1Expenses Configuration
This chapter contains the following:
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How Rules Determine the Display Behavior of Fields on Email Approval Notifications
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Example of Modifying Expenses Email Notifications Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
How You View Details About Predefined Scheduled Processes
You can use web services to run predefined scheduled processes.
Scheduled Processes
Before you can schedule a process, you must sign in as a corporate card administrator, expense auditor, or travel administrator. When you sign in as a specific job role, you can then see processes that relate to your job role.
To schedule processes, perform the following steps:
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Navigate to the Navigator and click the Scheduled Processes link to open the Scheduled Processes page.
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Click the Schedule New Process button.
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In the Schedule New Process dialog box, select the applicable process and click OK to open the Process Details dialog box.
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Select the applicable parameters for your process and click Submit.
Security
Privileges provide the necessary access to run specific scheduled processes. Privileges are granted to duty roles, which are granted to job roles. To see which job roles inherit the needed privileges, use the Security Console or the security reference manuals for the appropriate product family.
Set Up and Use HTML Email Approval Notifications
You can conveniently receive HTML-based expense report approval notifications in emails.
Displaying Fields
The following table contains the rules that determine whether fields are displayed on HTML email approval notifications.
Value | Display Behavior on HTML Approval Notification |
---|---|
Currency |
Amounts are converted to the approver's currency. |
|
The header section contains the Expense Report Owner's Name, Expense Report Total, Purpose, Expense Report Number, and Submitted Date. These values provide an overview of key expense report details. |
|
Merchant Name, Description, and Location are dynamic values that display when they exist in the expense report. |
|
Date, Expense, and Amount are static values that always display on the notification. |
Itemizations |
Itemizations only display if they exist for the parent expense item. |
|
Violation Type and Justification only display as a line-level violation when a policy violation occurs. |
|
Project and Task display for each itemized line if they're different for each itemized line. When they're the same, they display at the parent expense level. |
Cost Center |
Cost Center only displays if the cost center is different from the default cost center. |
Sort Order |
Expense item lines are sorted by:
|
Airfare |
Airfare displays as a separate table on the notification because it's typically a large expenditure. |
Overview of Financials Configurable Workflow Notifications
The Financial applications, as part of certain business flows, automatically send notifications for review or approval. For example, when a user submits an expense report, the approvers receive an email containing the approval request.
In addition to getting notifications in email, users can also view in-app notifications, for example, by:
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Clicking the Notifications icon in the global header and opening a notification
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Going to the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area and opening a notification
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Clicking the In-App Notification link at the end of an email notification
Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher reports are used for some flows to generate the notification content and format. You can enable BI Publisher-based notifications, which are ready to use as delivered. The notification templates can be easily configured to meet other specific requirements. If required, you can change the delivered template layouts and content, to add images, change colors and styling, add or remove attributes or modify text.
This table shows the product that has configurable notifications, along with its associated feature. You can configure only the email notifications.
Product | Feature Name | Report or Notification Name | Workflow Task Name |
---|---|---|---|
Bill Management |
User Registrations Notifications |
Registration Confirmation New Account Registration Confirmation Account Access Revocation Notification Access Revocation Notification |
N/A |
This table shows the products that have configurable notifications, along with their associated features, and workflow task names. You can configure both the email and in-app notifications for these workflow tasks.
Product | Feature Name | Report or Notification Name | Workflow Task Name |
---|---|---|---|
Advanced Collections |
Configurable Collections Bankruptcy Workflow Notification |
Bankruptcy Notification |
BankruptcyApproval |
Advanced Collections |
Configurable Collections Activity Management Notification |
Collections Activity Management |
ActivityManagement |
Budgetary Control |
Budgetary Control Override Email Notifications |
Budget Override Request Notification Budget |
OverrideNotificationFyi |
Budgetary Control |
Budgetary Control Override Email Notifications |
Override Taken Notification |
OverrideNotificationFyi |
Cash Management |
Configurable Cash Management Workflow Notifications |
Bank Transfer Approval Notification |
BankAcctTransferRequestForAction |
Expenses |
Expense Report Approval Notifications |
Expense Report Approval Notification |
FinExmWorkflowExpenseApproval |
Expenses |
Expense Reimbursement Notifications |
Reimbursement Paid to Card Issuer Notification Reimbursement Paid by Check Notification Reimbursement Paid by Direct Deposit Notification |
FinExmReimToCardIssuerFyi FinExmReimToEmpByCheckFyiFin ExmReimToEmpByDepositFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Expense Report Adjusted by Auditor Notification Expense Report Rejected by Auditor Notification Pending Payment with Warnings Notification Expense Report Returned by Auditor Notification Short-Paid Report with Receipt Issue Notification Short-Paid Report with Noncompliance Notification |
FinExmExpenseAuditFyi FinExmExpenseAuditFyi FinExmExpenseAuditFyi FinExmReceiptManagementFyi FinExmReportShortpaidReceiptIssue FinExmReportShortpaidPolicyIssue |
Expenses |
Cash Advance Notifications |
Cash Advances Approval Notification |
FinExmWorkflowCashAdvanceApproval |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Payment is Held Notification |
FinExmReceiptManagementFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Payment is Released Notification |
FinExmReceiptManagementFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Reimbursement Notifications |
Reimbursement Has Been Paid to Employer Notification |
FinExmReimToEmpByCheckFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Mileage Adjustment Notification |
ExpenseAuditMileageAdjustmentFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Missing Receipt Declaration is Required Notification |
FinExmReceiptManagementFyi |
Expenses |
Cash Advances Notifications |
Overdue Cash Advance Notification |
FinExmWorkflowOverdueNotification |
Expenses |
Cash Advances Notifications |
Cash Advances Automatically Applied Notification |
FinExmWorkflowCashAdvanceAutoAppliedFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Inactive Employee's Outstanding Transactions Notification |
FinExmInactiveEmployeeSubmitExpenseFyi |
Expenses |
Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications |
Inactive Employee-Accept Responsibility Notification |
FinExmInactiveEmployeeAcceptResp |
General Ledger |
Journal Approval Notifications |
Journal Approval Report |
FinGlJournalApproval |
Intercompany |
Intercompany Email Notifications |
Intercompany Transaction Approval Notification Intercompany Enter Receiver Distribution Notification |
FinFunTransactionApproval for Intercompany Transaction Approval Notification FinFunEnterDistRequestForAction for Intercompany Enter Receiver Distribution Notification |
Payables |
Invoice Approval Notifications |
Invoice Approval Report |
FinApInvoiceApproval |
Payables |
Hold Resolution Notifications |
Hold Resolution Notification |
FinApHoldApproval |
Payables |
Payment Approval Notifications |
Payment Approval Notification |
PaymentApproval |
Payables |
Invoice Account Coding Notifications |
Invoice Account Coding Email Notification |
FinApInvoiceAccountCoding |
Receivables |
Manual Credit Memo Request Notification |
Manual Credit Memo Request Notification |
FinArTrxnsCreditMemosCreationPostProcessing |
Receivables |
Configurable Receivables Credit Memo Request Manual Entry Workflow Notification |
Credit Memo Request Manual Entry Notification |
FinArTrxnsCreditMemosManualEntryRequestForAction |
Process Overview
Generating configurable notifications through BI Publisher involves various types of objects in the BI catalog, including data models, subtemplates, style templates, and reports. Reports pull data from data models and generate notifications in an HTML format. The report layout templates use common table and paragraph styles and refer to a central subtemplate that contains reusable notification components.
This figure shows how these BI objects work together to generate the notification content.

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Data Sources: Store the attributes and attribute values for business objects and transactions in the application (example of data sources being transaction tables)
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Data Model: Determines which attributes from data sources are available to be included in the notification and how that data is retrieved
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Subtemplate: Provides common components, such as a branding logo and buttons, that can be reused in multiple reports.
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Style Template: Provides styles such as the type of lines and fonts to use in tables, or the font type, size, and color to use for headings
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Report: Contains a layout template that determines:
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Which attributes appear in the notification, from the data model used for the report
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What the notification looks like, leveraging components from the subtemplate and styles from the style template used for the report
-
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HTML: Format of the output generated by the report
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Email Notification: Has the HTML output embedded in the email body
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In-App Notification: Has the HTML output embedded in the application UI
Each workflow task with configurable notifications has a corresponding predefined report in the BI catalog. For example, the Invoice Approval report contains the Invoice Approval Notifications report layout template and uses the Invoice Approval Data Model.
Notification Modifications
After you enable configurable workflow notifications, the predefined reports and related objects in the BI catalog work by default. The report-based notifications provide the same information as the standard notifications. In addition, the format of report-based notifications is optimized for mobile devices. If you need to modify the notifications, you can edit copies of the predefined reports, data models, and subtemplate. However, you can't change the style template. You proceed as you would to edit any report, data model, or subtemplate in the catalog, for example:
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Find a predefined report for expense approval in the BI catalog.
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Use the Customize option to create a copy, or copy the report and paste it within the Custom folder.
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Edit the copied report layout template.
Before modifying configurable notifications, it's recommended that you familiarize yourself with BI Publisher in general. This improves your ability to format your notifications to meet your business requirements.
With BI Publisher-based notifications you:
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Use only the Template Builder for Word add-in to edit the .rtf template in Microsoft Word, rather than the layout editor or other tools available for creating and editing report layout.
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Edit a copy of predefined layout templates, rather than creating reports or layout templates.
Note: For more information, see Configurable Workflow Notifications: Implementation Considerations (2215570.1) on My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com.
Setup
You can opt out of BI Publisher-based notifications from the Features Overview page. To reenable them, follow these steps:
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In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the following:
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Offering: Financials
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Functional Area: The applicable functional area
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Feature: The applicable configurable workflow notifications feature
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Choices: The specific notifications you want to enable
-
-
Click Done.
For configurable email notifications, make sure that the email domain setup is correct in BI Publisher so that the emails get sent.
Enable Expenses Configurable Email Notifications
You can use workflow email approval notifications to submit approvals to approvers. These approval notifications are Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher-based approval notifications that are embedded in emails. If you want to change the content or appearance of your email approval notifications, you can modify the content or format of the Oracle BI Publisher templates.
