1. Approvals in Oracle Fusion Application
To manage approval processes, Oracle HCM Cloud Applications uses the approval-management extensions of Oracle Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Suite human workflow services. In this article, we will learn to configure different types of approval rules from scratch and different types of attributes involved in an approval process.
2. Understand Oracle Approval Management with Example
Lets try to understand approval management with a business case. Although the steps we are going to follow can be used for all types of approval transactions such as promotion, termination, transfer etc. but the example we are going to cover here is for Document of Record. We have already learned how to configure and use document of record here » Everything You Wanted to Know about Document of Record (DOR) in Oracle Fusion
In aforementioned article we have configured two Document Type as follows
- AP Travel Reimbursement
- AP Visa Reimbursement
Now as per the business requirement these document types should follow different approval paths as mentioned below
| Document Type | First Approver | Second Approver | Note |
| AP Travel Reimbursement | Project Manager (Matrix Manager) | Payroll Representative (Area of responsibility) | If project manager and payroll representative is the same person, he/she needs to approve only once. |
| AP Visa Reimbursement | Travel Administrator (Approval Group) | Not Required | There are several people assigned to this approval group. Only half of them need to approve it. |
In short, we will see following functionalities of BPM workflow after completing the requirement
- How to use matrix manager in Oracle workflow
- How to create and use approval groups in Oracle workflow
- How to use Area of Responsibility (AOR) in Oracle workflow
- How to setup parallel approval or First Responder Wins in Oracle BPM workflow.
- How to setup Task Aggregation in Oracle workflow so that one approve appearing multiple times in a approval path needs to approve only once.
Lets see how these requirement can be achieves through oracle approval managements.
3. Prerequisites to Get Setup/Requirements
To get all the flavors of oracle workflow mentioned above, check if you have following setups already ready.
- (Optional) Create a matrix manager “Project manager”. You can read this article to see how to create matrix manager » How to Configure & Use Matrix Manager (Dotted Line Manager) in Oracle Cloud HCM. Instead of Project Manager, you can use any other type of matrix manager also, or you can simply use delivered line manager also.
- (Optional) Create an area of responsibility (AOR) “Payroll Representative”. This step is also optional; you can still configure and learn approval without this. But, if possible create one AOR it would be good.
- Two different Document Types. To create document types you can follow this article » Everything You Wanted to Know about Document of Record (DOR) in Oracle Fusion. Or if you have some basic knowledge of oracle approval functionality and dont want to create document types, you can still follow these steps for other approval rules such as promotion, transfer with some small tweak.
- Create an Approval Group Travel Administrator. We need to use approval group in our approval hierarchy so we need to create one. Do not worry, this I am going to cover in details how to create approval groups.
3.1 How to Create Approval Group
Approval group is a set of users grouped to approve some specific transaction. An approval group can be used in multiple approval flow.
To create an approval group search for the task Manage Approval Groups, which will take you to BPM worklist window. On this screen directly click on + Create Approval Group button or click on the arrow button then select » Create Static Approval Group as shown in the image below.
In the name filed, enter name as Travel Administrator then click on the Plus (+) icon to add member.
Click on the search icon against field Member while checkbox User is selected.
You will see Identity Browser screen. On this screen, search the user you want to add to approver group and then click on OK to add the user.
Repeat the steps to add more users to this group. Try to add three or more users.
We have added four users in the approver group as shown below in the image.
Please note that sequence of users added in the group does not make much sense if we are using parallel approver (which is true for this example). But if it is sequential, sequence of users is very important. Each member of the approver group has to approve any request one by one in the same order. So if you want to move the order, you can click on the Push Member Up or Push Member Down buttons available beside the Add Member (+) button.
Once you enter all required details for your approver group, click on the Save button.
4. Configure Approval Rules for Document of Record (DOR)
Now as per the requirement to configure approval rule for DOR, navigate to Tool » Transaction Console » Approval Rules
On this screen search for rule Manage Document Records and ensure that Bypass Approvals is disabled (as shown in the image below)
To configure/amend new rule click on Configure Rules pencil icon.
Once you click on pencil icon you will be on page » Approval Rules: Manage Document Records: DocumentOfRecordRuleSet
On this screen, you will see default rules configured for Document of Record.
4.1 Deactivate delivered rules which are not required
As a best practice we should not change the delivered rules, so what we can do is, disable/inactivate them. To inactivate delivered rule click on the rule name (DocumentOfRecordRule) and scroll below, you will see Rule : Add Details section, there change the Status from Active to Inactive as shown below in the image.
You can repeat the same for other rules too.
You can identify the inactive rule by red dotted lines as shown below in the image.
4.2 Create rule for first document type – AP Travel Reimbursement
Now we have deactivated seeded rules, which we do not want. Now let us create a new rule.
To create a new rule click on the + (Add New Rule) button.
This will create a new rule with default rule name Rule1. Click on that rule and scroll below to “Rule: Add Details” section.
Under the Rule: Add Details section change the Rule Name from Rule1 to some meaningful name such as APTravelReimbursement.
Now click on the Configure Rule Conditions button. We need to change this rule so that it works only when an employee is submitting document of type “AP Travel Reimbursement” To get that done, select the default rule (1 == 1 ) and then click on button Edit Selection button as shown below.
This will open an Approval Rule: Edit Condition Expression dialogue box. Enter details as follows :-
- Click on the first filed and select value Select from attribute
- From the second field select value getNewDoRByTransactionIdResponse » documentType
- From third field select operator ==
- From fourth field select value Enter a string
- In the last filed enter your document type with double quote as “AP Travel Reimbursement”
Once you enter all these details click on OK button. You will be back on Condition Details page. Your rules may look like what is shown below in the image.
