How do I use the simulate function to test a failed approval rule?

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Sometimes approval flows need to be corrected when a transaction fails or needs updating.

This video will show you how to quickly test your updates in real time with the Simulate function also known as Test Rules.

Please note you must have the Test Approval Rules security privilege in place.

The Review HCM Approval Transactions as Administrator pre-defined role inherits this privilege.

Before you can begin to use the Test Rules function, you must enable the profile option.

This is done in two steps.

First create and enable the HCM_TEST_APPROVAL_RULES_ENABLED profile option and

Second, View the option from the Manage Administrator Profiles Values page to verify that the value is set to True.

Let’s perform these two tasks

To create the profile option, first navigate to Setup and Maintenance, go to the Search Tasks option and search for Manage Profile Options task. Click on the task.

Click New to view the Create Profile Option page. On this page you will define the profile option.

Fill in the fields according to the values listed here.

First you will provide the HCM_TEST_APPROVAL_RULES_ENABLED code in the code field.

Fill in the remaining fields and click Save and Close.

On the Manage Profile Options page you can see the option code listed. In the Levels section, check the two Site-Level boxes. As an option you can also check the User boxes.

Now for the second step let’s go back and search for the Manage Administrator Profile Values task. Click the task.

Next, verify the profile option. Enter the HCM_TEST_APPROVAL_RULES_ENABLED option into the Code field and click Search. Verify the value field is set to True.

Now you are ready to modify your approval rule. First, use navigator to access the Transaction Console from the tools section.

On the Transaction summary tab, you will see the status of all the approval tasks.

The status automatically filters to Failed transactions.

And, the Status column will display the red X if there is an error on a particular transaction.

To start correcting errors, identify the approval transaction you want to change, then click on the Approval Rules tab. In this example a failed Promote transaction.

On the Rules page, view the list of rules and notice the Test Rules column where Test Rules is available.

In our example, we will search for the failed approval transaction to promote an employee.

Notice for the Promote rule, the Test Rules option is active. To modify this rule, click the Configure Rules icon.

Let’s look at this set of approval parameters and investigate where the transaction could be failing. For this example, we will look into Management Hierarchy.

Notice the number of levels is at 10. The employee may not have 10 levels, let’s change this to 1.

To use the Test Rules feature, you always need to first Submit any changes you make to the Approval Rules. Click Submit.

Once the rules are submitted, you return to the Test Approval Rules page with the failed approval transaction.

From here locate the failed transaction you want to test. Click Simulate. The system will process the test on your updated approval rule.

Scroll down. The Approval Simulation Results will show if the updates have worked by noting the person in the flow you intended.

If the updated rules fail, you can modify the rules again and simulate the changes.

For more information on this topic, you can view the courses on Oracle University or reference the available guides on Oracle Help Center.

Thanks for watching.