Approving Purchase Orders

This chapter provides an overview of purchase order approvals and discusses how to:

Use automatic approvals.
Use workflow approvals.
Set up purchase order approvals.
Approve purchase orders by using online pages.

Understanding Purchase Order Approvals

PeopleSoft Purchasing enables you to set up purchase order approval requirements at the business-unit level. All approval requirements must be met before a purchase order is eligible for dispatch.

Purchase order approvals are available in two areas. You can require approval of one or both of these items:

Purchase order amounts.
Purchase order ChartFields.

There are two types of approval methods:

Automatic approvals.
Workflow approvals.

You can prevent approved purchase orders from dispatching by performing one of these steps:

Selecting the Hold From Further Processing check box on the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page.
Clearing the Dispatch When Approved option on the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page.
Clearing the Dispatch check box on the Maintain Purchase Order - PO Header Details page.
Manually changing the status of the purchase order to Open.

See Also

Using Automatic Approvals

Using Workflow Approvals

Entering Purchase Order Header Details

Common Elements Used in This Chapter

Appr Act (approval action)	Select one of these actions. If you don't have the authority to complete the approval or if you deny or recycle the purchase order, the approval status remains In Process and routes to the next role user in the approval definition. Approve: Select to approve the purchase order amount or ChartField. If requirements are met, the approval status changes to Complete when you save this page, and the purchase order is made available for dispatch. If workflow is implemented, the system sends an email to the buyer telling him or her that the purchase order has been approved. Deny: Select to deny the amount or ChartField for this purchase order and deny dispatch. If this value is selected and workflow is enabled, the system generates a worklist entry and an email message to the buyer. Recycle: Select to send the purchase order back to the buyer or previous approver. If this value is selected and workflow is enabled, the system generates a worklist entry to the last user who approved the purchase order amount.
Approval Status	Displays the overall status of the purchase order.
Base Amt (base amount)	Displays the amount of the purchase order in the business unit base currency.
Chng Order (change order)	Displays the change order number when you approve a purchase order with a change order.
Comment	Enter comments pertinent to the approval action. These comments are saved with the purchase order and are visible only on the originating page, either the Approve Amounts - Approval page or Approve ChartFields - Approval page.
View Printable PO (view printable purchase order)	Click this button to review the purchase order printout on the screen. This option does not print the purchase order directly to the printer; however, you can use the print feature from the browser to send the output to the printer.

See Also

Approving Purchase Order ChartFields

Approving Purchase Order Amounts

Using Automatic Approvals

When you use the automatic approval method, the system automatically approves purchase orders when they are saved by a user with proper authorizations. If a user without proper authorizations saves a purchase order, the status changes to the user's default purchase order save status, either Open or Pending. A qualified user must manually access and approve a purchase order by using the Approve Amounts and Approve ChartFields components.

If you choose to use automatic approvals, you must use the Workflow component to assign approval roles to buyers and requesters. This involves determining whether you need a system of multilevel approvals or just specific users who have the authority to approve everything. If you later decide to use workflow-based approvals, the basic infrastructure is already in place.

See Also

Setting Up Purchase Order Approvals

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Workflow Technology

Using Workflow Approvals

When you use the workflow approval method, the system approves purchase orders by using workflow roles, rules, and routings. To implement workflow approvals, define the roles, rules, and routings by using the Workflow component. PeopleSoft delivers a system that includes basic approval rules.

When you save a purchase order and the purchase order's status is set to Pending/Approved as the default value, or when you select the Approve option on the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page, workflow verifies that you have the authority to approve the purchase order.

If you do not have the authority to approve the purchase order, workflow notifies the approver at the next level in the approval hierarchy that a purchase order needs approval, and adds the purchase order to that approver’s worklist. Workflow routes the purchase order until it reaches an approver with proper approval authorizations.

You can set up workflow to search for purchase orders that require approval and to move those purchase orders to the appropriate users for approval.

Even if you choose to use workflow approvals, you still have the option not to invoke workflow and use the online pages to approve purchase orders manually.

Entering Purchase Order Header Information

Approving Requisitions and Purchase Orders Using Workflow

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Workflow Technology

Setting Up Purchase Order Approvals

To set up purchase order approvals:

Access the User Preferences - Procurement: Purchase Order Authorizations page.

