Q1. Will end-dating a position with approval authority have no effect on the employees who are tied to that position in terms of their ability to approve?
A: End-dating a position would not directly affect the approval capability of the employees who still have active assignments to that position. Basically the approval activities are meant to revolve around the position assignments rather than the position itself. The integration coupling point of HRMS and PO is at the position assignment level. Until the assignments are also modified, end-dating a position would not immediately change the forwarding hierarchy.
A: End-dating a position would not directly affect the approval capability of the employees who still have active assignments to that position. Basically the approval activities are meant to revolve around the position assignments rather than the position itself. The integration coupling point of HRMS and PO is at the position assignment level. Until the assignments are also modified, end-dating a position would not immediately change the forwarding hierarchy.
Q2. What impact, therefore, would end-dating a position have? The customer knows that in HR they cannot assign employees to end-dated positions.
A: End-dating a position would prevent new assignments to be made to this position. Besides, this position should not be used in new hierarchies that customers might design. The System gives a warning if the end-dated position is chosen in a new hierarchy. But end dating a position would not directly translate into the position assignments becoming end-dated that has to be done by customers. Now, since the assignments are still active, employees should be enabled in continuing to do the tasks (e.g. approval) pertaining to those assignments.
A: End-dating a position would prevent new assignments to be made to this position. Besides, this position should not be used in new hierarchies that customers might design. The System gives a warning if the end-dated position is chosen in a new hierarchy. But end dating a position would not directly translate into the position assignments becoming end-dated that has to be done by customers. Now, since the assignments are still active, employees should be enabled in continuing to do the tasks (e.g. approval) pertaining to those assignments.
Q3. What does the status 'INVALID' do to the position?
A: This is same as what end dating does to the position.
A: This is same as what end dating does to the position.
Q4. The errors in the log file of the Fill Employee Hierarchy report are a result of employees not being tied to a position. In the hierarchy, won't there be positions with no Employees tied to them from time to time? Does it mean that the customer has to disassociate the employees from the end-dated positions manually? Wouldn't this cause this type of error?
A: Yes there can be positions which are vacant. That is perfectly valid. But having employees with assignments on expired positions is different and not so desirable. Therefore, you should indeed terminate the existing assignments and make new ones for the employees on an expired position. This need not be done manually. Check the 'Mass Move' functionality.
A: Yes there can be positions which are vacant. That is perfectly valid. But having employees with assignments on expired positions is different and not so desirable. Therefore, you should indeed terminate the existing assignments and make new ones for the employees on an expired position. This need not be done manually. Check the 'Mass Move' functionality.
Q5. What are the actions for which we need to run the Fill Employee Hierarchy process?
A: You must run this process before any of the following changes can take effect:
- Add or delete an employee.
- Change an employee name or an employee position. (See: the online help for the Enter Person window.)
- Add, delete, or modify a position. (See: Representing Jobs and Positions,Oracle Human Resource Management Systems User's Guide.)
- Add, delete, or modify a position hierarchy. (See: Representing Jobs and Positions, Oracle Human Resource Management Systems User's Guide.)
A: You must run this process before any of the following changes can take effect:
- Add or delete an employee.
- Change an employee name or an employee position. (See: the online help for the Enter Person window.)
- Add, delete, or modify a position. (See: Representing Jobs and Positions,Oracle Human Resource Management Systems User's Guide.)
- Add, delete, or modify a position hierarchy. (See: Representing Jobs and Positions, Oracle Human Resource Management Systems User's Guide.)
Q6. Why does the Fill Employee Hierarchy report take a long time to complete?
A: There have been lot of performance improvements done to this process. The Fill Employee Hierarchy report first deletes all the records from the po_employee_hierarchies table and then recreates the hierarchies and this process will take some time.
A: There have been lot of performance improvements done to this process. The Fill Employee Hierarchy report first deletes all the records from the po_employee_hierarchies table and then recreates the hierarchies and this process will take some time.
Q7. Is the PO_EMPLOYEE_HIERARCHIES_ALL table defined at the operating unit level or at the Business Group level?
A: Before the bug fix 2058578, we used to define the data in this table at the operating unit level. But we have changed the design and populate the data at the Business Group level. This is because Positions and Employees are defined at the Business Group level but not at the operating unit level, therefore now we define the data in the PO_EMPLOYEE_HIERARCHIES_ALL table at Business Group level.
A: Before the bug fix 2058578, we used to define the data in this table at the operating unit level. But we have changed the design and populate the data at the Business Group level. This is because Positions and Employees are defined at the Business Group level but not at the operating unit level, therefore now we define the data in the PO_EMPLOYEE_HIERARCHIES_ALL table at Business Group level.
FAQ Details
Q1. What does the status Pre-Approved mean, and how does a document reach this status?
