For information about creating and maintaining milestone templates, see, Workload Assignment Setup Steps, Oracle Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector Implementation Guide .
Workload Administrators assign procurement related tasks (associated with purchase requisition lines) to buyers. Examples of tasks are: creating a solicitation, publishing a solicitation, awarding a solicitation, approving an award, and so on. A workload assignment consists of several tasks (also called milestones) that the buyer needs to accomplish in a given timeframe. A workload assignment encompasses all activities that constitute the procurement cycle time (the time elapsed from the point the requisition was approved to the point the associated award is approved). The buyer makes an effort to complete the assigned tasks (milestones) associated with the requisition lines within a given timeframe. The workload assignment is then evaluated by the Workload Administrator as being completed on time or overdue. Eventually, the time that the buyer took to complete the assignment is used to evaluate the performance of the buyer or contracting specialist.
The Assignments tab in Buyer Work Center consists of two subtabs: Buyer Workload and Assignment Summary. The Buyer Workload page is available to Workload Administrators only and displays a summary view of the current workload with each buyer in the agency The Assignment Summary page is available for all procurement users to view and use. The Views region in the page is used to query assignments based on various conditions. As a contracting specialist, when you open the Assignment Summary page, the system shows all active assignments assigned to you. As a workload administrator, the system shows all active assignments being worked on by all buyers in your agency. Click the Personalize link at the top of the page to create your own views by defining advanced search criteria to meet your requirement. Workload administrators can also re-assign a set of assignments from one buyer to another buyer directly from this page.
For details on the Buyer Workload and Assignment Summary pages, see:
See Workload Assignments Overview.
For information about creating and maintaining milestone templates, see, Workload Assignment Setup Steps, Oracle Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector Implementation Guide .
As a workload administrator, you can access the Workload Assignment functions from the Requisitions page in Buyer Work Center. First navigate to the Requisitions page and select one or more requisition lines, then select a value from the Workload Assignment LOV and click Go. The Workload Assignment LOV displays the following options: Create New Assignment, Add to Existing Assignment, Remove Lines from Assignment, Create Assignment for Requisition, Add Requisition to Assignment, and Remove Requisition from Assignment.
Create New Assignment
The Create Workload Assignment page is used by the workload administrator to create new workload assignments. The top of the page displays general information about the workload assignment, such as Start Date, Workload Assignment Number, Buyer, Assignment Milestone Template, Status, Estimated Duration (Days), Estimated Completion Date, Actual Completion Date, and so on. Select a Buyer and Assignment Milestone Template from the respective LOVs. You can enter a value for the Estimated Duration (Days) field, if it doesn't default from the Assignment Milestone Template.
Estimated Completion Date must be a future date. If it is earlier than the Start Date, the system displays an error. Estimated Completion Date is calculated automatically as the sum of the Start Date and Estimated Duration (Days) if they are entered. Alternatively, if you enter a value in the Estimated Completion Date, the Estimated Duration (Days) values is automatically calculated.
Select Automatically Calculate Workload Milestone Dates Serially, if required or is not set as a controlling option by your administrator. This option automatically calculates the start date of each milestone and sets it to the day following the estimated completion date of the preceding milestone. For example, for the first milestone, the start date is 06-Dec-2023 and the estimated days is set to 7. If this option is selected, then the estimated completion date is calculated as 13-Dec-2023. The start date of the next milestone is set as 14-Dec-2023, which is estimate completion date of the previous milestone plus 1 day. However, if you select this option on the Create Workload Assignment page, then you cannot update option when you update the workload assignment.
If you have an assignment milestone template for the workload assignment, the milestones associated to the template are displayed in the Milestones region. Otherwise, you can specify milestones (even without a template) for a workload assignment.
The Sq No column displays the sequence number of each milestone, and the sequence number defaults when the template is applied to create a workload assignment. You can update the sequence number to reorder a milestone. The sequence number must be unique for each milestone.
Select a milestone type, either System or User, from the Type list. If you select System, a search icon appears next to the Milestone Name field. Click the search icon to find a system milestone to use in this workload assignment. The description is defaulted. You can enter a value in the Estimated Days field.
