Set Up Buyers, Approvers, and Approver Groups (Invoices, requisitions, check requests, journal vouchers only) Version

Materials Management users: This chapter covers setting up buyers who authorize purchase orders and approve requisitions, invoices, and check requests.
AP Users: For vendor and Check Name approvals, see Vendor Approval Processing.
General Ledger users: This chapter covers mass maintenance for journal vouchers. For the entire approval process, see Journal Voucher Approvals.

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Overview

System administrators set up identities and permissions for users, including users who approve requisitions, invoices, check requests, and journal vouchers.

Once users are identified to the system, they can be assigned to review and authorize purchase orders from particular organizations, departments, asset locations, and vendors. Buyers and other staff at a site may also research the cost of requested items and approve requisitions. For any user who creates requisitions, the system administrator assigns an individual approver (Direct Approver) or approver group that handles requisition approval.

Similarly, the system administrator can designate users who approve invoices, check requests, and journal vouchers, and assign the users to approver groups. For sites that delegate different dollar limits to approvers, approver groups provide automatic routing of requisitions, invoices, check requests, and journal vouchers. In this way, all approvers who need to approve a document have a chance to do so.

Security

Data

To access organization, department, or asset location data, the organization, department, or asset location must be included in your data profile. Additionally, for any asset location, you must have permission to maintain the asset location record. See "Restricting Users from Editing Asset Location Records."

Role Objects
User Profile Authorizations

As described subsequently, approvers must be designated as such on their User Profiles. Approvers are assigned approval limits (dollars). You can also set related approval characteristics, such as how the approver is notified when an element requiring approval is available. Each approver can be assigned an Approver Buddy who handles approvals when the normal approver is out of the office.

Purchase Order Authorizations

Buyers and other users who authorize purchase orders must have the appropriate permissions set in their user profiles. The dollar limits on purchase orders that a person can authorize must also be established for item cost, item extended cost, and PO total cost. Finally, an authorizing user can be designated in the system's records for each organization, department, vendor, and asset location, and for each item type (stock and non-stock/non-file) within an organization.

Requisition Approvals

Depending on the structure of your hospital, you can set up different configurations for requisition approvals. You can assign an approver to each user. You can also create approver groups, made up of several approvers. When you set up an approver group, you specify the order in which requisitions are routed among the group members.

You can assign each department an approver group or a single direct approver (but not both), and an approval profile. Approval profiles contain the dollar limits allowed for different item types (stock, non-stock, non-file) on requisitions.

You can assign one approval profile to a department for bill-only requisitions, and a different approval profile for all other requisition types.

Separate approval paths can be established for commodity items. Bill-only requisitions do not split for commodity approvals. (Typical requisitions that contain lines with commodity codes split those lines into one or more separate requisitions for approval routing. Bill-only requisitions do not do this.)

Requisition reviews proceed through these stages: costing, commodity code, and item type as follows:

If you use approval profiles for your departments, you can assign each department a separate approval profile for bill-only requisitions.

Requisition approvers are typically designated as buyers in their user profiles. User profiles also contain approvers' dollar limits.

Dollar limits and item type requirements are also specified in the user profiles of staff who are allowed to create requisitions. These staff are designated as requisitioners in their user profiles.

Requisition Approver Groups

A requisition approver group is a group of approvers who approve requisitions. (A user who approves requisitions and purchase orders is typically designated as a buyer on his/her user profile.) Either an approver group or a single approver (Requisition Direct Approval User) is assigned to each person who creates requisitions. Depending on the structure of your Materials and AP organizations, you may have multiple approver groups.

Each member of an approver group can approve or reject requisitions up to his/her dollar limit. (Two users in the same group cannot have the same dollar limit, however.) Requisitions are routed within an approver group based on the cost of the requisition, and each group member's approval dollar limit. Users with Administrator privileges create and maintain approver groups.

Invoice Approvals

The Invoice Approvals process enables designated approvers to review and approve or reject invoices created in the system. Any PO invoice, manually-created invoice, or recurring invoice can be put into the approval process, except for invoices created from EDI 810 documents.

The Invoice Approval process, similar to requisition approval, contains an approval workflow that allows invoices to be reviewed by a single “direct” approver, or routed to several approvers in an invoice approver group. Each approver has an approval queue containing invoices awaiting approval.

Invoice Approver Groups

Invoice approver groups allow invoices to be routed to multiple approvers. Invoices are routed within a group based on the amount of the invoice, and each group member's approval dollar limit. In the routing process, an invoice’s Total is compared to each Approvers Maximum Approval Limit to determine if the approver needs to review the invoice. Each member of an approver group can approve or reject invoices up to his/her dollar limit. (Two users in the same group cannot have the same dollar limit, however.)

Either an approver group or a single approver (Invoice Direct Approval User) is assigned to each person who creates invoices. Users with Administrator privileges create and maintain approver groups.

The invoice approval process and setting up invoice approval groups is described in a separate topic: Invoice Approval Processing.

Check Request Processing Approvers

Once created, check requests are routed for approval. The approvals process contains an approval workflow that allows each check request to be reviewed by a single “direct” approver or routed to several approvers in an approver group. Check requests can be assigned either a requisition approver group or an invoice approver group.

Direct approvers and approver groups for check requests can be identified on a departmental basis. Each department that uses check request processing selects approvers and/or approver groups which are then retained in the department record. If no check request approver or approver group is selected for a department, a user in that department making a check request must specify an approver or approver group on the check request itself.

Direct approvers (individual users) for check requests must have either the User Is Invoice Approver or the User is Requisition Approver box checked on their user profiles. (Both can be checked.)

If a department assigns an approver group to its check requests, the approver group can be either an invoice approver group or a requisition approver group.
Groups of both types are included in the selection list for the AP Check Request Approver Group on the Department Record edit panel. If you set up one or more requisition approver groups or invoice approver groups, that is sufficient for check request processing.