To authorize a user to approve purchase orders, select the Approval check box in the Allowed Purchase Order Actions group box.
Access the Purchasing Definition - PO Approval Options page.
1. To use automatic approvals for the selected business unit, do not define any approval requirements on this page.
  
  By leaving these options blank, you have chosen to use automatic approvals.
2. To use workflow approvals for the selected business unit, define the amount and ChartField approval options.
Access the Buyer Setup - Buyer Setup page.

In the Default PO Status group box, select either Open or Pending Approval/Approved to determine the default status of purchase orders once the selected buyer saves them.

This table lists the purchase order save statuses resulting from all possible setup configurations:

Approval Method	Buyer With Approval Authority	Buyer’s Purchase Order Status Setting	Purchase Order Save Status
Automatic	Yes	Pending	Approved
Automatic	Yes	Open (not recommended)	Open
Automatic	No	Pending	Pending
Automatic	No	Open	Open
Workflow	Yes	Pending	Pending
Workflow	Yes	Open (not recommended)	Open
Workflow	No	Pending	Pending
Workflow	No	Open	Open

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Workflow Technology

Defining Purchase Order Approval Requirements

Approving Purchase Orders by Using Online Pages

This section provides an overview of approving purchasing orders using online pages and discusses how to:

Approve purchase order amounts.
Approve purchase order ChartFields.

Understanding Approving Purchase Orders Using Online Pages

Whether you are using workflow or automatic approvals, you can use the PeopleSoft Purchasing online approval pages to approve qualified purchase orders.

If you are using automatic approvals, you always use these pages to approve purchase orders requiring approvals.

If you are using workflow approvals, you can bypass the workflow processes and use these pages to directly approve qualified purchase orders.

You can also use the Reconcile POs - Reconciliation WorkBench page or Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page to perform online purchase order approvals.

Understanding the Requisition Reconciliation Workbench

Pages Used to Approve Purchase Orders by Using Online Pages

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Purchase Order Amount Approval	PO_APPROVAL_AMT	Purchasing, Purchase Orders, Approve Amounts, Purchase Order Amount Approval	Approve purchase order amounts for purchase orders that require approval and view details. If you have a purchase order approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a purchase order from your worklist.
Purchase Order ChartField Approval	PO_APPROVAL_CHRT	Purchasing, Purchase Orders, Approve ChartFields, Purchase Order ChartField Approval	Approve purchase order ChartFields for purchase orders that require approval and view details. If you have a purchase order approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a purchase order from your worklist.

Page Name

Object Name

Navigation

Usage

Purchase Order Amount Approval

PO_APPROVAL_AMT

Purchasing, Purchase Orders, Approve Amounts, Purchase Order Amount Approval

Approve purchase order amounts for purchase orders that require approval and view details.

If you have a purchase order approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a purchase order from your worklist.

Purchase Order ChartField Approval

PO_APPROVAL_CHRT

Purchasing, Purchase Orders, Approve ChartFields, Purchase Order ChartField Approval

Approve purchase order ChartFields for purchase orders that require approval and view details.

If you have a purchase order approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a purchase order from your worklist.

Approving Purchase Order Amounts

Access the Purchase Order Amount Approval page.

The amounts that appear are the amounts that you are approving. You can change these values on the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page and Maintain Purchase Order - Schedules page.

PO Amount

PO Reference	Displays free-form text that appears by default from the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page.
Merchandise Total Amount	Displays the quantity of items multiplied by the unit price in the purchase order currency.
Merchandise Total Base	Displays the quantity of items multiplied by the unit price in the base currency for the business unit.
PO Total Value	Displays the merchandise total amount plus taxes, freight, and miscellaneous charges in the purchase order currency.
PO Total Base	Displays the merchandise total amount plus taxes, freight, and miscellaneous charges in the base currency for the business unit.

See Also

Entering Purchase Order Header Details

Approving Purchase Order ChartFields

Access the Purchase Order ChartField Approval page.

This page displays the ChartField values that you are approving. You can change these values on the Maintain Purchase Order - Purchase Order page and the Maintain Purchase Order - Distributions for Schedule page.

See Also

Entering Purchase Order Header Details

Entering Distribution Information