How You Configure Approval Rules

Oracle Fusion Expenses supports flexible and configurable approval rules for expense report approval using the Approvals Management Extensions of the Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite (BPM). BPM provides the interface to administer the approval rules.

A BPM Worklist administrator who is assigned the role of Financial Application Administrator (FUN_FINANCIAL_APPLICATION_ADMINISTRATOR) can access the approval rules in the BPM Worklist.

When you submit an expense report, Expenses invokes the approval process, which prompts a set of approval rules created in AMX to build the list of approvers. Approvals Management Extensions sends approval notifications to approvers every time it receives a response to an approval notification. AMX continues sending approval notifications to the next set of approvers in the approval list until all approvals are complete.

The approval rules are managed through the Oracle BPM Worklist. Navigate to: Setup and Maintenance > Select: Financials > Setup button > Functional Areas: Expenses > Show: All Tasks > Manage Expense Approval Rules > Oracle BPM Worklist.

To configure or modify rules, perform the following steps:

In the BPM Worklist, select the Task Configuration tab.
From the Tasks to be configured pane, select FinExmWorkflowExpenseApproval.
Select the Assignees tab.
Click the Switch to Vertical Layout link. An approval hierarchy displays.
By the SoaOLabelExp rectangle, click the diamond icon and select Go to Rule.

The expense approval flow contains predefined rule sets with their associated approvers as described in the following table:

Rule Set	Approval by
ExpenseReportRuleSet CustomSerialParticipantRuleSet CustomParallelParticipantRuleSet	Supervisor Additional serial approval rules for configuration Additional parallel approval rules for configuration
CostCenterRuleSet	Cost center owners in parallel mode
ProjectManagerRuleSet	Project managers in parallel mode
ExpenseRuleSet	A specialist based on expense types in parallel mode
SerialCostCenterRuleSet	Cost center owners in serial mode
SerialProjectManagerRuleSet	Project managers in serial mode
SerialExpenseRuleSet	A specialist based on expense types in serial mode

ExpenseReportRuleSet: Approval by Supervisor

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports using the supervisory hierarchy is called ExpenseReportRuleSet. The predefined rules include the following:

Approval by the immediate supervisor of expense reports with a report total over 1000
Automatic response for all expense reports with a report total equal to or less than 1000

You can change the predefined rules, delete, or add rules as needed. The following table lists the parameters for the ExpenseReportRuleSet rule set.

Rule	Field	Predefined Value	Description
ExpenseReportManagerApprovalRule	Condition	Task.payload.getExpenseReportVOResponse.result.expenseReportTotal	Attribute that stores the expense report total in the reimbursement currency.
	List Builder	Supervisory	The rule uses the supervisory hierarchy to retrieve approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Number of levels	1	Number of supervisory levels required for approval completion.
	Starting Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getManager("supervisory",Task.creator,-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is created.
	Top Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("FINUSER30",-1,"","")	Last approver in the approval chain. Approval doesn't go beyond this participant in a hierarchy. To use this rule as is, you must change the predefined last approver user name to the last approver in your organization.
	Auto Action Enabled	False	Automatic approval action is disabled.
	Auto Action	Null	No automatic approval action.
ExpenseReportAutoApprovalRule	Condition	Task.payload.getExpenseReportVOResponse.result.expenseReportTotal	Attribute that stores the expense report total in the reimbursement currency.
	List Builder	Supervisory	The rule uses the supervisory hierarchy to retrieve approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Number of levels	1	Number of supervisory levels required for approval completion.
	Starting Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("workflowsystem",-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is created.
	Top Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal(Task.creator,-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is submitted.
	Auto Action Enabled	True	Automatic approval is enabled.
	Auto Action	Approve	The response is set to Approve.
ExpenseReportInactiveEmployeeManagerApproverRule	Condition	Task.payload.employeeInActive	Attribute that stores the condition.
	List Builder	Supervisory	The rule uses the supervisory hierarchy to retrieve approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Number of levels	1	Number of supervisory levels required for approval completion.
	Starting Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal(Task.payload.startingParticipant,-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is created.
	Top Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("FINUSER30",-1,"","")	Last approver in the approval chain. Approval doesn't go beyond this participant in a hierarchy. To use this rule as is, you must change the predefined last approver user name to the last approver in your organization.
	Auto Action Enabled	False	Automatic approval action is disabled.
	Auto Action	null	No automatic approval action. OR The response is set to Approve.

Additional Serial Approval Rules for Configuration: This is an additional predefined rule set for serial approval called CustomSerialParticipantRule. This rule set doesn't contain any predefined rules. You can use this rule set for any additional combination of approval rules that needs to be executed sequentially with respect to the rules in ExpenseReportRuleSet.

Additional Parallel Approval Rules for Configuration: This is an additional predefined rule set for parallel approval called CustomParallelParticipantRule. This rule set doesn't contain any predefined rules. You can use this rule set for any additional combination of approval rules that needs to be executed in parallel to the rules in ExpenseReportRuleSet.

ProjectManagerRuleSet: Approval by Project Managers in Parallel Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports by project managers is called ProjectManagerRuleSet. This rule set has a single predefined rule. The rule says that if the total amount charged to projects is greater than zero, the expense report is sent to the project manager for approval. Additionally, if expenses are charged to more than one project, the applicable project managers receive the approval notification in parallel. The approval is complete when all project managers identified as approvers have approved the expense report.

