Oracle Applications White Paper: White Paper On Using Approval Management Engine For Invoice Line Level Approval in R12

Oracle Applications White Paper
White Paper on Using Approval

Management Engine for Invoice Line
Level Approval in R12
Author: Raghavender Vutukuru & Srinivas Nimmalapudi
Reviewed By: Sriram Ramanujam
Creation Date: 01-September-2014
Last Updated: 15- October -2014
Version: 1.2
Status: FINAL
Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 1

Contents
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 3
OBJECTIVE ......................................................................................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND ...............................................................................................................................................................3
SCOPE ............................................................................................................................................................................3
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................... 4

TECHNOLOGY.................................................................................................................................................................4
BUSINESS CASE .............................................................................................................................. 7

METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................................................................7
BUSINESS SCENARIO ......................................................................................................................................................7
SET UP STEPS ................................................................................................................................ 8

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO SETUP......................................................................................................................................8
1) PAYABLES OPTION SETUP .................................................................................................................. 8

2) SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR ................................................................................................................. 9
3) APPROVALS MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATOR ...................................................................................... 10
4) APPROVALS MANAGEMENT BUSINESS ANALYST ................................................................................... 11
4.1) Defining/Using Attributes ............................................................................................................................11
4.2) Define Conditions .........................................................................................................................................12
4.3) Use Action Types ..........................................................................................................................................14
4.4) Define Approval Groups ...............................................................................................................................15
4.5) Define “Rules” ..............................................................................................................................................18
TRANSACTIONS ............................................................................................................................. 23
1) CREATE PURCHASE ORDERS ............................................................................................................. 23
2) CREATE MATCHED INVOICE AND COMPLETE THE AME APPROVAL CYCLE .................................................. 23
Business Case 1: Process an Invoice with one line that of $900 ..........................................................................23
Business Case 2: Process an Invoice with a line that of $900 and another line that of $1800 ............................34
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 41

Introduction
Objective
To provide the setup steps to achieve serial line level approval in Payables Invoice approvals process
using Approval Management Engine (AME). This is intended to provide the reader a good understanding
of the feature, the setup and detailed steps on how to use Invoice line level approval in particular to
process matched invoices using approval-group chain of authority action type of AME.
Background
Oracle Payables integrates with Oracle Approvals Management and Oracle Workflow to approve
invoices. The Invoice Approval Workflow process uses Oracle Approvals Management and Oracle
Workflow to enable you to define business rules to determine who approves invoices and how they will
be routed for approval to different approvers.
You can define the approval rules in Oracle Approvals Management in one of the following ways:
• Document-level rules only.
• Line-level rules only.
• Line-level and document-level rules.
Line-level approval is the approval of one specific line or set of lines within an invoice, rather than
approving the entire document. Approvers have access to the Notification Detail and Interactive Line
Details pages to review the invoice details. The pages display only the appropriate level of information
for the approver to view. That is, approvers view only the information that they can approve or reject.
Furthermore, no additional login or privileges are required for the approver to approve. The self-service
login that an approver uses to view the notifications is sufficient to review the invoice information.
The system does not initiate document level approval until all lines have been approved. If an approver
rejects one line, the remaining line level approvals continue to go through approval. This allows the
continuation of the line level approval process while the rejected line is being resolved. However, the
system does not continue to document level approvals unless all lines are approved.
Note: This document covers Line-level and document-level rules only.
Note: Line-level approval is only available for Payables invoices that are matched to a purchase order.
Scope
This paper will cover the set up side of processing matched invoices using line and document level serial
approval process in Oracle Payables.

Technology Overview
Technology
This solution is comprised of Oracle Workflow, Approvals Management, OA Framework, and Forms.
Architecture
Invoice Approval provides for routing invoices through needed approvals. The approval of an invoice
allows it to be paid though provision has been provided to ‘force’ approval for users with the right
permissions. In the process of approval it also provides for the approver to negotiate with the supplier
(Price, Quantity) for non-PO matched invoices. Approval happens both at the invoice line level as well as
at the invoice level. The invoice level approval happens after all the lines have been approved.
One can define rules in AME using information from invoice headers, Invoice Lines and Invoice
distributions. Both the Line level approval and Document level approval are optional in the Invoice
Approval Workflow process.
The AME transaction type is APINV. The workflow for AP Invoice Approval is apfhanwf.wft and it mainly
constitutes of below processes:
1. Main Approval Process
The figure below gives an overview of the main approval flow:

The below section explains some of the important components of this main workflow approval flow:
1.1. Check Header Requirements (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.CHECK_HEADER_REQUIREMENTS) - This

procedure checks if there are any header level transaction Rules in AME that would prevent the
approval. This is done by calling ame_api2.getTransactionProductions. If a ‘NO INVOICE APPROVAL
REQUIRED’ production rule is found then the approval status for the header and the lines is set to ‘Not
Required’ and this is recorded in the approval history and the procedure ends in Result out of ‘No’ else if
no production rules are found it ends in a result out of ‘Yes’.
1.2. Check Line Requirements (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.CHECK_LINE_REQUIREMENTS) - This procedure

checks if there are any header level transaction rules in AME that would prevent the approval of lines.
This is done by calling ame_api2.getTransactionProductions. If a ‘NO LINE APPROVAL REQUIRED’
production rule is found then the approval status for the lines is set to ‘Not Required’ and this is
recorded in the approval history and the procedure ends in a result out of ‘No’ else if no production
rules are found it ends in a result out of ‘Yes’.
1.3. Launch line approval Notifications (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.LAUNCH_APPROVAL_NOTIFICATIONS) -

This procedure queries AP_APINV_APPROVERS and groups by approvers (so that each approver doesn’t
get duplicate notifications for different lines) and launches the line approval process
1.4. Get Header Approver (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.GET_HEADER_APPROVER) - This procedure queries

the AME for Invoice Header level approvers. If there are no further approvers and previously there was
at least one approver then the invoice is marked as Workflow approved.
2. Invoice Lines Approval Process
The Figure below describes the workflow process for the Invoice Line Approval Process.
The following are the main points to note:

o The Approver can either Approve or Request the lines in the notification.
o If the Approver fails to respond, an escalation notification will be sent to his/her Supervisor
as setup in HR.
o Whenever the workflow reaches a logical conclusion (i.e., Process Lines Approval, Process
Lines Rejection or the block is woken up by a negotiation sub-process), the main process is
woken up.
3. Invoice Approval Process
The Figure below describes the workflow process for the Invoice Approval.
The following are the main points to note:
o The Approver can either Approve or Request the lines in the notification.
o If the Approver fails to respond, an escalation notification will be sent to his/her

Supervisor as setup in HR.
o This process Ends in statuses ‘Approve’ or ‘Reject’, which in turn is used in the main
process to either continue the workflow process or to stop it (i.e., Approval stops at the
first Rejection).
Note: The workflows shown above are based on the latest available AP_WORKFLOW_PKG
(120.64.12010000.56) and workflow file apfhanwf.wft (120.36.12010000.15)

Business Case
Methodology
We will take a business scenario and show the working product with couple of transactional flows. We
will define expected AME conditions, Action types and create Rules as per test scenario requirement.
Configure Approval Groups according to these requirements and show working product.
Business Scenario
If Supplier invoice amount is less than $1000, it should be approved by Payables Manager, Mrs.
Meenakshi Mehra and if it’s greater than or equals to $1000, it should be approved by Payables Senior
Manager, Mr. Vaideeswaran Subramanian.
At the same time if such Invoice line amount is less than $1000, it should be approved by Payables clerk,
Mr. Srinivas Nimmalapudi and if it’s greater than or equals to $1000, it should be approved by Payables
clerk, Mr. Raghavender Vutukuru.
i.e.,
Invoice Header < 1000 .....> Meenakshi Mehra
Invoice Header >= 1000 ..... > Vaideeswaran Subramanian
Invoice Line < 1000 ..... > Srinivas Nimmalapudi
Invoice Line >= 1000 ..... > Raghavender Vutukuru
Business Scenario 1 : Process an Invoice with one line that of $900
Business Scenario 2 : Process an Invoice with a line that of $900 and another line that of $1800

Set Up Steps
Step By Step Guide to Setup
This document covers the basic step by step guide to complete the Payables Invoice Approval setup.
1) Payables Option Setup

Check the Use Invoice Approval Workflow Payables option
Navigation: Payables Responsibility>Setup>Options> Payables Options
For Payables application to use Approvals Management Engine, Use Invoice Approval Workflow
Payables option should be checked. The Invoice Approval Workflow automates your invoice approval
process. Based on rules you define, the workflow determines if an entire invoice (document) or invoice
lines need approval, who will the approvers be, and in what order the approvers should approve the
invoice.