Following are System milestones:
Create Award
Approve Award
Create Solicitation
Publish Solicitation
Create Modification with no Change in Fund: This milestone gets completed after a modification to an award with any of the requisition lines from the workload assignment is created with no change in Fund on the respective requisition lines from the workload assignment.
Approve Modification with no Change in Fund: This milestone gets completed after a modification to an award with any of the requisition lines from the workload assignment is approved with no Change in Fund on these respective requisition lines from the workload assignment.
Create Modification for Fund Change: This milestone gets completed once a modification with a fund change on any of the requisition lines from the workload assignment is created.
Approve Modification for Fund Change: This milestone gets completed once a modification with a fund change on any of the requisition lines from the workload assignment is approved.
If you select User, you must provide all of the milestone details and then click Apply.
To remove a milestone, click the Delete icon in the Remove column. To add a milestone, click Add Milestones.
The Requisition Lines region displays all the requisition lines that you selected in the Requisitions page to be added to this new assignment.
Click Apply to save your work and create a new workload assignment The system updates the suggested buyer details on all selected PAR lines, and the buyer receives a notification that the new workload assignment has been assigned to him or her.
Click View Buyer Workload to see the buyer workload for all buyers. All buyers are displayed in the View Buyer Workload page, along with the number of assignments they have been given. All workload assignments for a given buyer are summed by currency and the total is displayed for that buyer. If two lines on an assignment have different currencies, there will be two records for the same buyer, each with a different currency. To search for an individual buyer, click the Buyer LOV indicator and enter the buyer's name in the Search window. The search results display workload assignment information only for that buyer.
Add to Existing Assignment
The Add to Workload Assignment page is used by the Workload Administrator to add post award request lines to an existing workload assignment. To navigate to this page from Demand Workbench, select Add to Existing Assignment from the Workload Assignment LOV. The top region of the page displays the Workload Assignment Number LOV, from which you can select a workload assignment With a status of Assigned or Suspended. When you select a workload assignment number from the LOV, the rest of the information gets populated in the page.
The Milestones region displays the milestones associated with the workload assignment to add the recently selected requisition lines.
The Requisition Lines region displays all the requisition lines (previously added and newly added) that are part of the workload assignment. You can only add requisition lines with identical currencies to a workload assignment.
The Action History region displays the actions that the Workload Administrator has performed on the assignment, such as Suspended or Resumed.
To add the requisition lines to this workload assignment, click Save.
Remove Lines from Assignment
To remove lines from an assignment, select this option from the Workload Assignment LOV and click Go. The selected requisition lines will be unassigned from the assignments. A confirmation message indicates success. The Assignment column in the Requisitions page then no longer displays the workload assignment number.
Note: If any milestone in an assignment is completed, you cannot remove a requisition line from that assignment.
Create Assignment for Requisition
Create Assignment for Requisition enables you to create a workload assignment for all lines (available in the search results of Demand Workbench) of the selected requisition. This is useful if the requisition has a large number of lines.
If you select lines that are part of an existing workload assignment, the system displays a warning and prompts you to either proceed (ignoring the warning) or cancel the action.
Using the Create Assignment for Requisition option takes you to the Create New Assignment page, where you can enter the details required. Refer to the Create New Assignment section in the preceding paragraphs for more information.
Add Requisition to Assignment
Use the Add Requisition to Assignment option to add the available lines of a selected requisition (from the search results in the Demand Workbench page) to an existing assignment in bulk by selecting any one line. If you select lines that are already assigned, the system displays a warning message, prompting you to continue or cancel.
When you select Add Requisition to Assignment, the Add to Existing Assignment page appears, and you can enter the details to complete the addition of lines to the existing assignment. For more information, see the section Add to Existing Assignment.
Remove Requisition from Assignment
Use the Remove Requisition from Assignment option to remove all lines of a selected requisition (from the search results in the Demand Workbench page) from an existing assignment.