A: The status of Pre-Approved is the outcome of a person forwarding a document for approval even though the forwarding person has the necessary authority to approve it. The document may have been forwarded by mistake or for business reasons. It is not possible to perform a receipt against a document with a status of Pre-Approved.
A: The status of Pre-Approved is the outcome of a person forwarding a document for approval even though the forwarding person has the necessary authority to approve it. The document may have been forwarded by mistake or for business reasons. It is not possible to perform a receipt against a document with a status of Pre-Approved.
Q2. What is the difference between DIRECT and HIERARCHY forwarding methods?
A: The document forwarding method is selected in the Document Types form: Responsibility: Purchasing Super User
Navigation: Setup -> Purchasing -> Document Types
The two choices for the document forwarding method are Direct and Hierarchy; both options are always available regardless of whether Position Hierarchies (positions) or Employee-Supervisor Relationships (jobs) are being used.
A. Direct Forwarding Method
Using this forwarding method, at the time which a document is submitted for approval, validation will occur up the approval chain until an approver is located that has the ability to approve the document in question.
- If Position Hierarchies are being used, then the validation will occur against positions listed in the position hierarchy specified in the document approval window. Once a position that has approval authority has been located, the system will locate the employee assigned to this position and designate him as the Forward-To. The selection of the employee is based on alphabetical context.
- If Employee/Supervisor Relationships are being used, then validation will occur against, first, the supervisor's job of the employee submitting the document for approval; then, if that supervisor does not have authority, the system will look to the supervisor's supervisor. The validation process will continue up this employee/supervisor chain until an approver with the proper authority is located.
B. Hierarchy Forwarding Method
Using this forwarding method, validation is not performed to locate the next possible approver with sufficient authority; the documents will simply route to each person in the approval chain. The document, once submitted for approval, will move to either the person assigned to the next position in the position hierarchy if positions are being used, or the employee's supervisor if employee/supervisor relationships are being used.
The key difference between the two options is that Direct forwarding will move the document to the first person with authority to approve, whereas Hierarchy will simply move the document to the queue of the next employee in the approval chain, whether that
person has the approval authority or not.
A: The document forwarding method is selected in the Document Types form: Responsibility: Purchasing Super User
Navigation: Setup -> Purchasing -> Document Types
The two choices for the document forwarding method are Direct and Hierarchy; both options are always available regardless of whether Position Hierarchies (positions) or Employee-Supervisor Relationships (jobs) are being used.
A. Direct Forwarding Method
Using this forwarding method, at the time which a document is submitted for approval, validation will occur up the approval chain until an approver is located that has the ability to approve the document in question.
- If Position Hierarchies are being used, then the validation will occur against positions listed in the position hierarchy specified in the document approval window. Once a position that has approval authority has been located, the system will locate the employee assigned to this position and designate him as the Forward-To. The selection of the employee is based on alphabetical context.
- If Employee/Supervisor Relationships are being used, then validation will occur against, first, the supervisor's job of the employee submitting the document for approval; then, if that supervisor does not have authority, the system will look to the supervisor's supervisor. The validation process will continue up this employee/supervisor chain until an approver with the proper authority is located.
B. Hierarchy Forwarding Method
Using this forwarding method, validation is not performed to locate the next possible approver with sufficient authority; the documents will simply route to each person in the approval chain. The document, once submitted for approval, will move to either the person assigned to the next position in the position hierarchy if positions are being used, or the employee's supervisor if employee/supervisor relationships are being used.
The key difference between the two options is that Direct forwarding will move the document to the first person with authority to approve, whereas Hierarchy will simply move the document to the queue of the next employee in the approval chain, whether that
person has the approval authority or not.
Q3. What is the significance of the Document Total and Account Range types on the Approval Groups form?
A: The Document Total type sets the maximum limit for any approval actions taken by the user whom the approval group applies to. If multiple Document Totals are specified, the restriction will be to the Document Total, which is the lowest. The Account Range also allows for a document total which is then tied to a specific range of accounts listed on the same line. It is possible to have different account ranges with different amount Limits. This allows the same user to have a different dollar/account limit. It is mandatory to have an account range specified in each approval group defined. By default, if there is not an account range defined, all accounts will then be excluded from the document approval process, which means that the documents will not have an ability to become approved.
A: The Document Total type sets the maximum limit for any approval actions taken by the user whom the approval group applies to. If multiple Document Totals are specified, the restriction will be to the Document Total, which is the lowest. The Account Range also allows for a document total which is then tied to a specific range of accounts listed on the same line. It is possible to have different account ranges with different amount Limits. This allows the same user to have a different dollar/account limit. It is mandatory to have an account range specified in each approval group defined. By default, if there is not an account range defined, all accounts will then be excluded from the document approval process, which means that the documents will not have an ability to become approved.
Q4. What is the significance of using jobs or positions, and what effect will choosing one or the other have on the document approval routing?
