This chapter provides an overview of requisition approvals and discusses how to:
Approve requisitions with the Approval Framework.
Approve requisitions with PeopleTools Workflow Technology.
Within PeopleSoft Purchasing, you can use workflow to approve requisitions. This enables you to direct approvals to the correct people in the correct order. At the purchasing business unit level, you can choose one of two different workflow methods:
PeopleTools Workflow Technology documented in the PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology. This workflow method enables you to approve the requisition at the header level. You can route a requisition for approval based on the amount, the ChartFields used, or both. When you use the PeopleTools Workflow Technology approval method, requisitions are approved using workflow roles, rules, and routings. To implement workflow approvals, define the roles, rules, and routings using the PeopleSoft Application Designer, PeopleCode, and Workflow Administrator. Your system is delivered with basic approval rules already established.
PeopleSoft Approval Framework documented in the PeopleSoft Approval Framework PeopleBook. This workflow method enables you to approve the requisition at the header level, line level, or both. You can deny some lines of the requisition and approve others, making line-level approvals independent for each line. Besides approving or denying a requisition, you can also pushback a requisition or requisition line. A pushback returns the transaction to the previous approval step, requiring the prior approver to reevaluate the approval. With proper authorization, an approver can add other approvers, called ad hoc approvers, to the current or a later stage of the approval process. Reviewers and ad hoc reviewers can be part of the workflow. Reviewers see the requisition or requisition line but do not approve it.
See Also
PeopleSoft FSCM 9.1 PeopleBook: Approval Framework
Use the Approve Requisitions component to perform a number of approval tasks, including:
Approving a requisition or requisition line. You can approve the entire requisition at the header level or approve individual lines at the line level.
Denying a requisition or requisition line. You can deny some lines of the requisition and approve others, making line-level approvals independent for each line. Once a requisition or requisition line is denied, the workflow stops.
Holding a requisition or requisition line. This action gives the approver time to research an issue and prevents the approval process from going to the next approval step until the approver takes action on the requisition or requisition line. When an approver uses the hold action, the system inserts the requisition's originator (i.e. requester) as an ad hoc reviewer at the current approval step and the approver can add a comment requesting more information from the requester. If multiple approvers are required to approve in this one approval step in the approval framework, then the other approvers of the same step can approve or deny the requisition or requisition line; however, the approval process does not move to the next approval step until the hold is removed by the approver who entered it.
Pushing back a requisition or requisition line. A pushback returns the transaction to the previous approval step. The meaning of push back is that the approver is questioning the prior step's approval and is requesting clarification.
Adding or removing ad hoc approvers or reviewers. During the approval process, approvers can add other approvers or reviewers to the current or a later stage of the approval process. For example, if a buyer wants input from an inventory analyst, she can add the analyst as an approver. This action is called ad hoc approval, and it only applies to the approval instance in which the addition occurs and does not affect the underlying process definition used for other requests.
Reviewing an online requisition that shows the layout of the printed version. The requisition opens up as a second window and can be printed. The Oracle BI Publisher is used to generate this report and you can customize it.
Making comments to be viewed by other approvers or reviewers.
Approving a requisition that has been changed. When a requisition is changed during or after the approval process, the approval framework can require re-approval of the changes using the same approval component as the original requisition.
Performing mass approvals. Using the Manage Requisition Approvals page, you can select multiple requisitions to be approved or denied at one time. Use the Mark All icons to perform mass approval.
Self approval of requisitions. This feature can be restricted or turned off.
For a complete list of approval features, see the Understanding Approval Features section of the Understanding the Approval Framework chapter of the PeopleSoft Approval Framework 9.1 PeopleBook.
See "Understanding the Approval Framework," PeopleSoft FSCM 9.1 PeopleBook: Approval Framework.
Approving, Denying, or Holding a Requisition
A requisition can be approved, denied, or put on hold at the header or line level. The Manage Requisition Approvals component enables you to:
Approve, deny, or hold multiple requisitions at one time using the mass approval feature on the Manage Requisition Approvals page.
Approve, deny, or hold requisitions at the header level using the Manage Requisition Approvals page.