If you use Invoice Approval Workflow, then every invoice and invoice line that requires approval must be
approved before you can pay it. Payables indicate that an invoice require approval by setting the value
in the Approval status field in the Invoices window to Required. The approval status is derived from the
approval status of the document maintained at the invoice header and the approval status of the invoice
lines. For example, if the invoice lines require approval and the document does not, the system sets the
approval status for the invoice lines to Required, the approval status for the document to Not Required,
but importantly the derived approval status for the document also to Required.
When you use this feature, all invoices require approval, with the following exceptions.
• Expense reports imported through the Payables Expense Report Export Program (because these
expense reports have already been through an approval process)
• Recurring invoices if the recurring invoice template did not have the Approval Workflow Required
option enabled (because recurring invoices are often approved in advance)
• Invoices that existed before you enabled the feature
• Invoices that completed the Invoice Approval Workflow process and the Invoice Approval Workflow
process determined that according to the rules set up in Oracle Approvals Management that no one
needs to approve the invoice.
Approvers can approve or reject the invoice document or invoice line. If both invoice lines and
document need to be approved, all the lines of the invoice requiring approval must be approved before
the invoice document can be approved.
2) System Administrator
Define User
This is required to access the approval notifications to process Invoice approval request.
Navigation: System Administrator>Security>User>Define

Note: Ensure all the approvers for Invoices are defined as users in the application.
Note: All other approvers’ user details are created like this one.
3) Approvals Management Administrator

Transaction Type: Payables Invoice Approval
Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard
For Transaction Type, Payables Invoice Approval, ensure that the order priority is same for Item class
Header and Line to use Line level approvals.

4) Approvals Management Business Analyst
Navigation: Approvals Management Business Analyst > Business Analyst Dashboard
This is the place where you define Custom Attributes (if needed), Conditions, Approval Groups and AME
Rules to get the invoices approved in system.
4.1) Defining/Using Attributes

Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard
Look for Transaction type: Payables Invoice Approval
Click on Attributes link under Define the components section or click on Setup Icon (I) for the transaction
type.
Under Attributes tab, you can look for seeded attributes or create a new one on need basis.
Here for this test case, we are using below seeded attributes:
1. TRANSACTION_ORG_ID

2. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_LINE_AMOUNT
3. SUPPLIER_INVOICE _AMOUNT
Note: This is a pre-requisite before proceeding to next step.
4.2) Define Conditions

You create Conditions based on the Attributes defined earlier.
Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard> Setup > Conditions (T)
To meet the business requirement here, we created below conditions.

a. TRANSACTION_ORG_ID = 204
b. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_LINE_AMOUNT < $1000
c. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_LINE_AMOUNT >= $1000

d. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT < $1000
e. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT >= $1000
4.3) Use Action Types

The action type used for this test case is Approval-Group Chain of Authority. The Ordering Mode and
Voting Method are set to “Serial” to get invoice approved serially.

Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard> Setup > Action Types (T)
4.4) Define Approval Groups

In this step we define the list of approvers in the needed order so that the workflow sends notification
to get the invoices approved. For this test case, we created an Approval Group based on approver type
HR People.
Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard> Setup > Approval Groups (T)
a. Invoice Header Approval for Amount < $1000

b. Invoice Header Approval for Amount >= $1000

c. Invoice Line Approval for Amount < $1000

d. Invoice Line Approval for Amount >= $1000
4.5) Define “Rules”

Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard> Setup > Rules (T)
a. Invoice Header Approval Rule < $1000
While defining header rule, we will select item class as Header.

The two conditions are added above for this rule.
The action type and the approval group defined are selected.
The review page shows the summary of the rule header, conditions and actions.

Upon click on Finish (B), the rule gets saved and confirmation message will be shown.
As noted above, one of the header rules is created successfully.
b. Invoice Header Approval Rule >= $1000
Similarly another Header Rule is created with other conditions as noted below.

c. Invoice Line Approval Rule < $1000
While defining the Invoice Line rule, we will select the item class as ‘Line Item’.
The Line condition is added then for this rule.
The action type and the approval group defined are selected.
The review page shows the summary of the Line rule header, conditions and actions.