Check request approvers can designate an approver buddy to handle their check requests that need approval when they are out of the office.

Creating and processing check requests -- and setup steps -- are described in a separate topic: Check Request Processing.

Set Up Buyers

Users who authorize purchase orders must be identified as buyers. Buyers authorize purchase orders, but also typically serve as approvers for requisitions and possibly check requests, invoices, and vendors.

Identifying a User as a Buyer

To identify a user as a buyer, as with any other user, a system administrator first enters basic information into the application to establish a user profile. User profiles include the user's name, ID, phone number, etc., along with permissions for features and access to a hospital's data records. When you create new user IDs for staff at your site, you assign each user ID a role and a data profile.

A role specifies the application features -- called role objects -- that users assigned to the role may work with. For example, the Buyer role includes the Approval role object. Each role object is set to a security level: None, View, Create, Modify, and All.

A user profile also has a data profile associated with it. A data profile specifies the organizations, departments, and asset locations whose data the user can access. Review your data profiles to determine which one contains the medical center units whose data the buyer will work with, and assign that data profile to the buyer.

The discussion in the following sections assumes that you already have some users set up at your site with basic information, and need to assign them the Buyer role. If the Buyer role -- or a role with a similar name -- does not exist, you can create it. See Set Up and Maintain Users for details.)

You must be a system administrator to view and access the Administration Contents.

To assign a Buyer role and a data profile to a user:

  1. From the main contents, select Work in Administration > Administration > Users.
    The list of users at your site appears.
  2. Locate the user that you are interested in.
    You can scroll the list, or use the Search panel. (Click Search.)
  3. Next to the User ID, select Menu > Edit or click the edit icon ().
    A tabbed panel appears.
  4. Click the User Roles tab.
    The User Roles panel appears (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - User Role Panel for a Buyer

  1. In the Role field, select the role Buyer (or whatever role your site has established for buyers -- it may be called something different).
  2. In the Data Profile field, select the data profile that will give the user access to the correct data tables.
  3. Select the User is Buyer field.
  4. Select the User is Requisition Approver field, if the buyer approves requisitions, also.
  5. If the user approves invoices, select the User is Invoice Approver field.
  6. Click Save.
    You can move on to the Authorities panel, or click Submit to return to the Users list.

De-Assigning Buyers as Approvers

Several restrictions exist on de-assigning users as approvers/authorizers.

For invoices:

You can remove a user's ability to approve requisitions, invoices, and/or check requests by clicking the checked box (Figure 2). The check disappears, and the user is de-assigned.

Figure 2 - Requisition Approver and Invoice Approver Assignment Fields for a User

To give a buyer permission to authorize purchase orders:

  1. Follow steps 1 through 3 in To assign a Buyer role and a data profile to a user.
  2. Click the Authorities tab.
    The Authorities panel appears (Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Authorities Panel: Permit Buyer to Authorize Purchase Orders

  1. Select the Authorize Purchase Orders field.
  2. Click Save to save the panel.
    You can move on to the Buyer Limits tab, or select Submit to return to the Users list.

To specify a buyer's authorization dollar amount limits:

The steps below assign dollar limits to a buyer for authorizing purchase orders. The buyer can authorize purchase orders for items with an item cost up to the amount entered in the PO Item Cost Limit field. The limit for the line cost that a user can authorize is in the PO Line Extended Cost Limit. The total amount for a PO that the user can authorize is specified in the PO Total Cost Limit.

  1. Follow steps 1 through 3 in To assign a Buyer role and a data profile to a user.
  2. Click the Buyer Limits tab.
    The Buyer Limits panel appears (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Dollar Limits that a Buyer Can Approve

In Figure 4, the buyer can authorize POs containing items that cost up to $6,999.00. The total dollar amount for a line on a PO that the buyer can authorize is $69,999.00. The buyer can authorize purchase orders whose total is less than $699,999.00. This buyer is allowed to approve price changes on items up to $3.00.

  1. Enter new limits in the fields on the Buyer Limits panel.
  2. Click Save to save the dollar limits.
  3. You can move on to the Approver Limits tab, or select Submit to return to the Users list.

No Dollar Limit Authorization - If you wish to give a buyer no dollar limit, enter a very large value (9,999,999.00) in the fields for PO Item Cost Limit, PO Line Extended Cost Limit, and PO Total Cost Limit.

To set up an approver buddy, out of office status, and notification:

For each of your approving users, you may wish to identify another user as an "approver buddy." An approver buddy performs the work of a direct approver and an approver group member if the normal approver is out of the office. Your approvers can set their out-of-office status when they leave the office for a vacation or trip, and their approver buddy will be routed their invoices, (or journal vouchers, or requisitions or check requests) for approval.

  1. Follow steps 1 through 3 in To assign a Buyer role and a data profile to a user.
  2. Click the Approver Limits tab.
    The Approver Limits panel appears (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Approver Limits Panel: Identifies Approver Buddy

  1. Click the prompt next to Requisition Approver Buddy and/or Check Request Approver Buddy to select approver buddies.
  2. Whenever the approver goes out of the office, he/she must set the out-of-office status flag to have approvals routed to an approver buddy.
    Note: Users can set their own out-of-office status from the Misc. Functions menu in the main Contents.
    - Select Misc Functions > Change My Out-of-Office Status. (The My Out-of-Office Status panel appears.)
    - Select the Out Of Office field.
  3. If the approver wants to be notified when a requisition, invoice, or check request has been submitted for approval, select email on Submission in the Requisition/Invoice/Check Request Submit Notify Type field(s).
  4. Click Save.
    You can select another tab on the Users panel, or click Submit to return to the Users list.

