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How to Define Approval Procedures

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Solutions from SAP

SAP Business One

2007 A and 2007 B

September 2009 English

SAP Business One 2007 A and 2007 B How to Define Approval Procedures

© SAP AG 2009 2

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Setting Up and Working with Document Approval Processes....................................................................... 5 Creating Approval Stages .............................................................................................................................. 7

Updating Approval Stages.......................................................................................................................... 8 Creating Approval Templates ........................................................................................................................ 9

Updating Approval Templates .................................................................................................................. 13 Attaching User Defined Queries to Approval Templates.......................................................................... 13

Viewing and Managing Messages/Alerts ..................................................................................................... 16 Approving Draft Documents......................................................................................................................... 18 Saving Drafts as Regular Documents.......................................................................................................... 20 Canceling and Restarting Approval Procedures.......................................................................................... 23 Generating the Approval Status Report ....................................................................................................... 25 Generating the Approval Decision Report ................................................................................................... 27 Approval Process Windows ......................................................................................................................... 28

Approval Stages - Setup Window............................................................................................................. 28 Approval Templates - Setup Window....................................................................................................... 29 Messages/Alert Overview Window........................................................................................................... 33 Request for Approval Window.................................................................................................................. 34 Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria Window................................................................................ 35 Approval Status Report Window .............................................................................................................. 36 Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria.......................................................................................... 37 Approval Decision Report Window........................................................................................................... 38

Database Tables Reference ........................................................................................................................ 39 Copyrights, Trademarks, and Disclaimers................................................................................................... 40


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How to Define Approval Procedures

Introduction The approval process is used in companies in which the standard work procedure requires an approval from a manager or senior member before employees can generate certain documents, for example, purchase orders. The manager defines the stages of the approval process and the templates used, this includes which:

• Employees' documents require approval.

• Employees can authorize documents.

• Documents are part of the approval process.

A document’s approval process begins when an employee (who is the originator of the document) adds the document as a draft in SAP Business One. A request for approval is sent via an internal message to the manager or senior member (authorizer) required to approve the document (according to the definitions in SAP Business One). These internal messages support the approval process, by informing originators and authorizers about document status and any changes.

A document's approval process ends when the originator receives final approval and adds the document as a regular document.

Process 1. A manager identifies the approval processes required by the company.

2. When a document is created that is subject to the approval process:

The originator receives a message indicating that an approval is required before the document can be saved as a regular document.

The document is saved as a draft.

NOTE

When the draft document is displayed, its status appears in the window header.

The authorizer receives a message indicating that a draft document requires approval.

The authorizer can approve or reject the document from within the Messages/Alerts Overview window by viewing each message.

3. If the document is:

Approved, the originator of the document receives an appropriate message. The originator can then convert the approved draft to a regular document. This function is also available within the message, where the originator or authorizer can open the underlying document and then save it as a regular document.

Rejected, the originator of the document receives an appropriate message. In this case the draft document cannot be converted to a regular document. The draft document can be deleted or cancelled, but first the approval procedure must be cancelled for the draft.

The originator can amend a rejected document. If the amended document is still subject to an approval procedure, the application initiates the new approval procedure, and the authorizers who are required to approve the document receive a message. Otherwise, the user can convert the draft to a regular document.

4. If an authorizer cancels the approval procedure during an approval stage, the originator of the document receives an appropriate message. In this case, the draft document cannot be converted to a regular document.


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5. If an approval step was cancelled and the approval procedure is restarted at a later time, that is, the approval step is created again, the originator of the document receives an appropriate message. Remarks can be added to each message to provide additional information about the approval procedure.

6. Two available reports enable authorized users to monitor and process all the draft documents that are currently subject to an approval process in the system. One of these reports is intended primarily for the document originator, namely, the approval status report, and the other for the authorizer, namely, the approval decision report.


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Setting Up and Working with Document Approval Processes In this section you learn about roles and responsibilities during the approval process.

Prerequisites To activate the approval process, choose Administration → System Initialization → General Settings → BP tab, select the Activate Approval Procedures checkbox.

