31
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval Supportability White Paper V1.0 Released: December 4, 2012

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 White Paper - Document Approval

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Basics

Citation preview

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Supportability White Paper

V1.0 Released: December 4, 2012

Conditions and Terms of Use

Microsoft Confidential

This training package content is proprietary and confidential, and is intended only for users described in the training materials. This content and information is provided to you under a Non-Disclosure Agreement and cannot be distributed. Copying or disclosing all or any portion of the content and/or information included in this package is strictly prohibited.

The contents of this package are for informational and training purposes only and are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Training package content, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, the content should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

Copyright and Trademarks

© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

For more information, see Use of Microsoft Copyrighted Content at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/permissions/

Microsoft®, Internet Explorer®, and Windows® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft products mentioned herein may be either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

About the Authors

Author: Pallab Mukhopadhyay

Bio:

Pallab is Support Escalation Engineer with CSS APGC Group based in Sydney Australia with 9 years NAV experience. Pallab was working as Project Lead with a Dynamics Partner before joining Microsoft.

Table of Contents

SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................. 1

Contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 1

INTRODUCTION TO DOCUMENT APPROVAL ................................................................................................................... 2

OBJECTS INVOLVED IN THE FUNCTIONALITY .................................................................................................................. 3

SETUP OF DOCUMENT APPROVAL SYSTEM ................................................................................................................... 4

Approval Setup .................................................................................................................................................. 4

SETUP APPROVAL TEMPLATES ................................................................................................................................... 5

APPROVAL USERS AND AMOUNTS .............................................................................................................................. 9

TEST APPROVAL USER SETUP .................................................................................................................................. 11

NOTIFICATION SYSTEM .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Getting Email Notifications ............................................................................................................................. 14

Overdue Notifications ..................................................................................................................................... 15

Overdue Documents ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Notification Templates .................................................................................................................................... 17

ALTERNATIVE APPROVAL FLOW ............................................................................................................................... 19

DELEGATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 21

ENHANCEMENTS IN MICROSOFT DYNAMICS NAV 2013 ............................................................................................... 24

KNOWN ISSUES IN DOCUMENT APPROVAL FUNCTIONALITY ............................................................................................ 25

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 1

Summary This white paper on Document Approval explains the basic functionality of the feature along

with the known issues and limitations from a supportability perspective.

Contents This white paper includes the following topics:

Introduction of the Document Approval functionality

Understand Document Approval functionality in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013.

Objects involved in the functionality

Learn about the list of objects in the Document Approval feature in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV 2013.

Approval Setup

Understand and learn how to set up Document Approval.

Approval Templates

Understand and learn how to set up Approval Templates.

Approval Users and Amounts

Understand and learn how to set up the Approval hierarchy, define amounts for

Approvers.

Test Approval System

Understand and learn how to test the Approval system setup.

Notification System

Understand and learn about the Notification system of Document Approval.

Alternative Approval Flow

Understand and learn how to set up the alternative approval flow.

Delegation

Learn how to Delegate Approvals.

Enhancements of the Document Approval functionality in Microsoft Dynamics

NAV 2013

Known issues in the Document Approval functionality in Microsoft Dynamics

NAV 2013

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 2

Introduction to Document Approval The Document Approval functionality in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 allows a user to

submit Sales and Purchase Documents for approval as per a predefined hierarchy of

approval Manager with defined Approval limits.

Additional Approvers can also be set up for specific documents for persons responsible for

Sales and Purchases.

A Substitute Approver can be set up in the system to approve the documents when the

specified Approver is out of office. The Administrator has to manually initiate the process.

An email notification system can be set up for the Document Approval system to inform the

specific Approver of the pending Approvals. Alternately each Approver (user) can view the

pending approvals from the Order Processing Menu.

The focus and tasks in the Approval system vary depending on the role of an individual

(user) in the organization. Hence it is important that appropriate roles are assigned to be

Approvers in the Approval process.

The overall principles and workflow is same for both Sales and Purchase documents with

some exceptions.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 3

Objects Involved in the Functionality The list of the objects present in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 for Document Approval is as

shown in the following figure:

Figure 1: List of objects present in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 for Document Approval

No new objects have been added for Document Approval functionality in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV 2013.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 4

Setup of Document Approval System

Approval Setup To set up the Approval System in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Department, click Application Setup, click Document Approval, click

Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. You can set up the following information using the Approval Setup page in the Edit

mode:

Due Date Formula – Define the formula to calculate the due date by which a

document should be approved by each Approver. For example, if all

documents require approval within a week then enter 1W in the field.

Approval Administrator – Select the User ID for the Administrator of the

Approval System from the drop down list. The Administrator has access to

set up all users and can go and check document for all users.

