Rules Definition Guidelines for the Spreadsheet

Follow the guidelines when defining rules in the spreadsheet.

The structure of spreadsheets may vary based on feature but each spreadsheet contains a worksheet where you can define rules and an instruction worksheet with these columns:

• Approval Related

  For columns related to defining the approval routing and approval participants, reference the specific product feature’s documentation as well as the tooltips in the rule templates.

• AND / OR Conditions

  Each row in the rules worksheet represents one rule. Values for attributes specified in the same rule are evaluated as AND conditions.

  You can't specify an OR condition within a single rule. However, you can use IN condition based on the requirements or define a separate rule. Here's an example where invoice approval is a requirement:

  Business Unit = US and Amount > 1000 or Business Unit = UK and Amount > 10000. 

  Define these rules to meet the above requirement: This table displays the settings to define this rule requirement:

  Block Name	Rule Description	Rule Priority	Invoice Header
  			Invoice Amount	Business Unit Item
  	Rule 1	Medium	>=1000	US
  	Rule 2	Medium	>=1000	UK

  Refer to the specific product feature’s documentation to learn how to define rules.

• Reference Transaction Attributes

  Enter the values for attributes with an operator. Position Hierarchy is not supported but Job Level List Builder is available for use.

  Operators supported for defining rules include Strings, Numbers, Dates, Booleans or other attributes. Other transaction attributes are referenced using dot notation. For example:

  Invoice Header.Creation Date or Invoice Header.Invoice Amount.

• Keep Rules to a Minimum

  The number of rules should ideally not exceed 500, you may experience performance issues if it exceeds 500.

• Avoid Rule Proliferation

  Avoid creating multiple rules which only differ by the values of one or two attributes. For example, consider the following Invoice Approval rules, where a different rule has been created for each cost center. These rules can be simplified and the overall number reduced by rewriting using the IN Operator to evaluate the cost center.

• Implementing Position Hierarchy for Approvals

  Position Hierarchy is not supported but Job Level List Builder is available for use.