NOTE

You can activate or disable this function at any time.

NOTE

Users defined as originators of the documents requiring approval cannot change this setting.

Procedure ...

1. Create approval stages during the implementation phase.

For more information, see Creating Approval Stages.

2. Create an approval template during the implementation phase.

For more information, see Creating Approval Templates.

3. View approval requests and their status during the production phase.

For more information, see Viewing and Managing Messages/Alerts.

4. Approve or reject draft documents during the production phase.

For more information, see Approving Draft Documents.

5. Save draft documents as regular documents during the production phase.

For more information, see Saving Drafts as Regular Documents.

6. Cancel an approval procedure for a document, and restart it later.

For more information, see Canceling and Restarting Approval Procedures.

7. Generate a report about the approval status of various documents during the production phase.

For more information, see Generating the Approval Status Report.

8. Generate a report about pending approval decisions for various documents during the production phase.

For more information, see Generating the Approval Decision Report.


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The diagram shows the document approval process, and the users that can perform the various tasks.

Document Approval Process


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Creating Approval Stages As an authorizer (manager/senior member) you can create an approval stage that can be assigned to one or more approval procedure templates, including which users may approve specific transactions and how many authorizers are required. You can assign an approval stage to one or more approval procedure templates.

Procedure

1. If approval stages have not been defined, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Stages.

The Approval Stages – Setup window appears.

2. Specify a name in the Approval Stages – Setup window, and optionally add a description for each stage.

3. In the No. of Approvals Required field, specify the number of users required to approve each stage.

It is useful to have more than one authorizer for documents, to compensate for authorizer unavailability.

4. Specify the name of each user with approval privileges in the Authorizer column.

By default, the department value is taken from the user account. You can override this when defining approval procedures.

5. To save the data, choose the Add button.

NOTE

In the following case, you cannot modify a draft document that is in the approval process:

If the number of authorizers who have not rendered a decision is greater than or equal to the number of approvals required, SAP Business One keeps the document within the approval process. This is to allow the other authorizers to decide whether to approve or to reject the document.

For example, there are two authorizers (A and B), and only one approval is required for the document. If authorizer A rejects the document, the notification is not sent automatically to the


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originator of the document. This is to give authorizer B the opportunity to decide whether to accept or reject the document.

More Information:

Setting Up and Working with Document Approval Processes

Updating Approval Stages

Approval Stages - Setup Window

Updating Approval Stages As an authorizer you can modify approval stages, for example, by adding additional authorizers.

NOTE

You cannot remove a stage that is part of an approval template once a document is created using that approval template. You can remove a stage that has not been added to a template, or remove a template that has not been used.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Stages.

The Approval Stages – Setup window opens in Add mode. If you want to search for an existing approval stage, switch to the Find mode in one of the following ways:

Choose Data → Find in the menu bar.

Press CTRL + F.

Choose Find in the toolbar.

2. You can then use the familiar search functions to search for an existing approval stage, display it, and change it if necessary.

3. When you change an approval stage, the OK button is replaced with the Update button.

4. To confirm and save your changes, choose the Update button.

More Information:

Approval Stages - Setup Window


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Creating Approval Templates As an authorizer you can create several approval templates that specify the various approval procedures for the company, to which users the approval procedures apply, and to which transactions.

For example, approval procedures can be defined with different terms for different originators. An approval procedure can be triggered for the credit limit for some originators of invoices, and an approval procedure for the gross profit and the credit limit for other originators.

For example, a template can be defined so that all purchase orders created by a certain originator that have a value greater than EUR 1,000.00 must be run through the approval procedure.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Templates.

The Approval Templates – Setup window appears.

2. Enter a unique name and description for the approval template.

Since you may have several approval procedures for the same topic, descriptions are useful.

3. To activate the approval template, select the Active checkbox.

NOTE

A template can be inactive:

• In situations where a conflict may arise with other procedures

• When it is no longer required

4. On the Originator tab, enter the users who require approval of their documents and their department.


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Multiple users can be assigned to an approval procedure.