Before you can use or modify workflow email approval notifications, you must enable in Setup and Maintenance any or all of the following sets with their corresponding notifications:
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Expense Report Approval Notifications
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Expense report approval notification
-
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Expense Reimbursement Notifications
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Expense report payment notification to employee (check)
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Expense report payment notification to employee (direct deposit)
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Payment to card issuer notification
-
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Expense Audit and Receipt Management Notifications
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Expense report is rejected by auditor
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Expense report is returned to employee
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Expense report is short paid due to receipt issue
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Expense report is adjusted
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Expense report is short paid due to non-compliance issue
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Pending payment with warnings
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Cash Advance Notifications
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Cash advance approval notification
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Enabling Configurable Email Notifications
To enable workflow email approval notifications, follow these steps:
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Navigator > My Enterprise > Offerings.
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In the Offerings work area, select Financials.
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Click Opt In Features.
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On the Opt In: Financials page, select Expenses.
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Click the Edit icon.
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On the Edit Features: Expenses page, select Configurable Expenses Email Notifications.
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Click the Edit icon.
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In the Feature Name: Configurable Expense Email Notifications dialog box, select any or all of the notification sets.
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Click Save and Close.
How Rules Determine the Display Behavior of Fields on Email Approval Notifications
You can configure Expenses email approval notifications that are based on Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher templates. When you enable these notifications, the application automatically generates them.
For the Oracle BI Publisher-based email approval notifications, Expenses uses predefined rules. The following table contains the rules that determine whether the fields are conditionally displayed on the email approval notification.
Display Rule Number | Values | Display Rules |
---|---|---|
1 |
Currency |
If an approver has a different user-preferred currency from the expense report reimbursement currency, the expense report's approximate amount in the user preferred currency is displayed to the approver. |
2 |
|
Displayed if applicable. |
3 |
|
A line-level violation is displayed when a policy violation occurs. |
4 |
|
Displayed if applicable. |
5 |
Cost Center |
Displayed if applicable. |
6 |
Itemized Lines |
Displayed if applicable. |
7 |
Number of Days |
Displayed if applicable. |
8 |
Personal |
When an employee specifies an amount as Personal, this amount is shown on the notification and marked as Personal. |
9 |
Card |
A corporate card transaction is displayed with Card to indicate a card transaction. A cash transaction is displayed as an amount without displaying Cash. |
10 |
Receipt Required |
When an expense item line is Receipt Required, it is displayed with a Receipt Required icon. |
Example of Modifying Expenses Email Notifications Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
This example shows you how to modify the Expense Report Approval email notification template using Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher templates.
The following table summarizes questions to consider for this scenario.
Questions to Consider | This Example |
---|---|
Do I want to change in the header of the email approval notification? |
Add a word to the header. |
Do I want to add fields or columns to or remove fields or columns from the email approval notification? |
Add a field to the template. |
You can modify an Expenses BI Publisher email approval notification by:
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Exporting the Expense Approval Data Model
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Downloading the Expense Report Approval template
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Editing the Expense Report Approval template
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Adding field and table attributes to the Expense Report Approval template
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Previewing the modified Expense Report Approval template
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Uploading the modified Expense Report Approval template
Prerequisites
Before you can modify an Expenses workflow email approval notification, complete these steps:
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Download and install the Template Builder for Word, which is a BI Publisher add-on for Microsoft Word.
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Sign into the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role.
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On the Oracle Business Intelligence home page by the Get Started section, click the Download BI Publisher Desktop Tools link.
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Select and install Template Builder for Word.
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Download a copy of the subtemplate, which is the FinFunWorkflowNotificationSub.rtf file, to your local drive.
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Click the Catalog menu.
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In the BI Catalog, expand Shared Folders > Common Content > Templates.
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Click the Edit link for Workflow Notification Subtemplate.
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On the Workflow Notification Subtemplate - Sub Template page in the Templates section, click the language name link in the Locale column.
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Save the FinFunWorkflowNotificationSub.rtf file to your local drive.
-
-
Create an expense report and note the expense report number. You enter the expense report number when you export the data model .xml file.
Exporting the Expense Approval Data Model
Before you can modify the Expense Report Approval template, you must export the .xml file that contains the predefined data model attributes for the notifications. Complete these steps:
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Sign into the Oracle BI Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role.
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Navigator > Tools > Reports and Analytics.
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On the Oracle BI Publisher home page, click the Catalog menu.
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On the Catalog page in the Folders pane, expand Shared Folders > Financials > Workflow Notifications.
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Expand the Expenses folder.
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Click the Expenses subfolder to display the data models and the notification templates.
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Click the Data Models link.
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By Expense Approval Data Model, click the Edit link.
The Diagram tab displays data sets for the Expense Approval Data Model.
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Scroll to see all the data sets.
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To ensure that all data sets include requested elements with null values in the output XML data, complete these steps:
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In the Data Model pane, click the Properties link.
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In the Properties section, select the Include Empty Tags for Null Elements check box.
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In the Data Model pane, click the Data Sets link.
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On the Expense Approval Data Model page, select the Data tab and scroll to locate the Expense Report Number field.
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In the Expense Report Number field, enter the expense report number that you created in the third step of the Prerequisites section in this document.
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Click View to see the sample data and all the available attributes.
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Click Save As Sample Data.
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Click OK.
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Click Export.
