
Reason for Rejection	Defines whether an approver has to enter a comment while rejecting a document 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 document 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 document on the document 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 document on the document 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 document retains the Pending Approval status. An approver can use only the corresponding entry form to reject a document for which a comment must be entered upon rejection; these documents cannot be rejected on the Approvals (EP503010) form.