5. On the Documents tab, select the documents to be processed using this approval procedure.


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6. On the Stages tab, select one or more approval stages, or define a new stage. Change the sequence of the stages as necessary.

7. On the Terms tab:

a. To always trigger the approval procedure, select the Always radio button, or


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b. To define specific conditions for the approval procedure, select the When the Following Applies radio button

Two tables are displayed:

i. The upper table contains predefined conditions that you can select.

• To apply one or more tests using the predefined variables, select the required checkboxes in the Choose column.

• The Term column contains the list of predefined variables.

• The Ratio column contains a list of predefined mathematical operators to compare to the selected variable.

• In the Value column, enter the threshold amount. If the term is compared to this amount using the selected ratio and the comparison holds true, then the approval procedure is triggered.

ii. The lower table contains saved queries that you can execute.

If the result of a saved query is True, then the approval procedure is triggered.

NOTE

An approval procedure can be contingent upon both multiple predefined variable comparisons and multiple saved queries. A total for the number of selected conditions is displayed at the bottom of the window.


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8. To save the template, choose the Add button.

More Information:


Updating Approval Templates

Approval Templates - Setup Window

Updating Approval Templates As an authorizer (manager/senior member) you can modify approval templates, but the stages of an approval template cannot be deleted once documents are created using that approval template. For example, you can modify to which document the approval template applies.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Templates.

The Approval Templates – Setup window appears.

The window is opened in the Add mode. To search for an existing approval template, switch to the Find mode.

2. Use the search functions to locate an existing approval template, and modify it if necessary.

3. To save the changes, choose the Add button.

More Information:

Approval Templates - Setup Window

Attaching User Defined Queries to Approval Templates In addition to the six terms embedded in SAP Business One, it is possible to attach user defined queries as terms for launching an approval procedure.

Prerequisites You have created a user defined query using one of the following specific SQL query structures:

• The sentence starts with SELECT 'TRUE' in order to launch the approval procedure only in case the query returns a single true result (rather than multiple true results).

• The sentence starts with SELECT DISTINCT 'TRUE' in order to launch the approval procedure whenever the query returns one or more true results.

These structures indicate whether the term you defined to trigger the approval procedure is fulfilled, or not namely, true or false.

NOTE

• In order to run the query on data you are currently processing in a certain document rather than on data recorded in the company database, use the query structure $[Table.Field]. You can only use this structure on header tables (for example, OINV, ORDR) and not on row tables (for example, INV1, RDR1).


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Example You would like to launch an approval procedure in case a certain originating user tries to add a sales order for a specific customer.

Define the following user query:

Procedure

1. Open a relevant approval template and choose the Terms tab.

2. Select the option When the Following Applies. The Terms Based on User Queries area is displayed in the lower part of the window.

3. In order to attach your user query to this approval template, double click a row number to open the Open Saved Queries window.

4. Select the required query and click the Open button.

Now each time an originating user linked to this approval template tries to add a sales order containing the customer code specified in the query, the approval procedure is launched.

NOTE

• A user query designated to be used in an approval procedure has to start with SELECT 'TRUE'.

• The query has to result in either True or False. There is no use of a query resulting in numbers, names etc.

• You can use both the 6 fixed terms and user defined queries in the same approval template.


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• You can attach several queries to an approval template. As the user tries to add a document defined in the approval template, SAP Business One runs through the terms and queries defined in the template and as soon as a fixed term or one of the user queries retrieves the result True, the approval procedure is launched.

More Information:

Creating Approval Templates


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Viewing and Managing Messages/Alerts As an authorizer you can view messages from originators regarding draft documents that require approval.

In addition, you can:

• View draft documents

• Approve or reject draft documents

See Approving Draft Documents.

• Save drafts as regular documents

See Saving Drafts as Regular Documents.

As an originator you can view messages from authorizers regarding the status of your draft documents.

The information is updated whenever a new message is received or at regular intervals, according to the settings defined in Administration → Alerts Management.

Procedure

1. Choose Window → Messages/Alert Overview.

The Messages/Alert Overview window appears.


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2. Select the required message to display the details of the message in the Request for Document Approval area.

