SAP Sourcing/CLM Webcast Series
Approval Workflow
SAP Sourcing/CLM Center of Excellence
OCT 2012
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2
SAP Sourcing / CLM 2012 Webcast Series
Goal
• Spread the knowledge about SAP Sourcing
• Build and leverage the SAP Sourcing community
Audience
• SAP Consulting and Field Services
• Partner Consulting
• SAP Sourcing Customers
Upcoming Webcasts
• TBD
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 3
SAP Sourcing/CLM Upcoming Trainings
Which trainings are being offered?
• TSO100: Functional Training
• TSO150: Technical Training
• TSO180: Integration Training
Where are these classes ?
• SAP Americas in Newtown Square, PA (USA)
• SAP Germany in Walldorf (Germany)
When are these classes ?
• Newtown Square in September/October
• Walldorf in October
• Houston in November/December
How to sign up ?
• www.training.sap.com
• Search for TSO100/150/180
• Contact: [email protected] (US) [email protected] (GER)
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 4
Agenda
Agenda
Introduction to Workflow
Demo
Configuring Workflows
Implementation tips
Workflow Scenarios
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
Introduction to Workflow
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 6
Overview
What is Approval Workflow?
A capability of Sourcing / CLM to have certain business documents routed for approvals
(or rejections)
What is provided with the Sourcing / CLM Approval Workflow?
Management and tracking of the tasks involved with the process
Ability to set either individual users or a group of users as the required approver(s)
Group approval is either all members of the group or any member of the group
Approvers are added as collaborators using the Approver collaborator role
Where are the capabilities available?
Projects
Contract Documents
Suppliers
User Defined Objects 1-5
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 7
Customer Approval Workflow Examples
Route a contract document for approval through levels of the procurement
management hierarchy using the value of the contract to determine if an approval
is required
Route a project for approval based on the category and the value
Route supplier registrations for approval to a centralized supplier management
group
Route a contract document for approval based on the contract manager knowing
to whom the document must go
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 8
What is provided by Sourcing / CLM
A workflow “engine” that manages and tracks the approval process steps
The engine is responsible for
Locking document
Sending emails
Unlocking documents
Managing the approval process
The engine does not provide the rules by which approvers are selected
It is the responsibility of the customer / implementation team to
Define the rules by which approvers are selected
Model those rules in the system (commonly done with extensions)
Build / develop any logic that is required to utilize the rules (likely using Beanshell
scripting)
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 9
Approval Workflow demo
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
Approval Workflow demo
Configuring Workflow
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 11
Phase Configurations
Phase configurations are a required component when enabling workflow
Phase configurations are used to model the business process for a business
document
Multiple phase configurations can be configured and each “document type” can
have its own phase configuration
Each phase is a value from the phase value list type (Project Phase, Contract
Document Phase, Supplier Phase, User Defined Phase 1-5)
Accessed from Setup > Document Setup > [Projects, Contract Documents,
Suppliers, UDO]
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 12
Workflow and Phase Configurations
A workflow is associated with a single phase in a Configurable Phase Definition
A workflow may include multiple process steps
Each step will have one or more approvers
If a step does not require an approver, it will be “skipped” and the next step will
be processed
Typically, the final step will transition the phase of the business document to the
next phase (approval) or previous phase (rejection)
Under
Review
Project
Approval
Strategy
Planning RFx
WF Step 1
WF Step 2
WF Step 3
Awarding
Reject Approve
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 13
Workflow Definition
Workflow definitions are used to define a specific approval workflow process (Setup >
System Setup > Workflow > Workflow Definitions)
Each Workflow definition includes a name, a description, and a collection of “process
templates”
The process template must always be an “approval workflow”
Process Owner Role: Collaborator role of background process user executing workflow
Active Approver Role: Collaborator role used for the active approver(s)
Inactive Approver Role: Collaborator role used after a user has completed
approval/rejection (typically “Collaborator” or “Reviewer”)
XPDL Source: .xpdl file
Define a process template
as shown: always define as
“approval workflow”; select
the roles as shown (choose
reviewer for Inactive
Approver Role if read
access is desired)
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 14
Configuring Workflow – Object Dependency
Prescript
Postscript
XPDL
Workflow
Definition
Value List
Type Conf. Phase
Definition
Document
Type Extension
Definition
User
Groups
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 15
Implementation Steps
Defines rules by which approvers will be established
Design extensions that are required to support the rules
Create User Groups (if necessary) that are used for approver logic
Develop XPDL, including pre and post scripts for workflow steps
Update appropriate Value List Type with phases
Create Workflow Definition in Sourcing
Create Configurable Phase Definition in Sourcing and associated Workflow
Definition with appropriate phase
Create Document Type that utilizes Configurable Phase Definition
Test
Approval conditions
Rejection conditions
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 16
Implementation Tips
Workflows can be cancelled by an Administrator from a report on the
Workflow Definition - This is also useful if Workflows “lock-up” during
development (e.g., script error)
Phases that include a Workflow should typically be made required phases
Can not add a Workflow to the first phase (it can never be re-submitted
if it is cancelled)
It is always best to represent as much of the logic/rules as data
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 17
Approval Workflow Limitations
Parallel threads of approval are not possible. Within a single process step, a
group may be used for parallel approvals, but separate threads of process steps
may not be executed in parallel.
