How To Setup And Use AME

For Purchase Requisition Approvals

Purchase Requisitions can be routed for approval using the AME

Approval Management Engine. This whitepaper describes how to setup
AME for use with requisition approvals, and shows how a requisition
approval list is built based on the AME setup. Approvers in the AME
based approver list are assigned to the requisition based on the AME
rules setup for the Purchase Requisition Approval transaction. Similar
setup can be done for Requester Change Order Approval and for
Internal Requisition Approval, although those are not specifically
covered in this whitepaper. The screenshots provided are based on
11i.AME.B, and some of the navigation details are specific to
11i.AME.B. However, most of the details provided are applicable to
11i.AME.A and higher including R12.

Assign AME Roles and Responsibilities

AME responsibilities in 11i.AME.A are assigned directly to the users.

However, In R12 or 11i.AME.B and higher, AME responsibilities are
assigned indirectly to users through roles. The roles are assigned to
the users by the SYSADMIN user using the User
Management responsibility. Once the roles are assigned, the AME
responsibilities are automatically available to the users without
specifically assigning the AME responsibilities to the users. Here are
steps to assign the roles:
1. Login as System Administrator user

2. Select the responsibility "User Management". (NOTE: User Management data is

stored in the UMX schema)
3. Select "Users" menu option

4. Search for the user to whom you wish to grant AME roles

5. In the results table, click on update icon (shown in screenshot above)

6. In the update user page, user details can be seen along with a list of roles available
to user

Click on "Assign Roles" (shown in screenshot above)

7. Search for Approval% and Select roles from the resulting LOV. Choose the roles
that are applicable (proper authority) for the user, and click the Select button.
 8. Specify justification and relevant dates for the newly assigned roles, and
click Apply to assign the roles to the user.

Reference <<Note 413300.1>> Oracle Approvals Management Not

Enabled? What Does It Take To Enable It?

Grant Transaction Type Access to Users

AME restricts access to transaction types using Data Security. Grant users access to the
transaction types using the Grants page. Set up user access as follows:

1. Navigate to the Personal Home Page.

2. Select Functional Administrator Responsibility

3. From the Grants page, press on the Create Grant button

4. Create a grant with the following information:
Name <specify a descriptive name>
Grantee Type = Specific User
Grantee = <The user which you just created>
Object = AME Transaction Types
 5. Click Next and select the Object Data Context
Data Context Type = All Rows

6. Click Next to define the object parameters and Select Set

Set = AME Calling Applications

7. Click Next, review the setups and then Finish the process.

Review and Modify AME Setup

AME is designed to provide approval logic for many transaction types.

Transaction types used for Purchase Requisitions include the
following: Purchase Requisition Approval, Internal Requisition
Approval, and Requester Change Order Approval. This whitepaper
focuses on Purchase Requisition Approval, however, many of the
concepts are applicable to the other two requisition transaction types
as well. Likewise, some examples and comments in this paper are
written in iProcurement context, but the same AME concepts apply to
core apps requisitions also.

1. Navigate to the Approvals Management Business Analyst, Standard

responsibility

2. Choose the Business Analyst Dashboard menu from the

responsibility (see image above)
3. Use the Transaction Type LOV to search and select the transaction
type = Purchase Requisition Approval

4. Use the links on the right in the Approval Process Setup region to
set the components (Attributes, Conditions, Action Types, Approver
Groups) and rules, or to use the test workbench in AME.
1. Action Types
1. An action type is a collection of actions having
similar functionality. Every action belongs to an
action type. Action types are enabled or disabled for
a particular transaction type. AME may give an error
when attempting to enable an action type for a
transaction if the transaction is not designed to allow
that action type. Reference <<Note 293315.1>>
11.5.10 FAQ for Approvals Management (AME)
Integration For iProcurement and Purchasing - for a
list of action types allowed for requisition
transactions in AME. In addition, <<Note
404152.1>> Release Content Documents for E-
Business Suite R12 - provides a link to the
Procurement Family RCD which clarifies (Section
3.4.2.14) that requisition approval with Oracle
Approvals Management (AME) in R12 allows use of
Position Hierarchy based Approvals, Parallel
Approvals, and Support for FYI Notifications.

