Modifying the Approval Unit Promotional Path

When you select an owner and reviewers for an approval unit and its parents, you set the approval unit promotional path (see Approval Unit Promotional Path). Sometimes, however, budget calculation results change the person who reviews the budget next. For example, if salaries for a sales group are more than 10% over the previous budget year, approval from someone other than the next reviewer may be required. To automate redirecting the budget in these cases, add conditions and actions to data validation rules that test for these exceptions, and then modify the promotional path when necessary. You can also use data validation rules to stop an approval unit from passing to the next reviewer when data errors exist in the approval unit.

To modify the approval unit promotional path:

1. Create or select a data validation rule (see Managing Data Validation).
2. In the Data Validation Rule Builder, click (Process Cell) to create promotional path conditions and specify the action taken when a budget calculation doesn't meet these conditions.
3. Select one action:

   • Update Promotional Path to create a promotional path condition that adds reviewers or owners to the promotional path if the condition you set is triggered.

   • Do Not Promote to prevent promoting an approval unit to the next reviewer. This action usually indicates invalid data in the budget.

4. In the Process Cell dialog box, beneath Approvals, click Add to add a promotional path condition.

   Promotional path conditions are processed in the order they are listed. Use the (Move Up) and (Move Down) to move them up or down within the list.

5. Optional: To duplicate a promotional path condition:
   1. Select a promotional path condition, and then click Copy.
   2. Select the promotional path condition that will precede the copied one in the list, and then click Paste to add the copied promotional path condition.
6. Optional: Click Delete to remove a promotional path condition.
7. In Approval Unit Hierarchy and Approval Units, click (Member Selector) to select the approval unit hierarchy and approval units the promotional path condition affects.
8. In Promotional Path Condition, specify the promotional path changes for the approval units selected in Promotional Path Condition. Select:
   1. In Position, specify where the promotional path changes for the approval units selected in Approval Units. Select:

      • Before to insert the alternate owner or reviewer before ownership reaches the approval units specified in Promotional Path Condition.

      • After to insert the alternate owner or reviewer after ownership reaches the approval units specified in Promotional Path Condition.

      • Before and After to insert the alternate owner or reviewer before and after ownership reaches the approval units specified in Promotional Path Condition.

   2. In the Approval Units column of Promotional Path Condition, click (Member Selector) to select the approval units the action selected in Position affects.

      Note:

      The selected approval units must be ancestors of the approval units selected in the previous step. If you select approval units that are not ancestors, the promotional path condition isn't evaluated when the approval unit hierarchy is validated.

9. In the Assign column, specify the role, user type, and the user or UDA for each alternate owner, reviewer, and user to be notified if the rule exception occurs.
   1. In Role, select:

      • Owner to select the alternate owner

      • Reviewer to select the alternate reviewer

      • Notified Users to select the user to be notified

   2. In Type, select:

      • User Name to specify the alternate user

      • From UDA to select the dimension and to enter the prefix that was assigned to the UDA

   3. In Users, specify:

      • For User Name, the name of the alternate user or choose one from the user selector

      • For From UDA, the dimension from the Select a Dimension drop down, and then specify the prefix that was used in the UDA to indicate that the UDA contains a user name (for example, ProdMgr:)

        Note:

        Ensure the prefix specified is the same as the prefix that was assigned while creating the UDA, including any spaces. For instance, if there is a space between the prefix and the username (ProdMgr Kim), ensure there is a space after ProdMgr.

10. Optional: Provide messages for the users involved in the approval unit promotional path changes:
    1. Click (Edit) in:

       • Sender Message to enter the email message text sent to the user promoting the approval unit when the promotional path changes.

       • In Reviewer Message to enter the email message text sent to the user receiving the approval unit for review due to the rule exception.

    2. Click OK to save the messages.

    The text you enter is added to the messages sent when the approval unit changes status.

11. Click OK to save the promotional path conditions, and return to data validation rule creation.