If a line is not part of an assignment, the system displays an error message, prompting you to proceed with the removal of the assigned lines or take no action. Refer to the preceding section, Remove Lines from Assignment, for more information.
See Workload Assignments Overview.
All buyers with active workload assignments are displayed in the View Buyer Workload page, along with the number of assignments they have been given. All workload assignments are summed by currency for a given buyer and the total is displayed in each row for a buyer. If two requisition lines on an assignment are with a different currency, there will be two records for the same buyer, each with a different currency. Additionally, the Buyer Workload Details region displays awards (as award numbers with links to the Award Summary page), and award statuses. If there are multiple awards for an assignment, the Multiple link appears. Click the Multiple link to view the award numbers and statuses.
You can view the Assignment Type column to determine the workload assignment type.
You can search for an individual buyer as well, by using the Buyer LOV and entering the buyer name in the Search window. The search results display workload assignment information only for that buyer. You can also use the list search to filter the data.
To allot workload assignments to buyers, you need to navigate to the Requisitions page in Buyer Work Center. Refer to the section Using Workload Assignments from the Requisitions page for more information.
See Workload Assignments Overview.
If you have logged in using the appropriate CLM Purchasing responsibility, you will be able to see the Assignment Summary page in Buyer Work Center.
All buyers use the Assignment Summary page to search for, and view all assignments. You can use the list search to filter the data. Buyers can update assignments owned by them. Workload administrators can update all assignments. See: Using Workload Assignments from the Requisitions Page.
As a Workload Administrator, you can re-assign one or more assignments to a new buyer. Select an assignment using the Select check box and click Re-assign. The Re-assign: Assignments page displays, allowing you to re-assign the assignment(s) to another buyer. Enter a reason and select another buyer's name from the search LOV. Click Apply to save your changes and return to the Assignment Summary page. The buyer's name is changed to the new value in the workload assignment as well as the associated purchase requisition lines. The previous buyer and the current buyer both receive a notification, informing them that the changes have taken place, and the assignment has been allotted to the current buyer.
Assignments with a status of Assigned or Suspended can be re-assigned. The system displays an error if you attempt to re-assign an assignment with any other status.
Note: The Re-assign button is available for Workload Administrators only.
The Views region enables you to view all active assignments or all your active assignments (buyer role). Click Search to find workload assignments using various criteria. You can also create personalized searches to configure complex query criteria that you would like to re-use frequently.
The search criteria provided for the Workload Administrator to find workload assignments are: Assignment Number, Buyer, Status (Assigned, Canceled Completed, Manually Completed, Suspended), Assignment Start Date. You can add another search criteria by selecting one of the values from the Add Another LOV and clicking Add. Select to display the search results that meet any criteria or all criteria from the radio buttons above. Enter search criteria values and click Go. The search results display in the region below.
In the search results, use the Document Number and Document Status columns to view the document (for example, an award or solicitation) for which the workload assignment is used. If there are multiple documents for a milestone, the Multiple link appears. Click the link to view the document numbers and statuses.
Use the Assignment Type column to view the type of workload assignment. To view details of a specific workload assignment, click the number link in the Assignment No column to navigate to the View Workload Assignment page. In the Document Number column for a create or approve modification system milestone, if "Multiple" hyperlink is displayed, then this indicates that multiple documents have met the system milestone criteria after the Compute Milestones Completion Date for Assignment program is run. Click Multiple to view the modification number along with the current status of the modification.
The Actions column contains an Update icon that enables you to update workload assignments.
Click the Update icon for a workload assignment, the Update Workload Assignment page displays. The top region of the Update Workload Assignment page enables you to view the general information of the page such as Start Date, Assignment Milestone Template, Status, Buyer, Estimated Duration (Days), Estimated Completion Date, Actual Completion Date, and so on.
If you are a Workload Administrator, an Actions region is displayed. The Action region consists of the Action LOV that has the following values: Cancel, Manually Complete, Suspend, Re-assign. Enter a justification in the Reason field after you have selected an action from the Action LOV.
