Approving Journal Entry

This chapter provides an overview of the journal entry approval process and discusses how to set up journal entry approval using the Virtual Approver method in Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Workflow.

Understanding the Journal Entry Approval Process

If you enable the journal approval process in PeopleSoft Enterprise General Ledger, journal entries are automatically marked to post once they are approved. You can enable specific users to mark a journal to post by granting them access to certain pages in User Security or by approving journals through PeopleSoft Workflow using the Virtual Approver. Business process maps are useful tools for defining the workflow process.

You can select to use one of two journal approval methods from the Installation Options - General Ledger page (Set Up Financials/Supply Chain, Install, Installation Options, General Ledger):

• Virtual Approver: PeopleSoft Enterprise (default) workflow approval method used in prior releases.

• Approval Framework: PeopleSoft Enterprise Components Approval Framework (AF) feature provides a configurable framework and page interface to implement workflow approval.

  See Setting Up and Using Configurable Workflow.

See Defining General Ledger Installation Options.

This section discusses:

• Business process maps and PeopleSoft Workflow.

• Journal entry approvals using PeopleSoft Workflow.

• Journal entry approvals using PeopleSoft system user security.

Business Process Maps and PeopleSoft Workflow

The PeopleSoft system enables you to define graphical, process-based maps to illustrate how a particular task fits into the business process and to quickly navigate to the pages that you need. You can create maps while building workflow into business processes. You can also build business processes to implement workflow even if you do not intend to use the business processes to navigate the system.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology, "Designing PeopleSoft Navigator Maps"

Journal Entry Approvals Using PeopleSoft Workflow

Follow these steps to organize and set up data to approve journal entries using the Virtual Approver workflow method:

1. Define the roles and user profiles.

   Specify who performs each activity. Define the roles that people perform in the workflow, as well as information about the people who fill the roles. This information enables the system to route work items to the appropriate users.

2. Define or modify the business process.

   Define or modify the process name, description, activities, worklists, business events, and routings.

3. Define or modify the approval rule set.

   Define who has authority to approve a journal and the approval limits.

4. Assign approval rules to business units, ledger groups, and journal sources.

   You can have as many business processes and approval rules as you want. Assign them to the appropriate business units, ledger groups, and journal sources. If you do not want to use workflow approvals, use the default value, which is Pre-Approved.

Note. When you define approval rules at the source level, they override any approval handling that you specified at the ledger group and business unit levels. Any rules specified at the ledger level override those at the business unit level.

The PeopleSoft system comes with a sample approval rule called JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL for the Journal Entry Approval business process. You activate this sample rule in PeopleSoft Application Designer. The JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL rule is used only by the Virtual Approver workflow method.

Journal Entry Approval Workflow Definition Setup

The business process delivered in the sample data contains the activity APPROVE_DENY_JOURNAL, which comprises four events:

To approve journal entries through PeopleSoft Workflow, you must configure definitions and rules. For example, to generate an email and a worklist entry for journal entry denials, modify the activity definition in PeopleSoft Application Designer. To require that two supervisors and a manager approve journals, change the approval rule set in Application Designer. The sample business process that comes with the system is JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL, and the approval rule set definition is named JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL. You can modify these definitions or use them as templates for your own definitions.

Warning! To approve journal entries using PeopleSoft Workflow, you must deselect the Mark Journal(s) to Post check box on the User Preferences - General Ledger page.

Also, restrict access to the Mark Journals for Posting page so that it is available only to those who have the highest authority to approve journals because users of this page can bypass the journal approval process.

You must also hide the Mark Journal(s) to Post option on the Edit Journal Request page by replacing the entire content of JRNL_EDIT_REQ.MARK_POST_OPTN RowInit PeopleCode with the following code:

JRNL_POST_OPTN = "N";
Hide (JRNL_POST_OPTN);
MARK_POST_OPTN = "N";
Hide (MARK_POST_OPTN);

Note. You cannot post an online journal that needs approval.

Note. The aforementioned warning applies to both the Virtual Approver and the Approval Framework workflow methods.

Virtual Approver

The Virtual Approver has three actions associated with journal approvals. When invoked, the Virtual Approver returns a status based on the action specified and the authority of the user. The status is stored in the Journal Processing Request (JRNL_PROCESS_REQST) field on the journal header table, and appears as the Approval Status field on the Journal - Approval page.

Journal Edit processes all journals—even those marked Denied or Pending Approval. Journal Post posts only those journals that are marked to post (Approved) and marked valid by Journal Edit. Online edits prevent an unedited journal from being approved.

The sample Journal Entry Approval rule uses a two-step approval process. Members of two roles—supervisors and managers—can approve journals. Supervisors can approve amounts from –1,000.00 to 1,000.00. Managers can approve from –100,000.00 to 100,000.00. Both supervisors and managers must have authority for the journal header business unit and the administrative area defined for the business process.

When you select the Submit Journal option in the process list on the Journal Entry - Lines page, the Virtual Approver determines whether you are authorized to approve the journal. If you do not select it, the Virtual Approver prompts you to send the journal into PeopleSoft Workflow. Worklist entries are created for supervisors belonging to the administrative area GL with access to the business unit on the journal header, and the approval status is set to Pending Approval.