Approve, deny, or hold requisition lines using the Manage Requisition Approvals page.
Approve, deny, or hold requisition lines using the Requisition Approval page where you can view more details and add ad hoc approver and reviewers.
To approve, deny, or hold multiple requisitions using the mass approval feature:
Go to the Manage Requisition Approvals page.
Select the Approve, Deny, or Hold button on the Mark All row. All displayed requisitions are marked with this action in the Action/Status field.
Change the Action/Status field for any requisitions that you do not want included in the mass approval action.
Click the Submit button.
To approve, deny, or hold requisitions (header level) using the Manage Requisition Approvals page:
Select a requisition that is in pending status.
Select the Approve, Deny, or Hold option in the Action/Status field.
Click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.
To approve, deny, or hold one or more requisition lines from the Manage Requisition Approvals page:
Expand a requisition in the Requisitions group box so that the lines are displayed. You can only approve, deny, or hold lines that are in a pending status.
Using the Action/Status field at the requisition line level, select an option for each requisition line that you want to approve, deny or put on hold.
Click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.
To approve, deny, or hold requisition lines using the Requisition Approval page:
On the Manage Requisition Approvals page, select the Requisition ID link to access the Requisition Approval page. This page displays the lines within one requisition that are pending an approval action.
In the Line Information group box, select one or more requisition lines by selecting the check box next to the line. You can also use the Select All option. You can only take action on lines that are in the pending status.
Enter comments in the Enter Approver Comments section at the bottom of the page. A comment is required before you can deny or hold a requisition line. Only one comment is allowed per save.
Click the Approve, Deny, or Hold button.
Note. If commitment control is turned on for approvals in PeopleSoft Purchasing, then you must add a row to the Source Transactions component. From the Source Transactions component, select the Source Transaction Type of REQ_PREENC, and click the Selection Criteria tab. Add a row with a Field Name of REQ_STATUS, and a Field Value of LA .
To pushback a requisition line, access the Requisition Approval page and:
Select a line that is pending the approval.
Enter comments in the Enter Approver Comments section. This is required before pushing back the requisition.
Click the Pushback button in the Line Information section. To push back the entire requisition, use the pushback button under the Enter Approve Comments section.
Note. Requisition line approval appears as the Pushback button at the Line Information section.
To insert ad hoc approvers and reviewers, go to the Requisition Approval page and click the plus + icon for a pending requisition line. The Insert additional approver or reviewer window appears for you to select the user ID and to indicate whether the person is an ad hoc approver or reviewer for this line.
You cannot change ad hoc approvers or reviewers; however, you can delete and add them again to indicate whether they are approvers or reviewers. To delete an approver or reviewer, click the minus – icon. To add multiple approvers or reviewers, click + at the point where you want the additional approver or reviewer to receive the approval.
Use the Ad Hoc User List field on the Configure Transactions page to limit the users that can be added as ad hoc approvers and reviewers. If this field is left blank, then any active user can be added as an ad hoc approver or reviewer.
When you click the + icon on the Review/Edit Approvers section of the Requisition Approval page, the following window appears:
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
Manage Requisition Approvals |
PV_APP_MAN_PG |
Purchasing, Requisitions, Manage Requisition Approvals |
View and take action on requisitions that require your approval or requisitions that previously required your approval. |
Requisition Approval |
PV_REQ_APPROVAL |
|
Perform approval tasks on one individual requisition. You can view requisition details, enter comments, add ad hoc approvers and reviewer, as well as approve, deny, or hold a requisition line. |
Requisition Line Details |
None |
Select one or more lines. Click the View Line Details button on the Requisition Approval page. |
View details about requisition line items. |
Requester's Workbench |
REQ_RC_WB |
Purchasing, Requisitions, Requester's Workbench |
Submit requisitions into the approval workflow process by selecting the requisitions and then clicking the Approve button. Requisitions can also be unapproved. |
Access the Manage Requisition Approvals page (Purchasing, Requisitions, Manage Requisition Approvals).
The Manage Requisition Approvals page enables you to view and take action on requisitions that require your approval or view requisitions that previously required your approval.