Users may not “forward” their approval responsibility to another user
There is no capability to “delegate” approvals (e.g., while on vacation or out sick).
Note: Workflow Delegation available from Wave 8
With the exception of Suppliers, the business document is locked while it is in
Workflow. As a result, no changes to the document are allowed.
There is no view that shows all of the approvers that will be required.
There is no way to combine multiple contract documents into a single approval
workflow
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 18
Examples Scenarios (1)
Problem: Approver is based on the Product Category
Solution:
Add an user account (or user group) extension to the Product Category object (“Category
Approver”)
The extension value is read at run time in the workflow script by using the Product
Category object reference on the object being approved and loading the Product
Category object
The value is used in the “addApprover” call
Problem: Approver is document owner’s manager
Solution:
Add an user account extension to the User Account object (“Manager”)
The extension value is read at run time in the workflow script by using the User Account
(Owner) object reference on the object being approved and loading the User Account
object
The value is used in the “addApprover” call
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 19
Example Scenarios (2)
Problem: Approver(s) are based on the “Type” of object
Solution:
Add user account (or user group) extensions to the document type related to the object
type being approved
The extension values are read at run time in the workflow script by using the document
type object reference on the object being approved and loading the document type object
The values are used in the “addApprover” call
Problem: Approver is assigned at run time by the user getting the document
approved
Solution:
Add user account (or user group) extensions to the object type being approved
At run time, the user would populate the values of these fields
The values are used in the “addApprover” call
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
Thank You!
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 21
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice.
Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors.
Microsoft, Windows, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, System i, System i5, System p, System p5, System x, System z, System z10, System z9, z10, z9, iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, zSeries, eServer, z/VM, z/OS, i5/OS, S/390, OS/390, OS/400, AS/400, S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, PowerVM, Power Architecture, POWER6+, POWER6, POWER5+, POWER5, POWER, OpenPower, PowerPC, BatchPipes, BladeCenter, System Storage, GPFS, HACMP, RETAIN, DB2 Connect, RACF, Redbooks, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ESA, AIX, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli and Informix are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.
Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, PostScript, and Reader are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.
UNIX, X/Open, OSF/1, and Motif are registered trademarks of the Open Group.
Citrix, ICA, Program Neighborhood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, and MultiWin are trademarks or registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc.
HTML, XML, XHTML and W3C are trademarks or registered trademarks of W3C®, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
JavaScript is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., used under license for technology invented and implemented by Netscape.
SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, StreamWork, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries.
© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved
Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects Software Ltd. Business Objects is an SAP company.
Sybase and Adaptive Server, iAnywhere, Sybase 365, SQL Anywhere, and other Sybase products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc. Sybase is an SAP company.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
The information in this document is proprietary to SAP. No part of this document may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express prior written permission of SAP AG.
This document is a preliminary version and not subject to your license agreement or any other agreement with SAP. This document contains only intended strategies, developments, and functionalities of the SAP® product and is not intended to be binding upon SAP to any particular course of business, product strategy, and/or development. Please note that this document is subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time without notice.
SAP assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. SAP does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this material. This document is provided without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
SAP shall have no liability for damages of any kind including without limitation direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages that may result from the use of these materials. This limitation shall not apply in cases of intent or gross negligence.
The statutory liability for personal injury and defective products is not affected. SAP has no control over the information that you may access through the use of hot links contained in these materials and does not endorse your use of third-party Web pages nor provide any warranty whatsoever relating to third-party Web pages.
© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved
2012