AP: BPM Payables Invoice Approvals

An invoice is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating the products, quantities, and agreed upon prices for the goods or services the seller has provided to the buyer. An invoice indicates the buyer must pay the seller according to the payment terms. One of the most important and difficult aspects in paying an invoice is to verify the invoice details and obtain approvals from the relevant or appropriate approvers. Approval process also enables organizations to review their internal processes and controls to prevent any frauds or scandals that may arise due to the lack of such controls. Such controls are implemented in modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications using workflow functionality.

In this document we discuss in detail the invoice approvals workflow functionality in Oracle Fusion Payables and also discuss in detail various features available for customers to implement their approval policy for payables invoices. Payables use Oracle SOA Suite approval management extensions for various approval flows.

Approval Management Key Components Overview

Approval management in Oracle Fusion Applications is comprised of several key components that are integrated seamlessly for delivering end-to-end and robust approval workflow functionality. Using the approval management functionality you can define complex and multistage routing rules.

Key components of approval management are:

· Oracle SOA Suite Approval Management Extensions

· Oracle Business Process Management (BPM)

· Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM)

Oracle SOA Suite Approval Management Extensions

Approval management extensions of the human workflow services from Oracle SOA Suite are the core of approval functionality in Oracle Fusion Applications and perform many key integrated tasks for approval functionality to work. Some of the key functions of approval management extensions are:

· Integrates with HCM to derive approvers based on the supervisory, job role, and position-based hierarchies defined in HCM.

· Provides the framework for defining approval rules for various business documents like Payables invoices.

· Provides the ability to select complex routing patterns based on your business processes, such as whether to route documents to approvers in sequential or in parallel fashion.

BPM

BPM provides an interface called the BPM Worklist application for business users to perform the following two key activities related to the approvals functionality:

Provides an interface to work with various notifications tasks assigned to them. The BPM Worklist is a web-based application that displays all worklist tasks assigned to the business users and they can perform various approval-related actions on the tasks assigned to them. Using this application, users can drill down to the task assigned to them, for example an approver can drill down to the payables invoice approval notification (task) to see invoice details like header amount, line details, line amounts, and so on, and can perform the necessary approval action.

· Provides an interface to set up and manage approval rules.

HCM

HCM is used for defining various employee hierarchies like supervisory, job-based, or position-based. Approval management extensions integrate with HCM to derive the required approvers if approval rules are configured based on HCM hierarchies.

Approval Key Concepts

List Builders

List builder is the way approvals management builds the list of approvals required for a transaction based on the rule condition. Each approval rule is associated with a list builder for generating the list of approvers. For Payables invoice approvals, the following list builders are supported:

· Supervisory

· Job Level

· Position

· Approval Group

· Resource

Supervisory

Approvals can be set up based on the employee supervisory hierarchy, which is defined in HCM. Employees must be set up in HCM with appropriate jobs and supervisors. For example, the clerk reports to the manager, who reports to the director.

The following figure is an example of an employee and supervisor approval structure.

For complete details on setting up the employee supervisory hierarchy, refer to the HCM application.

Job Level

Job level routings are based on the supervisory hierarchy defined in HCM. Employees must be set up in HCM with the appropriate job levels and supervisors. For example, Job Level1 employee, a clerk, reports to Job Level2 employee, a manager, who reports to Job Level4 employee, a director.

The approval list is generated based on the starting position specified in the rule and continues until an approver with a sufficient job level is found. The supervisory hierarchy needs to be defined along with the corresponding job levels.

The following figure provides an example of a Job Level structure:

For complete details on setting up job levels and assigning job levels to employees, refer to the HCM application.

Position

Organizations can also choose to route invoice approvals based on the position hierarchy defined in HCM. The position hierarchy needs to be defined and employees must be assigned the corresponding positions.

Here’s an example of a position hierarchy approval structure for Beta Retail:

For complete details on setting up the position hierarchy, refer to the HCM application.

Approval Groups

An approval group consists of a static predefined set of users configured to act on a task. Depending on the participant type defined, approval tasks are routed to an approval group in serial or parallel mode. For example, you can create an approval group called Finance Group comprised of users from the finance department who need to participate in the approving of a task.

New approval groups can be created, or existing approval groups can be edited from the Approvals Groups tab on the BPM Worklist application Administration page.

Steps to create an approval group:

1. Click the Administration link.

2. Click the Approval Groups tab.

3. Click the + icon in the left side pane.

4. Enter the name of the approval group.

5. Click the + icon in the Details area to add users to the approval group.

6. Select users to add to the group.

7. Save the approval group.

Resource

Using the Resource list builder, you can build the approvers list by using a specific user, group duty role, or application role. Resource list builder is one of the easiest ways to build the approvers list.

Participant

A participant is a user or set of users who are participating in the approval process, including their routing policy in the process. Each participant is associated with a single rule set. Approval rules are defined in the context of a rule set and you can create many rules under one rule set. Based on your approval requirements, you need to configure the approval rules within the context of a participant.

Types of participants

Participant	Description
Serial	This participant indicates that approvers must work in sequence. This is a commonly-used participant for configuring rules using management hierarchies where approvals are performed in sequential fashion one after another.
Parallel	This participant indicates that a set of people must work in parallel. For example, while using this participant an invoice is assigned to all of the users at the same time and the invoice gets approved only when all of the users approve it. Even if one of the users rejects the invoice, the invoice will get rejected.
Single	This participant indicates that a task will be assigned to a set of people in parallel and the task outcome is decided by a response from any one of the users. In common parlance, this participant is equivalent to a first-responder-wins scenario. For example, if an invoice approval notification is sent to multiple users, and if any one of the users approves or rejects the invoice, then the invoice task is completed with the respective status.
FYI	This participant indicates that users just receive a notification for informational purposes and the business process does not wait for the participant's response. Users cannot perform any actions on FYI notifications.