Using Dollar Limits for Approver Buddies

You can specify dollar limits on approvers so that an approver going out-of-office can select a buddy approver who has the same (or higher) approval limits. This feature requires setting a field in System Values, and assigning Requisition Approval Limits and/or Invoice Approval Limits to users who approve requisitions, invoices, and/or check requests, as appropriate. On the User Profile Approver Limits tab, these limits fields are at the bottom (Figure 5).

This feature applies to approvals for requisitions, check requests, and invoices. (Journal voucher approvals and vendor approvals are not included.)

A System Value "Restrict Approver Buddy by Approval Limits" enables this feature for requisition, check request, and invoice approver buddies. When the system value is enabled, approvals route to assigned approver buddies with the appropriate limits. When the system value is not enabled, approvals route without the restriction of approval limits defined for approver buddies. This system value field is audited.

To set the System Value,

Figure 6 - Enabling the Approver Buddy Approval Limits Feature on System Values

To add approval limits to a User Profile
  1. From Work in Administration on the main Contents, select Administration > Users. The Users list appears.
  2. Locate the user of interest on the list.
  3. Edit the User Profile.
  4. On the User Profile record, click the Approval Limits tab. The fields you need are at the bottom (Figure 5).
  5. Enter a dollar amount for Requisition Approval Limit, if the user approves requisitions. Similarly, enter a dollar limit for Invoice Approval Limit for invoice/check request approvers.
  6. Click Save, Submit.

You can set an out-of-office approver buddy as described below. In the example, the current user "JamesB" has an approval limit of $2000.00 and he is going out-of-office. All potential approver buddies also have approval limits set on their User Profiles.

Imagine that the approver limits in Figure 5 are for user "NancyM." Next we will assign "NancyM" as a buddy approver.

To assign an approver buddy with approval limits
  1. On the main Contents, select Misc. Procedures > Change Out-of-Office Status.

The My Out-of-Office Status panel appears (Figure 7).

Figure 7 – Selecting an Approver Buddy for Invoices

  1. Click the prompt for the type of materials that the Approver Buddy should approve. In the example, the user wants to set an approver buddy for invoices.
    The approver buddy select list appears. This list only contains users who have the same or higher approval limit ($2000.00) as the user who is going out-of-office (JamesB). The actual dollar approval limits for each user on the list are not displayed because that information remains confidential.
  2. Select an approver buddy. The list closes.
  3. On the My Out-of-Office Status panel, select Out-of-Office.
  4. Click Submit.
    The user selected as an approver buddy will handle the approvals (in this case, invoice approvals) for JamesB until he returns to this panel and un-selects Out-of-Office.

Suppose instead of using the prompt to get a select list of approver buddies, you keyed a user into the Invoice, Requisition, or Check Request Approver Buddy field. The system checks that the user you selected is valid; that is, has an approval limit equal to or greater than yours. If not, an error message appears) and you must designate another user, or chose from the select list.

On the User Settings (All Columns) list, the Approval Limits are displayed in the last two columns on the right.

The User Maintenance template (Work in Administration > Administration > User Create Template) also includes the Approval Limits fields for importing when you create new users.

Assign Buyers to Organizational Units and Vendors

Each organization at your site has a default buyer. If you need separate purchase orders for stock and non-stock items, you can also assign an organization a buyer for stock items and a buyer for non-stock/non-file items. Purchase orders for each type of item are routed to the designated buyer. Each vendor buy-from location may also have several buyers assigned to it, but one buyer must be named as the primary buyer. Additionally, you may assign a buyer to each department, and finally, to any asset location.

Thus, a purchase order can fall under the jurisdiction of several different buyers. When this situation occurs, the system uses the following strategy to locate the appropriate buyer, and to route the PO:

  1. The system first looks for a department buyer.
  2. If there is no department buyer, the system looks for a primary buyer assigned to the vendor buy-from location.
  3. If no vendor buy-from location buyer exists, the system looks for a buyer at the asset location.
  4. If there is no asset location buyer, the system uses the default buyer for the organization making the request.
  5. If the organization requires separation of purchase orders by item type, then...
    - For stock items, the default stock buyer is used instead of the default asset location buyer.
    - For non-stock and non-file items, the default non-stock/non-file buyer is used, instead of the default asset location buyer.

Assign buyers to an organization

You must assign a Default Buyer to each organization when you create the organization record. You can define and configure an organization from the main Contents by selecting Tables > Organizations. The Default Buyer field is located on the Organization record Main tab, as shown in Figure 8. (Click the prompt to select a buyer from the list.)

Figure 8 - An Organization Record's Main Panel

Assign an organization's buyers to item types

In medical centers that keep materials inventories, some organizations may need separate purchase orders for stock and non-stock / non-file items. In this case, you assign a buyer to stock POs and a buyer to non-stock / non-file POs. You can make the buyer assignments on the Organization > MM Information tab (Figure 9). Be sure to also select the field Separate PO By Item Type.

Figure 9 - The Organization MM Information Panel

Assign a buyer to a department

You may assign each department in your organization a buyer, if you wish.

  1. From the Materials Management main Contents, select Requisitioning > Departments.
  2. Edit an existing department record or click New if you wish to create a new department.
  1. In the Buyer for Department field, click the prompt to select a buyer from the Buyer list.
  2. Click Save.
  3. When you are finished editing the department record, click Submit.

Figure 10 - The Department General Panel

Assigning a buyer to an asset location

An asset location may be a storage area that maintains a physical inventory of supplies. An asset location may also be a "virtual" organization that contains only inventory records for items, and handles requests and order processing. Asset locations in the virtual sense are used by sites that follow a just-in-time supply strategy, with no physical inventory.

The asset location acquires and issues requested items to medical center departments. You may assign a buyer to each asset location, if you wish. You assign an asset location buyer on the Asset Location record panel, located in the Materials tables.