Use the Search Requisitions group box to search for requisitions needing your approval. Requisitions displayed are based on the user ID of the person accessing this page. You can limit the scope and number of requisitions that appear on the page. For example, you can limit the search results to a specific business unit, requester, or approval status. After displaying the requisitions, you can select individual requisitions to review and update.
Requisition ID |
Select a specific system-assigned identifier of the requisition that you want to review or maintain. This limits the search results to one specific requisition. |
Requisition Name |
Select the name of a specific requisition that you want to view or maintain. This is the name the requester assigned to the requisition. If a name was not assigned, the system uses the requisition ID as the name. This limits the search results to one specific requisition. |
Business Unit |
Select a PeopleSoft Purchasing business unit containing the requisitions that you want to review for approval. |
Status |
Select a requisition status used by the requisitions that you want to review for approval. Requisitions that appear in the search results are those in the status you select and that meet the other search criteria you enter. Status values are: Approved: Displays all requisitions that you have approved. Denied: Displays all requisitions that you have denied. On Hold: Displays all requisitions that you have placed on hold. Pending: Displays all requisition that are waiting for your action. Pushedback: Displays all requisitions you have pushed back to the previous approver. |
Date From and Date To |
Select a range of dates to select requisitions to view. |
Requester |
Select the user who entered the requisitions. |
Entered by |
Select an operator for which you want to manage requisitions. Operators are people who have created requisitions for someone else. Only the requisitions submitted by this specific operator appear in the list. |
Show Advanced Search |
Click to display additional search criteria to locate requisitions. Additional fields are Item/Job Title (for item description or job title) and Vendor ID. |
Search |
Click to initiate your search. |
Clear |
Click to erase your current search criteria in the Search Requisitions group box. |
|
Click the Expand All icon to display requisition detail including line and header level information. |
|
Indicates that there are lines pending approval for the requisition. |
Req ID |
Click to access the Requisition Approval page, where you can perform approval tasks, such as approve, deny, or hold. In addition, you can add comments and add ad hoc approvers and reviewers. |
|
Indicates that the requisition has a high priority. Priorities are assigned when the requisition is created or edited. |
|
Indicates that a specific header or line is pending approval. |
Mark All |
Use the Mark All row to perform a mass approval action on several requisitions at one time. After using the Mark All row, you must save (submit) the page to perform this action. Possible actions are:
|
Access the Requisition Approval page (Purchasing, Requisitions, Manage Requisition Approvals. Click the Requisition ID link).
Use the Requisition Approval page to perform your approval tasks on a single requisition, including:
Approving one or more requisition lines. The line-level approval can be used only if the process ID is configured for line-level approval on the Register Transactions page.
Denying one or more requisition lines.
Placing one or more requisition lines on hold. This action inserts the requester as an ad hoc reviewer and requires you to enter comments to be sent to the requester.
Pushing back one or more requisition lines. A pushback returns the line to the previous approval step.
Adding or removing ad hoc approvers or reviewers.
Reviewing an online requisition that shows the layout of the printed version.
Making comments to be viewed by other approvers or reviewers.
The page displays details about the requisition, such as the requester, the date it was entered, the requisition name and ID, and the requisition priority. Also appearing is the total monetary value of the requisition and the currency used.
Note. If you select a line that does not require action, you receive a message telling you to select a line that is pending an approval.
Requester |
Click to access the Requester Information page. The page displays details about who created the requisition and includes the requester's supervisor and reporting structure, department, email ID, and telephone number. The information displayed can be changed by modifying the approver information view that is registered on the Register Transactions page. |
Requester's Justification |
Displays any comments the requester entered to justify the need for the requisition. |
View printable requisition |
Click this link to review an online requisition that shows the layout of the printed version. The requisition opens up as a second window and can be printed. The Oracle BI Publisher is used to generate this report and you can customize it. |
Line Information
Use this section of the Requisition Approval page to review requisition line details and perform approval tasks. Line items that are awaiting approval are highlighted and selected as default values when you access the page.
