Building Custom Workflows for Travel & Expense Management

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1 Building Custom Workflows for Travel & Expense Management Presented by: Lindy Lewis, SunGard Higher Education March 22, 2011 About this Session The Banner Travel & Expense Management solution comes with a standard workflow to facilitate approvals. Some approval structures are more complex and require customization to meet business needs. We are going to discuss approaches to customizing the approval workflow for Travel and Expense. 2 Session Rules of Etiquette Please turn off your cell phone/pager If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversation during the session Thank you for your cooperation! 3 1

2 Agenda Slide Why customize? Items to consider before customizing How Travel & Expense Approvals work Inserting Customizations Changing the approval form Calculating the next approver 4 Why customize? Why customize? Some institutions require more strict controls than the delivered ad hoc approval Some examples of scenarios requiring tighter controls When every document must go to accounts payable When every Expense document paid by a grant must go to grants accounting Workflow approval chains are set by policy and users aren t allowed to choose the next approver 6 2

3 Items To Consider Items to consider Care should be taken to ensure that the integrity of the data is maintained. If at all possible, use the APIs that are already provided to update the Travel and Expense data Modifications need to be maintained when upgrades are done Optimize first then then customize Don t create a workflow for a bad or inefficient process Do proper process analysis to ensure that the customizations are really necessary Fixed approval chains may require additional, separate data entry and maintenance The user profile in T&E will still need to be updated with the first approver 8 How Travel & Expense Approvals Work The delivered approach 3

4 Overview Delivered Version - Travel and Expense Approval Workflow First approval is configured on Travel and Expense user profile A workflow starts on submission Additional approvers can be added at each approver s discretion After the approver makes a decision the workflow ends If another approver has been added, another workflow starts Finally, the appropriate notifications are ed 10 Travel and Expense User Profile 11 Travel and Expense Approval Model Workflow starts with formatting and set-up activities 12 4

5 Travel and Expense Approval Model Custom Approval activities Traveler path Approval Form path Update Travel and Expense path Traveler Approval Form Update Travel & Expense 13 Travel and Expense Approval Approval Form The Approval Status and Additional Approver fields determine the path the workflow will take in the next section 14 Travel and Expense Approval Model If Approver added another approver on the form the workflow will validate the new approver Another Approver Added No Approver Added Invalid Approvers Sent Back Valid Approvers Proceed 15 5

6 Travel and Expense Approval Model Approval Result activities Approval path Additional Approver path Send For Rework path Denied path Only takes one path 16 Keeping Track The P_UpdateAndCreateCirculation activity creates the new workflow instance when an new approval level is needed The context parameter NodeKey identifies the approval levels and it is incremented by tens 10 is the first approval 20 is the second approval 30 is the third approval The DocumentType context parameter contains the document type Reimbursement: DocumentType = 86 Authorization: DocumentType = 85 and AdvancePostAuthInd <> "N" Authorization and Advance: DocumentType = 85 and AdvancePostAuthInd = "N" Advance: DocumentType = Inserting the Customizations Determining where customized approval chain calculations should be placed in the workflow 6

7 Placement of Customization Place the automated activity in the second section of the workflow Use a PL/SQL procedure so that the bulk of the logic is in the wfobjects schema instead of the workflow 19 Placement of Customization Don t forget to customize the approval form Remove the Approve & Add Approver decision option on the Approval Status radio button Remove the Additional Approver field Note: The changes will need to be made on each of the forms for the document types of advance, advance /authorization, authorization, and reimbursement. 20 Calculating the Next Approver 7

8 Options for calculating the next approver Don t hard-code the logic into the workflow Use a PL/SQL package instead of the workflow model Minimize the customization of forms Use existing data Finance approval queues Supervisor employee or position record Utilize FTMSDAT Table storage for approver IDs records can contain finance codes and the approver logon Consider using FTMSDAT to store configuration information 22 Things to consider Each iteration of approval is a new workflow, so try to work with the data available in the delivered workflow If that s impossible, it will be necessary to update the Banner and Workflow event configurations Travel and Expense expects one user logon The performer rule field is used to assign the work to one person Utilize the DocumentCode context parameter It can be used to query the Travel and Expense tables Funding and expense type information can be used in approval chain calculations Data is stored in the FTAEMGR table Entity relationship diagrams are available by customer support download 23 Review Exercises Review exercise packet: Travel and Expense Workflow customization exercises Logon and running information Data to be provided along the way 24 8

9 Routing for Grant Approval Scenario: All Travel and Expense documents that use grant funding must go to the Grants Accountant Highlights: Customize the approval from Insert the automated activity that calculates the next approver Enter a record in FTMSDAT to store the approver logon 25 Routing to Financial Services Scenario: The last approver of Travel & Expense documents must always be Financial Services Highlights: Further customize the workflow by using a different automated activity that calculates the next approver Enter a record on FTMSDAT to store the approver logon 26 Any questions before we get started? 27 9

10 Let s start modeling! 28 Session Sponsor Thank You! Lindy Lewis Lindy.lewis@sungardhe.com Please complete the online Session evaluation form SunGard or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries is the owner of numerous marks, including SunGard, the SunGard logo, Banner, PowerCAMPUS, Advance, Luminis, "DegreeWorks," "fsaatlas," Course Signals, and Open Digital Campus. Other names and marks used in this material are owned by third parties SunGard. All rights reserved