  1. From the Materials Management main Contents, select Tables > Asset Location.
    The Asset Locations list appears.
  2. Edit an existing asset location record by clicking the edit icon , or click New if you wish to create a new asset location.
    The Asset Location panel appears (Figure 11).
  3. In the Assigned Buyer field, click the prompt to select a buyer from the Buyer list.
  4. Click Save.
  5. When you are finished editing the asset location record, click Submit.

Figure 11 - Asset Location Panel

To assign a buyer to a vendor-buy from location:

You can assign multiple buyers to a vendor buy-from location, but you can only specify one as the primary buyer. (When the system searches for the buyer, it finds the primary buyer.)

  1. From the Materials Management main Contents, select Vendors > Vendors.
    The Quick Click menu appears.
  2. On the Quick Click menu, select Buy From Locations.
  3. Enter the Vendor Name, and click Go.
    The Buy From Locations list appears.
  4. Next to the Buy From Location of interest, select Menu > Buyers.
    If any buyers are currently assigned to the vendor buy-from location, the list of buyers appears (Figure 12).
    - Notice that Yes appears in the Primary Buyer column to indicate the primary buyer.
    - To identify a buyer as the primary buyer for the buy-from location, click Set Primary Buyer.
    If no buyers are assigned, No Data appears.

Figure 12 - Buyers Assigned to a Buy-From Location

  1. Click New to assign a new buyer.
    The Buy From Location Buyers edit panel appears (Figure 13).

Figure 13 - Buyer Edit Panel for Buy-From Location

  1. Click the prompt next to User ID to select the user ID of the buyer.
  2. Click Save.
  3. Click Submit.
    The list of buyers is displayed.

Designate Approvers for Requisitions, Invoices, and Check Requests

Users who approve requisitions, invoices, and check requests must have the appropriate authorization in their user profile.

To set the User Is Invoice Approver/User is Requisition Approver field:

  1. On the user profile, click the User Roles tab to open the User Roles panel.
  2. Click the box next to User is Invoice Approver and/or click the box next to User is Requisition Approver (Figure 14).
  3. Click Save and Submit.

Figure 14 - Designating a User as an Approver

Set Notification Options

To set notification options, open user profiles as follows:

  1. From Work in Administration on the main Contents, select Administration > Users. The list of users appears.
  2. Locate the user of interest.
  3. Click the edit icon to edit the user profile.

Users who create requisitions, invoices, and check requests have the option of being notified when a requisition has been approved or rejected by an approver.

To set the notification option for users who create requisitions:

  1. On the user profile, click the Requester Limits tab to open the Requester Limits panel.
  2. For the field Requisition Approval Notify Action, click the down arrow and select the appropriate option from the list (Figure 15).
  3. Click Save and Submit.

Figure 15 - Requisition Approval Limits for Requesters

To set the notification option for users who create invoices and check requests:

Similar fields for invoices and check requests are on the AP Limits panel (Figure 16).

Figure 16 - Setting the Approval Notification for a Check Request or Invoice Creator

To set the notification option for users who approve requisitions, invoices, and/or check requests:

Users who approve requisitions, invoices, and/or check requests have the option to be notified when a transaction needing approval has been added to their approval queue.

  1. On the user profile, click the Approver Limits tab to open the Approver Limits panel.
  2. For the field Invoice Submit Notify Type, click the down arrow and select the appropriate option from the list (Figure 17).
  3. Click Save and Submit.

Figure 17 - Setting the Invoice Approval Notification for an Invoice Approver

Email Notifications Link to Requisitions for Approval

When a notification arrives that you have a requisition, invoice, or check request to approve, a link within the email notification takes you directly to the transaction needing approval, and avoids your having to navigate manually through ERP after receiving an email message. Figure 18 is an example of an email for requisition approval, with the link.

Figure 18 - An email Notification for a Requisition Needing Approval

If you are not logged in to the application, clicking the link opens the login panel, and you can log in. The system displays the transaction needing approval. The application remains open for other work.

Note: This feature is only available for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Mobile browsers, Firefox, Chrome, and others are not supported.

Set Up Requisition Approver Groups and Define Approver's Dollar Limits

Requisition approver groups contain users with different approval responsibilities for requisition dollar amounts. Approver groups route a requisition through each member until the requisition is signed off.

Approver groups are organization independent. Thus, users who approve requests do not need to have identical data profiles or departments. For example, if a requisition is created for Department 6200, and the first approver in the group does not have 6200 as a valid department in his/her user profile, the requisition still appears in the person's approval queue, and he/she can still approve or reject it. The system administrator can add any user defined as an approver to an approver group, and to multiple approver groups.

When an approver group is restricted by organization, Yes appears in the Restricted column on the Approver Groups List.

You can copy and delete approver groups. Copying an approver group copies the group and all its members. Deleting an approver group deletes the group and all its members. However, if the approver group is assigned to a requester in User Settings, the group cannot be deleted.

To define a requisition approver group:

  1. On the Materials Management main Contents, click Requisitioning > Approver Groups.
    The Approver Groups list appears (Figure 19). (If no approver groups are defined, No Data appears.)
  2. Figure 19 -Requisition Approver Groups

  3. Click New. The New Approver Group panel appears (Figure 20). Use this panel to define a new group.
  4. Figure 20 - New Requisition Approver Group

  5. Enter a name for the group in the Approver Group field.
  6. Enter a Description. You do not need to select an Approval Method. Currently, the Approval Method is Sequential.
  7. Click Submit.
    The Approver Group Edit panel appears (Figure 21).
  8. Figure 21 - Requisition Approver Group Edit

To add a member to a requisition approver group:

  1. Follow Steps 1 through 5 in To define a requisition approver group. You will then be working with the Approver Group Edit panel.
  2. On the lower part of the Approver Group Edit panel, click New. The Approver User header panel appears (Figure 22).