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Click Save as to save the Expense Approval Data Model .xml file to your local drive.
Downloading the Expense Report Approval Template
The Expense Report Approval template contains the structure of the email approval notification. To download a copy of the Expense Report Approval template to your local drive, complete these steps:
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Click the Catalog menu.
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On the Catalog page in the Folders pane, expand Shared Folders > Financials > Workflow Notifications > Expenses.
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Click the Expenses subfolder to display data models and the notification templates.
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By Expense Report Approval, click the More link, and select Customize.
An image of the predefined Expense Report Approval Email Notification appears. A copy of the Expense Report Approval template is automatically created in the Custom folder. You can find the copy by expanding Shared Folders > Custom > Financials > Workflow Notifications > Expenses.
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By the predefined Expense Report Approval Email Notification template, click the Edit link.
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Click Save as to save the Expense Report Approval Email Notification template to your local drive as an .rtf file.
Tip: Save the downloaded template with the name UpdatedExpenseApprovalNotificationReport.rtf to distinguish it from the predefined template.
Editing the Expense Report Approval Template
To edit the header section of the Expense Report Approval Email Notification template, complete these steps:
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Double click the UpdatedExpenseApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file you saved to your local drive.
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In the header section, place your cursor between Expense and Approval.
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Type Report. The text now reads Expense Report Approval.
You can add, delete, or change words in the Expense Report Approval template.
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Save and close the .rtf file.
Adding Field and Table Attributes to the Expense Report Approval Template
To add field and table attributes to the Expense Report Approval template, complete these steps:-
In Microsoft Word, open your local copy of the UpdatedExpenseApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file.
Note: Depending on your version of Microsoft Word or your installation of Template Builder for Word, you may see either a BI Publisher tab or you may find BI Publisher by the Add-ins menu. -
From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Data > Load Sample XML Data.
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In the Select XML data dialog box, search for and select the Expense Approval Data Model .xml file you downloaded.
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Click Open.
A message displays that indicates your .xml data was successfully loaded.
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Click OK.
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To insert a field in the Expense Report Approval template, place your cursor at the end of the line you want to insert into, and press the Enter key on the keyboard.
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From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Insert > Field.
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In the Field dialog box, scroll to the EXPENSES folder, select IMG_REQ_FLAG, and click Insert.
This step inserts text that indicates a receipt image is required. You can add fields from the data model anywhere in the Expense Report Approval .rtf template.
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From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Insert > Field.
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In the Field dialog box, scroll to the RECENTSIMILAREXPENSES folder, select any field that you want to insert, and click Insert.
Note: You can also insert fields that are associated with the following folders: RecurringViolations, RecentSimilarExpenses, and UnappliedCashAdvances. -
Save and close the UpdatedExpenseApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file.
Previewing the Modified Expense Report Approval Template
Before uploading your modified Expense Report Approval template to the BI Catalog, you can preview the changes you made. By previewing changes, you can avoid uploading a modified template that displays errors in the emails sent to users.
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Open your local copy of the UpdatedExpenseApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file in Microsoft Word.
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At the beginning of your modified .rtf template, save the path information for future reference so you can replace it after previewing. The path information may look like this: <?import:xdoxsl:///Common Content/Templates/Workflow Notification Subtemplate.xsb?>
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Replace the path at the beginning of your modified .rtf template with the location of the subtemplate that you downloaded as a prerequisite. For example, change <?import:xdoxsl:///Common Content/Templates/Workflow Notification Subtemplate.xsb?> to <?import:file:///C:/Template_Directory/FinFunWorkflowNotificationSub.rtf?>
Note: In the preceding example, part of the replacement path, C:/Template_Directory, represents the folder in which the user downloaded the subtemplate to in the second step of the Prerequisites section in this document. Ensure that you change all backward slashes to forward slashes. -
From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Preview > HTML.
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If the preview reflects your expected changes, then change the path at the beginning of your modified .rtf file back to the original path.
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From the Add-ins menu, select Validate Template.
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Save your changes in Microsoft Word.
Uploading the Modified Expense Report Approval Template
To upload and use the modified Expense Report Approval template for email approval notifications, complete these steps:-
On the Oracle BI Publisher home page, click the Catalog menu.
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On the Catalog page in the Folders pane, expand Shared Folders > Custom > Financials > Workflow Notifications > Expenses.
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Click the Expenses subfolder to display the data models and the notification templates.
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By the Expense Report Approval, click Edit.
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On the Expense Approval Report page, click Add New Layout.
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In the Upload or Generate Layout section, click the Upload icon.
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In the Upload Template File dialog box, Layout Name field, enter UpdatedExpenseApprovalReportTemplate. The entry represents the name of the Expense Report Approval Template .rtf file that you downloaded and saved to your local drive with the prefix Updated.
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In the Template File field, browse for your modified UpdatedExpenseApprovalReportTemplate.rtf file on your local drive, select the template, and click Open.
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In the Upload Template File dialog box from the Type choice list, select RTF Template.
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From the Locale choice list, select English (United States).
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Click Upload to open the Processing dialog box and return to the Expense Approval Report page.
The uploaded modified .rtf file appears.
