Workflow Schemas
Overview:
Schemas are a grouping of Workflow rules that affect the nominated Document Type. Workflows must be enabled in Control Parameters before documents can be submitted to a Workflow. You can adjust each schema to affect the desired Entities, providing potential for detailed application across various areas of your company.
Workflows allow for a broad range of situations and processes, and while this guide cannot cover them all, it will go through how to build a Workflow for your company's needs.
The Permissions “Workflow Reviewer” and “Workflow Approver” are useful for validating workflow functions. They are granted to global ‘General’ Role by default to limit disruption to Purchase Requisition workflows. Remove them from General if required for vouchers, but then they should be granted to the respective PR roles.
The default workflow behaviour is to assign a reviewer or approver that is different to the prior step to avoid actioning by the same person.
Voucher Credits are a separate Document Type and requires their own Workflow.
Screen Guide:
Workflow Schema List
The initial screen lists all existing Schemas. The Workflow Schema field serves as a link to open the editing window.
+ New Workflow Schema. button is used to create a new schema.
View history button allows you to view the record of all modifications made.
Create/Edit Schema
We will use a Purchase Order Workflow for our example. Each section is detailed below:
The Header section is where we determine the Document Type.
Once you choose the Document Type, give the Workflow a Description. Description can only contain "a-z, A-Z, 0-9, <underscore>, or spaces", and cannot start with a number or an underscore.
Workflow Type is an optional field that can be associated with this Workflow.
The Value Review Type gives the choice between the following:
Multiple Value allows for a sequential review up to the document's value. The workflow would begin with the indicated user with the lowest review mandate, then once they review it, the document is passed to the user with the next highest review mandate until the value of the document has been reached. Remember, this only affects the review step and does not allow for multiple approvals.
Multiple Value Review Example
Reviewer/Approver Setup:
Reviewer 1 - $1K
Reviewer 2 - $20K
Reviewer 3 - $100K
Approver 1 - $1K
Approver 2 - $20K
Approver 3 - $1M
For a $30K PO the Workflow would follow these steps: Reviewer 1=> Reviewer 2=> Reviewer 3=>Approver 3
For a $15K PO the following steps would apply: Reviewer 1=> Reviewer 2=> Approver 2
Single Value requires review from only the person with the minimum required mandate, and the option exists to select another person with a sufficient mandate.
Single Value Review Example
Reviewer/Approver Setup:
Reviewer 1 - $1K
Reviewer 2 - $20K
Reviewer 3 - $100K
Approver 1 - $1K
Approver 2 - $20K
Approver 3 - $1M
For a $30K PO the Workflow would follow these steps: Reviewer 3=>Approver 3
For a $15K PO the following steps would apply: Reviewer 2=> Approver 2
Technical Review Type is used solely for Purchase Requisition Workflows and is used as a parallel review process outside of purely cost-related review such as Engineering, OH&S, etc. When selected, additional options appear:
It does not consider Authority Limits and will go through all the defined Technical Reviewers in the list to complete the review process. Technical Review is the first Review step in the process before it goes to the Value Review (if any defined in the Value Schema) and Approval (which is a mandatory step).
The Technical Review Group can be added to in Lookups under the "TechnicalReviewGroup" type. You can tick the box to make Technical Review Optional. Optional means that the Technical Review and the Value Review/Approval can happen in parallel, and the document can be approved eventhough the Technical review process hasen’t finished. Once the document is approved, no further technical review is required and the document is removed from the Technical Reviewers’ list of documents to review.
This tab is where you can enter the Workflow steps.
Sequence is the numerical order that the steps should be completed.
Review/Approval gives you the choice between whether the step should be a Review, Approval, or Unapproval step.
Person allows you to nominate a particular User that should be doing the step.
Function gives you more contextual options for the step. The options will change depending on the Document Type:
Me – The user performing the previous action, i.e. Submit or Review
PO Purchaser – The user listed as the purchaser of the PO
PO Approver – The user who approved the PO
PO Purchaser if Unreceipted - If the PO is unreceipted or all receipted quantity has been vouchered then route to PO Purchaser, else go to the next WF step.
PO Entered By else Send Back - Route to the PO Entered By if valid else Send Back; but if PO Entered By has insufficient limit then go to next WF step.
Job Manager - based on the job referenced in the first line of the document
Job Account Manager - based on the job referenced in the first line of the document
Subcontract Administrator - the user listed in Subcontract Settings as the administrator on the respective subcontract; the reassign list is any active person with a login.
Subcontract Administrator Only - the user listed in Subcontract Settings as the administrator on the respective subcontract; the reassign list is any active person with a login and assigned as a subcontract administrator.
All Voucher Users - Lists all people with a valid voucher limit, filtered by the first line Job Profit Centre. Note this function only works for Single Value workflow schema to support a manual allocation workflow.