3. To open the draft document in the Request for Approval window, click the link arrow .

More Information:


Messages/Alert Overview Window

Request for Approval Window


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Approving Draft Documents As an authorizer you approve draft documents added by an originator. Once the document is approved, the authorizer or the originator saves it as a regular document.

You approve draft documents in the Request for Approval window when you are reviewing messages in the Messages/Alert Overview window.

You approve draft documents in the Approval Decision Report window when you generate a report of the status of draft documents requiring approval.

Procedure Approving draft documents from the Request for Approval window


The Messages/Alert Overview window appears.

2. To display the details of the message in the Request for Document Approval area, select the required message.

3. To open the Request for Approval window, click the link arrow . This displays document and authorization details.

4. In the Decision list, select the Approved option.

NOTE

You can reject the document, and an internal message is sent to the document originator.

5. In the Remarks field, enter a remark (optional).

6. Choose the Update button. An internal message is sent to the document originator regarding the approval.


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Approving draft documents from the Approval Decision Report window

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Decision Report.

The Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria window appears.

2. To generate the report choose the required criteria.

3. Choose the OK button.

The Approval Decision Report window appears.

4. In the Answer column, select the Approved option from the dropdown list for the selected document.

NOTE

To approve several documents simultaneously, select the required rows and choose the Global Update button. In the Global Update window, you can approve or reject all the selected documents and include a remark. The remark is copied to all the documents in the report results.


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5. Choose the Update button. An internal message is sent to the document originator regarding the approval.

More Information:

Viewing and Managing Messages/Alerts

Generating the Approval Decision Report

Saving Drafts as Regular Documents

Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria

Approval Decision Report Window

Saving Drafts as Regular Documents As an authorizer or originator you can add draft documents to the database as regular documents after they have been approved. Once you save a draft document as a regular document postings are triggered that change the quantities and values in the stock and changes are triggered in the accounting system.

You can save draft documents in the Request for Approval window when you are reviewing messages in the Messages/Alert Overview window.

You can save draft documents in the Approval Status Report window when you generate a report about the status of draft documents.

Procedure Saving draft documents from the Request for Approval window


The Messages/Alerts Overview window appears.

2. To display the details of the message in the Request for Document Approval area, select the required message.

3. To open the Request for Approval window, click the link arrow . This displays document and authorization details.


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4. Click the Document No. link arrow . The draft document opens; its status appears in the window header.

5. Choose the Add button. An internal message is sent to the document originator that the draft has been

saved as a regular document.

Saving draft documents from the Approval Status Report window

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedure → Approval Status Report.

The Approval Status Report – Selection Criteria window appears.


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2. To generate the report choose the required criteria.

3. Choose the OK button.

The Approval Status Report window appears.

4. Click the Document No. link arrow . The draft document opens; its status appears in the window header.

5. Choose the Add button. An internal message is sent to the document originator that the draft has been saved as a regular document.

More Information:

Viewing and Managing Messages/Alerts

Generating the Approval Status Report

Canceling and Restarting Approval Procedures

Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria Window

Approval Status Report Window


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Canceling and Restarting Approval Procedures As an authorizer you can cancel an approval procedure for a document, and restart it at a later date if required. For example, if an authorizer is out of the office on vacation.

Procedure

1. To view the approval procedure, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Status Report.

The Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria window appears.

2. Select at least one of the document types, and then choose the OK button to display the report.

The Approval Status Report window appears.


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3. To cancel an approval procedure for a document:

a. Select the row of the document in the report.

b. Choose Data → Cancel in the menu bar.

The originator of the document receives an appropriate message. The document can be located later based on this status.

4. To restart an approval procedure for a document:

a. Select the row of the document in the report with the cancelled approval template.

b. Choose Data → Restore in the menu bar.

The originator of the document receives an appropriate message. The approval process restarts from this point. Other approval steps may be necessary before the document is ultimately approved.

More Information:



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Generating the Approval Status Report As an authorizer or originator you can generate a report of the approval status of various transactions. Document originators can use this report to display the status of the documents they have created. The report displays a list of documents with their approval status and the history of the transaction.