Figure 22 - Add Approver Group Member

  1. In the User ID field, select the User ID of the approver whom you wish to add to the group.
    Note: The user must be defined as an Approver on the User Roles panel (Figure 14).
  2. If your organization uses approval limits, enter the dollar limit for the approver in the Max Approval Limit field.
    The designated buyer will be able to approve requisitions up to the dollar limit that you enter.
  3. Click Save. The member is added. You can add more members, if you wish.
  4. Click Refresh to see the member data on the Approver Group Users list.
  5. If you wish to restrict the approver group by organization, select the Restricted Orgs tab. (See Figure 23.)

    By restricting approver groups by organization, you can limit user access to them based on data profile.
    When an approver group has been restricted by organization, it will only appear in lists and prompts where the user has data profile organization access to at least one of the restricted organizations.


    Figure 23 - Restrict Approver Group by Org(s)

  6. When you are finished editing the approver group, click Submit. You are returned to the Approver Groups list.
  7. Click Refresh to see the new approver group on the list.

To edit or view requisition approval groups and their members:

  1. From the main Contents, click Requisitioning > Approver Groups. The Approver Groups list appears.
  2. Locate the approval group and click the edit icon ( ), or select Menu > Edit. The Approver Group Edit panel and the Approver Group Users list appear.
  3. If you are editing the approver group data, you can change the approval group Description, and you can add and delete members, or edit member data.
  1. When you are finished editing, click Submit. The system makes the changes, and returns to the Approver Groups list.

To assign approvers to commodity codes:

  1. From the Materials Management main Contents, select Tables > Commodity Approvals.
    The Commodity Approvals table appears, listing the different commodity codes used at your site, and their associated approver group or direct approver. (No Data appears if no approvers have been assigned.)
  2. Click New. The Commodity Approvers edit panel appears (Figure 24).

Figure 24 - Identify Commodity Code Approver(s)

  1. Verify that the organization code entered in the Organization field is correct. If not, select a new organization code from the prompt (...).
  2. Click the prompt next to Commodity Code to select the commodity code that you wish to assign to an approver or approval group. Figure 14 has the commodity code "610" selected. (Each commodity code is associated with a description of the commodity in the Commodity Table.)
  3. Next to Approver Group, click the prompt and select an approver group that will be responsible for approving items with the commodity code. Alternately, click the prompt next to Direct Approver to select a user who will approve items with the commodity code. Select either an Approver Group or a Direct Approver, but not both.
  4. Click Save.

Approver group members creating requisitions/check requests

Approvals for check requests and requisitions can be automatically escalated up the approver group ladder if the requester is also an approver in the group.

When enabled, this feature prevents users who are members of an approver group from approving their own requests. Approval for requisitions and check requests automatically route to the next approver in the approval group ladder, regardless of the Max Dollar limit for the next approver. This enhancement applies only to members of approver groups, not to direct approvers.

Situation 1: User Abby who normally approves requisitions for a department opens a requisition for $99.50. Abby is part of an approver group configured as follows:

User Name Approval Limit
Abby $100
Baker $1000
Charlie $10,000


Result: The requisition is automatically sent to Baker, even though Baker would not normally get requisitions for under $100.00. Those would be handled by Abby. But, since this requisition was made by Abby, Baker does get it for approval. The notification sent to Baker that a request needs approval includes the information that the approval has been escalated.

Situation 2: An approver -- Frank -- who is the highest level approver in an approval group makes a check request for $3,200.00. The approver group looks like this:

User Name Approval Limit
Delta $100
Erin $1000
Frank $5000


Result: The request routes through approvals normally to Delta and then Erin until it gets to Frank. Frank initiated the request, but no user in the group exists for escalating the request since Frank is the top approver. In this case, the system automatically approves the request.

Situation 3: A requisitioner, Cindy, submits a requisition with a non-file line that requires both an item approval and a commodity code approval.

Commodity Approval Group

User Name Approval Limit
Joe $2000
Bill $3000
Roberta $5000

Item Approval Group

User Name Approval Limit
Cindy $1500
Joe $2000
Steve $5000

Result: Joe approves the requisition as a commodity code approver. Bill also approves. Roberta approves.

For item approval, Cindy is skipped because she is the requester. Approval is flagged as escalated.
Joe is assigned to approve, but should not because he already reviewed the requisition. Steve is the next assigned approver as an escalated approver.

This feature can be enabled on the organization MM Info tabbed panel by unselecting the field Allow Requesters To Approve Their Own Requests (Figure 25). (The field is selected by default.)

The path for the panel is: Materials Management (or Accounts Payable) main Contents > Tables > Organizations.

Figure 25 - The Organization Record MM Info Panel with the Approval Escalation Field

When the field Allow Requesters to Approve Their Own Requests on the organization panel is turned off (unchecked) to prevent approvers from approving their own requisitions/check requests, the following occur:

Set Up Invoice Approver Groups

Invoice approver groups allow invoices to be routed to multiple approvers. In the routing process, an invoice’s Total is compared to each approver's Maximum Approval Limit to determine whether the approver needs to review the invoice. (How to specify the Maximum Approval Limit is explained in subsequent paragraphs. Also, see Figure 26.)

Members of invoice approver groups must have the authorization User is Invoice Approver selected on the User Roles tab of their user profile (Figure 12).

To create an invoice approver group:

  1. From the Materials Management or Accounts Payable main Contents, select Invoicing > Invoice approver groups.
    The Invoice Approver Groups list appears (Figure 26). If no groups have been set up, No Data appears.

    If an invoice approver group is restricted (as indicated by the value in the Restricted field) it can only be viewed by users whose data profile allows them access to at least one of the restricted organizations listed for that group.

Figure 26 - Invoice Approver Groups List Panel

  1. Click New to create a new invoice approver group.
    The Edit panel appears (Figure 27).
  2. Enter a name in Approver Group field and a description of the approver group in the Description field.
    The available Approval Method is Sequential, which cannot currently be changed.
  3. Click Save and Submit.