Request Rejection Comment – Put a check mark in this field if you want

the Approver of the document must specify a reason for rejecting the

document.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 5

Setup Approval Templates To set up the Approval Templates in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Department, click Application Setup, click Document Approval, click Lists,

click Approval Templates and then click Edit List.

2. You can setup the following information in Approval Templates.

Approval Codes – Select the name of the Approval Templates in this field.

You can select from a set of pre-defined standard Approval Templates.

Options are:

o Quote

o Order

o Invoice

o Credit Memo

o Return Order

o Blanket Order

The pre-defined standard template is available for both Sales and Purchase

documents.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 6

Approval Type – In this field you define the flow of the approval process, in

other words it identifies who will approve a specific document as the next

person in the hierarchy of the approvers. The options available are:

o Approver – The User who sends the document for approval

determines the Approver. The normal approval flow is used when

Approver is selected.

o Sales Pers. /Purchaser – The Sales Pers/Purchaser selected in the

document will determine the Approver.The alternative flow is used

when this is selected. To have this work correctly, Sales or Purchase

person is to be setup in the Approval User Setup page.

o Blank – if the field is blank, Additional Approver is to be set up for

the Approval Templates. Additional Approvers will be Approvers.

In the example above:

The Sales Order is set up with Approval Type = Sales Pers./Purchaser as a

Sales Person is connected to a Sales Order and hence connected to the Sales

Person’s approval flow.

The Purchase Order is set up with Approval Type = Approver and will follow

the normal approval flow following the hierarchy of Approvers of the person

who creates the order.

The Purchase Blanket Order is set up with Approval Type = Blank and an

Additional Approver is selected for approval of the documents.

Document Type – In this field, you select the type of document for which an

approval entry is to be created. The document types available are:

o Quote

o Order

o Invoice

o Credit Memo

o Return Order

Limit Type – You select the Limit type applicable for each Approval

Template in this field. The options available are:

o Approval Limits – There is a check on Approvers approval limit

Approval limit when the Approver approves the document. Select

this option if you want to approve documents as per Approval

hierarchy.

o Credit Limits – This normally applies to Sales documents. The

Customer’s credit limit is checked. Select this option if you want to

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 7

approve documents based on the defined Credit limit of the

Customer.

o Request limits – This is used for Purchase requests (Quotes) and

checks if the Approver can make a Purchase request for the amount.

o No Limits – This is used when there is no check on amount limits.

This option will require an Additional Approver to approve the

document. You typically select this option when no hierarchy for

Users are setup for the approval workflow and the Additional

Approver approves the documents.

Additional Approvers – If there is a need for Additional Approvers to

approve a document then put a check mark in this field and select the

Additional Approver by clicking Additional Appr. Icon at the top of the

page.

Select the Additional Approver in the Approver ID field.

Additional Approver feature may be used as an alternative to define the

approval hierarchy and not specifying all the roles and management levels in

the approval setup. For example, in a small company where the owner or

manager approves all documents, Additional Approver may be used.

Enabled – A check mark in this field enables the Approval Code. In the

above example, the P-ORDER and S-ORDER Approval codes are enabled.

Table ID – This field displays the Table ID connected to the respective

Approval template. In the above example, P-ORDER Approval template is

linked to the Purchase Header Table ID 38.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 8

If there is a business opportunity, Partners may add more Approval

Templates build on other Tables in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 9

Approval Users and Amounts To setup the Approval Users in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Department, click Administration, click Application Setup, click Document

Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Click the User Setup icon

The following Page will be displayed which shows an example of an approval

hierarchy.

In the above example of approval hierarchy, Susan and Alicia are the Order

Processors. Alicia and Susan have an approval limit of 5,000 LCY for Purchase and

Sales. Their respective mangers are PMANAGER and SMANAGER. PMANAGER and

SMANAGER have an approval limit of 20,000 LCY for Purchase and Sales.

Both the Managers are headed by the DIRECTOR who has unlimited Sales approval,

100,000 LCY as Request approval limit and 100,000 LCY as Purchase approval limit.

ADMIN is the Administrator for the Document Approval system and is the highest

level in the hierarchy. ADMIN has unlimited approval for all categories.

PS is the Sales Person and has an approval limit of 50,000 LCY for Sales. ADMIN is

the substitute approver for him during his absence.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 10

User ID – In this field, select the User Name from the Users Setup.

Salespers./Purch.Code – In this field, select the Salesperson or Purchaser

code of the User ID. This code is used to refer to the Salesperson or

Purchaser code in the Sales order or Purchase order. In this way, the system

can be setup to use this person’s approval flow instead of the original

approver’s flow.

Approver ID – In this field, select the User ID of the person who will

approve the document created by the User. In the above example, DIRECTOR

is the Approver for PMANAGER and SMANAGER.

