Approvals Management Engine 2017

Oracle Approvals Management (AME) Case
Studies for AP, PO and HR

Updated September-2017
Presented By
Susan Behn
VP, Oracle Practice

About the Speaker
Oracle Ace
Over 20 years E-Business Suite development and support
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Agenda
AME Overview
Setup examples
AME Administrator Tasks
Sample Business Case Scenarios/Testing Workbench
Payables
Purchase Requisitions
Human Resources iRecruitment Vacancy Approval
Migration with FNDLOAD
Other tips
5 Gold
Partner
What is AME?
Purpose is to find approvers based on business rules
AME generates the approver list
AME returns the next approver to calling application
Request for next approver re-generates approver list to
return next approver to calling application
Integrated with multiple E-Business applications such
as HR, PO and AP
APIs allow integration with 3rd party apps
6 Gold
6
Partner
AME and Approval Workflows
Approval routing is controlled by AME rules via workflow
Workflow sends request to AME to find approvers
AME rules determine next approver and sends person_id,
user_id, position_id, etc back to workflow (id based on
approver type
Workflow sends notification to approver identified by AME
AME
7 Gold
Partner
Advantages of AME
Reduces approval cycle time
But some workflow approvals have functionality to reduce
cycle time
Approval Rules can be developed by business users
with minimal development assistance
Approver Lists leverage off existing Oracle hierarchies
(e.g. HR supervisor, HR position)
Approver Lists can also leverage off custom hierarchies
AME responds to changes such as organization
hierarchies or rule changes
Alternative is workflow customization
Requires significant development expertise
8 Gold
Partner
Planning for AME
Gain support from the management team and users
Plan for all corporate rules using flow charts or decision
trees
Provides basis for testing
Improves overall logic by identifying combinations
Identifies alternatives
Speeds implementation process
Identifies potential problems
12 Gold
Partner
Setups for some Transaction Types
Setup requirements vary by transaction type
Refer to the user guide for the application
Will cover the following as examples
iExpenses
Payables
Purchasing
GL Journals
HR iRecruitment
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Partner
iExpenses AME Setup
Profile option AME: Installed must be set to Yes at the
Application level for Payables to use AME for iExpenses
This has no impact on approvals for payables invoices
For additional details see Oracle Internet Expenses

Implementation and Administration Guide section Setting
Up Approval Rules
For line level approvals, define Cost Center orgs and
Approval Managers
See MOS note 261362.1
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Partner
Payables Invoices AME Setup
SetupOptionsPayables
Options Approval Tab
Check Use Invoice Approval
Workflow
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Payables Holds Resolution AME Setup
Invoice Holds Resolution
SetupInvoicesHold and Release Names
For the hold type check boxes for initiate workflow and
manual release allowed
MOS Doc ID 549538.1
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Purchasing AME Setup
SetupPurchasingDocument Types
Query the document Type
Enter the approval transaction type for the document type to
use AME.
PURCHASE_REQ for Purchase Requisition Approval
INTERNAL_REQ for Internal Requisition Approval
Approval workflow must =

workflow in AME transaction
type
17 Gold
Partner
General Ledger AME Setup
Profile Options
Set AME: Installed to Yes at the Application level
Set GL: Use Approval Management (AME) for journal
approval to yes at the site level
Optional: Set GL: Number of journal lines to display in
AME journal approval notification
Default is 5
See Next Two Slides
Check the Enable Journal Approval check box in
Accounting Setups Ledger Options
Whether to use JE Approval is set per Ledger
Once selected, default is Employee / Supervisor
Check the Require Journal Approval check box for each
journal source that should be subject to approval
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Accounting Setups Ledger Options
Check Enable Journal Approval
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Setup Journal Sources
Check the Require Journal Approval box
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iRecruitment Vacancy Approval AME Setup
iRecruitment Vacancy Approval is delivered with
seeded rules
If different rules are needed, create a custom
transaction type for iRecruitment
Change the profile option IRC: Vacancy Approval
Transaction Type to the new transaction type name
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Partner
AME Access
AME uses Oracle Role Based Access Model (RBAC) to
access AME components
Functional Administrator Responsibility
Grant access to data (who can see what transaction type)
User Management Responsibility
Login in as the SYADMIN user
Grant access to roles
Approvals Management Business Analyst - define business cases
Approvals Management Administrator - add transaction types, add
approver types and view logs
User Management Presentations with Details
http://www.infosemantics.com/presentation-downloads/
EBS User Management for Dummies Current
requirements and features including Grants, Permissions,
RBAC and Proxy users
22 Gold
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AME Building Blocks
Approver Types
Configuration Variables Global defaults or per
transaction type
General Variables
Rule Priority Modes
Forwarding Behaviors
Transaction Types
Attributes
Conditions
Actions/Action Types
Approver Groups
Rules
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Approvals Management
Administrator Tasks
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Administrator Dashboard
See exception log to resolve errors, create transaction
types and enable approver types
Users, Employees, Positions,

