PO Approvals

PO Approvals allow you to indicate that a purchase order must be approved before the items on it can be received into inventory.

Note:

Your system must be set up for Advanced PO Approvals and you must have the appropriate security rights to create PO approvals.

The PO type, selected when the purchase order was created, determines whether the PO is required to go through the approval process. Even if approval is not required by the PO type, you can still establish approvers for any PO.

You can add two types of approvers to a PO:

Cost Approvers – These users approve the costs associated with the purchase order. They must have an approval limit that exceeds the total amount of the entire PO.
Subject Matter Experts – These users approve the suitability of the item. For example, a subject matter expert might approve a piece of computer equipment if it ran a compatible operating system. The approval limit of subject matter experts does not matter.

If your PO is of a type that requires approval, and your installation is using Advanced PO Approvals, you must select at least one cost approver.

Selecting approvers creates an approval sequence that the purchase order must go through before the items on it received into inventory or AP invoice information entered. At each step, an approver can approve or decline any item on the PO. Only approved items continue on to the subsequent approvers.

For example, you might create a PO that includes three pieces of computer equipment and send it through three approvals—your manager, a subject matter expert, and the head of your department. If your manager declines one item due to cost and the subject matter expert declines another due to incompatible technology, only one item will be on the department head's approval list.

To open the Purchase Order Approval page:

Open the Purchase Order Details page.
At the top of the page, click the Approvals link.

At the top of the Purchase Order Approval page, a summary of the PO details appears. At the bottom of the page are two panes:
- Approver Records – This pane lists all approver records that have been created. You can create new records, edit or delete existing records, and send out approval notifications.
- PO History – This pane maintains an audit trail of all approval actions that have occurred, containing one entry for each update made.

Add an Approver Request

Adding an approval request creates a sequential approval step for the purchase order. Each approval step specifies the name of the user who needs to give his or her approval and indicates that approver's approval limit. Approval steps are processed in the order in which you define them.

To add approval requests:

In the Approver Records pane, click the New Approval Request button.

The Add Approver dialog box opens.
In the Approver field, select the name of the user you want to add to the approvals list.

The list is filtered so that only users who have access to the PO module, have a defined approval level, and have rights to the property/region the PO is associated with are included. The list displays each user's approval level so that you can properly select the users who can be cost approvers and the users who can be subject matter experts.

If approvals are required, at least one approver must have an approval limit that is equal to or exceeds the total amount of the PO.

Depending on your system's configuration, you may or may not be able to add yourself as an approver and users who have edited the PO may be restricted from being selected as approvers. For more information, contact your system administrator.
Enter a value for the Approval Step.

The system automatically assigns the next sequential step to each approver you add. You can change this value, but you cannot use a value that is already assigned to another approval step.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each approver you want to add.
Once your approvals are set up the way you want, click the Send Approval Notifications button.

This starts the approval process by sending an email notification to the first user in the approvals list and adding the PO to that user's My Approvals page. Each time a user completes an approval, the next user is notified and the PO moves to that user's list.

Edit or Delete an Approver Record

Editing an approver record allows you to change the order in which the approval records are processed. You cannot change the user, only the order. You can, however, delete an approver and add a different one.

You can also delete a user from the approvals list, if needed. However, if approvals are required, you cannot delete the only user who has a sufficient approval level to cover the NTE. You must first add another user with a sufficient approval level before deleting.

To edit or delete an approval record:

In the Approver Records pane, click the Edit button to the right of the approval record.

The Edit Approval Request dialog box opens.
To modify the step number:
1. Enter a new value in the Approval Step field.
  
  You cannot enter a number that is already assigned to another step.
2. Click UPDATE.
To delete an approver:
1. Click the Delete link.
  
  A dialog box opens asking you to confirm your choice.
  
  You cannot delete a approver if approvals are required and he or she is the only approver with a sufficient approval level. You must add a replacement approver first, and then delete the approver.
2. Click OK.

PO Approvals

Add an Approver Request

Edit or Delete an Approver Record

PO Approval History

Rate this topic: