Dynamic Approval Routing

Dynamic Approval Routing is an advanced tool that automatically populates requisition and offer approvers through the use of inclusion and exclusion rules. These rules, based primarily on functional and hierarchical roles, enable customers to enforce processes and simplify the approval process for the initiator.

Dynamic Approval Routing basically works as follows: When a user routes a requisition or an offer for approval, if the Dynamic Approval Routing is relevant for the context of the requisition or the offer, it will predetermine the list and sequence order of approvers. The initial list of approvers may be modified by the user routing the approval request based on his user type permissions. With the path already generated, the user can simply click to request that the approval process be initiated. Approvers will receive approval requests just as they do with the standard approval functionality.

Once the Dynamic Approval Routing module has been activated by Oracle, it becomes available in the Configuration menu. The system administrator is responsible for configuring the Dynamic Approval Routing feature. The configuration involves many steps:

Defining the "reports to" structure and configuring users involved in the Dynamic Approval Routing process.
Defining hierarchical and functional roles.
Defining inclusion and exclusion rules.
Configuring approval paths and sequences.

Once the Dynamic Approval Routing is configured, it is important to test the workflow with a small sample that can be easily controlled prior to full deployment. This step is recommended to ensure that the desired results are achieved prior to rolling out to the entire employee population.

Checklist prior to testing:

Ensure roles are activated and assigned properly to users.
Ensure all Dynamic Approval Routing components are active (approval paths, rules, sequences).
Ensure inclusion rules are included on the active workflow for every role expected to be included in the approval workflow.
Ensure sequences are defined for the desired Organizations-Locations-Job Fields contexts and contain all possible approver roles.
Observe the approval path presented to the initiating user and ensure it is as expected.

Note: System changes after an object is routed for approval will not change the list of approvers. For example: If a new approval path is created and activated, it will only impact newly created approval requests, it will not impact the approvals that are already in process. If a user replaces another user in a functional role, the update will only affect new approval requests, not existing approvals in process where the prior user was assigned. (Customers can still use the delegate feature for an approval task assigned to one user to be routed to a different user).

What happens when the system finds more than one appropriate match:

If a workflow has a rule invoking the inclusion of a functional role, the "best" matching user will be assigned a task. Based on the configuration, it is possible that more than one match be equally suitable. In such case, if more than one user included in a functional role matches the given Organization-Location-Job Field context, then all those users are included within the same sequence in the approval path (users will be included in parallel).
If a user matches more than one inclusion rule, the system removes any duplicates, and the last appearance of the user in the approval path is kept and all others are removed. For example, a compensation team has an opening and the director of compensation is pulled in for both a functional and hierarchical role. Once all roles are resolved (the same user is included because its hierarchical role is included and its functional role is included), the system removes any duplicates.