TCA Parties, Etc
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Administrator Dashboard - Approver Types
Verify approver types needed are enabled or click the
button to add an approver type from the list
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Configuration Variables - General
Control runtime behavior
Default applies to all transaction types
Change for
specific
trans. type
transaction
type
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Rule Priority Modes
Scroll down the configuration variables page to set the rule priority mode
for each rule type
Options are disabled, relative or absolute
For absolute or relative, enter a numeric threshold (1 is highest priority)
Threshold is compared to the rule priority during run time
Absolute if the evaluated priority value < rule priority mode, rule is processed
Relative processes the highest number of rules = the threshold value
Details on how this works is explained in MOS Id: 225672.1
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Forwarding Behaviors
Scroll down the configuration variables page to set
forwarding behaviors
Determines how AME treats both the forwarder and
forwardee when request for approval is forwarded
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Forwarding Behavior Choices
Ignore treats as approval
Forwardee Only add forwardee to approver list
Forwardee then Forwarder add both to approval list
Skip Forwarder extend chain of authority starting with
forwardee, but skip forwarder
Repeat Forwarder extend chain of authority starting
with forwardee and include forwarder
Remand add to approver list all approvers between
the forwardee and the forwarder including the forwarder
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Partner
Transaction Types
What will be approved
Invoice, requisition, salary change
R12.2.6 has 251 transaction types
Custom transaction types can be created
For the next few slides, query Payables Invoice
Approval and click the pencil to edit
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Transaction Type - Item Classes
Page 2 shows levels at which approval rules can be
configured
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Transaction Type - Mandatory Attributes
Some values can be changed
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Approvals Business
Analyst Tasks
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Business Analyst Dashboard
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Transaction Type
Query transaction type, then click the setup icon to edit
attributes, conditions, action types and approver groups
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Attributes
Variables used to build rules (e.g. invoice amount,
supplier, etc.)
Can be static (constant value) or dynamically retrieved at
runtime (SQL query)
Basic attributes seeded for all transaction types
Existing attributes can be modified
SUPERVISORY_NON_DEFAULT_STARTING_POINT_PERS
ON_ID Update to start with a different person
Create additional attributes for anything linked to
transaction id for header (invoice id, requisition id)
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Seeded Attributes
Examples from the Payables Invoice Approval
transaction type
Description makes this very intuitive to utilize
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Create Attribute for Sales Tax Approval Rule
Attribute to return the number of sales tax lines that
exist
Lookup
code = TAX
Tax code
name =
SALES TAX
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Partner
Conditions
Represent the IF part of an approval rule
Attributes are evaluated runtime
This is why AME adjusts immediately to changes
Result can either be true or false
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Partner
Condition Types
Ordinary
Compare attribute to value or range
Exception
Same as ordinary but can only be used in List Creation
Exception Rule Types
List Modifier
Checks for presence of specified approver
The action will determine what happens when this approver is
encountered
Any Approver
Or
Final Approver
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Partner
Actions/Action Types
Represent the Then part of an approval rule
Provide instruction to AME when an approval rule has
been satisfied
Determine the approvers and number of approvers
Action Types are grouping of actions
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Action Types
Grouping of Actions
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Action Types Use Existing Action Type
If action type needed does not appear, click the Use
Existing Action Type Button
Next, choose the rule Type
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Action Types Use Existing Action Type
Select action type to add for the rule type
Symbol denotes
action types already
available for use
45 Gold
Partner
Actions for Chain of Authority Rule type
Example of Action Types and Actions for Chain of
Authority Rule Type
Available Action Types
Actions for Absolute

Job level selected type
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Partner
Action Type Examples
Action Type Description Example

Absolute-job-level ~Ascends HR Require approvals up
supervisor hierarchy to at least job level six
~Based on specific job Specific purchase
level types
Relative-job-level ~Ascends HR Require approvals at
supervisor hierarchy least four levels up
~Based on job level Pay changes
relative to requesters
job level
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Partner