Figure 27 - Entering Descriptive Information for a New Approver Group

The Invoice Approver Group Edit panel appears (Figure 28). When you add users to the group, they are listed on this panel.

Figure 28 - Approver Group Users Panel: A New Group is Being Created

  1. Click New. A panel appears for entering a user name and dollar limit (Figure 29).

Figure 29 - Adding a User to an Approver Group

  1. Enter information for the approver in the fields on the panel.
    The Max Approval Limit is the maximum amount of dollars for an invoice that the user can approve.
    Click Help for more information about fields.
  2. Click Save and Submit.
    You are returned to the Approver Group Users list.
    Click Refresh to view the user that you just entered.

    To enter more users, go back to Step 5 and follow the steps until your approver group is complete.
  3. If you wish to restrict the approver group by organization, select the Restricted Orgs tab. Click the selection box for the organization(s) desired. (Figure 17). An approver group that is restricted by organization may only be viewed by users whose data profile allows them access to at least one of the restricted organizations selected.
  4. Click Save and Submit on the Invoice Approver Group Edit panel.

Using Approval Queues

Requisition, invoice, and check request approvers each have their own queue containing documents awaiting approval.

A situation may occur at a medical center where the normal approver for a department's requisitions is out of the office, and the person's approver buddy is also out of the office. In this case, requisitions could sit in an approver's queue for days...or longer. Similarly, check requests or invoices could remain in a queue unattended for a period of time. The All Approver Queues are designed to handle this situation.

Requisitions

For requisitions, the system administrator can assign the role object "AdminApprover" to a user who will be able to view and approve/reject any requisition. This role might be assigned to the Purchasing Manager, for example. In this way, requisitions that need approval will not linger without attention in an approver's individual queue. Once this designation has been set for a user, the user can approve any requisition in the queue: Requisitions > All Approval Queues.

Note: Two differences exist in security settings for the approval queues:

- All Approval Queues

The administrative approval queue (Requisitions > All Approval Queues.) is subject to a user's data profile. The user have permission to access data for the departments and organizations associated with requisitions in the queue. Requisitions for which the user does not have the appropriate data profile will not appear in the queue.

- My Approval Queue

The display of requisitions for approval in My Approval Queue is not governed by users' data profiles. See the previous discussion of Approver Groups.

Invoices

For check requests, the system administrator can assign the role object "Inv Approval Admin" to a user who will be able to view and approve/reject any invoice. When this role object is set, the use can access invoices in the queue: Invoices > All Invoice Approval Queues.

Check Requests

For check requests, the system administrator can assign the role object "ChkRqstApprovalAdmin" to a user who will be able to view and approve/reject any check request. Once the "ChkRqstApprovalAdmin" role object has been set for a user, the user can approve any check request in the queue: Check Requests > All Check Request Approval Queues. See Check Request Processing for details on setup.

See Set Up and Maintain Users for information on assigning role objects.

Approval Reminders and Redirected Approvals

This feature generates emailed approval reminders for requisitions (regular, bill-only, standing, and blanket), invoices, and check requests if review/approval/rejection has not occurred within a specified time interval. The scheduled job "Approver Reminder and Redirect," lets you specify the time period, the organization that uses the reminders, and the type of approvals affected: invoices, check requests, requisitions, or all three. For approval groups, you can specify the number of reminders that each group member receives before approval occurs automatically for that group member, and then moves to the next group member.

How Approval Reminders Work

When a document (invoice, check request, or requisition) appears in an approver's queue, the approver can review it, and then approve or reject it. If the approver does not act within the set time period, the system sends the approver a reminder message. A reminder is sent to both direct approvers and members of approver groups, whichever is applicable.

For approver groups, you can also define the number of reminders to be sent to each approver. After the set number of reminders, the document is marked "auto-approved" (if possible), and appears in the queue of the next approver. For the last approver in the group, reminders persist until the last reviewer reviews, approves, or rejects the document. When a document cannot be marked as auto-approved, it continues to be included in future reminder messages. For example, costing buyer approvals cannot be auto-approved. A costing buyer would receive repeated reminders until he/she acts with review, approval, or rejection.

When the out-of-office flag is set for an approver, the reminder is sent to the approver buddy. The reminder email is generated even for approvers who do not have an email address in their User Profiles.

Set Up the Scheduled Job for Approval Reminders

General instructions for creating scheduled jobs are in the topic "Set Up Schedules for Batch Jobs." Here is a summary for approval reminder scheduled jobs.

1. Open the list of scheduled jobs (Miscellaneous Functions > Scheduled Jobs).

2. Click New to create a new scheduled job.

3. Enter header information (Figure 30) for the new approval reminder job.
- Enter a job description (Job Desc).
- Select the Job Name Approver Reminder and Redirect.

Figure 30 - Scheduled Job Header Panel

  1. Click Next. The Scheduled Job panel appears (Figure 31). This panel contains the setup fields for approval reminders.

Figure 31 - Scheduled Job Panel with Job Parameters Fields

  1. In the Job Frequency panel (Figure 31 blue box), enter values for the Start Date and other fields. The frequency of reminders sent is equal to the job frequency of the scheduled job.
  2. In the Job Parameters, General tab (Figure 31, red box), set up the reminders.

Organization - You can create an approval reminder job for any organization: select the organization. If you wish to set up the job for all organizations, leave this field blank.

Minimum hours to wait before 1st reminder - The number of hours that can elapse between an approval being required, and the first reminder notice being sent. In other words, when a user creates a requisition (invoice, or check request) and sends it to approval, the document appears in an approver's queue. This field is the time interval (in hours) that must elapse before the approver gets a reminder message. Enter the number of hours.

Reminders to send before moving to next approver - An integer used with reminders in an approver group situation. This value is the number of reminder messages to be sent to a delinquent approver before redirecting to the next approver in the group. Enter an integer.