Payables implementation of participant model

For invoice approvals configuration you need to use task FinAPInvoiceApproval. This task includes participants for both invoices and invoice requests.

Note: An invoice request is an invoice without a purchase order that's submitted through Oracle Fusion Supplier Portal and that's pending approval from the requester.

For Payables approvals we have a total of 16 predefined participants. The following figure shows the predefined participant model for Payables invoice approvals. Out of the 16, participants 1 to 5 relate to invoice requests and participants 6 to 16 relate to invoices.

This participant model is designed to support both parallel and sequential mode of approvals.

- Parallel Mode: When the participants are in parallel mode, the task gets assigned and notifications will go to all of the participants at once in parallel.

For example as shown in the diagram,

Invoice request participants 2 to 5 are executed in parallel.

Invoice participants 6 to 9 are executed in parallel.

- Sequential Mode: The task gets assigned and notifications go in sequential manner, meaning one after another, to each participant in sequential mode. All have to approve sequentially to get the task approved.

For example as shown in the diagram,

Invoice participants 10 to 16 are executed in sequential mode.

Number	Participant	Rule Set	Participant Type
1	InvoiceRequestDefaultApprovers	InvoiceRequestDefaultApproversRuleSet	Single
2	InvoiceRequestAdditionalApprovers	InvoiceRequestApprovalRuleSet	Serial
3	InvoiceRequestSingleApprovalTypeParticipantinParallel	CustomSingleTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	Single
4	InvoiceRequestApproversFYIParticipantinParallel	CustomFyiTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	FYI
5	InvoiceRequestApproversParallelParticipantinParallel	CustomParallelTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	Parallel

Invoice participant details

Number	Participant	Rule Set	Participant Type
6	InvoiceApprovers	InvoiceApprovalRuleSet	Serial
7	InvoiceApproversParallelParticipantinParallel	ParallelTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	Parallel
8	InvoiceApproversSingleParticipantinParallel	SingleTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	Single
9	InvoiceApproversFYIParticipantinParallel	FyiTypeParticipantInParallelModeRuleSet	FYI
10	InvoiceApproversParallelParticipantOneinSequence	ParallelTypeParticipantOneInSequencialModeRuleSet	Parallel
11	InvoiceApproversSingleParticipantOneinSequence	SingleTypeParticipantOneInSequencialModeRuleSet	Single
12	InvoiceApproversFYIParticipantOneinSequence	FyiTypeParticipantOneInSequencialModeRuleSet	FYI
13	InvoiceApproversSerialParticipantTwoinSequence	SerialTypeParticipantTwoInSequencialModeRuleSet	Serial
14	InvoiceApproversParallelParticipantTwoinSequence	ParallelTypeParticipantTwoInSequencialModeRuleSet	Parallel
15	InvoiceApproversSingleParticipantTwoinSequence	SingleTypeParticipantTwoInSequencialModeRuleSet	Single
16	InvoiceApproversFYIParticipantTwoinSequence	FyiTypeParticipantTwoInSequencialModeRuleSet	FYI

Key Considerations

- Only two participants, InvoiceApprovers and InvoiceRequestDefautlApprovers are enabled by default. You need to enable other participants as per your requirements.

- Rules have been predefined for the two active participants InvoiceApprovers and InvoiceRequestDefautlApprovers. You need to review the predefined rules and modify them as per your approval requirements.

- You can disable participants that you do not want to use by selecting the ignore participant option or by defining a rule to ignore the participant as shown in the screenshot below.

Note: You cannot change the order of predefined participants.

- You cannot add participants.

- You cannot change voting regime settings for Parallel and Serial participants.

Use Cases: Implementation using participant types

Use Case 1

Requirement

- Invoices should be approved based on invoice amount. As invoice amounts increase, the number of approver levels also increases. For example, if the invoice amount is less than 1000, then it should be approved by a manager. If the invoice amount is 10000, then it should be approved by a director. If the invoice amount is greater than 100k, then it should be approved by the CEO.

Solution

For the purpose of this use case, you need to enable only one serial participant and use the job level hierarchy list builder. All other participants should be disabled.

o Enable Serial participant InvoiceApprovers and create a rule with the job level hierarchy list builder.

Use Case 2

Requirement

- You want an invoice to be approved by two approvers, one payables manager and one finance manager, and you want approvals to happen simultaneously.

Solution

For the purpose of this use case, you need to enable only one parallel participant. All other participants should be disabled.

o Enable parallel participant InvoiceApproversParallelParticipantinParallel with an approval group comprised of the finance manager and the payables manager.

Use Case 3

Requirement

- You require the requester’s supervisory hierarchy to approve the invoices based on invoice amount limits.

- After approval of the requester’s group, you want the invoice to be approved by any one of the finance managers.

Solution

For the purpose of this use case, you need to use two participants in sequential mode. All other participants should be disabled.

o Enable serial participant InvoiceApprovers with the supervisory hierarchy list builder for configuring the requester’s group approvals.

o The selection of the second participant for finance manager depends on two factors:

§ Execution sequence: As you want approval of the finance manager to happen after the requester’s group approval, you need to use a participant that gets executed after the InvoiceApprovers participant.