Manager-then-Final- ~Ascends HR Require approval up
Approver supervisor hierarchy to first supervisor and
~Supervisor and final level six final approver
approver are required Capital with CFO
to approve approval
Supervisory-Level Ascends HR Require approvals up
supervisor hierarchy a to three supervisors
specified number of Expenses
levels
48 Gold
Partner

HR-Position Ascends HR position Require approvals up
hierarchy up to a to Accounting
specified position Manager
HR approvals
Approver-Group ~Ascends custom If transaction item is
Chain-of-Authority approver hierarchy related to a project
~Builds chain-of- Approver groups
authority type based on project roles
approver list
49 Gold
Partner

Final-Authority Grants final authority If Approver is Susan
to an approver by Behn, allow final
ending the approval approval
chain when target VP Approval
approver is reached
Pre and Post Chain- Approvers are added Require IT pre-

Of-Authority before or after normal approval for hardware
chain-of-authority list purchase
build for a transaction Accounting and
Technical
50 Gold
Partner
Create New Approver Group
Dynamic approver groups are better than static due to
maintenance requirements due to employee turnover
51 Gold
Partner
Dynamic Approver Group
Get key
members
with role
Project
Manager
for each
project on Will return
invoice multiple project
managers if
distributions more than one
project
referenced in
lines
52 Gold
Partner
Voting Method
Serial one-at-a-time, if order number same then AME
breaks tie arbitrarily, all must approve
Consensus parallel, all must approve
First Responder Wins parallel, first response determines
response for group
Order Number notified in sequence of order number, if
order number same then notified in parallel, all must
approve
53 Gold
Partner
Rules
Represent the translation of an organization business
approval rule in AME
Associate one or more conditions to a rule
When the rule applies
Select an action type to build approver list
What to do when the conditions are met
Can have multiple rules each yielding a different list of
approvers
Rules re-evaluated during each approval iteration
54 Gold
Partner
Rule Types
List Creation
Generate Chain-of-Authority Approver Lists
IF INVOICE_AMOUNT > $500K , THEN REQUIRE
APPROVALS UP TO 2 SUPERVISORS
List-Creation Exceptions
Uses one ordinary condition and one exception condition
IF INVOICE_AMOUNT < 1000 AND (Exception)
SUPPLIER_TYPE IS IN (UTILITY) THEN REQUIRE
APPROVALS UP TO 1 SUPERVISORS
Combination
Combination of actions
IF REQUESTER IS JOHN DOE, REQUIRE PRE-APPROVAL
FROM TEAM LEAD, POST-APPROVAL FROM AP MANAGER
55 Gold
Partner
Rule Types
List-Modification
Used to extend or reduce final approver authority
IF INVOICE_AMOUNT > 5000 AND PAYGROUP IS COMPEQUIP
AND ANY APPROVER IS GERALD JONES GRANT FINAL
AUTHORITY
Substitution
Allows an approver on approver list to be substituted for
another person
Alternative for vacation rules
IF ANY APPROVER IS GERALD JONES, THEN SUBSTITUTE
SUSAN BEHN FOR THE APPROVER
Pre- and Post-List
Approvers are inserted either before or after the normal chain-
of-authority approver list
IF LINE-TYPE IS TAX, THEN REQUIRE PRE-APPROVAL FROM
TAX DEPARTMENT
56 Gold
Partner
Testing Workbench and
Business Cases
57 Gold
Partner
Testing Workbench
11i.AME.B provides a testing workbench to allow
defined business rules to be evaluated and tested
against transactions
Testing workbench allows user to verify various aspects
of setups
Are attribute values, particularly custom attributes,
retrieving values correctly?
Does the invoice satisfy the appropriate rule?
Is the proper approver chain being generated for the
transaction based on the rule chosen?
Examples will be shown in Business Cases later in this
presentation
58 Gold
Partner
Business Case 1- Payables
For project related invoices, require pre-approval from
key project members in the following roles:
Project Manager
Require approval for project related invoices as follows:
500 - 10K Go up supervisor hierarchy 1 level
>10K Go up supervisor hierarchy 2 levels
59 Gold
Partner
Business Case 1 AME Components
Transaction Type = Payables Invoice Approval
New Conditions
SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT >= $500 and <= $10,000
SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT > $10,000
Actions/Action Types use existing action types not new
Supervisory Level Require approvals up to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd
supervisor
Pre-chain-of-authority approvals pre-approval from approver groups
New Dynamic Approver Groups to find employee in key role