2. To disable or enable action types for the transaction,

select the Action Types link

3. The Action Types page shows the action types that

are currently enabled for the transaction type
(Purchase Requisition Approval). Use the Previous
and Next links to scroll through the list of enabled
action types. Select the Use Existing Action Type
button to see other pre-defined action types
available in AME. Some of these may or may not be
applicable to the currently select transaction type;
AME will give an error if the user tries to add a non-
relevant action type for the selected transaction
 type.

4. Navigate to HR responsibility -> Work Structures ->

Job -> Description - to assign a Level (Approval
Authority) to a Job.

Query up the Job and enter the appropriate Job Level

in the Approval Authority field.

5. In AME, select any or all of the following Action Types

for JOB BASED approvals if applicable for your
business requirements:

1. absolute job level / chains of authority based

on absolute job level

2. final approver only / chains of authority

containing only the final job-level approver
 3. manager then final approver / chain of
authority includes requestor's manager and
then the final approver

4. relative job level / chains of authority based on

relative job level

5. supervisory level / chains of authority based on

number of supervisory levels

6. In AME, select any or all of the following Action types

for APPROVER GROUP approvals if applicable for your
business requirements:

1. post-chain-of-authority approvals / group

approvals after the chain of authority

2. pre-chain-of-authority approvals / group

approvals before the chain of authority

3. approval-group chain of authority / chain of

authority includes an approval group

7. In AME, select any of all of the following Action

types for POSITION BASED approvals (Only in R12
and higher) if applicable for your business
requirements

1. hr position / chains of authority based on a

particular HR position

2. hr position level / chains of authority based

on HR positions

2. Attributes

1. Attributes are the base element for an AME Rule.

Attribute values are retrieved from the Oracle
EBusiness Suite Applications database or derived
from values in the database. AME is seeded with
attributes relevant to the transaction type, and the
user can create new attributes in AME for use in AME
rules.
2. Select the Attributes link to view or add attributes for
the selected transaction type

3. Use the Previous and Next links to scroll through the

existing attributes. Some of the attributes relevant
to Purchase Requisition Approval include
ITEM_CATEGORY, ITEM_NUMBER, and
REQUISITION_TOTAL as well as other
attributes. When AME approvals is enabled for
purchase requisitions, these values are retrieved for
the relevant requisition while navigating through
iProcurement checkout or core apps requisition
create, and AME uses this information to determine
the appropriate AME rule(s) to use.

4. In addition to the seeded attributes, a customized

attribute can be created.
DAVE_CATEGORY_SEGMENT is an example of this.
This attribute uses a query to capture SEGMENT1 of
the Item Category flexfield. The Item Category
flexfield may be setup to use one or more segments;
 this customized AME attribute captures only
SEGMENT1 of the flexfield. This allows the users to
setup conditions and rules that are dependent on a
certain value in SEGMENT1 of the ITEM Category
used on the requisition. NOTE: The new attribute
DAVE_CATEGORY_SEGMENT1 uses the same sql
query as the seeded ITEM_CATEGORY AME attribute,
except it selects mck.segment1 rather than
mck.concatenated_segments.

3. Conditions

1. Conditions identify values and value ranges for some

or all of the attributes available. AME rules refer to
these conditions to determine if a particular rule is
applicable for the specific document (requisition)
being approved. For example, an AME rule can be
setup to require certain approvers if $0 USD <=
requisition total < $1000 USD. Since
REQUISITION_TOTAL is a seeded attribute, the user
can define a condition $0 USD <= requisition total <
$1000 USD, and then use this condition in a rule to
require certain approvers for the requisition. The
rule cannot refer to this condition until it is defined in
AME Conditions for the Purchase Requisition Approval
transaction type.
2. Select the Conditions link from the AME Business
Analyst Dashboard after specifying the Purchase
Requisition Approval transaction type.

Selecting the Conditions link will display the existing

conditions defined for the transaction type, and also
allow the user to create new conditions for the
transaction.

3. Click the Create button to create a new condition

4. To define the new condition, specify whether the condition

is ordinary, or an exception condition (which can only be
used in an exception rule see the online Help for
details). Use the Attribute LOV to choose the attribute on
which the condition is based. The condition will specify a
value or range of values for the attribute, so the attribute
must be selected before the value(s) can be defined.
 5. Define the allowed value or value range for the selected
attribute. Click Apply to complete the condition definition.

