The Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow

Every time someone submits a project contract invoice for approval, the application triggers the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow. This workflow notifies configured assignees, who must approve or reject the submitted invoice, or seek more information if required.

In the BPM Worklist tool, this workflow is called InvoiceApprovalHumantask, and the default recipient of this workflow is the administrator of the contract for which the invoice was raised.

Note: To instruct the application to skip the approval workflow when someone submits a project contract invoice using the UI or a REST call, create a profile option named PJB_NO_INV_APPR_WF and set its value to Y.

The Contract Invoice Approval Process

The Contract Approval Process

Agent	Description	Additional Information
Billing Specialist	Uses the Manage Invoices, Invoice Overview, or Edit Invoice page to submit an invoice for approval.	For information on working with invoices, see the Using Project Revenue and Billing guide.
The Contract Invoice Approval Workflow	As soon as someone submits a project contract invoice, the workflow sends notifications to all configured assignees via email or in-app notifications, as configured.	For detailed information on how you can customize approval workflow notifications, see Workflow Notifications in the Implementing Common Applications guide.
Workflow Assignees	Assignees review and approve or reject the invoice, or seek more information.	If the workflow uses parallel approvers, then the Voting Percentage rule is used to determine final approval. For detailed information on using BPM Worklist to update approval workflows, see Workflow Approvals and Notifications in the Implementing Common Applications guide.
The Contract Invoice Approval Workflow	The workflow updates the invoice status to Approved or Rejected.	NA
The Contract Invoice Approval Workflow	The workflow performs the following tasks once the invoice status is updated. If the invoice is approved, the workflow sends notifications to configured recipients if configured. Otherwise, the workflow exits. If the invoice is rejected, the application sends a notification indicating the result to the submittor (Billing Specialist).	If the invoice is approved, the Billing Specialist can release the invoice. If the invoice is rejected, the submitter (Billing Specialist) moves the invoice back to Draft status, updates it as appropriate, and resubmits it for approval if required. This action retriggers the workflow, and designated approvers receive new notifications, as configured.

Configuring the Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow

For information on how you can configure the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow, review the following topics in the Creating Analytics and Reports for Financials guide:

• Configuring Payables Workflow Notifications
• Example of Modifying Invoice Approval Workflow Notifications Using Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher

For generic guidance on customizing workflows and notifications, see the Workflow Approvals and Notifications section in the Implementing Applications guide.

Configurable Attributes in the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow

There are many attributes that you can use to configure the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow's behavior. These attributes are associated with:

• The invoice that is being processed (See Invoice Attributes, below)
• The project with which the invoice is associated (See Project Attributes, below)
• The contract with which the project is associated (See Contract Attributes, below)

Invoice Attributes

Here's a table that lists out key project contract invoice attributes that you can use to customize the behavior of the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow.

Key Invoice Attributes Used to Modify the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow

Attribute	Description
InvoiceId	The unique identifier of the invoice.
InvoiceNum	The sequential number that identifies the draft invoice within a project.
ContractId	The identifier of the contract that funds the invoice.
BillToCustAcctId	The identifier of the customer id to which invoices are sent.
BillToDate	The date through which to invoice the project. Expenditure items with the expenditure item date on or before the bill to date and events with completion dates on or before the bill through date may be included on an invoice.
InvoiceDate	The invoice date passed to Oracle Receivables, which is used to calculate the invoice due date. Upon release of the invoice, this date is defaulted from the released date. The user can override the invoice date at the time of release.
InvoiceStatusCode	The code associated with the invoice's payment status. Possible values are Y, N, or P.
InvoiceTypeCode	The code associated with the type of Invoice, such as Standard, Credit Memo, Write-Off, Net Invoice, Canceled.
ApprovedDate	The date on which the draft invoice is approved.
ApprovedByPersonId	The unique identifier of the employee who approved the invoice.
OrgId	The unique identifier of the business unit associated with the invoice.
ContractNumber	The contract number associated with the invoice.
MajorVersion	The major version number of the contract for which the invoice is created.
InvCurrInvAmt	Amount for which the invoice is created.
ContractAdminEmail	The email address of the administrator of the contract.
BillToCustName	The name of the customer to whom the invoice is sent.
InvoiceCurrencyCode	The currency code associated with the amount for which the invoice is generated.
ContractAdminName	The name of the administrator of the contract.
InvoiceTypeName	The invoice type, such as Standard, Credit Memo, Write-Off, Net Invoice, Canceled, used for the invoice.
BillFromDate	The date through which to invoice the project.
CustPoNumber	The purchase order against which the invoice is issued.
ContractTypeId	The unique ID of the contract type to which the contract associated with the invoice belongs.
InvoiceComment	Free text comments that can be printed on an invoice. The invoice comment is defaulted from the invoice comment defined for the project. This value can be overridden by a user for each draft invoice.
CreditMemoReasonCode	The reason code for releasing credit invoices.
InvoiceInstructions	Invoice instructions.
ContractStatusCode	The code associated with the contract's fulfillment status.
CreditedInvoiceId	The identifier of the invoice that can be fully reversed by a credit or debit memo.
BillingTypeCode	The code associated with the billing type used in the project.
ContractType	This is a temporary table used internally by Oracle.
BillingType	The billing type used in the project. This can either be External, Inter-Company, or Inter-Project.
CreditedInvoiceNumber	The number of the invoice that must be fully reversed by a Credit or Debit Memo.
BUName	The name of the business unit associated with the invoice.
CreditMemoReason	Codes provided by the government or central bank of a country. These codes provide the payment system or bank with additional details about the reason for the payment and are used for regulatory reporting purposes.
ContractStatus	The status of the contract, such as Draft, Canceled, Pending Approval, and so on.
ProjMgrsUserNames	The names of the project managers associated with the project associated with the invoice.
ParallelVotingPercentage	The percentage of votes that an invoice must receive to be approved.
Invoice Header Flexfields	General information, such as supplier, supplier site, invoice number, invoice date, as well as default information, used to create invoice lines.