Approval Types - The types of documents for which the approval reminders are to be used. The options are: invoice, requisition, check request, or all types. Select an approval type.

Note: Be sure to enable the job. (Select the Enabled box.)

When an approver is delinquent in acting on approval queue entries, a formatted reminder message appears in his/her email. The message contains a count of each type of approval awaiting the user in the specified organization. The count includes entries that have been in the user's approval queue longer than the time frame defined in the scheduled job. The counts are broken down by approval type(s), as specified in the job. See Figure 30.

Tips in setting up reminders:

Approval Reminder Notifications

An example of an approval notification emailed to a user is in Figure 32.

Figure 32 - Sample emailed Approval Reminder

Notice that the email message summarizes all available approvals for the approver. If the user is a member of an approver group, and one document -- for example, an invoice -- becomes auto-approved as a result, the count for that type of document is reduced by one.

Approval Information on Inquiry Panels: Examples

Several fields on the inquiry panels for invoices, requisitions, and check requests display the status of approvals. Below are several examples.

To display approver information on an invoice, check request, or requisition,
Example 1 - Simple Approval with One Direct Approver

Figure 33 - Invoice Approval: One Direct Approver

In the Approval History panel for the invoice in Figure 33,

Example 2 - Approval that Needs a Cost Buyer

The requisition in Figure 34 is for a non-file item, and requires review by a costing buyer. A costing buyer is the first person to review non-file requisitions, and he/she completes information for the requested item, such as the manufacturer or vendor (if not specified by the requester), the price, etc. Other approvers may follow the costing buyer's review, but the requisition cannot proceed further until the costing buyer approves it.

Figure 34 - Requisition Approval Routed to Costing Buyer

In the Approval History for the invoice in Figure 34,

Example 3 - Approval Routed through an Approver Group with the First Approver Not Responding

The requisition in Figure 35 is assigned to an approver group with three approvers. The first approver (Mary) approved it. The second approver (Len) was out of the office, so approval bounced to his approval buddy (Nancy). The approver buddy was also out of the office, so after three reminders, the system auto-approved the requisition, and sent it to the third approver. The requisition is now with the third reviewer (Quincy), who needed nine reminders to review it, and who has now done so.
Because the person with nine reminders is the last approver, the system would not have been able to auto-approve the requisition, as it did for the first reviewer. It will stay in Quincy's approval queue until he approves or rejects it.

Figure 35 - Requisition Approval Assigned to Approver Group: Second Approver Does Not Respond

In Figure 33,

Report Object for Approval Queues

A report object "Approval Queue Notify Activity" is available for reports on approval activity, such as the number of elapsed days between a document being placed on an approver's queue and the current day.

Importing Approvers for Approver Groups

This feature allows administrators to create and populate new requisition and invoice approver groups via mass import into ERP. The import avoids the need to go into the ERP application and create approver groups/assign approvers to each approver group manually. This feature lets administrators quickly incorporate approvers from newly acquired units and facilities into medical center operations.

The approver group import tool applies to invoices, requisitions (including bill-only requisitions and invoices), and check requests. You can create requisition and invoice approver groups and assign members on the same upload document. Once you have created and uploaded newly completed approver groups and direct approvers, you can link them to organizations and departments using another import.

Prerequisites

Note: If a check request approval route and limits are the same as the requisition approval route and limits, only one approver group is needed. Otherwise, if the check request approval route and limits need to have differing approver paths, users, or dollar levels, then a second approver group is needed.

Security

This feature is controlled by a new role object: "Approver Group Import." This new role object controls access to the Approver Group Import Template and the import menu options. The initial setting is None. Settings All and Create allow administrators to create and import approver groups.

Populating New Approver Groups

To populate approver groups, an Excel template is available for entering fields that you then upload and import into ERP.

  1. From the Materials Management or Accounts Payable main Contents, select Imports/Exports & Financials > Approver Group Import Template.
    Follow the instructions to open the template in Excel. Figure 36 is an example.

Figure 36 - Excel Template for Creating New Approver Groups

  1. On the template, enter the Approver Group name, and values for approver group fields in the appropriate columns.
    - Fields highlighted in yellow are required.
    - Click the worksheet tab Info for instructions on completing and saving the template.
    - Enter information right over the text that says <required> and must be R or I. If you import the spreadsheet with the <required> word and other words still in a cell, the application will take it as an invalid value, and will send an error message.
    - The last entry on the template must be <EOF>.
  2. When you finish entering values in the fields, save the spreadsheet as a .csv file on your local network.
  3. Upload and import the spreadsheet to ERP.

Importing New Approver Group Members to ERP

After you assign users to approver groups on the template, you import them back to ERP.
Important: The file you import must be in .csv (comma-separated values) format.

To display imported Approver Group files and upload a new one,

  1. From the Work in Administration main Contents, select Materials Management or Accounts Payable > Imports/Exports (& Financials) > Approver Group Imports.
    The Approver Group Imports list appears (Figure 37). Uploads appear on the list, if there are any. Otherwise, No Data appears.

Figure 37 - The Approver Group Imports List

  1. On the list of imports, click New (upper right). An Import Panel appears (Figure 38).

Figure 38 - The Approver Group Upload Panel

  1. Enter the .csv file that you wish to import in the File to Upload field.
    - Click Browse (on Microsoft IE or Edge) or Choose File (on Chrome) to locate the file on your network, then click the file to select it.
  2. At this step, you have a choice. You can work through the import process in either one stage or two stages.

Handling Import Errors

Valid rows on the spreadsheet will import into the application. If some rows are valid, and other are not, the invalid rows will not be imported. When the Import Status of the uploaded user record file is not Complete, the import encountered errors.
To work with errors, you need to review the import details, make corrections, and reprocess the data.