Upon click on Finish (B), the rule gets saved and confirmation message will be shown.
d. Invoice Line Approval Rule >= $1000
Similarly another Line Rule is created with other conditions as noted below.
Having defined two Header and two Line level rules, the Rules section looks like below.

Transactions
1) Create Purchase Orders
Navigation: Purchasing Responsibility> Purchase Orders> Purchase Orders
Create a Purchase Order (PO) using a supplier and get it approved
2) Create Matched Invoice and Complete the AME Approval Cycle
Business Case 1: Process an Invoice with one line that of $900

Navigate to Invoice workbench to create a matched invoice.
Navigation: Payables Responsibility> Invoices> Entry> Invoices/Invoice Batches

Note that the default approval status on the invoice is ‘Required’ as we enabled ‘Use Invoices Workflow’
Payables option.
Created a Purchase Order (PO) matched invoice (AD2000) with a single line for an amount of $900.

As you note, even the Invoice line level Approval status is ‘Required’.
As you note, one can initiate such invoice for approval using either of the methods viz.,
i. Using Actions button of Invoice workbench

ii. Or using concurrent program
Having initiated the invoice for approval, the status of the invoice changed to ‘Initiated’.

As we have both Invoice header and line rules applicable for this transaction, you will note both the
rules honored and processed. Please note that invoice header and line amounts are $900 and hence the
below AME Rules will be honored.
a. Invoice Header Approval Rule < $1000
b. Invoice Line Approval Rule < $1000
To check the Invoice Header approval list/status, keep the cursor in any of the Invoice Header fields and
click on (M) Reports > View Invoice Approval History.
As you note below, both the header and line approval list will be seen from here. Importantly, Invoice
Line Approval notification is sent first and the header (Invoice Approval) notification is set to future.
Once all the line approvals are done, such header approval notifications will be sent.

To check the Invoice line approval list or status, keep the cursor in any of the Invoice Line fields and click
on (M) Reports > View Line Approval History.
As you note, this approval history shows only Invoice Line Approval notification information.

Such invoice approval notifications will be seen in the work list of the Approver (Nimmalapudi, Srinivas).
Note: You can set up your system to request and receive approval through the approver's e-mail,
through the approver's Oracle Workflow Notifications Workflow web page, or both.
Click on the hyperlink of the approval notification to open and act on it.

In this case, the invoice is approved by the approver and post which you will note that the approval
notification is no longer seen as an open work list item.
When we re-query the invoice and check the status of the Invoice approval history, noted that the
Invoice line is approved and now the header rule is honored and a workflow notification is sent to the
approver.
The approval history for this invoice from Invoice Workbench shows as below.
Note: Table AP_INV_APRVL_HIST_ALL contains the approval and rejection history of each invoice that
passes through the Invoice Approval Workflow process. The process inserts a record for each approver
assigned to review an invoice. This table corresponds to the Invoice Approval History window.
The approval status of the invoice line now will be Workflow approved as the line level approval is
complete.

Note: The status of the invoice as such will still be initiated as it is yet to complete the Invoice header
approval.

Now log in as Header approver (Mehra, Meenakshi) and will note that such invoice approval notification
is seen in the worklist.
Open the notification and approve the same.
Note: Table WF_NOTIFICATIONS holds the runtime information about a specific instance of a sent
message. A new row is created in the table each time a message is sent.
Now, having approved by both the header and line approvers, when you re-query the invoice, the status
of the invoice is Workflow Approved.

The approval history of the invoice from General tab of Invoice Workbench shows both the line and
document level approver action.

Business Case 2: Process an Invoice with a line that of $900 and another line that of $1800
Navigate to Invoice workbench to create a matched invoice.
Navigation: Payables Responsibility> Invoices> Entry> Invoices/Invoice Batches
Created a Purchase Order (PO) matched invoice (AD3000) with couple of lines
o One with $900 and
o Another with $1800.
We initiated the invoice for approval using Actions button. The invoice status changed to Initiated
status.

Each of these invoice lines approval status will also be changed to Initiated (from Required).