Documents are assigned status values during an approval process, based on their processing progress, namely, pending, approved, or rejected. Use this report to display the status of documents and monitor the various documents that are subject to the approval process. The report displays a list of documents, their approval status and their history.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedure → Approval Status Report.

The Approval Status Report – Selection Criteria window appears.

2. To filter the report, select the required document status.

3. Enter a selection range for Originator, Authorizer, and/or Template.

4. Choose the document types to display in the report. The selection becomes the default for the next report selection.

5. To generate the report, choose the OK button.


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All the documents that meet the selected criteria are displayed in the Approval Status Report window.

a. To display/hide all the detailed rows of the report simultaneously, use the expand and collapse buttons.

b. To update the approval template for the document when the detailed document rows are displayed, click the link arrow for the document in the Template column. The Approval Templates - Setup window appears, and you can update the template.

c. To display additional details about the specific approval, including the approval stage, authorizer and decision, in the lower section of the window, click on the row for a specific document.

If there are draft documents waiting for approval, an authorizer can approve them from this report by clicking the row of the specific document. In the lower table, in the Answer column, either select Approved or Not Approved, or leave the status as Pending. This table is displayed only when the user clicks a line without using the collapse/expand buttons.

More Information:



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Generating the Approval Decision Report As an authorizer you can use this report to display all documents where an approval decision is required. You can:

• Approve draft documents directly within the report.

• View the current status of draft documents.

• View the name of the originator of the draft document.

• View the type of transaction requiring approval.

• View the history of an approval procedure for a draft document.

NOTE

The Answer column is active only for a defined authorizer of the document, and the document's status must be Pending, Approved, or Not Approved.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Decision Report.

The Approval Decision Report – Selection Criteria window appears.

2. To filter the report, choose the required decision statuses, and enter a range for Originator, Authorizer, Template, and/or Request Date. The request date is the date on which the original document that triggered the approval procedure was created.

3. To generate the report, choose the OK button.

The Approval Decision Report window appears.


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The Approval Decision Report window shows the documents that correspond to the specified selection criteria. A row is displayed in the report results for each authorizer, assuming the selection criteria were not limited to a single authorizer. Therefore, the same transaction may appear several times in the list, but involve a different authorizer each time. The Template Status field displays the current status of the document. The Suspended status means the document is still in the approval process. The document can still be approved depending on the decisions of the other authorizers.

NOTE

The Template Status column is not visible by default. To show it in the Approval Decision

Report, click (Form Settings).

4. You can decide whether to approve a transaction directly from the Approval Decision Report window:

a. To approve or reject a document, in the Answer column, select either Approved or Not Approved from the list. Documents awaiting approval are displayed as Pending.

b. To approve several transactions simultaneously, select the required rows and choose the Global Update button. In the Global Update window, you can approve or reject all the selected documents and include a remark. The remark is copied to all the documents in the report results.

5. To save the data once all the documents have been processed, choose the Update button.

More Information:

Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria

Approval Decision Report Window

Approval Process Windows Use the following windows to set up approvals:

• Approval Stages - Setup Window

• Approval Templates - Setup Window

Use the following windows to work with approvals:

• Messages/Alert Overview Window

• Request for Approval Window

• Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria Window

• Approval Status Report Window

• Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria

• Approval Decision Report Window

Approval Stages - Setup Window Use this window to define which users may approve specific transactions and how many authorizers are required in each case. A specific approval stage can be assigned to one or more approval procedures.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Stages.


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Key to Fields Field Activity/Description

Stage Name Specify a name for the stage.

This unique name should not be too precise, so as to allow its use for multiple approval procedures.

Stage Description Provide a brief explanation of the substance of the stage.

No. of Approvals Required Specify the minimum number of approvals required to complete this stage.

EXAMPLE

Two authorizing users have been defined for this stage, but only one is required to complete it and move on to the next stage. Either user can approve it.

Authorizer Select the authorizing users for this stage.

Department Displays the department linked to the user.

To display and select users from a certain department only, select the appropriate department and press TAB in the User field.