You can change the predefined rules, delete, or add rules as needed. The following table lists the parameters for the ProjectManagerRuleSet rule set.

Rule	Field	Predefined Value	Description
ProjectManagerApprovalRule	Condition	ExpenseReport/projectTotalVO.total	Attribute that stores the total expense charged against each project in an expense report. The view object only stores details for expense reports that contain projects.
	List Builder	Resource	Static list of approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Participants	ExpenseReport/projectTotalVO.managerUsername	The approver of the expense report is the project manager.

CostCenterRuleSet: Approval by Cost Center Owners in Parallel Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports by cost center owners is called CostCenterRuleSet. This rule set has the following predefined rules:

If the total amount charged to cost centers other than the employee's default cost center is greater than zero, the expense report is sent to the cost center owner for approval.
- If expenses are charged to a cost center other than the employee's default cost center, the applicable cost center owners receive the approval notification in parallel. The approval is complete when all cost center owners identified as approvers have approved the expense report.
If the cost center of the expenses is the same as the default cost center of the employee, an automatic response is generated that indicates there is no cost center approval.

You can change the predefined rules, delete, or add rules as needed. The following table lists the parameters for the CostCenterRuleSet rule set.

Rule	Field	Predefined Value	Description
CostcenterIsNotEmpDefaultCostcenterRule	Condition	ExpenseReport/costCenterTotalVO.costCenter	Attribute that stores the cost centers in the expense report.
	Condition	Task.payload.getExpenseReportVOResponse.result.defaultCostCenter	Default cost center of the employee.
	List Builder	Resource	Static list of approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Participants	ExpenseReport/costCenterTotalVO.managerUsername	The approver of the expense report is the cost center owner.
CostcenterIsEmpDefaultCostcenterRule	Condition	ExpenseReport/costCenterTotalVO.costCenter	Attribute that stores the cost centers in the expense report.
	Condition	Task.payload.getExpenseReportVOResponse.result.defaultCostCenter	Default cost center of the employee.
	List Builder	Supervisory	The rule uses the supervisory hierarchy to retrieve approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Number of levels	1	Number of supervisory levels required for approval completion.
	Starting Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("workflowsystem",-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is created.
	Top Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal(Task.creator,-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is submitted.
	Auto Action Enabled	True	Automatic approval is enabled.
	Auto Action	Approve	The response is set to Approve.

ExpenseRuleSet: Approval by a Specialist Based on Expense Types in Parallel Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports based on the template name or any attributes of the expense type is called ExpenseRuleSet. This rule set has the following predefined rules:

If the template name for any of the expenses is Relocation Expenses, the expense report is routed to approval by a predefined user.
If the expense reports don't contain any expenses with the expense template Relocation Expenses, an automatic approval response is generated that indicates there is no special approval.

You can change the predefined rules, delete, or add rules as needed. The following table lists selected parameters for the ExpenseRuleSet rule set.

Rule	Field	Predefined Value	Description
ExpenseTypeIsRelocationExpensesRule	Condition	ExpenseReport/expenseVO.expenseTemplateName	Attribute that stores the cost centers in the expense report.
	List Builder	Resource	Static list of approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Participants	User ID of the approver	The approver of the expense report is a specialist.
ExpenseTypeIsNotRelocationExpensesRule	Condition	ExpenseReport/expenseVO.expenseTemplateName	Auto approval enabled with the same list builder criteria as ExpenseReportAutoApprovalRule
	List Builder	Supervisory	The rule uses the supervisory hierarchy to retrieve approvers.
	Response Type	Required	The approval notification requires a response.
	Number of levels	1	Number of supervisory levels required for approval completion.
	Starting Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("workflowsystem",-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is created.
	Top Participant	HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal(Task.creator,-1,"","")	Person for whom the expense report is submitted.
	Auto Action Enabled	True	Automatic approval is enabled.

SerialProjectManagerRuleSet: Approval by Project Managers in Serial Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports in serial mode by project managers is called SerialProjectManagerRuleSet. This rule set contains the same rule as the parallel approval, but the rule set is configured to send the approval notifications sequentially to the approvers in the list. Each notification to a subsequent approver is sent only after the current approver approves the expense report. If the current approver rejects the expense report, the approval process is complete and the report returns to the user.

SerialCostCenterRuleSet: Approval by Cost Center Owners in Serial Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports in serial mode by cost center owners is called SerialCostCenterRuleSet. This rule set contains the same rule as the parallel approval, but the rule set is configured to send the approval notifications sequentially to the approvers in the list. Each notification to a subsequent approver is sent only after the current approver approves the expense report. If the current approver rejects the expense report, the approval process is complete and the report returns to the user.

SerialExpenseRuleSet: Approval by a Specialist Based on Expense Types in Serial Mode

The predefined rule set for approval of expense reports based on a template name or any attributes of the expense type is called SerialExpenseRuleSet. The rule set contains the same rule as the parallel approval, but the rule set is configured to send the approval notifications sequentially to the approvers in the list. Each notification to a subsequent approver is sent only after the current approver approves the expense report. If the current approver rejects the expense report, the approval process is complete and the expense report returns to the user.