§ Participant type: As you want approval of one of the finance managers, you should use a Single type participant.

o Based on the above two factors, you need to enable the Single type participant that gets executed after InvoiceApprovers, which is InvoiceApproversSingleParticipantOneinSequence, with approval group as the list builder. The approval group can have the list of finance managers in your company.

Use Case 4

Requirement

- You require the requester’s job level hierarchy to approve invoices based on invoice amount limits.

- After approval of the requester’s group, the invoice should be approved by any one of the payables managers.

- After approval of a payables manager, the invoice should be approved by a finance group based on invoice limits.

Solution

For the purpose of this use case, you need to use three participants in sequential mode. All other participants should be disabled.

o Enable Serial participant InvoiceApprovers with a supervisory hierarchy list builder for configuring requester’s group approvals.

o Enable InvoiceApproversSingleParticipantOneinSequence for payables manager approval with approval group as the list builder. The approval group can have the list of payables managers in your company.

o Enable InvoiceApproversSerialParticipantTwoinSequence for finance group approval with the job level list builder.

Payables Approvals Overview

Enabling Payables Approvals

To route Payables invoices for approval, you need to enable approvals on the Manage Invoice Options page in the context of the invoicing business unit.

Tasks in Payables

For invoice approvals configuration you need to use the task FinAPInvoiceApproval. This task includes participants for both invoices and invoice requests.

Rules Overview

Approval rules are configured in the context of a rule set from the BPM Worklist application. You need to have administration privileges to configure rules.

Structure of an approval rule:

- Each rule consists of an IF and THEN component.

- In the IF section of the rule, you need to define the condition to determine when the rule should be applied. You can define multiple conditions if needed.

- In the THEN section of the rule, you need to define how approvers are to be generated if the conditions are met. The THEN component consists of a:

o List builder and related attributes

o Response type: Indicates if the assignees are required to respond or if they receive an FYI notification

Automatic action setting: Allows you to set an automatic response, for example automatically approve or reject.

Rules Configuration

Navigation to BPM Worklist

For configuring approval rules, you need to navigate to BPM Worklist. You can navigate to the BPM Worklist application in the following two ways:

1. Using the Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager task Manage Task Configuration for Financials.

2. From the Oracle Fusion Application Toolkit Home page:

o Sign in to Oracle Fusion Applications

o Navigate to the Worklist section -> View menu -> Click Servers.

o Click Financials.

Configuration of simple rule for invoice approvals

In this section we will create an approval rule for the following simple use case:

- All standard invoices greater than 1000 should be approved by the requester specified on the invoice.

1. Sign in to the BPM Worklist application using the Functional Setup Manager task Manage Task Configuration for Financials. The BPM Worklist application home page opens.

2. Click the Administration link on the top right.

3. Click the Task Configuration tab.

4. Navigate to the invoice approvals task FinApInvoiceApproval.

5. Click the InvoiceApprovers participant.

6. Go to the rules configuration page by clicking the Diamond icon.

1. Click the + icon to add the rule.

2. Steps for creating the rule for routing invoices having an invoice amount greater than 1000 to the requester:

a. Enter the rule name and description as required.

b. Define the condition as InvoiceHeader.invoiceAmount more than 1000. You can select the invoice amount field using the Condition Browser by clicking the magnifier icon.

c. Add another condition by selecting the + simple test action from the dropdown menu.

d. Add the second condition to specify the invoice type as “Standard”

9. In the THEN part of the rule, select the Resource list builder by navigating to Add Action -> Add Approver -> Resource.

a. Select the invoice requester attribute in the User field as Task.payload.invoiceRequestor.

b. Enter null in the Groups and Application Role fields.

10. Now validate the rule using the Validate button at the top left-hand corner.

11. Click the Save icon near the top left of the screen to save the rule.

12. Click the Commit icon near the top left of the screen next to the save icon, to complete the rule configuration.

Configuration of rule using Supervisory hierarchy

Let us taken an example where payables invoices should be routed for supervisory hierarchy based on the following invoice limits:

Invoice Amount Greater Than (USD)	Invoice Amount Less Than or Equal To (USD)	Levels of Approval Required
0	5,000	One
5,000	10,000	Two
10,000	20,000	Three
20,000	30,000	Four
30,000	50,000	Five
50,000	100,000	Six
150,000	150,000	Seven
500,000	500,000	Eight

Steps to configure approval rules for the previously mentioned approval limits using Supervisory list builder criteria:

1. Sign in to BPM Worklist or navigate to BPM approval rules through Functional Setup Manager.

2. Navigate to the invoice approvals task FinApInvoiceApproval.

3. Click the InvoiceApprovers participant.

4. Click the + icon to add the rule.

5. Steps for creating the rule for routing invoices having invoice amounts up to 5000 USD to a manager:

a. Enter a rule name and description as required.

b. Define the condition InvoiceHeader.invoiceAmount same or less than 5000.

c. Define the supervisory action by navigating to Add Action -> Add Approver -> Supervisory.

d. Enter Number of levels as 1.

e. Add Starting Participant as HierarchyBuilder.getManager("supervisory",InvoiceHeader.createdBy,-1,"","").

f. Add Top Participant as HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("FINUSER30",-1,"","").

g. Set the Auto Action Enabled field to False.

h. Set the Auto Action field to null.

Note: Default setting for the top of the supervisory hierarchy is FINUSER30. You need to replace FINUSER30 with the highest position in your company like the CEO.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every approval limit. You must also add a row to the IF component specifying the amount limits. The following screenshots provide examples for approval levels 2 through 8.