|
The Awaiting Approval icon displays with a requisition line to indicate the line is pending approval. |
Item Description |
Click this link to view details about an item contained on a requisition. As you review approvals, you can see the item details and an image of the item. |
Requester's Comments |
Click to review comments made by the requester about a requisition line item. |
Select All/Deselect All |
Click to either select all line items or to clear all line item check boxes. You can select this check box to approve, deny, or hold all lines or select individual check boxes to for single lines. |
View Line Details |
Click to access the Requisition Line Details page where you can view details about the requisition line items that you selected. |
Approve |
Click to approve the selected requisition line items. When you approve a line- or header-level item, the system routes the requisition line to the next approver and updates the approval status for the line. |
Deny |
Click to deny the selected requisition line items. Before the system accepts a denial, you must enter comments indicating why you did not approve the lines. |
Hold |
Click to put the selected requisition lines on hold. You must enter a comment that is sent to the requester. The requester is added as an ad hoc reviewer to this approval step. |
Pushback |
Select Pushback to return an approved requisition back to the previous approver or the requester with comments. This is possible only if there was a previous approver in the same path. You cannot push back a requisition across stages. |
Review/Edit Approvers
Use this section of the Requisition Approval page to review the approval flow, such as who approved the requisition before you and who will approve it after you. Click the plus + symbol to insert ad hoc approvers and reviewers. If you want to remove an ad hoc approver or reviewer click the minus — symbol.
All qualified ad hoc approvers or reviewers must be defined as part of the Ad Hoc User List on the Configure Transactions page.
Enter Approver Comments
Use this section to enter comments about the requisition. If you deny a requisition, the system requires that you enter a comment.
Access the Requisition Line Details page (On the Requisition Approval page, select one or more lines and click the View Line Details button).
Use this page to review shipping and accounting details for line items that you selected to review using the Requisition Approval page.
This section provides an overview of approving requisitions using the PeopleTools Workflow Technology and discusses how to:
Run the requisition approval workflow processes.
Approve requisition amounts.
View requisition amount and ChartField details.
Approve requisition ChartFields.
PeopleTools Workflow Technology requisition approvals are available in two areas. You can require approval of one or both of the following:
Requisition amounts.
Requisition ChartFields.
There are two types of approval methods:
Automatic approvals.
Workflow approvals.
When you use the PeopleTools Workflow Technology approval method, requisitions are approved using workflow roles, rules, and routings. To implement workflow approvals, define the roles, rules, and routings using the Workflow component. Your system is delivered with basic approval rules already established.
This table lists the requisition save statuses that result from all possible setup configurations:
Approval Method |
Requester with Approval Authority |
Requester's Req Status Setting |
Requisition 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 |
When you save a requisition and the system is set up so that the requisition status has the default value set to Pending/Approved, or when you select the Approve status on the Maintain Requisitions - Requisition page, workflow verifies that you have the authority to approve the requisition.
If you do not have the authority to approve the requisition, workflow notifies the approver at the next level in the approval hierarchy that a requisition needs approval and adds the requisition to that approver's worklist. PeopleTools Workflow Technology routes the requisition until it reaches an approver with proper approval authorizations.
You can set up PeopleTools Workflow Technology to search automatically for requisitions that require approval and to move those requisitions to the appropriate users for approval.
Even if you chose to use workflow approvals, you still have the option not to invoke workflow and instead use online approval pages to approve requisitions manually.
You can use either of the following methods to send requisitions into PeopleTools Workflow Technology:
Use the PeopleSoft Application Engine processes.
PeopleSoft Requisition Amount Approval process and the Requisition ChartField Approval process use queries to determine which requisitions are eligible for workflow routings and approvals. To be eligible, a requisition must have a status of Pending Approval and the approval status on the requisition approval table must be Initial. The requisition approval table tracks the approval status.
For eligible requisitions, the Requisition Amount Approval process sets statuses on the approval table to In Process, and the first worklist entries are created for the requisition. The requisition is now in workflow. The status remains as Pending Approval, until the requisition completes its workflow cycle and the status changes to Approved.
Perform manual steps on the requisition approval pages.
If the requisition requires workflow approval, setting the requisition status to Approved on the Requisition Amount Approval page and the Requisition ChartField Approval page changes the status on the requisition approval table to In Process, which triggers workflow approval.
You can also use the Requester's WorkBench or Maintain Requisitions - Requisition page to perform online requisition approvals.
When you use the automatic approval method, requisitions are automatically approved when they are saved by a user with proper authorizations. If a requester saves a requisition without proper authorizations, the status changes to the requester's default requisition save status, either Open or Pending. The requisition must be manually accessed and approved by a qualified requester 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 your buyers and requesters. This involves determining whether you need a system of multi-level approvals or just specific users who have the authority to approve everything. If you decide to use workflow-based approvals later, your basic infrastructure is already in place.
Example of Approving a Requisition
You have the authority to approve a requisition up to 1,000.00 USD, your supervisor can approve requisitions up to 10,000.00 USD, the manager can approve requisitions up to 100,000.00 USD, and the president of your organization has the authority to approve requisitions of any amount.
You enter a requisition to purchase new computers for the entire organization and the requisition amount totals 1,000,000.00 USD. Because you don't have the authority to approve a requisition of this amount, workflow moves this requisition to your supervisor's worklist and notifies your supervisor that a requisition needs her approval. She approves the requisition, but because she doesn't have the authority to approve this amount, workflow moves the requisition to the manager's worklist and notifies the manager that a requisition needs his approval now. He approves the requisition, but because he doesn't have the authority to approve a 1,000,000.00 USD requisition, workflow moves the requisition to the president's worklist and notifies her that a requisition needs her approval. She reviews the transaction requisition and approves the requisition amount.
If you are the approver, you can manually approve, recycle, or deny requisitions on the Approve Amounts - Approval page and Approve ChartFields - Approval page.
You can also set up workflow, so that activities are routed directly to the person with the proper authority, bypassing the incremental routing process up the chain of authority. In the previous example, workflow could have routed the activity directly to the president of the organization, because she is the only one with authority to approve the activity.
This table lists the workflow notification events and workflow business process names that are related to approving requisitions:
Workflow Notification Event |
Workflow Notification Type |
Business Process Name |
Notify approver when a requisition needs approval. |
Worklist |
Requisition Approvals |
Notify requester that requisition has been approved or denied. |
|
REQ_NOTIFICATION |
Notify previous approver that requisition has been denied or recycled. |
Worklist and email (denied) Worklist (recycled) |
Requisition Approvals |
See Also
PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow Technology
Creating Requisition Header Information
Using the Requester's Workbench
Setting Up the Approval Framework for PeopleSoft Purchasing
Page Name |
Definition Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
REQ_APPR_WF |
Purchasing, Requisitions, Approval Workflow |
Run the Requisition Amount Approval Application Engine process (PO_WFREQAMT) to submit requisition amounts for approval using workflow. Run the Requisition ChartField Approval Application Engine process (PO_WFREQCF) to submit requisition ChartFields for approval using workflow. When using the batch Requisition Amount Approval and Requisition ChartField Approval processes, these processes do not look to verify who is logged in when running the process, therefore the User ID is irrelevant. Instead, these processes look to the requestor on the requisition to see if they have approval authority. |
|
Requisition Amount Approval |
REQ_APPROVAL_AMT |
Purchasing, Requisitions, Approve Amounts, Requisition Amount Approval |
Approve, deny, or recycle a requisition. You can also view details for amount approvals on this page. If you have a requisition approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a requisition from your worklist. |
EXCH_RT_DTL_INQ |
Click the Show Req App Currency (show requisition approved currency) button on the Requisition Amount Approval page or the Requisition ChartField Approval page. |
View the rules used to calculate exchange rates for the transaction. |
|
REQ_ITM_DESCR |
Click the Description link on the Requisition Amount Approval page. This link is located on the Line Details grid. |
View descriptions for a specific item. |
|
Requisition ChartField Approval |
REQ_APPROVAL_CHRT |
Purchasing, Requisitions, Approve ChartFields, Requisition ChartField Approval |
Approve, deny, or recycle a requisition based on the ChartFields that appear. You can also view details for ChartField approvals. If you have a requisition approval role in workflow, you can access this page when you select a requisition from your worklist. |
Access the Requisition Amount Approval page (Purchasing, Requisitions, Approve Amounts, Requisition Amount Approval).