If you are a supervisor, the Virtual Approver determines whether you are authorized to approve the amount in the total fields and the business unit. If so, the Virtual Approver returns the status Approved, and the journal is marked to post. If you do not have authority to approve the journal, the Virtual Approver returns the status Pending Approval, and a worklist entry is generated for managers meeting the administrative area and business unit criteria specified in the approval rule set.

When managers or supervisors select a worklist entry for journal approval or journal recycling, they need to access the Journal Entry - Approval page. Typically, you grant security access to this page only to people who have authority to approve the journal. On this page, you can approve, deny, or recycle the journal. You can also add comments to denial emails.

See Also

Specifying Approval Options for the Journal Source

Defining Journal Approval Options for a Ledger

Setting Up Approval Process Definitions (Rules)

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology, "Defining Approval Processes"

Journal Entry Approvals Using PeopleSoft System Security

You can use PeopleSoft system security to authorize approvals for users that PeopleTools provides. Using this method, you grant access to key pages and processes to specific users. For example, the key pages for marking a journal to post and posting are the Mark Journals for Posting page, the Edit Journal Request page, and the Post Journals page.

To prevent specific users from marking a journal to post, you do not assign them to a role that has access to these pages. If the user is not permitted to use the Journal Edit Application Engine process (GL_JEDIT) or the Journal Post COBOL process (GLPPPOST), a message displays informing them that they are not authorized to edit or post a journal using the options on the Journal Entry - Lines pages.

If you employ the user security approach rather than PeopleSoft Workflow for journal approvals, ensure that the Approval Active option in the properties is not selected for the approval rule set JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL in PeopleSoft Application Designer. You can remove the Approval Work page (APPR_WRK_01) and Workflow Functions page (WF_FUNCTIONS_01) from the Journal Entry component (JOURNAL_ENTRY_IE) in Application Designer because removing these pages decreases the number of cache files that are built when you access the component for the first time. Removal of these pages, however, is not required.

Note. By default, the Approval Active check box is selected when you receive the approval rule in the sample data.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Security Administration, "Understanding PeopleSoft Security"

Setting Up Journal Entry Approval in PeopleSoft Workflow

This section discusses how to:

• Review the current workflow approval setup.

• Modify the workflow approval rule properties.

• Modify the rule step definition properties for a workflow item.

• Define the rules for a journal entry approval workflow item.

• Set up the events for a journal entry approval workflow item.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology, "Defining Approval Processes"

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Application Designer Developer's Guide, "Using PeopleSoft Application Designer"

Pages Used to Set Up Journal Entry Approval in PeopleSoft Workflow

Reviewing the Current Workflow Approval Setup

In PeopleSoft Application Designer, access the JOURNAL_ENTRY_APPROVAL.1900–01–01 approval rule set by selecting File, Open and then clicking the approval rule set name in Open Definition dialog box.

Supervisor Approval and Manager Approval

These icons represent the workflow for approving a journal entry that is delivered with the sample data. You can click on the items and modify the workflow journal entry approval rule properties or the selected icon's workflow rule step definitions.

Modifying the Workflow Approval Rule Properties

Access the approval rule properties by right-clicking in the approval rule set window and selecting Definition Properties.

Approval Active

Select this check box to activate the journal entry approval process using workflow.

Allow Self Approval

Select to allow the user who enters a journal to approve the journal. Note. If you define only one approval step in the Approval Rule Set Definition, the approvers will always be able to self-approve the journals they submit for approval (regardless of who entered the journals), even if the Allow Self Approval check box is selected. This behavior is true for the Virtual Approver's design (the last step's approvers can always self-approve the transactions they submitted for approval regardless of the Allow Self Approval setting), since there is no further step/approvers to which the Virtual Approver routes the approval request. Therefore, if your business requirement does not allow the first level approvers (for example supervisors) to approve the journals they submitted for approval, you could add a second approval step (for example manager approval step) to handle those journals' approval requests. Note. If you select to use the Approval Framework workflow method instead of the Virtual Approver, the aforementioned workaround is not necessary. When using Approval Framework, those journals will be routed to the other approvers (supervisors) available for the same approval step. See Setting Up and Using Configurable Workflow.

Modifying the Rule Step Definition Properties for a Workflow Item

Access the rule step definition by clicking one of the icons in the approval rule step and selecting Item Properties.

Icon Descr (icon description)	Modify the workflow icon description.
Route to Role	Select a different role to apply to the icon.
Equally Authorize Roles	Modify the current role and click Add to add more than one approver for the role, or click Remove to remove an approver role. For example, you might have two managers approve a journal entry before the supervisor approves it.

See Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology

Defining the Rules for a Journal Entry Approval Workflow Item

Select the Rules tab in the Rule Step Definition window.

Amount Rule	Enter the minimum and maximum amounts for a specific record and field.
Quantity Rule	Enter the minimum and maximum quantity (for statistical journal entries) for a specific record and field.
Row-level Rule	Select the appropriate radio button if the row-level activity is based on route control or a SQL object. If you select Route Control, enter the route control name and its related record and field values. If you select SQL Object, enter the SQL object name and the related record and field values.

Setting Up the Events for a Journal Entry Approval Workflow Item

Select the Events tab in the Rule Step Definition window.

On Pre-Approved	Select the activity and event that you want to occur when a journal entry is preapproved.
On Deny	Select the activity and event that you want to occur when a journal entry is denied approval.
On Recycle	Select the activity and event that you want to occur when a journal entry is recycled for approval.