Note: Configurable workflow notifications are refreshed every 24 hours so that they perform better for your users. But when you're making changes to reports, subtemplates, or data models, you can apply your changes immediately so they're available for testing. For more information, see the Apply Changes to Workflow Notifications Immediately After Upload topic. -
On the Expense Approval Report page, click the View a list link.
-
In the Layout section in the row for the Updated Expense Report Approval Template, select the Default Layout check box. This step enables your modified Expense Report Approval Notification template to act as the default email approval notification.
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Click the Save Report icon.
Apply Changes to Workflow Notifications Soon After Upload
Configurable workflow notifications are refreshed every 24 hours so that they perform better for your users. But when you're making changes to reports, subtemplates, or data models, you can apply your changes sooner so they're available for testing. Create profile options to control when notifications reflect your changes after you upload them to the BI catalog. When you're done configuring notifications, use the same profile options to turn the refresh back to every 24 hours, to optimize performance. But even if you don't, the refresh automatically resets to 24 hours when it's been more than eight hours since you set the profile options.
Create Profile Options to Control the Refresh
Your profile options can apply to all workflow tasks, a product family, or a product. Based on the scope you want, your profile option must have a profile option code that follows a certain format.
Scope | Profile Option Code | Examples |
---|---|---|
Global |
BIP_CLIENT_REFRESH_TIME |
BIP_CLIENT_REFRESH_TIME |
Product Family |
BIP_CLIENT_REFRESH_TIME_<FAMILY> |
|
Product |
BIP_CLIENT_REFRESH_TIME_<FAMILY>_<PRODUCT> |
|
The profile options with a smaller scope take precedence. For example, you have profile option A with a global scope and profile option B with a product scope. If you're currently configuring notifications for a particular product, use profile option B to adjust the refresh time just for that product. But based on profile option A, the refresh is still at 24 hours for all other configurable notifications in all other products. Profile option B takes precedence over profile option A only for that one product.
Now you're ready to create your profile options!
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In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Applications Core Profile Options task in the Application Extensions functional area for your offering.
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On the Manage Applications Core Profile Options page, click the New icon.
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On the Create Profile Option page, enter the profile option code in the format that corresponds to the scope you want.
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Enter a display name that you can easily remember to help you find the profile option later.
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From the Application list, select Oracle Middleware Extensions for Applications.
-
From the Module list, select Application Core.
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Specify a start date.
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Click Save and Close.
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On the Manage Applications Core Profile Options page, make sure your new profile option is selected in the Search Results: Profile Options subsection.
-
In the <Profile Option>: Profile Option Levels subsection, select the Enabled and Updatable check boxes for the Site level.
-
Save your work.
Set the Refresh Interval
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Applications Core Administrator Profile Values task in the Application Extensions functional area. Set your profile option at the Site level and enter 15 or higher for the refresh interval in minutes. For example, if you enter 15, then your changes are applied to notifications 15 minutes after you upload to the BI catalog.
When you're done making and testing your changes, set the profile option back to 1440, which is 24 hours in minutes. If you forget and leave your profile option as is for longer than eight hours, don't worry! At that point, the profile option resets itself back to 1440 minutes.
Example of Modifying Expenses Spend Authorization Approval Notification Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
This example shows you how to modify the Authorization Approval Notification template using Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher templates.
The following table summarizes questions to consider for this scenario.
Questions to Consider | This Example |
---|---|
Do I want to change the header of the authorization approval notification? |
Add a word to the header. |
Do I want to add fields or columns to or remove fields or columns from the authorization approval notification? |
Add a field to the template. |
You can modify an Expenses BI Publisher authorization approval notification by:
-
Editing the Spend Authorization Approval Notification template
-
Adding field and table attributes to the Spend Authorization Approval Notification template
Prerequisites
Before you can modify an Expenses workflow authorization approval notification, complete these steps:
-
Download and install the Template Builder for Word, which is a BI Publisher add-on for Microsoft Word.
-
Sign into the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role.
-
On the Oracle Business Intelligence home page by the Get Started section, click the Download BI Publisher Desktop Tools link.
-
Select and install Template Builder for Word.
-
-
Download a copy of the subtemplate, which is the AuthorizationApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file, to your local drive.
-
Click the Catalog menu.
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In the Catalog pane, expand Shared Folders > Common Content > Templates.
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Click the Edit link for the Authorization Approval Notification template.
-
On the Authorization Approval Email Notification page, click the Edit link.
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Select the Save File option and click OK.
-
Save the AuthorizationApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file to your local drive.
-
-
Create an spend authorization and note the spend authorization number. You enter the spend authorization number when you export the data model .xml file.
Editing the Spend Authorization Approval Notification Template
To edit the header section of the Authorization Approval Notification template, complete these steps:-
Double click the UpdatedAuthorizationApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file you saved to your local drive.
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In the header section, place your cursor after Authorization Approval.
-
Type Notification. The text now reads Authorization Approval Notification.
You can add, delete, or change words in the Authorization Approval Notification template.
-
Save and close the .rtf file.
Adding Field and Table Attributes to the Spend Authorization Approval Notification Template
To add field and table attributes to the Authorization Approval Notification template, complete these steps:-
In Microsoft Word, open your local copy of the UpdatedAuthorizationApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file.
Note: Depending on your version of Microsoft Word or your installation of Template Builder for Word, you may see either a BI Publisher tab or you may find BI Publisher by the Add-ins menu. -
From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Data > Load Sample XML Data.
-
In the Select XML data dialog box, search for and select the Authorization Approval Data Model .xml file you downloaded.
-
Click Open.
A message displays that indicates your .xml data was successfully loaded.
-
Click OK.
-
To insert a field in the Authorization Approval Notification template, place your cursor at the end of the line you want to insert into, and press the Enter key on the keyboard.
-
From the Add-ins menu, select BI Publisher > Insert > Field.
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In the Field dialog box, scroll to the SPEND_AUTH_HEADER_DS folder, select SA_FUNCTIONAL_CURRENCY_CODE, and click Insert.
-
Save and close the UpdatedAuthorizationApprovalNotificationReport.rtf file.
Enable Contingent Workers to Enter Expense Reports
Contingent workers are workers who don't have a direct employment relationship with your company. They are typically supplied by an employment agency or they are self-employed contractors.
Before you can enable and reimburse contingent workers for incurred business expenses, you must perform the high-level steps listed in the following table.
High-Level Step | Application | Selected Action Steps |
---|---|---|
1 |
In your human resource application, create a person as a contingent worker. |
Ensure that you set up the contingent worker with a Worker Type of Contingent Worker. |
2 |
In your procurement application, set up a:
|
You must set up a default payment method at the supplier or supplier site level. Tip: When you create an invoice, a payment method is required.
If you don't specify a default payment method at the supplier site
level, the payment method automatically populates from the supplier
setup.
Note: Bank account information is used to pay supplier
invoices by EFT.
|
3 |
In Oracle Fusion Expenses, associate the contingent worker with the supplier. |
In the Auditing Tasks pane, click the Manage Contingent Workers link and select the applicable supplier and supplier site. |
Translate an Expense Report Template into Another Language
You can translate the BI Publisher expense report template from the default English language into another language.
These are the high-level steps:
-
Download the default Expense Report template.
-
Translate the template into a different language.
-
Upload the translated template.
-
Update the system options to use the translated template.
Before You Start
You need to download and install the Template Builder for Word, which is a BI Publisher add-on for Microsoft Word. Here's how you download and install the Template Builder for Word:
-
Sign into the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher server with the BI Administrator Role.
-
In the Get Started section of the Oracle Business Intelligence home page, click the Download BI Publisher Desktop Tools link and select Template Builder For Word.
-
Click Downloads.
-
Select and install the version of Oracle BI Publisher Desktop.
Downloading the Expense Report Template
To download the Expense Report template, complete these steps:
-
Sign into the Oracle BI Publisher server with the BI Administrator role.
-
Select the Catalog menu.
-
In the Folders pane, expand Shared Folders > Financials.
-
Click Expenses.
-
Select the row for the Printable Expense Report Template.
-
In the Tasks section, click the Download link and save the FinExmReports.xdoz file to your computer.
-
Rename the downloaded FinExmReports.xdoz to change the extension from .xdoz to .zip.
-
Extract the contents of the FinExmReports.zip file.
-
From the extracted folder, copy the default template file, FinExmExpenseTemplate_en.rtf, to make a backup.
Translating the Template into a Different Language
To translate the default Expense Report template from English into a different language, follow these steps:
-
Rename the template file, FinExmExpenseTemplate_en.rtf, to use the two-letter code of the language into which you want to translate. For example, if you want to translate the English template into Spanish, you rename the template layout file to FinExmExpenseTemplate_es.rtf.
-
In Word, open the renamed layout file.
-
Open the BI Publisher tab and select Tools > Translation > Localize Template.
-
Click OK.
-
In the open dialog box, browse to the extracted FinExmReports folder.
-
Select the XLF file of the language into which you want to translate. For example, if you want to translate into Spanish, select the FinExmExpenseTemplate_es.xlf file.
-
Click Open. The layout file starts converting to the selected language.
-
After the translation is complete, save the translated Expense Report template layout file.
Uploading the Translated Expense Report Template
After you get the translated Expense Report template layout file, you need to upload it to BI Publisher. Here are the steps to upload the translated Expense Report template:
-
Sign into the Oracle BI Publisher server with the BI Administrator role.
-
Select the Catalog menu.
-
In the Folders pane, select Shared Folders > Custom > Financials.
-
Create an Expenses folder and select it.
-
Click the New icon and then click Report.
-
Close the Create Report dialog box.
-
In the Upload or Generate Layout section, click Upload.
-
In the Upload Template File dialog box, enter a layout name.
-
Browse and select the translated template file for the Template File field.
-
Select RTF Template as the type.
-
Select the translated language as the locale.
-
Click Upload. After the template file is uploaded, the layout you created is listed.
-
Click the Properties link for your layout.
-
Verify if the language to which you translated the template is set as default. Click Return.
-
Click the View a List link.
-
Ensure that only PDF is selected as the output format. Click Save As.
-
In the Save As dialog box, enter a name and description.
-
Click Save.
-
Sign out from Oracle BI Publisher.
Setting the System Options
After uploading the translated Expense Report template, you need to modify the system options to use the translated Expense Report template. To modify the system options, follow these steps:
-
Log in as application implementation consultant.
-
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, select:
-
Offering: Financials
-
Functional Area: Expenses
-
Task: Manage Expenses System Options
-
-
On the Manage Expenses System Options page, select the BI template you uploaded in the Printable Expense Report Format list.
-
Click Save and Close.
Users can now print the Expense Report in the translated language.
Enable Creating Expenses from Email Receipts
Your company can choose to allow the employees to create their expenses by mailing electronic expense receipts.
This is how it works. An employee sends an email with an expense receipt to a designated email address. After verifying the employee's email, the Expenses application extracts relevant details from the email receipt and creates an expense. The application also matches the expense to the appropriate corporate card charges and can optionally submit it in an expense report to the approver, if this has been configured by you.
Here are the setups that you need to do to allow creating expenses from email receipts:
-
Enable electronic receipts processing
-
Obtain email address for forwarding receipts.
Enable Electronic Receipts Processing
You can enable electronic receipts processing for your entire organization or for specific business units.
Here are the steps to enable the feature for the entire organization:
-
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, select these to navigate to the Manage Auto Submit and Matching Options Page:
-
Offering Financials
-
Functional Area: Expenses
-
Task: Manage Auto Submission and Matching Options
-
-
In the Electronic Receipt Setup section, select Yes for the Enable Electronic Receipts Processing option.
-
Click Save and Close.
These are the steps to enable the feature for a specific business unit:
-
On the Manage Auto Submit and Matching Options page, click a business unit in the Specific Business Unit section.
-
In the Edit Auto Submit and Matching Options dialog box, select Electronic Receipt Setup.
-
Select Yes for the Enable Electronic Receipts Processing option.
-
Click Save and Close.
Obtain Email Address for Forwarding Receipts
Only users with the Travel Manager role can generate the email to which employees send email receipts. Here's how you can obtain the email address:
-
Sign in as a travel manager and navigate to the Scheduled Processes work area.
-
Click the Schedule New Process button.
-
Select the Create Expenses from Email Receipts process and click OK.
-
You can select Yes for the Debug Switch option. This can be useful in debugging issues if required.
-
Click Submit.
-
In the Confirmation box, click OK.
-
After the process has successfully completed, check the text output file.
-
The output file mentions the email address to which receipts can be sent. You can note the email address and share it with other users.
Process Emailed Receipts
After the setup is completed, the travel manager also needs to run the Create Expenses from Email Receipts process at regular intervals to process the email receipts received form the other users. You can also choose to set a recurrence schedule for the process to run at specific intervals.
FAQs for Expenses Configuration
How can I configure an employee's check mailing address?
Sign in to in Oracle Fusion Global Human Resources as a Human Resources specialist and select the applicable check mailing address.
For an existing employee, navigate to the Manage Employment page. In the Expenses Information section, select Home or Office from the Expense Check Send-to Address choice list.
For a new employee, navigate to the Hire an Employee page. In the Expenses Information section, select Home or Office from the Expense Check Send-to Address choice list.
How can I access Expenses predefined flexfields?
Access predefined flexfields using the Define Flexfields task list as follows:
-
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, search for the Define Flexfields task list.
-
Click the Define Flexfields task list link to display the tasks.
-
Click the task link that corresponds to the flexfields you are searching for.
-
Enter data for any of the search parameters and click Search.
-
If you don't know the flexfield name or the code, open the Module choice list and click the Search link.
-
In the User Module Name field, enter Expenses and click Search.
-
Select Expenses and click OK.
-
Click Search.
-
Select a flexfield and click the Edit icon to view its details.
How can I access Expenses predefined lookups?
Access Oracle Fusion Expenses predefined lookups using the Define Lookups task list as follows:
-
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, search for the Define Lookups task list.
-
Click on the Define Lookups task list link to view the Define Lookups tasks.
-
Click the task link that corresponds to the lookups you are searching for.
-
Enter data for any of the search parameters and click Search.
-
If you don't know the lookup type or the meaning, open the Module choice list and click the Search link.
-
In the User Module Name field, enter Expenses and click Search.
-
Select Expenses and click OK.
-
Click Search.
-
Select a lookup type to view its lookup codes.
Tip: To filter the lookup codes, click the Query By Example icon. Enter the term you want to filter on and press Enter on the keyboard.
How can I access Expenses predefined profile options?
Access Oracle Fusion Expenses predefined profile options using the Define Profiles task list as follows:
-
In the Setup and Maintenance work area, search for the Manage Profile Options task.
-
Click on the Manage Profile Options task link to open the Manage Profile Options page.
-
Enter data for any of the search parameters and click Search.
-
Alternatively, from the Application choice list, select Expenses and click Search.
-
If you don't know the profile option code or the display name, open the Module choice list and click the Search link.
-
In the User Module Name field, enter Expenses and click Search.
-
Select Expenses and click OK.
-
Click Search.
-
Select a profile option to view its details.
Can I implement Expenses in another country if I have already implemented Expenses in one country?
Yes. You must set up applicable expense policies and rules, expense templates, and corporate card programs for the new country's business units. New users can start entering expenses as soon as setup is complete.
Why do I have to configure the barcode font mapping?