Appr Act (approval action) |
Select one of the following actions. If you do not have the authority to complete the approval or if you deny or recycle the requisition, the value in the Approval Status field remains In Process and routes to the next role user in the approval definition. Values are: Approve: Select to approve the requisition amount or ChartField. If you have the authority to complete the approval, the approval status changes to Complete when you save this page. If workflow is implemented, the system sends an email to the requester stating that the requisition has been approved. Deny: Select to send the requisition back to the requester. If workflow is implemented, the system adds the requisition to the requester's worklist and sends the requester an email notification. The requisition approval status changes to Denied. Recycle: Select to send the requisition back to the last user who approved the requisition. If workflow is implemented, the system adds the requisition to the user's worklist and sends the user an email notification. |
Approval Status |
Displays the overall status of the requisition. |
View Printable Req (view printable requisition) |
Click to launch the Requisition Print SQR (requisition print structured query report) process (PORQ010), where you can view additional details about the requisition. This process opens the resulting requisition print PDF file directly to the user's desktop if a REN server is configured. |
Comment |
Enter comments pertinent to your approval action. These comments are saved with the requisition and are visible only on the originating page (the Approve Amounts - Approval page or Approve ChartFields - Approval page). |
Amount Details
The amounts that appear are the amounts that you are to approve. You can change these values on the Maintain Requisitions - Requisition page and Maintain Requisitions - Schedule page.
Line Details - Amounts/Qty Tab
Amount |
Displays the price of the items on the requisition line. |
Base Amt (base amount) |
Displays the price of the items on the requisition line expressed in the base currency. |
Revision |
Displays the manufacturer product revision number for the ordered item. If the ship to is an inventory business unit, and the item is under revision control in that business unit, the revision automatically defaults to that effective on the due date. |
Line Details - Details Tab
Select the Details tab.
Price Tol /Price Tol Under (price tolerance/price tolerance under) |
Displays the over and under price tolerance amount for the selected requisition line. |
% Prc Tol /% Prc Tol Under (price tolerance percentage/price tolerance under percentage) |
Displays the over and under price tolerance percentage for the selected requisition line. |
RFQ Required (request for quote required) |
Designates whether the purchase of this requisition line item requires an RFQ. |
See Also
Creating Requisition Header Information
Entering Requisition Schedule Information
Access the Requisition ChartField Approval page (Purchasing, Requisitions, Approve ChartFields, Requisition ChartField Approval).
Appr Act (approval action) |
Select one of the following actions. If you do not have the authority to complete the approval or if you deny or recycle the requisition, the value in the Approval Status field remains In Process and routes to the next role user in the approval definition. Values are: Approve: Select to approve the requisition amount or ChartField. If you have the authority to complete the approval, the approval status changes to Complete when you save this page. If workflow is implemented, the system sends an email to the requester stating that the requisition has been approved. Deny: Select to send the requisition back to the requester. If workflow is implemented, the system adds the requisition to the requester's worklist and sends the requester an email notification. The requisition approval status changes to Denied. Recycle: Select to send the requisition back to the last user who approved the requisition. If workflow is implemented, the system adds the requisition to the user's worklist and sends the user an email notification. |
Approval Status |
Displays the overall status of the requisition. |
View Printable Req (view printable requisition) |
Click to launch the Requisition Print SQR (requisition print structured query report) process (PORQ010), where you can view additional details about the requisition. This process opens the resulting requisition print PDF file directly to the user's desktop if a REN server is configured. |
Comment |
Enter comments pertinent to your approval action. These comments are saved with the requisition and are visible only on the originating page (the Approve Amounts - Approval page or Approve ChartFields - Approval page). |
Distributions/ChartFields
These are the ChartField values that you are to approve. You can change these values on the Maintain Requisitions - Requisition page and Maintain Requisitions - Distributions page.
See Also
Creating Requisition Header Information
Entering Requisition Schedule Information
Approving Requisition ChartFields