Cancel: Workload assignments that have a status of Assigned or Suspended can be canceled. If you select Cancel, the status of the workload assignment at the top of the page displays as Canceled and the requisition lines no longer remain assigned to any buyer. If all the requisition lines in an assignment are canceled (via a PR amendment), the workload assignment is automatically canceled. When a requisition line (which is a part of a workload assignment) is canceled, it is automatically removed from the assignment.
Manually Complete: The Workload Administrator can manually complete an assignment even though some of the milestones are not yet completed. After this operation, the status of the workload assignment at the top of the page is Manually Completed. You can manually complete a workload assignment if the status is Assigned or Suspended.
Suspend: The workload assignment can be suspended if all the pre-award activities are on hold for the requisition lines assigned in the workload assigned. The time spent in the suspended state is not considered for procurement action time (PALT) calculations. You can suspend workload assignments that have a status of Assigned. If you select to suspend the workload assignment, the status at the top of the page displays as Suspended.
Resume: Only those workload assignments that have a status of Suspended can be resumed. When you select Resume from the Action LOV, the workload assignment status at the top of the page displays as Assigned.
Note: The workload assignment can be updated only when it's status is Assigned or Suspended, not when it's status is Canceled or Manually Completed or Completed.
Re-assign:
Select Re-assign to re-assign the assignment to another buyer. Enter a Reason and a New Buyer in the fields displayed and click Apply. The Re-assign value is only available for workload administrators.
The Milestones region enables you to view milestones associated with this workload assignment. You can remove a milestone by clicking the Delete icon at each milestone row. Click Add Milestones to add one or more new milestones to the workload assignment. New milestones can be added to a workload assignment until the assignment is Completed or Manually Completed. If the workload assignment is Canceled, new milestones cannot be added. You can sort milestone details using the Sequence Number column.
If you try to add/modify the milestones using the template, a warning message is displayed prompting you to opt to replace the existing milestones with the ones from the template, or merge the existing milestones with the ones from the template.
The Start Date in the Milestones region gets its default value from the assignment start date. The Start Date is updateable at any time. The Estimated Days field can be entered by the workload administrator or can be calculated by the system as the difference between the Estimated Completion Date and Start Date. Alternatively, if the workload administrator enters a Start Date and an Estimated Days, the system calculates the value of the Estimated Completion Date field.
The Requisition Lines region displays all the requisition lines associated with this workload assignment.
The Action History region displays all the actions you have performed on this workload assignment. For example, if you have suspended a workload assignment and then resumed it later, the Action History region displays Suspend and Resume, along with the Workload Administrator name (Action By), Date and Reason.
The Add Attachments region enables you to add, update, or delete attachments that are required for the workload assignment.
Click Apply to save your work for this workload assignment. Otherwise click Cancel to discard your changes.
Click View Buyer Workload to see the buyer workload for all buyers. All buyers are displayed in the View Buyer Workload page, along with the number of assignments they have been given. All workload assignments are summed by currency for a given buyer and the total is displayed in each row for a buyer. Thus, a buyer may have more than one set of assignments associated to him, because the currencies vary for each set of workload assignments.
You can search for an individual buyer as well, by using the Buyer LOV and entering the buyer name in the Search window. The search results display workload assignment information only for that buyer.
To allot workload assignments to buyers, you need to navigate to the Requisitions page in Buyer Work Center. Refer to the section Workload Assignments for more information.
Workload assignment functions are provided only to the Workload Administrator and other buyers do not have privileges to create workload assignments. This privilege is controlled by FND Functional Security.
For more information, refer to the Oracle Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector Implementation Guide.
The concurrent program Compute Milestones Completion Date for Assignment updates the actual completion date for system defined milestones. This program can be scheduled on periodic basis to calculate the completion date of system milestones. User milestones can either be updated manually or a custom hook used along with this concurrent program is available to compute the completion date of user milestones.
The system ensures that both types of requisition lines (those linked to awards or solicitations through the Auto-Create process and those linked to awards or solicitations via the Link to Requisitions action) are considered and the system milestones are updated accordingly.