Approval Templates - Setup Window Use this window to specify the various approval procedures for the company.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Templates.

Key to Fields

General Area

Field Activity/Description

Name Specify a unique name for the approval template.

Description Provide an explanation of the template.

Active Activates the approval template.

If an approval procedure is no longer required, deselect this option. Users who are defined as originators in an approval template cannot change this option to bypass the approval procedure.

Originator Tab


User Select the users to whom the approval template applies.

Department Specify a department to narrow the user selection to that department.


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Documents Tab


Documents Lets you apply the approval template to Sales – A/R and/or Purchasing – A/P documents only.

You can then select the specific sales and/or purchasing documents.

Inventory Lets you apply the approval template to Inventory related documents only.

You can then select the specific documents.

NOTE

For users in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India and Brazil, SAP Business One also provides options for payment.

Stages Tab


Stage Name Select the stages that the approval template should contain.

Stage Description Displays the name of the selected stage.

Order buttons The appearance order of the stages on this tab indicates the order in which they are activated in the approval procedure. To determine the stage order, use the arrow buttons.

Terms Tab


Launch Approval Procedure Specify which criteria, if any, are to be met before an approval procedure is triggered. The option can be Always, or one based upon the fulfillment of one or more conditions. SAP Business One processes procedures with conditions prior to those that are marked Always.

Selecting the option Always activates the approval template whenever the selected users (in the Originator tab) initiate the selected documents (in the Documents tab).

Selecting the option When the Following Applies enables you to define a term or set of terms that only when fulfilled, activates the approval procedure.

NOTE

If you define more than one term, the approval template is activated only when all the defined terms are fulfilled. Realization of only part of the defined terms does not activate the approval template.

When this option is selected two tables are displayed:

• Upper Table

Choose - select the checkbox of a predefined term


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Field Activity/Description (variable) that you want to apply on the approval template.

EXAMPLE

To trigger an approval procedure, if the customer deviates from his credit limit by more than a certain amount, select Deviation from Credit Limit. Select the ratio that corresponds to the mathematical operation to compare the selected term to a threshold value. If the comparison of the selected term and the manually entered threshold value satisfies the selected ratio, the system activates the approval procedure.

Term - displays the name of the different predefined terms. The terms that appear here depends on the selected option in the Documents tab.

Ratio - select the relevant ratio for each selected term.

NOTE

You cannot select ratio for a deselected term.

Value - specify the required value for each selected term. Specify the values for the ratios In Range and Not in Range in the following format:

Low amount-high amount.

EXAMPLE

For gross profit percentage lower than 20% and higher than 50%, select the ratio Not in Range and in the Value column type: 20-50.

When the specified values are amounts, specify the required currency as well. If you specify an amount only, the local currency is taken by default.

• Lower Table

Query Name - you can define your own conditions based upon a valid SQL query, either in addition to, or instead of, the conditions based upon predefined terms. You need to construct the SQL query in such a way that it returns a True or False result. When it is the former, an approval procedure is triggered.

To define terms based on user queries, (either instead or in addition to the predefined terms) follow the steps below:

i. Define the required queries and save them.

ii. Double click on the Query Name column. The Query Manager window appears.

iii. Select the required query, and choose the OK


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Field Activity/Description button.

NOTE

For users in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India and Brazil: If you have selected the options for inventory documents on the Documents tab, when you select When the Following Applies on the Terms tab, Total Document is the only term available.

NOTE

For the ratios In Range and Not in Range, specify values as: <Number>-<Number>.

For example, to launch an approval procedure for documents with a total amount of 10,000 to 20,000, select the Total Document term; select the ratio In Range; and in the Value column, enter 10000-20000.

EXAMPLE

For an approval procedure, the selected ratio is Greater Than and 10,000 is selected as the amount to which to compare new variables. If the customer’s credit limit is 12,000, then the approval procedure would be triggered for this document. If a sum of less than 10,000 is entered, then the approval procedure is not triggered.

Total Selected Terms - displays the number of the selected terms. It includes both predefined terms and user queries.