Sales Amount – In this field, enter the amount limit (in LCY) for the User

(Approver) to approve a Sales document. When the Sales document exceeds

this limit, the document goes to the Approver for further approval.

Purchase Amount In this field, enter the maximum amount limit (in LCY)

for the User (Approver) to approve a Purchase document. When the

Purchase document exceeds this limit, the document goes to the Approver

for further approval.

Request Amount – In this field, enter the maximum amount limit (in LCY)

for the User (Approver) to approve a Purchase Request. When the Purchase

request exceeds the limit, the document goes to the Approver for further

approval.

Substitute – In this field, enter the substitute Approver to approve the

documents when the original Approver is not available. The Administrator

has the rights to setup this up.

Unlimited (Sales, Purchase, Request) Approval – Put a check mark in

these fields when there is no maximum limit for the User (Approver).

E-mail – Enter the e-mail address for the Approver so the notification

system can send e-mails out for approval. You have to setup the Notification

system to send e-mails.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 11

Test Approval User Setup To test the Approval User Setup in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Department, click Administration, click Application Setup, click Document

Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Click Approval User Setup Test icon.

The following page is displayed

3. Click Preview to display the results on the screen or Print to print the report.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 12

You can test each User for Sales Approval Setup, Purchase Approval Setup, or

Request Approval Setup depending on what flow the User is part of.

It is recommended to select All.

The test ensures that there are no loops in the approval process and the amount

limits on different Approver are setup correctly.

In the above example, the approval limit for Alicia the Purchasing Agent has a limit

of 5,000 LCY. The limit for Alicia’s Approver should be more than or equal to 5,000

LCY for the system to work correctly.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 13

Notification System To setup the Notification System in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Department, click Administration, click Application Setup, click Document

Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Expand the Notification fast tab.

Approvals – To notify the Approver by e-mail about the documents the

Approver has to approve, select this field.

Cancellations – To notify the Approver by e-mail about any cancellations on

the document approved by the Approver select this field. It may be

convenient to be able to follow the process for a document you have

approved, but the resulting e-mails may affect the performance of the

system.

Rejections – To notify the User by e-mail when the Approver rejects a

document sent for approval by the User, select this field. It is recommended

to have this field activated in order to inform the Users about any rejections.

Delegations – To notify the User that an approval task created by the User is

being delegated to another person (substitute Approver) select this field

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 14

Note: By default, all above options are disabled. To send e-mail notifications, you must activate them.

E-mail notification for Approvals and Delegations are enabled in the above example.

The use of Notification system is optional. Do not select any check boxes in the

Notification fast tab if you do not wish to send e-mails for approvals, rejections,

cancellations and delegations.

3. Alternatively each user can directly go and view the pending approvals by:

Going to Departments, click Sales & Marketing, click Order Processing, and then

click Approval Entries for Sales documents

OR

Going to Departments, click Purchase, click Order Processing, and then click

Approval Entries for Purchase documents

Getting Email Notifications The approval process is initiated by e-mails when the Notification system is setup and the

person responsible for approval will receive an email informing documents are available for

approval.

An email notification mail may look like the following figure:

Figure 2: Sample of email notification mail

You can customize this notification to suit the needs of your individual Customers.

The e-mail notification informs you about who has sent the approval notification, the

Vendor/Customer, Amount, due date etc. A link is available from the e-mail notification to

the document. On clicking the link, the program opens the Approval Entries window to

approve the document and to view all the outstanding approvals.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 15

Overdue Notifications The Administrator send out the overdue notifications to ensure that all approvers will

remember to approve their documents.

To send overdue notifications:

1. Go to Departments, click Administration, click Application Setup, click

Document Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Click Navigate.

It will display the above page.

3. To send overdue mails, click Send Overdue Mails.

Approvers who have overdue approvals will receive e-mails.

The Last Run Date is updated with the date on which last overdue mails were sent. The due

date formula along with the last run date ensures that overdue notifications for approvals

already sent are not sent out again.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 16

Overdue Documents The overdue date is calculated by using the Due date formula. All documents have creation

date. The due date is calculated as Creation date + Due date formula. If the current date

exceeds the due date, documents are overdue.

For example, overdue messages are sent today. The approvals that have a due date before

today’s date will receive a notification. When the overdue check is run next time, system

checks the last run date plus 1 week (Due date formula). The approvals that have a due date

before that date are sent the overdue notifications.

Lists of all overdue entries that are found and sent out are displayed in the Overdue

Notification page. This is a log showing if there are any overdue entries. If the window is

empty, it indicates that there are no overdue entries.

The list of overdue approvals that were sent out is shown in the Overdue Notification

Entries page. To display the entries:

1. Go to Departments, click Administration, click Application Setup, click

Document Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Click Overdue Log Entries.