Profit Centre Manager: Document JobCode → Jobs. ProfitCentreCode → ProfitCentres. Manager. For documents without a Job at the header, the first line’s Job Code will be used.
Location Manager: Document JobCode → Jobs. ProfitCentreCode → ProfitCentres. LocationCode → LocationManager. For documents without a Job at the header, the first line’s Job Code will be used.
Job Person Roles may also be reference in the same way, refer Using Job Roles in Workflows
Derive Limit resets the Limit to 0 and derives the user's normal approval limit from their User's Settings, depending on the Document Type.
Additionally, voucher also supported review-specific limits via the ‘AP Voucher Use Review Limits’ control parameter. This enables workflow review steps with Derive limits to refer to the ‘Voucher Reviewers Limit’ setting rather than the standard ‘AP invoice Approvers Limit’ setting.Limit is the document's value limitation that the step can review or approve. Note, specifying a step limit takes precedence over any Derived limits specified for the related users on that step. For example, selecting "All Voucher Users" with a specified step limit will display all active users with a login and applies the step limit.
Decline Allowed indicates that the user can reject the document, preventing it from being resubmitted (this should not be allowed unless the user has authority to do so - the option to Send Back is otherwise available).
Buttons
The image above is compiled to display the applicable buttons for illustrative purposes rather than what it would look like during normal use.
Assign
The Assign is available before submission into the Workflow and allows for ad-hoc assignment, typically for coding of lines.
The User settings ‘AP/AR/PO/Voucher Assigned Email’ determine if a notification email is sent to users with this setting.
Submit
The Submit button begins the Workflow process for the document and places it into the applicable Workflow based on matching Entity and Workflow Type.
Once submitted, there can be no deviation from the schema used.
Review
Review is available to the assigned reviewer (or a Voucher Admin) and indicates the document has been reviewed by the user.
This review process may be for coding of lines, ensuring receipt of goods, or as a preliminary approval step where more than one approval is required (a document can only have one final approval).
Send Back
Send Back will return the document to the requester (the person who submitted to document), or in case of an auto submit, the requester as defined by the Setting "AP Voucher Auto Requester."
The document may be re-submitted.
Decline
Rejects the submission with a ‘Declined’ status, and the document is disabled from further updates.
An email notification is sent to the requester, and the document may NOT be re-submitted.
Cancel
Marks the submission with a ‘Cancelled’ status, and the voucher is disabled from further updates.
An email notification is sent to the requester, and the document may NOT be re-submitted unless uncancelled.
Uncancel
Uncancel reverts the voucher status to New and allows reprocessing of a document.
WFlow | Msg
Displays a trail of the workflow progress.
Also supports the display of prior workflows if the document was re-submitted.
It also allows ad-hoc messaging with an audit of previous messages sent in the Messages tab.
Valid Workflow Description
Workflow Schema Description cannot start with a number or contain spaces or special characters. Naming rules:
Description can only contain "a-z, A-Z, 0-9, <underscore>, or spaces", and cannot start with a number or an underscore
Using Job Roles in Workflows
This functionality allows Job Roles to be leveraged in Workflows Schemas. The key points are:
improved formality on the list of “valid” Roles for people on a Job
visibility of invalid Roles
ability to leverage defined people with defined Roles on a Job context
equivalent in concept to the base Workflow functions already available
A. Lookup Type - defines valid roles
The Lookup of Type ‘JobPersonRole’ is added to define valid roles appropriately to avoid duplication or variations like ‘QS’ or ‘Q.S.’ or ‘Surveyor’.
Two default roles are available -‘Supervisor/Foreman’ and ‘Project Engineer’, but the roles can be client managed and are not fixed.
Validation are in place to prevent deletion of referenced roles, and addition of exact duplicates.
B. Job Details - defines a person’s role on a job
The Role on People tab of Job Details uses the new Lookup list but any existing data mismatched data will display as highlighted.
Highlighted / invalid roles cannot be referenced in workflow schemas.
C. Workflow Schema - can reference a Person via their Role on a Job
The Function picker on the Steps tab is updated to include all defined Job Person Roles, and identified as Role to identify the context.
As per base workflow functions the Job Roles support Workflow Step limits and Derived limits based on the resolved person.
D. Workflow Process - explains resolution of Job Roles in Workflows
As per base workflow functions the Job Person Role and Job context resolve to the specific person.
For a valid resolution the person must be Active and Has Login, and an applicable Workflow Step limit or Derived limit.
A resolution failure will escalates to the next workflow step, for example if the Person Role is not defined on the context Job or the person is Inactive.
The Reassign list of people are filtered based on the assigned Person Role, and must be Active and Has Login with an applicable Workflow Step limit or Derived limit.
Next Steps:
Once you have set up a new Workflow, be sure to test it to ensure the steps progress as intended. Ensure all users who will be part of the Workflow understand their role and the actions they can take.
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