Two levels up supervisory rule

Three levels up supervisory rule

Four levels up supervisory rule

Five levels up supervisory rule

Six levels up supervisory rule

Seven levels up supervisory rule

Eight levels up supervisory rule

Configuration of rule using Job Level hierarchy

You have a requirement to configure approval rules for the following approval limits and job levels.

Employee Role	Job Level	Approval limit (USD)
Manager	1	5000
Senior Manager	2	10000
Director	3	20000
Senior Director	4	30000
Vice President	5	50000
SVP	6	100000
EVP	7	150000
CEO	8	500000

Steps

1. Define the various job levels in HCM:

· Navigate to Workforce Management -> Work Force Structures.

· Click on Manage Jobs to create the various job levels.

2. Assign job levels to users in HCM:

· Navigate to Navigator -> Personal Management -> Search for the employee.

· Click Manage Employment.

· Click Edit -> Update to update the job for a user or employee.

3. Sign in to BPM Worklist or navigate to BPM approval rules through the Functional Setup Manager task.

4. Navigate to the invoice approvals task FinApInvoiceApproval.

5. Navigate to the InvoiceApprovers participant.

6. Click the + icon to add the rule.

7. Steps for creating the rule for manager level whose approval limit is up to 5000 USD.

· Enter the rule name and description as required.

· Define the condition as

i. InvoiceHeader.invoiceAmount is 5000

1. 8. Define the Job Level action by navigating to Add Action -> Add Approver -> Job Level.

1. 9. Specify the number of levels required to perform the approval action ~~should be specified~~ along with other details.

A lower bound and an upper bound for job levels should be specified. These levels can be relative to the starting point, the task requester, or an absolute job level.

10. For the manager level, approval is required by at least Job Level 1 and at most Job Level 1 (approval rules are modeled using absolute levels).

· Enter At least level as 1.

· Enter At most level as 1.

· Add Starting Participant as HierarchyBuilder.getManager("joblevel", Task.payload.invoiceRequestor,-1,"","")

Note: Considering approval of an invoice starts from the manager of the invoice requester. During invoice entry, you need to manually enter the requester

· Add Top Participant as HierarchyBuilder.getPrincipal("<Top Job Level Name>",-1,"","")

· Set Utilized Participants to All Approvers.

· Set Auto Action Enabled to False.

· Set Auto Action to null.

Note: In our internal instance we have ‘JL9’ as the Top in the hierarchy. You need to replace this with the top participant in your company like CEO as per your requirement.

Similar to the above rule you need to create rules for other job levels in your organization.

Available Attributes

For configuring approvals rules for invoice approval routing, you can use attributes from the invoice header, lines, and distributions. The following tables list the key attributes available for rules configuration, and the following screen shots show the navigation for accessing these attributes from the Condition Browser window.

Invoice header level attributes are included in the InvoiceHeader folder:

Header-Level Attributes

Attribute Name	Description
AmountApplicableToDiscount	Invoice amount applicable for a discount.
AmountWithheld	Tax amount withheld.
Attribute Category	Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the user descriptive flexfield.
Attribute1	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute10	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute11	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute12	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute13	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute14	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute15	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute2	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute3	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute4	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute5	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute6	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute7	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute8	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute9	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
BaseAmount	Invoice amount in the ledger currency.
BatchName	Batch to which the invoice belongs.
BuName	Business unit of the invoice.
ControlAmount	Control total to validate calculated tax.
CorrectionPeriod	Correction period for the invoice being corrected.
CorrectionYear	Correction year for the invoice.
CreatedBy	Name of user who created the invoice.
CreationDate	Date and time of invoice creation.
CustRegistrationCode	Customer legal registration code. Used to derive customer registration number for invoice. Use the Manage Suppliers task, Transaction Tax region to identify valid values.
CustRegistrationNumber	Customer legal registration number. Used to derive customer registration number for invoice header. Use the Manage Suppliers task, Transaction Tax region to identify valid values.
Description	Invoice description.
DocCategoryCode	Sequential numbering (voucher number) document category code.
DocCategoryName	Sequential numbering (voucher number) document category name.
DocumentSubType	A document type required by a tax or governmental authority.
ExchangeDate	Date exchange rate is effective. Usually the accounting date of the transaction.
ExchangeRate	Exchange rate used for foreign currency invoices. User entered conversion rate.
ExchangeRateType	Exchange rate type for foreign currency invoices.
FreightAmount	Freight amount on invoice.
GlDate	Default accounting date for invoice distributions.
GlobalAttributeCategory	Global Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the global descriptive flexfield.
GlobalAttribute1	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute10	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute11	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute12	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute13	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute14	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute15	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute16	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute17	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute18	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute19	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute2	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute20	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute3	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute4	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute5	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute6	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute7	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute8	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute9	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GoodsReceivedDate	Date when goods on the invoice were received.
InvoiceAmount	Invoice amount in transaction currency.
InvoiceCurrencyCode	Currency of invoice.
InvoiceDate	Invoice date used to calculate due date as per payment terms.
InvoiceNum	Supplier invoice number.
InvoiceReceivedDate	Date when the invoice was received. Also known as terms date.
InvoiceTypeLookupCode	Type of invoice.
LastUpdateDate	Date and time when invoice was last updated.
LastUpdatedBy	User who last updated the invoice.
LegalEntityName	Name of legal entity.
PayGroupLookupCode	Groups suppliers or invoices for a single pay run. Examples: employees, merchandise, nonmerchandise.
PaymentCurrencyCode	Currency in which invoice will be paid .
PaymentMethodCode	Payment method, such as check, cash, or credit.
PaymentMethodLookupCode	Name of payment method. Use the Manage Payables Lookup task, lookup type PAYMENT METHOD to identify valid values.
PaymentStatusFlag	Payment status of invoice.
PaymentTerms	Payment terms for the invoice.
PoNumber	PO to which invoice is matched.
Source	Feeder system from which invoice is imported.
SupplierNumber	Supplier identifier.
SupplierTaxExchangeRate	Supplier conversion rate entered in online invoices to calculate the supplier tax amount for foreign currency invoices.
SupplierTaxInvoiceDate	Tax invoice date on the supplier-issued tax invoice.
SupplierTaxInvoiceNumber	The invoice number used to report on a supplier issued tax invoice that is distinct from the regular invoice.
TaxInvoiceInternalSeq	Company-specific tax invoice number, in sequence, issued by the company for a supplier-issued tax invoice.
TaxInvoiceRecordingDate	If company-specific tax invoice date and number is captured, the date the company receives or records the supplier-issued tax invoice.
TaxationCountry	Sets the context for tax drivers such as product classification code.
TermsDate	Used with payment terms to calculate scheduled payment of an invoice.
UriCheckDigit	Unique remittance identifier check digit.
ValidatedTaxAmount	Tax amount after validation.
VendorSiteCode	Supplier site name.
VoucherNum	Unique voucher number.
SupplierName	Name of supplier.