Key Project Attributes Used by the Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow

Here's a table that lists out key project attributes that you can use to customize the behavior of the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow.

Note: You can find some of the attributes listed here in folders in the Condition Explorer in the Task Configuration tab in BPM Worklist. The name of the folder is added to every such attribute in this table. Thus, for example, the attribute ProjectTeamMember > ProjectPartyId can be found in the ProjectTeamMember folder.

Key Project Attributes Used to Modify the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow

Attribute	Description
ProjectId	The unique identifier of the project.
ProjectName	The name of the project.
ProjectNumber	The project number.
CarryingOutOrganizationId	The unique identifier of the organization that is executing the project.
ProjectOrganizationName	The name of the organization that is implementing the project.
ProjectUnitId	The unique identifier of the project unit that is implementing the project associated with the invoice.
ProjectUnitName	The name of the project unit that is implementing the project associated with the invoice.
ProjectTypeId	The unique identifier of the project type.
ProjectTypeName	The name of the project type.
BusinessUnitId	The unique identifier of the business unit.
BusinessUnitName	The name of the business unit.
LegalEntityId	The unique identifier of the legal entity that is implementing the project.
LegalEntityName	The name of the legal entity that is implementing the project.
WorkTypeId	The unique identifier of the work type associated with task for which the invoice is created.
WorkTypeName	The name of the work type associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectCurrencyCode	The currency code used by default with amounts in the project.
ProjectLedgerCurrencyCode	The currency code used by default with amounts in the project ledger.
SponsoredFlag	A flag indicating whether the project is sponsored.
ProjectTeamMember > ProjectPartyId	The unique identifier of a party assignment to the project for a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectTeamMember > TeamMemberRoleId	The unique identifier of the role assigned to a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectTeamMember > TeamMemberRoleName	The name of the role assigned to a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectTeamMember > TeamMemberPersonId	The unique ID of a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectTeamMember > TeamMemberEmailAddress	The email address of a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created
ProjectTeamMember > TeamMemberUserName	The name of a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created
ProjectTeamMember > StartDateActive	The start date of a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
ProjectTeamMember > EndDateActive	The end date of a project team member associated with the task for which the invoice is created.
Project Flexfields	Custom project-related flexfields created for use in your organization.
ProjectClassification > ProjectClassCategory	The project class category to which the project associated with the invoice belongs.
ProjectClassification > ProjectClassCode	The project class code that belongs to the project class category, to which the project associated with the invoice belongs.

Contract Attributes

Here's a table that lists out key contract attributes that you can use to customize the behavior of the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow.

Key Contract Attributes Used to Modify the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow

Attribute	Description
ContractId	The unique identifier of the contract associated with the invoice.
Contract Header Flexfields	Custom contract-related flexfields created for use in your organization.

Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow Notifications

The Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow sends notifications when:

• An invoice requires approval.
• An invoice is approved or rejected.
• An invoice requires more information.

Contents of a Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow Notification

A Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow notification contains the following details:

• Header

  • Invoice Approval for <Contract Number>

  • Task Number: <Task number associated with the invoice.>
• Approval options (if sent to an approver)
  • Approve
  • Reject
  • Request Info
• Contents Section
  • Invoice Number
  • Contract Number
  • Bill-to Customer
  • Invoice Type
  • Date
  • Invoice Amount in Invoice Currency
  • Tax Amount in Invoice Currency
  • Bill from Date
  • Bill-Through Date
• Invoice Lines
  • Line Number
  • Description
  • Amount in Invoice Currency
• Approval options (if sent to an approver)
  • Approve
  • Reject
  • Request Info
• Approval History: One row per approver.
  • Approvers
    • Assigned to / Approved by / Rejected by <Name of Approver>
    • Date and Time of Assignment / Approval / Rejection
  • Submitter
    • Submitted by <Name of Submitter>
    • Date and Time of Submission
  • Link to invoice

Customizing Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow Notifications

For details on customizing Project Contract Invoice Approval Workflow notifications, see Example of Modifying Invoice Approval Workflow Notifications Using Oracle Analytics Publisher.

For guidance on how you can work with workflow notifications in BPM Worklist tool, see Workflow Notifications in the Common Implementing Applications guide.

Customizing Notification Templates

You can find the templates and data models used in the Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow in the Shared Folders > Projects > Workflow Notifications > Project Billing folder in the Oracle BI Publisher catalog. In this folder, the ProjectContractInvoiceApprovalReport file contains the template used in the notification report. Expand the Project Billing > Data Model folder to access the ProjectContractInvoiceApprovalDM file, which contains the data model used in the notification report.

For information on how you can customize notification templates, see Configurable Notifications in the Common Implementation guide. For detailed instructions on how to customize Project Contract Invoice Approval workflow notifications, see Example of Modifying Invoice Approval Workflow Notifications Using Oracle Analytics Publisher.

How-to: Setting up Auto-Approval for Project Contract Invoices

In this use case, you set up auto-approval for project contract invoices. This means that instead of routing all invoices to the default participants who must review and approve new invoices, you will configure the InvoiceApprovalHumantask such that all new invoices will be automatically approved and forwarded for processing.

To set up auto-approval for project contract invoices:

1. Navigate to Setup and Maintenance > Manage Task Configurations for Project Financial Management.

   The BPM Worklist tool appears.

2. Search and open InvoiceApprovalHumantask.
3. Click the Edit Task icon to open the task in Edit mode.

4. Click the Assignees tab in the Task Configuration page.

   This tab displays the participants of the workflow. These are the users who must approve project invoices before they can be processed. Click on each of these participants to review the workflow rules that apply to their approval choices.

5. Click on Contract Invoice Single Approver Participant in the workflow, then click on the Go to Rule icon, and then on the Go to Rule option that appears.

   The list of rules associated with the participant you selected appears.

   By default, the workflow sends project contract invoices to the contract administrator for approval. You want to remove this requirement, so the approval request will not be routed.

6. Select the check box adjacent to the Top Participant field in the THEN section of the rule. This enables the Delete Action icon above the rule. Click this icon to delete the action. You have now removed the default approver for your project invoices and must configure the rule such that it automatically approves all new invoices.
7. Click the Insert Action icon above the now empty rule and, from the drop-down options that appear, select Add Approver > Supervisory.
8. Enter 1 in the Number of Levels field.
9. Perform the following steps to add the Starting Participant. This is the first participant–typically a manager–in the approval process.

   1. Click the Search icon adjacent to the Starting Participant.

      The Add Hierarchy Participant dialog box appears.

   2. Select the Get User radio button to indicate that you want to specify a user who must approve invoices.

   3. Click the Expression Builder icon adjacent to the Reference User field.

      The Expression Builder dialog box appears.

   4. Click the Task > creator option in the expression builder and click Insert into Expression.

      The value in the Expression field now reads Task.creator.

   5. Click OK to exit the expression builder and add task.creator as the reference user for the approver. This instructs the workflow to make the creator of the task the approver.
   6. Enter "" in the Hierarchy Type field to indicate that the task creator can belong to any hierarchy type.

   7. Click OK to populate these details into the Starting Participant field.

      The value in this field must now read HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal(Task.creator,-1,"","").

10. Populate the Top Participant field with the same value. The top participant is the last approver of a request.
11. Set Auto Action Enabled to True.
12. Specify the Auto Action as "APPROVE" (including the quotation marks) to instruct the application to automatically approve all project contract invoice approval requests.

13. Save and Commit your updates, and enter Comments as appropriate. Click OK.

You have now configured the InvoiceApprovalHumantask workflow to automatically approve all new project contract invoice approval requests using the name of the task creator as the approver.