The following page will be displayed

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 17

You cannot edit the entries in the Overdue Notification Entries page. This is an

information log from the system.

Notification Templates The templates for the e-mails to can be customized using the Approval Mail Template. You

can use this to import, export or delete a template. The exported Templates are HTML

Document format.

To import, export or delete a mail template:

1. Go to Departments, click Administration, click Application Setup, click

Document Approval, click Tasks and then click Approval Setup.

2. Click Navigate.

3. Click Approval Mail Template.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 18

You can import, export or delete an overdue mail template in a similar way using the

Overdue Mail Template.

Note: Microsoft delivers these templates along with the demo data company. It must be copied from here to other databases. It is important to do this way for the templates to work correctly.

You have to setup the SMTP Mail to have the Notification system working. To setup the

SMTP Mail in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013:

1. Go to Departments, click Administration, click General, click Tasks, click SMTP

Mail Setup.

SMTP Server – Enter your SMTP server name.

SMTP Server Port – Enter port of the SMTP server. The default value is 25.

If you specify the port and set it up, ensure that you allow incoming and

outgoing communications on the port for both Role tailored Client and

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server.

Authentication – The default value is Anonymous which requires no User

ID and Password. If you select Basic, enter the User ID and password. This is

generally the administrator ID and password for the SMTP server that you

and your user are registered on.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 19

Alternative Approval Flow The alternative approval flow functionality is relevant in case the person responsible for the

document does not create the order or receive the invoice.

For example, the Order Processor creates the order. In the normal approval flow, the Order

Processor’s Manager is responsible for approval of the order. However, in case of Sales

Order, the Sales Accountant is responsible for approving the Order and if the order amount

is more than the Sales Accountant’s limit it must be approved by the Sales Account’s

Manager.

To use the alternative approval flow:

1. Select a code in the Sales Person code in the Sales Order and Sales Quote.

2. Select a code in Salespers./Purch Code field in the Approval User Setup.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 20

3. Select Approval Type = Sales Pers./Purchaser in the Approval Template for template

= S-ORDER

Note: This works similar for a Purchase Order or Purchase Quote. In the Purchase Order, Purchase Quote the field is known as Purchaser Code.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 21

Delegation The Administrator can delegate documents pending for approval to Substitute Approvers if

any approver is out of office.

To delegate a document to a substitute approver:

1. The Substitute Approver is to be selected from the user in the Approval User

Setup. All the documents will be sent to the substitute approver once the

Administrator activates the delegate entries function.

2. If the notification is setup to send notifications when delegating documents, an

email is sent to the user that the document has been delegated.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 22

3. To delegate, the Administrator has to go to Approval Request Entries and click

Delegate.

Note: In case the Approver’s substitute is also out of office, the Administrator has to manually change the Substitute Approver in the Approval User Setup. The delegation to substitute approvers can be done by the Administrator as part of the maintenance routine from the Approval Request Entries page.

Any User can delegate approval tasks relating to the document they have sent for approval from the Approval Request Entries page.

Users can also delegate their own Approval task to another User by going to the Approval Request Entries window and clicking the Delegate icon.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 23

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 24

Enhancements in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 There have been no enhancements in the Document Approval functionality in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV 2013.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 25

Known Issues in Document Approval Functionality 1. The system will allow you to add a new line of Type = G/L Account or Charge (Item)

in an approved document. You can the post the document.

For example, the following Sales Order is approved and has a Status = Released

You can add a Line of Type = G/L Account or Charge (item) without re-opening the

document.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 26

The last 2 lines have been added.

You can post the modified Sales order without any further approval.

2. The User who creates a Document and sends it for Approval does not receive any

notification on approval of the document. The User who creates can go to

Departments >> Purchase >> Order Processing >> Approval Request entries

(for Purchase documents) or Departments >> Sales & Marketing >> Order

Processing >> Approval Request entries (for Sales Documents) and check the

Status of the Documents created by them.

For example, User SUSAN creates a Sales Order. The Approver approves the Sales

Order. SUSAN will not receive any notification after the approval.

3. The document has to be sent for approval even if the Document Amount is less than

the User’s Approval limit if the Approval template for the Document is enabled.

For example, SUSAN has an approval limit of 5,000. If SUSAN creates Sales Order,

less than 5,000 the Sales Order has to go for approval.

V1.0 Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 - Document Approval

Microsoft Microsoft Confidential 27

4. Additional Approver is to be selected for Limit Type = Credit Limit in the Approval

Template setup. For a business scenario where multiple Approvers have to approve

a Sales document if the amount is more than the credit limit of the Customer the

Additional Approvers may be setup as below:

5. No Approval Limit can be set for Additional Approver