Invoice line level attributes are included in the InvoiceLine folder:

Line-Level Attributes

Attribute Name	Description
LineNumber	Invoice line number.
LineTypeLookupCode	Type of invoice line. For example, item, freight, tax.
Description	Description of the invoice line.
ItemDescription	Item description.
SerialNumber	Number indicating the position in a series for identification.
Manufacturer	Name of a manufacturer of an asset or item.
ModelNumber	Model number of the invoice line item.
WarrantyNumber	Warranty number of the item.
MatchType	Indicates document to which line is matched. For example, order, receipt, or consumption advice,
ProrateAcrossAllItems	Indicates if line amount is prorated across all items.
AccountingDate	Date when the invoice line is to be accounted.
Amount	Amount of the invoice line.
BaseAmount	Invoice amount in the ledger currency.
RoundingAmt	Amount corresponding to rounding included in base amount, if any.
QuantityInvoiced	Quantity invoiced against purchase order shipment.
UnitMeasLookupCode	Unit of measurement for the item line.
UnitPrice	Unit price for purchase order matched invoice items.
IncomeTaxRegion	Reporting region for distribution line for US 1099 supplier.
Type1099	Payments of type 1099 made to a supplier.
AssetBookTypeCode	Default asset book for transfers to Oracle Fusion Assets.
CountryOfSupply	Country from where line item is supplied. Format: two character ISO country code. Example: US for United States.
CreationDate	Date and time of creation of invoice line.
CreatedBy	User who created the invoice line.
LastUpdatedBy	User who last updated the invoice line.
LastUpdateDate	Date and time of the last update of invoice line.
AttributeCategory	Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the user descriptive flexfield.
Attribute1	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute2	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute3	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute4	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute5	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute6	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute7	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute8	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute9	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute10	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute11	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute12	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute13	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute14	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute15	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttributeCategory	Global Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the global descriptive flexfield.
GlobalAttribute1	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute2	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute3	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute4	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute5	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute6	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute7	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute8	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute9	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute10	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute11	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute12	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute13	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute14	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute15	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute16	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute17	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute18	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute19	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute20	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.

Invoice distribution level attributes are included in the InvoiceDistribution folder:

Distribution-Level Attributes

Attribute Name	Description
AccountingDate	Date when the invoice distribution is to be accounted.
AccountSegment	Overrides account segment of the default liability account combination for the invoice line.
Amount	Amount on invoice distribution.
AssetBookTypeName	Default asset book for transfers to Oracle Fusion Assets.
Attribute1	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute10	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute11	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute12	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute13	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute14	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute15	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute2	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute3	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute4	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute5	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute6	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute7	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute8	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
Attribute9	Segment of User Descriptive Flexfield.
AttributeCategory	Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the user descriptive flexfield.
AwtGrossAmount	Amount subject to withholding tax.
BalancingSegment	Overrides balancing segment of the default liability account for the invoice line.
BaseAmount	Amount of invoice in functional currency, only used for foreign currency invoices.
CostCenterSegment	Overrides cost center of the default liability account combination for the invoice line.
CountryOfSupply	Country where services or goods were originated.
CreatedBy	User who created the distribution.
CreationDate	Date and time when distribution was created.
Description	Statement that describes the distribution.
DistMatchType	Indicates whether an invoice matched a PO or a receipt of material.
DistributionClass	Flag that indicates whether this distribution is permanent or built in candidate mode for display to the user. Validated against AP_LOOKUP_CODES with lookup type as DISTRIBUTION CLASS.
DistributionLineNumber	Invoice line number associated with the invoice distribution.
ExchangeDate	Date when a conversion rate is used to convert an amount into another currency for invoice distribution.
ExchangeRate	Ratio at which the principal unit of one currency is converted into another currency for invoice distribution.
ExchangeRateType	Source of currency conversion rate for invoice distribution. For example, user defined, spot, or corporate.
ExpenditureItemDate	Date for project expenditure item used to build Accounting Flexfield for project-related distribution.
GlobalAttribute1	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute10	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute11	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute12	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute13	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute14	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute15	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute16	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute17	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute18	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute19	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute2	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute20	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute3	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute4	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute5	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute6	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute7	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute8	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttribute9	Segment of Global Descriptive Flexfield.
GlobalAttributeCategory	Global Descriptive Flexfield: structure definition of the global descriptive flexfield.
IncomeTaxRegion	Reporting region for distribution for US 1099 supplier.
IntendedUse	Tax Driver: Intended use of product.
InvoiceLineNumber	Invoice line number for parent line.
LastUpdateDate	Date and Time when distribution was last updated.
LastUpdatedBy	User who last updated the distribution line.
LineTypeLookupCode	Distribution type.
MatchedUomLookupCode	UOM used for the quantity invoiced during matching of this distributions.
MatchStatusFlag	Indicates whether the invoice distribution is generated for a purchase order matched line.
PoMatched	Indicates if parent invoice line was matched to PO.
PostedStatus	Indicates if accounting entries for distribution are posted.
QuantityInvoiced	Quantity billed for purchase order or receipt matched invoice distributions.
ReceiptConversionRate	Exchange rate for currency of receipt. Used for expense reports.
ReceiptCurrencyAmount	Amount in receipt currency. Used for expense reports.
ReceiptCurrencyCode	Currency code of receipt. Used for expense reports.
RecoveryRateCode	Rate at which tax is recoverable for a line when you record recoverable tax.
RecoveryRateName	Recovery rate name.
RecoveryTypeCode	Mechanism to administer the recovery process for a specific tax.
StartExpenseDate	Date when incurred expense started. Used for expense reports.
TaxableAmount	Taxable amount for the distribution. This column is used during upgrade and is intended for internal use only.
TaxableBaseAmount	Taxable amount in ledger currency for the distribution. This column is used during upgrade and is intended for internal use only.
TotalDistAmount	Sum Total of Amounts related to this distribution including variance amounts from related Invoice distributions.
TotalDistBaseAmount	Sum Total of Amounts related to this distribution including variance amounts from related Invoice distributions in Base Currency.
Type1099	Payments of type 1099 made to a supplier. A US 1099 supplier may receive payments of more than one type.
UnitPrice	Unit price for purchase order, receipt matched invoice distributions, and price or quantity corrections.

Considerations

1. If any participant is active, then under the rule set for that participant there should be at least one active rule that gets satisfied when the invoice document is submitted for approval. You need to define rules in such a way that for each document, at least one rule gets satisfied under each participant.

2. In Payables you can enable approvals at the invoicing business unit (BU) level. If you enable approvals for any invoicing BU, then all invoice documents (apart from Payment Requests and Invoice Requests) belonging to that invoicing BU will be routed for approval processing. You need to configure autoapproval rules for scenarios when some of the invoices do not need approvals.

a. For example, if you have a requirement to send only invoices more than 1000 USD to be routed for approvals, then you should configure an autoapproval rule to approve invoices below 1000 USD as below:

3. Out-of-the-box, the following two predefined rules are provided. Modify or inactivate the predefined rules as per your requirements.

a. Manager approval rule: Invoices more than 1000 USD require 1 supervisory level approval.

b. Autoapproval rule: Invoices less than 1000 USD should get auto approved.

Perform the following steps to inactivate the rule:

4. By default only one Serial participant (InvoiceApprovers) is active, enable any other participant only based on your requirement.

Perform the following steps to activate (or inactivate) the participant

a. Select the participant to be activated (or inactivated) by clicking on the participant from the participant chart:

b. Click the Advanced tab.

c. Disable the Ignore Participant option to activate the participant.

5. You can submit an invoice for the approval process in the following two ways:

a. Manual submission using the Initiate action on the Manage and Edit Invoices pages

b. Submit the scheduled ~~ESS~~ process Initiate Invoice Approval Workflow.

i. Submit the process by clicking Initiate Approval Workflow from the Tasks pane.

ii. Submit the process from the standard Scheduled Processes window.

6. Distribution update during approval process

During the invoice approval process, users are allowed to update the distribution account. To update the distribution account you need to navigate to the Edit Distributions window by clicking the Edit Distributions button.

Key aspects of this functionality are as follows:

· The distribution account can be updated through the online BPM Worklist notification. Distribution information cannot be updated through the e-mail notification.

· You cannot add ~~new~~ distributions or delete existing distributions.

· You cannot change the distribution amount.

7. Approval Actions: Points to Consider

If you’re using the invoice approval workflow, you can start the approval process for an invoice and handle approval exceptions on the Edit Invoice and Manage Invoices pages. You can select from the following actions:

· Initiate

· Withdraw

· Hold

· Force

· Resubmit

Initiate

This action starts the approval workflow and routes the invoice to the applicable approvers. The approval status on the invoice changes from Required to Initiated.

Withdraw

This action cancels all pending workflow processes and open notifications. The approval status on the invoice changes from Initiated to Withdrawn.

Hold

The Hold action delays the invoice approval. The approval status on the invoice changes from Required to Held from Approval. The invoice still requires approval before it can be paid, and you must initiate approval at a later time.