4. Approver Groups

1. Approver Groups are optional. Setup Approver Groups if

additional approvers are required for particular conditions,
or to specify a dynamic sql query for additional approvers.
The rules defined for the transaction can be based on
Approver Groups, Jobs defined in HR setup, or Positions
defined in HR setup (only in R12); the rules may also use
a combination of Job, Position, and Approver Group basis.
(See the Rules details later in this paper for more
information about the rules)
2. Select the Approver Groups link from the AME Business
Analyst Dashboard.

3. View and edit existing approver groups, or Click the

Create button to create a new approver group.

4. When creating the approval group specify all the

mandatory values.

1. Give a name and description to the approval group.

2. Specify an order number (order number of this

approver group relative to other approver groups).

3. Choose a voting regime only Serial is supported

for Purchase Requisition Approval in 11.5.10 and
11.5.9. R12 does allow other voting regimes that
use parallel routing.

4. Choose Static if approvers will be selected when

defining the approval group, or choose Dynamic if a
sql query is used to dynamically find the approvers
for this approver group when the requisition
approval transaction is being processed.

5. Click the Add Another Row button to add approvers

to the approval group now.
 6. Click Apply to save the approver group

5. The approval group members can be added as additional

approvers to the normal chain of command approvers
generated by AME.

5. Rules

1. Define rules to specify approvers that should be included

in the approval list under specific conditions for the
requisition approval transaction.

2. Select the Rules link from the AME Dashboard after

selecting the transaction type Purchase Requisition
Approval
3. Review the list of existing rules already defined for the
transaction

4. Select the Create button to create a new rule for the

transaction. (Optionally, if there already exists a similar
rule choose the Duplicate icon or the Use Existing Rule
button).

5. Step 1 of 4: Specify a name for the new rule and choose

the rule type and effective dates.

Rule types are explained in the AME online help pages

along with examples. The most common types are List
Creation, Pre List Approver Group and Post List Approver
Group. (NOTE: Some rule types may not be available if
the corresponding action types have not been assigned to
 the transaction Purchase Requisition Approval. Use the
Action Types feature to add or remove action types for the
transaction)

6. Step 2 of 4: Specify one or more conditions that activate

the rule. The Conditions are defined in the AME Setup,
and they may be seeded conditions or user defined
conditions.

7. Step 3 of 4: Choose the Action Type and then choose a

specific action. The list of actions available is dependent
on the Action Type selected. The actions are related to
Jobs, Positions (in R12), or Approver Groups. (Action
Types are discussed previously in this whitepaper)
 8. Step 4 of 4: Review the rule details and click Finish to
complete the rule setup, or click Back to make changes.

6. Test Workbench

1. Use the Test Workbench to determine which AME

Rule(s) apply to a specific requisition, or to determine
which AME Rule(s) apply for an adhoc combination of
values specified at the time of the test.
Select the Test Workbench link from the AME
Dashboard

1. Specific Requisition test

1. Click the Run Real Transaction Test

button.
 2. Specify the value of
REQUISITION_HEADER_ID from
PO_REQUISITION_HEADERS_ALL as the
Transaction Id value. Click Go to see the
AME rules that apply to the requisition.

3. Adjust the rules setup to cause rules to

be called differently based on the
business requirements.

2. Adhoc test

1. Click the Create button on the Test

Workbench page

2. Specify Name and Description for the

test, and specify values for pertinent
attributes (e.g. Requisition Total = $100
USD)

3. Click the Run Test Case button to see the

applicable AME rules, and the resulting
 AME approval list that will be built based
on the conditions specified for the
attributes.

Enable AME for Requisition Approval

1. Navigate to Purchasing responsibility

2. Setup / Purchasing / Document Types
3. Select Purchase Requisition (or Internal Requisition) as the
document type
4. Specify Approval Transaction Type = PURCHASE_REQ to enable
AME approvals for Purchase Requisitions in the current operating
unit

Test the Functionality

 1. Create a requisition in Core Apps Purchasing or iProcurement and
verify that the Approval List is built per the AME rules based on
the conditions present on the requisition attributes.

View the AME Setup

1. Click the Setup Report link in the Quick Links section of the Dashboard

2. Select the appropriate transaction type (Example: Purchase Requisition

Approval) and click Go.

3. Click the Printable Page button to view the complete setup for the selected
transaction type (Attributes, Conditions, Rules, Approval Groups, and etc.)
 4. Compare the AME setup to the requisition attributes and approval list generated
for a specific requisition, or compare the AME setup to the business requirements.

NOTE: This document is not considered formal documentation of the product, but is a
useful tool for applying the functionality described.