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Messages/Alert Overview Window This window displays the user's messages and alerts.

To access this window, choose Window → Messages / Alert Overview.

The information is updated whenever a new message is received or at regular intervals, according to the settings defined in Administration → Alerts Management.


Inbox tab Displays:

• All received messages, with the sender's name and date of each message, for example, a message relating to a draft document that requires approval.

• Any remarks from the sender.

• The objects (attachments) that belong to a message. For example, a list of materials whose warehouse inventory have fallen below the defined minimum inventory level, or information regarding a draft document in the approval process.

To view the attachments that are listed in this window, select the message and click its link arrow.

NOTE

For draft documents the Request for Approval window appears.

Outbox tab Displays:

• Pending messages.

• Messages that could not be sent by the system, for example, those to external recipients when the fax server or mail server is down.

• The recipients of the message.

Sent Items tab Displays all the sent messages and their recipients; the send date and time; and the method (e-mail, SMS, or fax) used to send the message. If the message is an e-mail to an internal user, you can see whether the user has already viewed the message.


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Request for Approval Window As an authorizer use this window to approve or reject draft documents.

Key to Fields

Document Details


Status Status of the document:

• Approved – the status of a transaction that has been approved, but not yet converted from a draft to a regular document.

• Canceled – an approval procedure can be canceled and restarted as necessary. If the approval procedure is canceled, the draft document cannot be converted to a regular document.

• Generated – the status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the originator.

• Generated by Authorizer – the status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the authorizer.

• Pending – the status of a transaction awaiting approval.

• Rejected – the status of a transaction that was not approved and remains a draft. The authorizer can grant approval for a rejected transaction by changing the status accordingly.

Issue Date The date on which the draft document was created.

Document No. The number of the document.

Document Draft Internal ID The number of the draft document.

Authorization Details


Status The authorization status, namely, pending, approved, and rejected.

Request Date The date when the originator sent the approval request.

Template The name of the template, as defined in the Approval Templates - Setup window.

Stage The name of the stage, as defined in the Approval Stages - Setup window.

Remarks Any remarks entered by the originator in the approval request.

Display History Displays the authorization history.


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Answer


Decision Choose the approval decision, namely, approved, not approved, and pending.

Remarks Enter remarks for the approval decision.

Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria Window Transactions are assigned status values during an approval procedure, based on their processing progress. Use these status values to display and monitor the various transactions that are currently subject to approval procedures.

Document originators can use this report to display the status of the documents they have created. The report displays a list of documents with their approval status and the history of the transaction.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Status Report.


Pending The status of a transaction awaiting approval.

Generated The status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the originator.

Approved The status of a transaction that has been approved, but not yet converted from a draft to a regular document.

Generated by Authorizer The status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the authorizer.

Rejected The status of a transaction that was not approved and remains a draft. The authorizer can grant approval for a rejected transaction by changing the status accordingly.

Canceled An approval procedure can be canceled and restarted as necessary. If the approval procedure is canceled, the draft document cannot be converted to a regular document.

Originator, Authorizer, Template, Request Date, BP Code, Total (LC)

Specify a selection range for these fields to narrow the range of the report. One or more criteria can be specified.

Templates are defined in the Approval Templates - Setup window.

The selection becomes the default for the next report.

Sales - A/R, Purchasing - A/P, Inventory

To limit the report to certain document types, choose the required sales or purchasing documents.

Payment Select Outgoing Payment to limit the report to that document type.

NOTE

This field is available to users in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India and Brazil only.


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Approval Status Report Window As an originator you can use this report to display the status of the documents you have created. This window displays a list of documents with their approval status and the history of the transactions, based on your selections in the Approval Status Report - Selection Criteria window.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Status Report.

Define the selection criteria and choose the OK button.

Key to Fields The report is expandable and contains up to three levels. Each level displays summary information for the level below.

The fields described in this section are displayed in the upper table of the window.


Document Type Document drafts to which the Approval Status Report applies, namely:

• Sales document drafts – Sales Quotations, Sales Orders, Deliveries, Returns, A/R Down Payments, A/R Invoices, and A/R Credit Memos.