Force Approve

You may need to force approve an invoice, for example, if an invoice must be paid immediately. Before you can select this action, you must have the appropriate privileges and the Allow force approval option on the Manage Invoice Options page must be enabled. The approval status on the invoice changes to Manually approved.

Note: The Accounts Payable Manager job role can force approve invoices.

Resubmit

You can resubmit an invoice for approval when:

· The approval status on the invoice is:

· Rejected

· Withdrawn

· Held from approval

· Resubmit for approval

· The approval status on the invoice is Workflow approved or Manually approved, and at least one of the following invoice attributes has changed:

o Invoice amount

o Line amount

o Distribution combination

o Distribution set

o Tax amount

o Line added

o Line canceled

Vacation Rules

Using BPM Worklist you can configure vacation rules. When a user is going on a planned leave, they can set their own vacation rules so that someone can act on their behalf. Administrators have access to set vacation rules for others. This is usually done in scenarios where someone leaves the company or stops coming to work all of a sudden (unplanned leave like sick leave).

Navigation:

1. Navigate to the BPM Worklist application.

2. Click the Preferences link.

3. Click the My Rules link.

4. Click Vacation Period in the Rules pane.

5. Select the Enable vacation period option.

6. Enter a Start and End Date representing the vacation period.

7. Click the Delegate to button and select the user from the identity browser to whom you want to delegate in your absence.

Escalation Policies

Using BPM Worklist you can configure escalation policies for invoice approvals. When a user does not respond and perform any action to the approval notification assigned to them, you can configure escalation policies to send escalation notifications to the managers.

Navigation:

1. Navigate to the BPM Worklist application.

2. Click the Administration link and the Task Configuration tab.

3. Click the Edit icon.

4. Click the FinApInvoiceApproval task.

5. Navigate to the Deadlines section.

6. Click the Escalate link.

· Duration: The time you need to allow users to respond before initiating the escalation process.

· Maximum Escalation Levels: You can specify the number of levels above a user that you want to escalate to.

For example, you specify escalation levels of 2 and duration of 1 day. If a user does not act on a notification after one day, the escalation process is initiated and a notification is sent to the user's manager. If the user's immediate manager also does not respond after one day, then the escalation proceeds to the next level.

· Highest Approval Title: You can also specify the highest level to which you want to send an escalation notification.

Expiration Settings

Using BPM Worklist you can configure expiration policies for invoice approvals. You can use this setting to expire the invoice approval notification assigned to the user when they do not respond within the stipulated time as per your approval policies.

For example, you have an approval policy to allow users to respond to the invoice approval notifications assigned to them within three days. You can configure expiration settings with 3 days as the duration and, if the user does not respond within three days, the notification expires and the invoice gets rejected.

Navigation:

1. Navigate to the BPM Worklist application.

2. Click the Administration link and the Task Configuration tab.

3. Click the Edit icon.

4. Click the FinApInvoiceApproval task.

5. Navigate to the Deadlines section.

6. Click the Expire link.

Renew Settings

Using BPM Worklist, you can configure renewal settings for invoice approvals. You can extend the expiration period for when the user does not respond within the stipulated time as per your approval policy. As part of renewal settings, you need to specify the duration and number of times the task has to be renewed upon expiration.

For example, if you want to renew a notification an additional two times, you can set the Maximum Renewals field to 2, and if the duration of renewal is three days, then set the duration as 3 days.

Navigation:

1. Navigate to the BPM Worklist application.

2. Click on the Administration link and the Task Configuration tab.

3. Click the Edit icon.

4. Click the FinApInvoiceApproval task.

5. Navigate to the Deadlines section.

6. Click the Renew link.

Reminder Settings

Using BPM Worklist, you can configure reminder notification settings for invoice approvals. You need to configure reminder notifications in conjunction with your escalation duration settings. For example, if you set the expiration duration as 3 days, then you can specify reminder settings to send reminder notifications every day for three times.

Navigation:

1. Navigate to the BPM worklist application.

2. Click on the Administration link and the Task Configuration tab.

3. Click the Edit icon.

4. Click the FinApInvoiceApproval task.

5. Navigate to the Notifications section.

6. Select the Enable Reminder option.

Approval Notifications

Approvers can access the invoice approval notifications (tasks) pending their disposition in the following two ways:

o BPM Worklist – My Tasks

o E-mail Notifications

BPM Worklist – My Tasks:

Approvers can perform the following actions from BPM Worklist notifications:

· Approve the task.

· Reject the task.

· Withdraw the task.

· Reassign or delegate the task.

§ The Reassign action transfers the task to another user or group. The task is then routed based on the specified user’s hierarchy.

§ The Delegate action allows another user to act on your behalf.

· Request additional information from other users, such as the task creator, previous approver, or another user.

· Add attachment.

· Add comments.

· Edit distributions.

E-Mail Notifications

Invoice approvals can be performed using e-mail notifications. An e-mail is sent to the approver based on the mail ID defined in Oracle Identify Management for that approver. Approvers can perform the following actions using e-mail:

· Approve the task.

· Reject the task.

· Add attachment.

· Add comments.

To perform other actions, approvers should access the worklist notification by signing in to Oracle Fusion Applications.

FAQ

1. What happens if I edit or delete an approval rule?

If you edit or delete an existing approval rule, then approvals currently in progress complete as if the rule had not been edited or deleted. New approvals follow the latest version of the rule.