SB_PROJECT_MANAGER example on slide 48
New Rules
Option 1 ***This options shown in example on following slides
Combination Rule for $500 to $10,000
Combination Rule > $10,000
Option 2
Pre-Approval Rule
Supervisor Rule
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Business Case 1 - Conditions
SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT >= 500 and <= 10K
SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT > 10K
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Partner
Business Case 1 - Actions
Make sure your new approval group is available for Pre
List Approver Group Rule Types
Use existing actions and select pre-chain-of-authority-
approvals
Approval Groups will be available as actions
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Partner
Business Case 1 - Combination Rule for
Project Invoices 500 10K
Matched POs
would already
be approved
Can have
different rules
by ledger,
operating unit,
etc
63 Gold
Partner
Business Case 1 - Combination Rule for
Project Invoices > 10K
Only
difference
is this one
goes to
two
superiors
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Partner
Business Case 1 - Test
Create Invoice with a Project number
Invoice Amount $6000 related to Project
Susan Behn is Requester, Pat Stock is Susans
Supervisor
Casey Brown is Pat Stocks supervisor
Pat Stock is also Project Manager for FP201
65 Gold
Partner
Testing Workbench
Get the ID of the transaction using HelpExamine or query
Click the test icon
Run real transaction test
Enter transaction id and click GO
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Partner
Testing Workbench
Scroll down to view values of all attributes
Click Run Test Case to see test results
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Testing Workbench
Use to show details for rules and approvers
View Approval Process Stages to view additional details
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Testing Workbench - Expand Rule Details
Rule details expanded
Shows rule applied, applicable conditions met and
resulting actions
69 Gold
Partner
Testing Workbench - Suppress Repeated
Approvers
Pat Stock is repeated (Supervisor and Project Manger)
Repeated approvers are suppressed - Pat will only get
approval request once
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View Approval History from Invoice
After initiation of approval
After Pat Stock approves
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Partner
Business Case 2 - Purchasing
Requisition approvals are based on supervisor level
approvals based on total requisition amount
0 to 25K 1 Supervisor
25K to 50K 2 Supervisors
50K to 100K 3 Supervisors
> 100K 4 Supervisors
New vehicle purchases must be approved by a director
level with an approval authority job level = 5
Pre-approvals are required for some requisitions based
on item category
Computer PC purchases must be pre-approved by the IT
manager
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Partner
Business Case 2 AME Components
Transaction Type = Purchase Requisition Approval
Attributes
None attributes used in this rule are seeded
New Conditions
ITEM_CATEGORY = AUTOMOTIVE.VEHICLE
ITEM_CATEGORY = COMPUTER.PC
REQUISTION_TOTAL Create conditions for each range
Approval Groups
IT Approver - approval group for IT purchases
New Rules
Supervisor rules based on requisition total
Pre-Approval rule for computer purchases
Absolute Job Level rule for vehicle purchases
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Partner
Business Case 2 - Conditions
Item Category Conditions
Vehicle
Computer Equipment
Requisition Total Conditions
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Business Case 2 Approval Group
Approval Group for IT Purchases
Try to avoid static approvers due to maintenance
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Business Case 2 Rules
Requisition Total Rules
Rule 1 shown
Create rules 2-4 similar with different ranges and action
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Partner
Pre-Approval Rule for Computer Purchases
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Partner
Set the Approval Authority
SetupPersonnelJobs Absolute Job Level Rule
for Vehicle Purchases
Approval authority =
absolute job level in AME
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Partner
Business Case 2 Test 1
Create Requisition for New Car
Category = AUTOMOTIVE.VEHICLE (need job level 5 or above
approval)
Amount = $45K
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Partner
Susans Supervisor is Pat Stock
Pat Stocks Authority
Pat Stocks Supervisor is Casey Brown

