PO Approval Groups Upload  Help

PO Approval Groups Upload creates and updates the approval groups of Purchasing with their approval rules, and assigns them to positions or jobs per document type, as the Approval Groups and Approval Assignments forms do. It downloads the approval groups of an operating unit for editing, validates each row and returns a result report with the outcome of every row.

When to use it

• Set up the approval groups of a new operating unit in one step, with their amount limits and account ranges.
• Raise or lower the amount limits of many approval groups at once.
• Add include or exclude rules for account, item and item category ranges or for locations.
• Assign approval groups to positions or jobs for all document types at once, or end assignments with an End Date.
• Rename approval groups, or disable them.

Before you start

• You are signed in to a responsibility with access to the operating unit and to the upload in Blitz Report.
• An operating unit that uses approval hierarchies (Use Approval Hierarchies in the Financials options) assigns approval groups to positions, otherwise to jobs. The positions or jobs exist in the business group of the operating unit, for example loaded with the PER Position Upload or the PER Job Upload.
• The locations of Location rules are active locations of the business group.

Choose a template

The default template is Default.

Step 1 – Set the parameters

Open PO Approval Groups Upload in Blitz Report, choose the template and set the parameters. They decide which approval groups are downloaded.

Step 2 – Run to download the Excel file

Click Run. With Create, Update, the file has one row per rule and one row per assignment of each approval group, the rules first. An approval group without rules and assignments has one row. The group columns repeat on every row of the group. With Create, the sheet is empty.

Step 3 – Enter the approval groups, rules and assignments

Change the downloaded rows, or add rows for new approval groups, rules and assignments. A row carries an approval group with one rule, one assignment, or both.

• Operating Unit, Approval Group, Group Description and Enabled (Yes for a new row, blank disables the group). The group values are taken from the first row of each group, so repeat them on every row of the group.
• Object – Account Range, Document Total, Item Category Range, Item Range or Location. Rule Type is Include or Exclude and defaults to Include. A Document Total rule is always an Include rule.
• Amount Limit – the approval limit of an Include rule, a positive amount. Leave it blank for an Exclude rule.
• Low Value and High Value – the range of an Account Range, Item Range or Item Category Range rule, each with all segment values separated by the flexfield delimiter, for example 01-000-0000-0000-000 to 02-999-9999-9999-999. A Location rule takes the location in Low Value. A Document Total rule has neither.
• Inactive Date – ends the rule, today or a later date.
• Position or Job, and Document Type – the assignment of the approval group. Enter the Position where the operating unit uses approval hierarchies, the Job is then filled in from it. Otherwise enter the Job.
• Start Date (today for a new assignment) and End Date – the period of the assignment. End Date ends it.

Step 4 – Validate and Save

Click Validate and Save. This checks for missing required values and for values that are not in their lists, marks the rows Valid and saves the file. Correct any rows it flags before uploading.

Step 5 – Upload the file

In Blitz Report click Upload and select the saved file. The upload request processes the rows in order. A new assignment needs an enabled approval group with an active rule, so enter the rules of a new group on the same row as its first assignment or on earlier rows. Each row is saved or rejected on its own, so a rejected row leaves nothing behind and does not affect the other rows.

Step 6 – Review the result report

When the request completes, a result report opens listing every uploaded row with its status and a message naming what was created or updated, for example Approval group created. Rule created. or Assignment updated., No change. for a row without changes, or the reason the row was rejected. The result report shows the values as they were saved in Oracle.

What’s produced

• Approval groups with their approval rules, and the assignments of approval groups to positions or jobs per document type.
• Each row is saved on its own. A row that fails leaves nothing behind and does not affect the other rows.
• A result report listing every row with a status (success or error) and a message.

Common questions

Can I delete an approval group, rule or assignment?
No. End a rule with an Inactive Date and an assignment with an End Date, and clear Enabled to disable an approval group.

How do I rename an approval group?
Change the Approval Group on all downloaded rows of the group. The downloaded row identifies the group, so the new name replaces the old one.

Can I move an approval group to another operating unit?
No. The operating unit of an existing approval group cannot be changed. Create the group in the other operating unit with new rows.

Do I enter a Position or a Job?
It depends on the Use Approval Hierarchies option of the operating unit in the Financials options: with approval hierarchies you assign positions, otherwise jobs.

What happens when I upload the same new rows again?
A new rule row that matches a rule of the group with the same Object, Rule Type and values updates that rule, and a new assignment row with the same position or job, document type and Start Date updates that assignment. No duplicates are created.

Why does the message say “Please include the required approval rule in your approval group for this …”?
The assignment is saved; the message is a warning, as in the Approval Assignments form. For Approve Contract Purchase Orders and Approve Blanket Purchase Agreements the approval group needs an active Document Total rule, for the other document types an active Account Range rule of type Include.

Where can I review the setup?
The PO Approval Groups report lists the approval groups with their rules, and the PO Approval Assignments report the active assignments.

Troubleshooting