This chapter discusses the rule approval process and the procedure for managing approved rules.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Oracle Transfer Pricing (FTP) uses Oracle Approvals Management (AME) and Oracle Workflow to manage the approval status of rules.
Note: The approval process actually applies to versions of rules, as opposed to rules themselves. For simplicity's sake, however, the term "rule" is used in this chapter to refer to versions of rules.
A rule can write results to a production data set only if the status of the rule is Approved. Rules that have not been approved can write results only to non-production data sets. Note that a production data set is defined as one for which the appropriate attribute has been set on the data set member.
If you want to use production data sets, you must set up an approval hierarchy through Oracle Approvals Management (AME), where you must specify FEM Approvals as the transaction type. After the approval hierarchy has been defined, Oracle Transfer Pricing uses Oracle Workflow to route the approval requests to the appropriate approvers.
If a rule has been run and there are saved results that have been generated by the rule, the rule definition is locked, and you cannot change or delete the rule definition. You can only change or delete a rule definition if there are no existing results for that rule.
For further information about Oracle Approvals Management and Oracle Workflow, see the following:
Oracle Approvals Management Implementation Guide
Oracle Workflow User's Guide
For more information about the processes for rule approval and deletion, see the following topics:
When you first create a rule, the status for the rule is New. The rule must be approved before you can use it to write results to a production data set (you can, however, test an unapproved rule against a non-production data set).
When you submit a rule for approval, the status becomes Submit Approval. The approver can then either approve or reject the rule. Note that you cannot run a rule for which the status is Submit Approval against either production or non-production data sets.
If the approver approves the rule, the rule status changes to Approved, and you can now use the rule to write results to production data sets.
If the approver rejects the rule, the rule status changes to Not Approved. If there are no existing results for that rule definition, you can make changes to the rule definition and resubmit the rule for approval.
If you try to change the definition for an approved rule for which there are no existing results, a backup copy of the approved rule definition is created. The status of this backup copy of the definition is Not Approved. You can then revert to this backup copy of the rule definition, edit it as desired, and then submit the revised definition for approval.
To delete a rule definition for which the status is Approved, you must obtain approval to delete the rule before it can be deleted. Therefore, to delete an approved rule, you must submit the rule definition for deletion approval.
Click the Delete icon for a rule on the rule's home page submit the rule definition for deletion approval. This action launches the approval process and routes the request for deletion to the appropriate approver.
When you submit a rule for deletion approval, the definition status for the rule becomes Submit Delete. Note that you cannot run a rule for which the status is Submit Delete against either production or non-production data sets.
If the approver approves the deletion of an approved rule, the rule is automatically deleted. If the approver rejects the deletion, the rule definition status is reset to Approved.
Rules with a status of New — that is, rules that have not been submitted through the approval process — do not require approval for deletion. As long as there are no results in a non-production data set as a result of running such a rule, you can simply delete the rule.