• Purchasing document drafts – Purchase Orders, Goods Receipt POs, Goods Returns, A/P Down Payments, A/P Invoices, and A/P Credit Memos.

• Inventory document drafts – Goods Receipts, Goods Issue, and Inventory Transfers.

Document No. Number of the document.

Originator Name of the originator of the document.

Template Name of the template as defined in the Approval Templates – Setup window.

Status Status of the document and authorization, namely:


• Generated – the status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the originator.


• Generated by Authorizer – the status of a transaction that has been approved and converted from a draft to a regular document by the authorizer.

• Rejected – the status of a transaction that was not approved and remains a draft. The authorizer can grant approval for a rejected transaction by changing the status accordingly.

• Canceled – an approval procedure can be cancelled and restarted as necessary. If the approval procedure is cancelled, the draft document cannot be converted to a regular document.

Remarks Remarks included with the approval request by the originator.


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The fields described in this section are displayed in the lower table of the window.


Stage The name of the stage, as defined in the Approval Stages – Setup window.

Authorizer The name of the authorizer of the document, as defined in the Approval Stages – Setup window.

Answer Status of the document and authorization, namely:



• Not Approved – the status of a transaction that has not been approved.

NOTE

As an authorizer you can choose the required approval decision.

Date The date the document was approved or rejected.

Time The time the document was approved or rejected.

Remarks Remarks made by the authorizer relating to the approval decision.

Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria As an authorizer, use this report to display all documents for which an approval decision is pending. The approval can be made directly within the results list.

When a release is rejected, the document remains in the system as a draft. The draft can either be changed or deleted. The release procedure itself can also be canceled.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Decision Report.


No Decision yet, Document Production Approved, Document Production Not Approved

Choose the approval status of the documents to display. SAP Business One differentiates between documents that are pending, already approved, and rejected.

Originator, Authorizer, Template, Request Date

Enter a selection range for these fields to narrow the range of the report. Templates are defined in the Define Approval Templates window. One or more criteria can be specified. The selection becomes the default for the next report.


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Approval Decision Report Window This window displays a report, based on your selections in the Approval Decision Report - Selection Criteria window, of all the draft documents that have pending approval decisions. In addition, documents can be approved directly from this report.

To access this window, choose Administration → Approval Procedures → Approval Decision Report.

Define the selection criteria and choose the OK button.


Document Type Document drafts to which the Approval Status Report applies, namely:

• Sales document drafts – Sales Quotations, Sales Orders, Deliveries, Returns, A/R Down Payments, A/R Invoices, and A/R Credit Memos.

• Purchasing document drafts – Purchase Orders, Goods Receipt POs, Goods Returns, A/P Down Payments, A/P Invoices, and A/P Credit Memos.

• Inventory document drafts – Goods Receipts, Goods Issue, and Inventory Transfers.

Document No. Number of the document.

Originator Name of the originator of the document.

Status The status of the approval request. For more information, see Approval Status Report Window.

Production Date,

Production Time

The date and the time of the approval request

Template The template linked to the approval request

Template Status The current status of the approval request, namely:



• Suspended – the status of a transaction that was not approved by at least one authorizer, but is still in the approval process. The request can still be approved depending on the decisions of the other authorizers.


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Stage Name of the stage as defined in the Approval Stages – Setup window.

Answer Status of the document and authorization, namely:




Remarks Any remarks made by the originator that are included with the approval request.

Database Tables Reference For information about the tables used in price lists, see the Database Tables Reference chm file. You can download it from the SAP Community Network, as follows:

To download the Database Tables Reference .chm file, proceed as follows:

1. Go to https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/businessone.

2. Under BUSINESS ONE KNOWLEDGE CENTER, go to the Versions area and click the link of the SAP Business One release you want.

3. Click the SDK Help Center link.

4. In the File Download window, do one of the following:

To open the .zip file, choose the Open button; then extract the REFDB.chm file to your computer.

To save the .zip file to your computer, choose the Save button. You can open the .zip file and extract the REFDB.chm file later.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/businessone


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