Click on OK button available on Condition Details dialogue box. You will be back on Approval Rules: Manage Document Records: DocumentOfRecordRuleSet page. Your screen will look similar to this.
4.2.1 How to use matrix manager in oracle workflow?
We have created rule, now we need to tell if this rule is true, who should be the approver. As per the requirement for the AP Travel Reimbursement document type Project Manager (Matrix Manager) is the first approver. So, to add first approver, click on the THEN box, which is attached to our custom rule (APTravelReimbursement) and then click on the + icon available in front of Management Hierarchy (which you see under Approvers heading)
Now, once management hierarchy is attached with rule, click on the Management Hierarchy box. You will see Management Hierarchy section below. Under the Management Hierarchy section change the details as follows.
- Action Type: Approval Required
- Route Using : Project manager (If you have not configure matrix manager you can use line manager)
- Approval Chain Of : Worker
- Start With : Manager
- Number of Levels : 1
- Top Approver : Second Level Manager
4.2.2 How to use Area of Responsibility (AOR) in oracle workflow?
We also need to add second approver, which will be Payroll Representative (Area of Responsibility). To get that done, click on the Management Hierarchy box and then from your right hand side, click on the + icon available in front of Representative. Once representative it attached with Management Hierarchy box, click on the Representative box and scroll below to see Representative section.
Under Representative section enter details as follows
- Action Type: Approval Required
- Representative Type: Payroll Representative
- Representative Of : Worker’s Representative
4.3 Create rule for second document type – AP Visa Reimbursement
Now you can create similar role for other document type AP Visa Reimbursement as follows
Click on the + Add New Rule button.
Change the rule name to APVisaRepresentative
Click on Configure Rule Conditions button.
Click on Edit Selection button and enter rule as follows
- Click on the first filed and select value Select from attribute
- From the second field select value getNewDoRByTransactionIdResponse » documentType
- From third field select operator ==
- From fourth field select value Enter a string
- In the last filed enter your document type with double quote as “AP Visa Reimbursement”
- Click on OK button
Click on THEN box and click on + icon against the approval participant Approval Groups.
Click on Approval Groups box and under the Approval Groups section enter details as follows
- Action Type : Approval Required
- Group: Travel Administrator
- Allow empty Group : Yes
Once both of your rules are configured, click on Submit button. You will get a confirmation, click on Yes button.
Please note : We have only created rules for these two document types but Workers could submit other document types too. Therefore, you will also need to create a generic rule that will work for all other documents types (which we are not covering in this article.)
5. Learn Oracle BPM Workflow
Now we have achieved both the requirements. You can create scenarios and test it out. You can get steps to test document of record in this article » Everything You Wanted to Know about Document of Record (DOR) in Oracle Fusion
For the second requirement AP Visa Reimbursement, submit the document and you will notice that notifications are sent to every member of Approval Group (Travel Administrator) one by one in the order they are attached. All the members of the group have to approve the document. But this is not what we want, as per our requirement even half of the approver groups approve it, it should be okay. We achieve this through parallel approval or also know as First Responder Wins. We will see this how it is done.
5.1. How to Configure Parallel Approvar or First Responder Wins?
To open BPM worklist search for the task Manage Task Configurations for Human Capital Management, which will take you to BPM Worklist. On this screen search for the approval rule DocumentOfRecordApproval and then click on that rule name (DocumentOfRecordApproval) to open its properties. It will look like below image.
Now on this screen, click on the edit task button and then click on the Assignees Tab. Give it some moment to load and then take your cursor to the upper right corner of that diagram (Document Record Approvers) and click once. You will see an edit button as shown in the image below.
Click on that edit button you will further see more options. Select Convert » Parallel
After clicking on Parallel, scroll below and you will see three tabs (or buttons) Basic, Voting and Advanced. First click on Basic, if not already selected, and then change/verify details as follows
- Name : Document Record Approvers
- Assignees based on : Approval Groups
- Use business rules to determine assignees : No
- Allow empty groups : Yes
- Use Approval Group : Travel Administrator
Now click on Voting tab.
Here you do not need to change anything apart from voting percentage. By default, you will see it is 50%. Our requirement says that even half of the approver group approves it, it should be considered approved. Therefore, we do not need to change anything as the default setup itself is for 50%. Consider a requirement, which says that even if a single person approves it, it should be considered approved. In such case you can reduce the voting percentage to 1% (assuming there will not be more than 100 approvers in a approval group.)
You can optionally also enable Share attachments and comments
Click on the Advanced tab.
We don’t need to change anything here but just go through the available options once to see what it offers.
NOTE : Do not click on Save or close the window at this point.
5.2. Configure Task Aggregation in BPM Worklist
For the first requirement for AP Travel Reimbursement create a scenario where for an employee project manager and payroll Representative is the same person. You will notice that same person has to approve the workflow twice first as a project manager and then again as a payroll representative. We don’t want that right? Approving once should be enough. So how do we get that? It is done through task aggregation functionality of BPM worklist. Lets see how we can achieve this.
While BPM is still open and your are still working on approval rule DocumentOfRecordApproval, click on the Configuration tab and scroll below. You will see option for task aggregation. There change the value from None to Once per task.
Once you change the details, click on the Save button. System will ask you to enter some comment, which is optional. Click on OK button.
Just saving is not enough. You need to commit also. For the same click on Commit task button. Again you may enter comment optionally and then click o OK button.
6. More about Oracle Workflow
Hope the article was of any help. If you have any follow-up question, please feel free to post them here » hcmfolks.com. If you ever encounter issue while configurating any approval process, please do check this article and follow any one of the several approaches mentioned here, it would definitely solve your problem » Troubleshooting Oracle Cloud Workflows & Approvals: A Comprehensive Guide
