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Siebel eFinance Guide > Validation, Approval, and Disclosure Business Services > Administrator Procedures >
Automating Approval Processing
In Siebel eFinance, administrators can define a number of approval levels without the need for programming, scripting, or configuring. You can define both basic or multiple step approval processing levels based on the needs of your organization. You can invoke approval processing from a workflow or a runtime event.
Automating an approval process involves the following steps:
- Administrator defines approval items and approval stages. For more information, see Defining Approval Items and Approval Stages.
- Administrator invokes approval processing. For more information, see Invoking FINS Approval Item Service from a Workflow.
- End users approve or decline an approval stage. For more information, see Approving or Declining an Approval Stage.
Defining Approval Items and Approval Stages
An administrator defines the approval process by creating approval items and approval stages in the Approval Administration view.
To define approval items and stages
- From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map >Application Administration > Approval Administration.
- In the Approval Item list, add a record and enter a name in the Approval Item field.
- In the Approval Flow Type field, select one of the following:
- Sequential. Indicates this Approval Item will be distributed to approvers one after another in the sequence specified in the Approval Stage. The application will route the Approval Item to the next approver only if the current approver approves the request. If any one approver in the approval chain declines the request, the Approval Item is rejected and no further routing will be conducted.
- Parallel. Indicates this Approval Item will be distributed to all approvers simultaneously for approval. The Approval Item is rejected if at least one approver declines the approval request.
Once you've defined an Approval Item, the next step is to define the appropriate approval stages. The Approval Item and Approval Stage lists have a parent-child relationship.
- In the Approval Stage list, add a record for each approval stage and complete the necessary fields.
Some fields are described in the following table.
NOTE: Each approval stage can be tied to either a position or an employee login name, but not both.
End users use the My Approval Inbox view to approve an approval item. For more information, see Approving or Declining an Approval Stage.
Invoking FINS Approval Item Service from a Workflow
To invoke FINS Approval Item Service from a workflow, you must create a workflow containing the following steps:
- Start. Initiates the process instance. When the conditions have been met, the application initiates the process instance.
- Business Service. A step in a process in which an automated call is made to the FINS Approval Item Service. A workflow process definition can have one or more business service steps.
- End. A step in a process that specifies when a process instance is finished.
In order for your workflow to execute correctly, the Start and Business Service steps must meet the minimum requirements described in the following procedures. For more information on workflows, see Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide for Financial Services.
To configure the Start step in your workflow
- From the application level menu, choose View > Site Map > Business Process Administration > Workflow Processes.
- In the Workflow Process list, select the workflow you wish to configure.
- Click the Process Designer view tab.
- In the Process Designer, double-click the Start step.
- In the Next Steps list, complete the necessary fields.
- Click Return to Designer.
To configure the Business Service step in your workflow
- From the application level menu, choose View > Site Map > Business Process Administration > Workflow Processes.
- In the Workflow Process list, select the workflow you wish to configure.
- In the Process Designer workflow, double-click the Business Service step.
The Business Service form appears. Use this view specify the business object, the business service (FINS Approval Item Service), and the Method (Create Approval Stage).
- In the Business Service form, complete the fields described in the following table.
- In the Input Arguments list, establish your Input Arguments as described in the following table.
- Click Return to Designer.
- Click the All Processes view tab.
- To activate the workflow, click Activate.
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Siebel eFinance Guide Published: 20 October 2003 |