  1. Next to the import, click Menu > View Import Details to display any errors or warnings that may have occurred.
    - On the Import Details panel, each imported record appears. The Messages column contains Yes if errors or warnings exist for any record.
    - Click Menu > View Messages.
    - Click Menu > Edit to edit any unprocessed data and correct it.
  2. After making corrections, from the import list, click Reprocess to rerun the process for any imports that do not have an Import Status of Complete.

Assigning Approvers and Approver Groups to Departments and Organizations

An import feature also lets you link an existing approver group or direct approver to an organization and department within your ERP application. The link is implemented via a download of a department's current approval setup parameters (approval profiles), followed by upload of approver groups and direct approvers. This capability supports acquisition of new units at a medical center, and quarterly audit compliance. The feature uses the standard import. See Importing Approvers and Approver Group Assignments for Departments.

Making Mass Approver Changes

The mass approver change feature lets you make mass changes to approvers in approver groups.

You can...

Similar to other "mass change" features in the system, for approver changes, you first create a job that specifies the approver changes. When the job runs, the changes take effect.

Accessing the Mass Maintenance Panels for Approvers

To create a mass approver reassignment job,

  1. Select Mass Approver Change from the appropriate menu (see above).
    The list of reassignment jobs appears, if any have been created.
  2. Click New.
    The Create Mass Approver Change panel appears (Figure 39).
    Use this panel to create the job header.

Figure 39 - The Header and Change Tab for a Mass Approver Reassignment Job

  1. Enter values in the fields at the top of the panel.
  1. Click the tab for the action that you wish to perform: Change, Insert, Remove, or Limits. You can only work with one reassignment type at a time per job.

Figure 40 - The Insert Tab for a Mass Approver Change Job

For vendor approver groups, the Sequence Number on the Insert (Figure 41 tab is required. The Sequence Number determines the order in which the person's approval is solicited.

Figure 41 - The Limits Tab for a Mass Approver Change Job

  1. Click the prompt(s) to select the user(s) involved in the change. The field names differ depending on the type of change (replace, insert, remove, limits).
  2. Complete other fields on the panel. For example, when you add an approver to one or more approver groups, you must specify the approver's dollar limit. When you change the dollar limit for an approver, you must enter a new dollar value.
    - Click Help for field details.

Figure 42 is an example of a reassignment in which an approver in an approver group is replaced with a different approver.

Figure 42 - Assigning a Replacement Approver

Figure 43 is an example of a change to an approver's maximum dollar limit.

Figure 43 - Using the Limits Tab to Change a Maximum Dollar Limit

  1. Click Submit.

    A new panel appears for locating and selecting approver groups, as described below for Change, Insert, Remove, and Limits.

Change: replacing an approver in an approver group.

The Mass Approver Change: Replace Approver User Panel lets you select approver groups in which one approver (Replace Approver User) is removed and another approver (With Approver User) is added (Figure 44).

Figure 44 - Selections for Changing Approver Group Assignments

The Criteria fields (center) let you filter the bottom list (Approver Reference Selections...). The list is governed the by data profile setting of the person making the changes.

Select Action has these options:

  1. Use the criteria to find the group(s) for which you wish to replace the approver with the new approver.
    - Click Enter to activate the filter or execute the search.
  2. Click the Select box next to each group, or choose Select Action: Select All.
  3. Click Save.

Insert: adding an approver to an approver group.

The Mass Approver Change: Insert Approver User Panel lets you add an approver to a group that the approver does not currently belong to (Figure 45).

Figure 45 - Selections for Adding an Approver to an Approver Group

The Criteria panel works the same way as for Replace Approver User.

The Approver Reference Selections for Approver... panel, at the bottom, contains a list of approver groups to which the approver can be added. The approver does not currently belong to any of the groups.

  1. Use the criteria to find the group(s) to which you are adding the approver.
    - Click Enter to activate the filter or execute the search.
  2. Click the Select box next to each group, or choose Select Action: Select All.
  3. Click Save.

Delete: removing an approver from an approver group.

The Mass Approver Change: Remove Approver User Panel removes an approver either from an approver group, or from assignment as the direct approver of another user (Figure 46).

Figure 46 - Selections for Removing an Approver's Assignments

  1. Use the criteria to find the group(s)/user(s) for which you are de-assigning the approver.
    - Click Enter to activate the filter or execute the search.
  2. Select the group(s) and/or users.
  3. Click Save.

Limits: Changing the approver's maximum dollar limits.

The Mass Approver Change: Remove Approver User Change Max Limits (Figure 47) lets you change the maximum dollar approval limit for an approver. You can select the approver groups where you wish to change the user's dollar limits, or you can change the user's dollar limits for all the groups that include the user.

Figure 47 - Selections for Changing an Approver's Maximum Dollar Limits

The Criteria fields (center) let you filter the bottom list (Approver Reference Selections...). The list is governed the by data profile setting of the person making the changes.

Select Action has these options:

  1. Use the criteria to find the group(s) of interest.
    - Click Enter to activate the filter or execute the search.
  2. Select the groups where you wish to change the user's maximum approval limit. Or, choose "Select All" in the Select Action field to select all the groups. (The system marks each group's checkbox.)
  3. Click Save.
    The last step is clicking either Finish Now or Finish Later. When you are changing maximum dollar limits, clicking Finish Now updates the approver groups that you selected for the user with the new dollar limit.

For all the mass approver change types:

  1. When you finish making assignment selections -- Change, Insert, Remove, Limits -- click Finish Now.
    (Or, to come back later and finish, click Finish Later. The mass assignment job has a status of Open and is available for editing.)
    The list of mass reassignment jobs is displayed.
  2. Click Refresh to view the job that you submitted.
    The Status (on the list of reassignment jobs) of the mass assignment job changes to In Progress.
    When the job runs, the Status changes from In Progress to Complete, and a System Note is written that describes the changes made.