2. Why can’t we see the Approve and Reject actions in our e-mail notifications?

You need to enable the Make notification actionable option to allow approvers to perform approve and reject actions from e-mail notifications.

i. Navigate to BPM Worklist -> Administration -> Task Configurations.

ii. Select the FinApInvoiceApproval task.

iii. Navigate to the Notifications tab.

iv. Select the Make notification actionable option.

3. How can I enable e-mail notifications for approvers?

You need to set the Notification Mode to ALL in the workflow notification properties for receiving e-mail notifications. By default this option is set to ALL.

The notification mode can have the following values:

· ALL – For both web and e-mail notifications

· EMAIL – For e-mail notifications

· NONE – No notifications

To set the notification mode, you:

1. Sign in to the Oracle Enterprise Manager.

2. Locate the SOA server for the HCM domain (Farm_FinancialDomain > SOA > soa-infra (soa_server1).

3. Right click and navigate to SOA Administration > Workflow Properties.

4. Note that the Notification Mode field has the value ALL.

4. How can I assign a pending approval task to another person?

You can select the pending approval task from the BPM Worklist and perform the Reassign action.

5. What’s the difference between the actions Reassign and Delegate?

· Reassign results in transferring the ownership of the task to another user or group. For example, use this option if you should not have received the notification and you want to send it to the correct recipient or to another recipient for resolution. A transfer may have the effect of changing the approval hierarchy for the notification.

· Delegate allows another user to act on behalf of the current assignee. Using the Delegate action you can assign the approval task to another user just to act upon, on behalf of the current user. This is primarily used in the scenarios of vacation or the current approver changed their job role and is no longer responsible for approval of the task.

6. How can I configure expiration and escalation policies?

From the BPM Worklist, you need to navigate to the Deadlines tab for configuring expiration and escalation settings.

Navigation: BPM Worklist -> Administration -> Task Settings -> Select Task FinApInvoiceApproval -> Deadlines

For additional details refer to Escalation and Expiration sections in this document.

7. How can I send reminder notifications to assignees?

You can configure reminder notifications from the Notifications tab on the task configuration settings.

Navigation: BPM Worklist -> Administration -> Task Settings -> Select Task FinApInvoiceApproval -> Notifications

8. How can I set up a rule such that the notification reaches multiple users at the same time and only one of them needs to approve?

You need to configure the approval rule using Single participants to achieve this. Refer to the Participant section for additional details on the Single participant type.

9. Can I configure vacation rules per BPM Worklist task?

Yes, you can configure vacation rules per task and assign different users per task to act on behalf of the user going on vacation. Refer to the Vacation Rules section for additional details.

10. Can an administrator or manager configure vacation rules on behalf of other users?

Yes, an admin or manager can configure vacation rules on behalf of the other users in the application.

11. Can I convert a foreign currency invoice amount to a ledger currency amount during approval rules processing?

Yes, you can convert a foreign currency invoice amount to a ledger currency amount by applying the conversion rate using the CurrencyConversionGlobal.getRate function.

Format: CurrencyConversionGlobal.getRate(fromCurrency,toCurrency,conversionDate,conversionType,ledgerId)

Example:

For example, you have a requirement to have an approval policy implemented in your ledger currency amounts and to have foreign currency transactions evaluated in the ledger currency during rules evaluation. You can convert the foreign currency invoice amount to the ledger currency amount using the previously-mentioned format.

Syntax for converting invoice amount to ledger currency amount:

InvoiceHeader.invoiceAmount*CurrencyConversionGlobal.getRate(InvoiceHeader.invoiceCurrencyCode,"USD",InvoiceHeader.invoiceDate,"Corporate",1)

12. How can I create a global list and use it in the rules as an alternative to approval groups?

A global list can be created as a global variable by using the function RL.list.create().

Steps to create a global list:

a. Navigate to the (x) Globals section from the Assignees tab.

b. Create a global attribute, for example, ‘Managers’ using the function RL.list.create().

c. Use the Managers attribute in the rules configuration as shown in the following screenshot

13. How can I make changes to an invoice after the approval process is already initiated?

To make changes to the invoice, you need to withdraw the invoice from approval using the Withdraw action. Once you withdraw the invoice, all of the existing task assignments are canceled and the invoice is available for modification. Once you complete changes to the invoice, you can reinitiate the approval by resubmitting the invoice.

14. We have some approved invoices in another application and imported them to Payables. We do not want to re-trigger approvals for these invoices in Payables, how can we achieve this?

Payables support automatic actions as part of rules processing. You can configure a rule to autoapprove these invoices. In the THEN part of the rule, you need to set Auto Action Enabled to True and Auto Action to “APPROVE”.

15. How can I control when to pick up an invoice for approval initiation?

We do not want an invoice to get picked up for approval initiation even though it is entered in the application.

Out-of-the-box Payables provides two options on the Manage Invoice Options page to decide on the invoice approval starting point.

· If the option Require validation before approval is selected, then invoices must be validated before submission for approval.

· Similarly, if the option Require accounting before approval is selected, then the invoices can be submitted for approval only after creating the accounting.

Apart from these two options, you can also use the Hold from Approval action to hold an invoice from routing through the approval process.

16. Who can perform the Force approval action on an invoice and how can I enable this action?

The Force approval action is only available to users with the Payables Manager Job role. You need to enable the Allow force approval option on the Manage Invoice Options page to allow users to perform this action.

AP: BPM Payables Invoice Approvals

Approval Management Key Components Overview

Job Level

Approval Groups

Types of participants

Initiate

Withdraw

Hold

Force Approve

Resubmit

Vacation Rules

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