As we have both Invoice header and line rules applicable for this transaction, you will note both the
rules honored and processed. Please note that invoice header is $2700 and line amounts are $900 &
$1800 respectively and hence the below AME Rules will be honored.
a. Invoice Header Approval Rule > $1000
b. Invoice Line Approval Rule < $1000
c. Invoice Line Approval Rule >= $1000
To check the Invoice Header approval list/status, keep the cursor in any of the Invoice Header fields and
click on (M) Reports > View Invoice Approval History.
As you note below, both the header and line approval list will be seen from here. Importantly, First
Invoice Line Approval notification is sent first and the other line along with header (Invoice Approval)
notification is set to future.
From the work list of the Approver (Nimmalapudi, Srinivas), opened the notification and approved the
invoice line.

Having approved by the line approver, when we re-query the invoice and check the status of the Invoice
approval history, noted that the Invoice line 1 is approved and Line 2 approval notification is sent to the
corresponding approver.
The approval history for this invoice from Invoice Workbench shows as below.
Now from the work list of the Approver (Vutukuru, Raghavender), opened the notification and approved
the invoice line.

The approval history for this invoice from Invoice Workbench shows as below. As noted the Invoice lines
are approved and now the header rule is honored and a workflow notification is sent to the approver.
The approval status of these invoice lines will be shown as Workflow Approved.

Now, log in with Invoice header approver (Vaideeswaran Subramanian) and approve the request.
Now, having approved by both the header and couple of line approvers, when you re-query the invoice,
the status of the invoice is Workflow Approved.

The approval history of the invoice from General tab of Invoice Workbench shows both the lines and
document level approver action.

References
Refer to the following documentation for more information on the Invoice Approval Workflow feature:
Oracle® Payables User Guide Release 12
Oracle® Approvals Management Implementation Guide Release 12
Release 12 Oracle Payables Invoice Approval Workflow Technical Transfer of Information (TOI)

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Oracle Applications White Paper

White Paper on Using Approval

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 1

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................... 4

BUSINESS CASE .............................................................................................................................. 7

BUSINESS SCENARIO ......................................................................................................................................................7

SET UP STEPS ................................................................................................................................ 8

1) PAYABLES OPTION SETUP .................................................................................................................. 8

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 2

• Document-level rules only.

• Line-level rules only.

• Line-level and document-level rules.

Note: This document covers Line-level and document-level rules only.

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 3

1. Main Approval Process

The figure below gives an overview of the main approval flow:

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 4

1.1. Check Header Requirements (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.CHECK_HEADER_REQUIREMENTS) - This

1.2. Check Line Requirements (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.CHECK_LINE_REQUIREMENTS) - This procedure

1.3. Launch line approval Notifications (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.LAUNCH_APPROVAL_NOTIFICATIONS) -

1.4. Get Header Approver (AP_WORKFLOW_PKG.GET_HEADER_APPROVER) - This procedure queries

2. Invoice Lines Approval Process

The following are the main points to note:

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 5

3. Invoice Approval Process

The following are the main points to note:

o If the Approver fails to respond, an escalation notification will be sent to his/her

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 6

Invoice Header < 1000 .....> Meenakshi Mehra

Invoice Header >= 1000 ..... > Vaideeswaran Subramanian

Invoice Line < 1000 ..... > Srinivas Nimmalapudi

Invoice Line >= 1000 ..... > Raghavender Vutukuru

Business Scenario 1 : Process an Invoice with one line that of $900

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 7

1) Payables Option Setup

Navigation: Payables Responsibility>Setup>Options> Payables Options

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 8

• Invoices that existed before you enabled the feature

Navigation: System Administrator>Security>User>Define

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 9

3) Approvals Management Administrator

Navigation: Approvals Management Administrator> Admin Dashboard

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 10

4.1) Defining/Using Attributes

Look for Transaction type: Payables Invoice Approval

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 11

Note: This is a pre-requisite before proceeding to next step.

4.2) Define Conditions

To meet the business requirement here, we created below conditions.

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 12

b. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_LINE_AMOUNT < $1000

c. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_LINE_AMOUNT >= $1000

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 13

e. SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT >= $1000

4.3) Use Action Types

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 14

4.4) Define Approval Groups

a. Invoice Header Approval for Amount < $1000

Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 15

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Oracle/Client Confidential - For internal use only Page 17

4.5) Define “Rules”

a. Invoice Header Approval Rule < $1000