To display and print the barcode properly on expense reports, you must map the barcode font to the correct font in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Enterprise (Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise).
To do this, perform the following steps:
-
In Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise, sign in as a user with Administrator access.
-
In the toolbar, click the Catalog menu.
-
In the Catalog pane, open Shared Folders and then open the Financials folder.
-
Select the Expenses folder and then select the Printable Expense Report Template icon.
-
Click the Edit link. The Printable Expense Report Template tab appears.
-
In the toolbar, click the Properties icon. The Report Properties dialog box appears.
-
In the Report Properties dialog box, select the Font Mapping tab.
-
In the RTF Templates region, add a new row.
-
In the Font Family field, enter Bookman.
-
From the Target Font choice list, select 128R00.TTF.
Note: Code 128 is the barcode symbology provided with Oracle Fusion Applications. -
Click the OK button.
-
To save the barcode font mapping, click the Save icon in the toolbar.
To use another barcode symbology, you must load the barcode font to the Oracle BI Publisher Enterprise Server and then perform steps 1 to 12.
Can I implement a country-specific version of Oracle Fusion Expenses?
No. A country-specific version of Expenses isn't available. Expenses supports both global and local requirements.
How can I enable employees to enter expense reports?
To enable employees to enter expense reports, you must sign in to Oracle Fusion Global Human Resources as a Human Resources specialist. Then you can create employee records. Whether you create an employee record for an existing or a new employee, the mandatory Expense Entry Duty is automatically assigned.
For an existing employee, navigate to the Manage Employment page, select the employee's business unit on the Assignment Details tab in the Assignment section. Then select the default expense account in the Expenses Information section.
For a new employee, navigate to the Hire an Employee page, select the employee's business unit on the Assignment Details tab in the Assignment section. Then select the default expense account in the Expenses Information region.
How can I enable only a set of users to charge expenses against projects?
The Project Expense Allocation Duty allows employees to charge expenses against projects and tasks. Manually grant this duty role to the user when he or she is identified as a project user. To grant the duty role to the user, you must create a custom role that contains the Project Expense Allocation Duty. Then assign the new custom role to the user.
Alternately, you can also assign the abstract role, Project Team Member, or the job role, Project Manager, to the user. The user can then charge expenses to projects and tasks.
To enable project users to charge expenses to a project, they must also have a job assigned to them. Assign the job to the user in the Setup and Maintenance work area by using the Manage Users page. Alternately, you can assign the job to the user in the Person Management work area by using the Manage Employment page.
How can I enable some or all users to charge against other accounts or cost centers?
The expense accounting privilege named Override Expense Account Allocation allows employees to charge expenses against companies and cost centers that aren't their default company or cost center. If users must charge expenses to other companies or cost centers, you can assign the privilege to some or all employees. To do so, navigate to: Setup and Maintenance > Tools > Security Console.
How can I enable all account segments for expense report users?
Set the value for the EXM_ALLOW_FULL_ACCT_OVERRIDE profile option to Yes. When you set the profile value to Yes, expense report users can change the segment values of expense accounts during expense entry to accurately reflect the charge allocations of their expenses. You can set the value to Yes in the Account field on the Create Expense Item page. Navigate to: Setup and Maintenance > Search Tasks: Manage Administrator Profile Values > Search: EXM_ALLOW_FULL_ACCT_OVERRIDE.
How can I prevent automatic population of expense fields?
By creating the profile option, EXM_DFLT_FROM_PREV_EXPENSE, on the Manage Administrator Profile Values page and setting the Profile Value to N at the site, product, or user level.
On the Create Expense Item page, when you create a new expense item, these fields are automatically populated from the previous expense item:
-
Date
-
Template
-
Expense Location
-
Currency: Ledger currency and reimbursement currency
-
Expense Template
-
Accounting fields: Company and Department
-
Project fields: Project Number and Task Number
When the profile option value is set to N, the application automatically populates the following fields when you create a new expense item:
-
Currency: Populates with the ledger currency as set up in Human Capital Management.
-
Company and Department: Populates with values that are set up in your default expense account in Human Capital Management.
When the profile option value is set to N and you create a new expense item, the application leaves these fields blank:
-
Template
-
Expense Location
-
Project Number and Task Number
When the profile option value is set to Y, all values that populate fields from a previous expense item will continue to populate the same fields for new expense items.
What's an expense location?
The location where the expense was incurred. Oracle Expenses captures expense location to enforce corporate policies. The expense location can determine specific merchant tax fields that appear in the UI, including the tax classification code. The application uses the location information, which is centrally stored.
Can I deploy Oracle Expenses Cloud as a stand-alone application?
Yes. You can deploy Oracle Expenses Cloud as a stand-alone application if you perform specific product tasks. In Setup and Maintenance, search and select the Define Ledger Configuration for Rapid Implementation task list and the Define Taxes for Rapid Implementation task list. Additional tasks to perform include: Manage Common Options for Payables and Procurement, Manage Disbursement System Options, Manage Payment Methods, and Manage Payment Process Profiles. You must also set up employees and their assignments in the application.
How can I enable third-party integration for expense report payments?
You can specify a third-party reimbursement application on the Manage Expenses System Options page. The default option processes employee expenses through Oracle Fusion Payables.