Casey Browns Authority
80 Gold
Partner
Vehicle Purchase Rule and second Amount Based Rule
apply
Repeated Supervisors are suppressed
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Create Requisition for Computer Purchase
Category = COMPUTER.PC (need IT pre-approval)
Amount = $3K (need approval from 1 supervisor)
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Partner
Computer Purchase Rule and Amount Base Rule 1 apply
Mary Palmer from approver group
Casey Brown(Pat Stocks supervisor)
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Partner
Business Case 3 iRecruitment Vacancy
Approval
A FYI Notification should be sent to the hiring manager
when a requisition has been created on their behalf (i.e.
Recruiter)
Requisition is sent to the hiring managers VP for approval
If there is no VP then it should go to the Division Controller
If VP approves requisition it goes to the Controller for this
hiring manager
If Division Controller approves it goes to the Hiring
Managers SVP which is based on the people group
There may not be a SVP. If not, go to the next level
If SVP approves it goes to the Hiring Managers EVP or
CFO, COO or President also identified by the people group
84 Gold
Partner
Approval
This example is to show how powerful AME can be if
needed
However, make an effort to simply approval processes
before building AME rules
Question the value of this level of complexity
Complex logic was all be accomplished with dynamic
sql approver groups
SQL statements
SQL statements calling packages
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Approval
Custom approver groups were used to determine the
various VPs and controllers
The dynamic query in this case calls a package to handle
the advanced logic
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Partner
Approval
More dynamic approver groups
These are just sql statements where a complex package
was not needed
87 Gold
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AME Setup Migration
See MOS note 1168883.1
Uses FNDLOAD
Available for
Attributes amesmatt.lct
Conditions amesconk.lct
Approval Groups amesappg.lct
Action Type Usages amesaagc.lct
Action Types amesaatc.lct
Rules amesrulk.lct
Rule Actions amesactu.lct
88 Gold
Partner
Tips and other issues
Workflow timeout processing- MOS note 421904.1
It is common practice for calling applications to send a "No
Response" status back to AME in the case of a timeout
AME will use the Surrogate functionality (often the Supervisory
hierarchy) to try and get a response before moving to the next
approver as per defined rules
Handle with vacation rules to avoid surrogate functionality default
processing
Modify workflow to handle timeouts differently for AME
Timeout and last approver in chain
Workflow errors No surrogate approver exists See enhancement
request Bug 3092952
Create an exception rule but you could end up in a loop in this case
Profile option AME: Append to List option on Approvers region
If set to "no, the "Append to List" option is not available
89 Gold
Partner
Final Approver Timeout Options
When final approver times out, keep sending him the reminder
notification at a specific interval, till approved
This requires to configure the timeout period appropriately in the
workflow delivered
When final approver times out, keep waiting till the approver
approves it
This requires a minor change in the workflow not to timeout
When final approver times out, do not update this approvers
response, instead send a notification to system administrator for
manual intervention
This will require a minor change in the workflow to send the required
notification
A substitution rule can be defined in AME to substitute the final
approver with a proxy approver
This proxy approver can be a personal assistant or somebody in
authority who reports to this final approver
In this case, AME will substitute the proxy approver.
90 Gold
Partner
AME Operating Units and Business Groups
To set up separate rules for operating units, use the
attribute for Operating Unit in a condition
Across Business Groups
By default, ascends the chain of the business group of
the transaction requestor
Can change by updating the
NON_DEFAULT_POSITION_STRUCTURE_ID attribute
Depends on Application
For example, purchase setup is in the document type which is
different for each OU
Ensure the profile option HR: Cross Business Group is
set to Yes
Supervisor's Job must exist in the OU where the
requisition was created
91 Gold
Partner
References
Oracle Support Document 2083817.2 ( Information
Center: Oracle Approvals Management (All Application
Versions))
Oracle Support Document 1168883.1 (How To Migrate
AME Setups From One Instance To Another)
Oracle Support Document 1207863.1 (Master
Reference For AME Based Requisition Approval In
R12)
Oracle Support Document 431815.1 (Oracle Approvals
Management (AME) Frequently asked Questions
(FAQ))
Oracle Support Document 1316098.1 (R12: Purchasing
PO Approval Chain Diagnostic Test)
92 Gold
Partner
Questions?
Comments
Thank You!!!
Susan Behn
Susan.Behn@Infosemantics.com
93 Gold
Partner

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Oracle Approvals Management (AME) Case

Studies for AP, PO and HR

VP, Oracle Practice

3 Membership Tiers Connect:

Nominate yourself or someone you know: acenomination.oracle.com

For additional details see Oracle Internet Expenses

Approval workflow must =

Users, Employees, Positions,

Next, choose the rule Type

Available Action Types

Actions for Absolute

Action Type Description Example

Action Type Description Example

Action Type Description Example

Action Type Description Example

Pre and Post Chain- Approvers are added Require IT pre-

SUPPLIER_INVOICE_AMOUNT > 10K

Approval Groups will be available as actions

Run real transaction test

Enter transaction id and click GO

After Pat Stock approves

Requisition Total Conditions

Pat Stocks Supervisor is Casey Brown

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