A: The choice of whether or not jobs or positions are going to be used is made at the operating unit level within the Financial Options form. Responsibility: Purchasing Super User
Navigation: Setup -> Organizations -> Financial Options select the Human Resources alternate region
If the option Use Approval Hierarchies is checked, then positions and position hierarchies are going to be utilized for the operating unit in question; if left unchecked, employee/supervisor relationships will be used for the approval hierarchy routing path.
NOTE: If positions are being used, then position hierarchies will need to be created as they are going to be the roadmap for document approvals. If jobs are being used, then the employee/supervisor relationship will serve as the roadmap.
A: The choice of whether or not jobs or positions are going to be used is made at the operating unit level within the Financial Options form. Responsibility: Purchasing Super User
Navigation: Setup -> Organizations -> Financial Options select the Human Resources alternate region
If the option Use Approval Hierarchies is checked, then positions and position hierarchies are going to be utilized for the operating unit in question; if left unchecked, employee/supervisor relationships will be used for the approval hierarchy routing path.
NOTE: If positions are being used, then position hierarchies will need to be created as they are going to be the roadmap for document approvals. If jobs are being used, then the employee/supervisor relationship will serve as the roadmap.
Q5. What is the difference between archiving on Approve versus Print?
A: The archiving method determines at which point revision data will be written to the document archive tables. Archive on Approve designates an update to the Purchasing archive tables at the time of document approval; each time a revision is made to a document and the document enters a Requires Re-approval state, the new revision information will be archived at the time the document is approved again. Archive on Print designates an update to the document archive tables at the time the purchase order is printed.
The following graph illustrates the difference between the two settings. The Archive Rev columns denote the highest revision of the purchase order currently residing in the purchase order archive tables. The Current Rev columns denote the current revision level of the purchase order, as seen in the header region of the Purchase Orders form.
A: The archiving method determines at which point revision data will be written to the document archive tables. Archive on Approve designates an update to the Purchasing archive tables at the time of document approval; each time a revision is made to a document and the document enters a Requires Re-approval state, the new revision information will be archived at the time the document is approved again. Archive on Print designates an update to the document archive tables at the time the purchase order is printed.
The following graph illustrates the difference between the two settings. The Archive Rev columns denote the highest revision of the purchase order currently residing in the purchase order archive tables. The Current Rev columns denote the current revision level of the purchase order, as seen in the header region of the Purchase Orders form.
| Step# | Action | Archive on Approve | Archive on Approve | Archive on Print | Archive on Print |
| Archive Revision | Current Revision | Archive Revision | Current Revision | ||
| 1. | Create Purchase Order | None | 0 | None | 0 |
| 2. | Change Controlled Information | None | 0 | None | 0 |
| 3. | Approve Purchase Order | 0 | 0 | None | 0 |
| 4. | Change Controlled Information | 0 | 1 | None | 0 |
| 5. | Approve Purchase Order | 1 | 1 | None | 0 |
| 6. | Print Purchase Order | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7. | Change Controlled Information | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 8. | Approve Purchase Order | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 9. | Print Purchase Order | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10. | Change Controlled Information | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 11. | Print Purchase Order | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 12. | Approve Purchase Order | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Q6. In Release 11.X, every time attempting to approve a document it remains in the status of 'Incomplete' - why?
A: Sometime, a documents may still have a status of Incomplete after an attempt to approve the document has been made; this indicates a failure in the validation of the approval authority for the document creator, along with the inability to locate an employee with the proper authority to forward the document.
A: Sometime, a documents may still have a status of Incomplete after an attempt to approve the document has been made; this indicates a failure in the validation of the approval authority for the document creator, along with the inability to locate an employee with the proper authority to forward the document.
Q7. How is it possible to approve a blanket release when the blanket purchase agreement is showing that the full amount has already been released?
A: The validation of a release dollar amount is not against the amount agreed on the header of the blanket purchase agreement; instead, it validates against the Amount Limit specified in the Terms and Conditions window of the Purchase Orders form. If this field is left blank, then the release can be for any amount. Therefore, it is imperative that the Amount Limit field be populated with the same dollar amount as the Amount Agreed field in the header region of the Purchase Orders form, depending on the business needs. It should also be noted that Release 11i also has introduced an Amount Limit field that can be defined at the line level of the blanket agreement.
A: The validation of a release dollar amount is not against the amount agreed on the header of the blanket purchase agreement; instead, it validates against the Amount Limit specified in the Terms and Conditions window of the Purchase Orders form. If this field is left blank, then the release can be for any amount. Therefore, it is imperative that the Amount Limit field be populated with the same dollar amount as the Amount Agreed field in the header region of the Purchase Orders form, depending on the business needs. It should also be noted that Release 11i also has introduced an Amount Limit field that can be defined at the line level of the blanket agreement.
Q8. I am delegating the approval of a PO to someone who doesn't have access to open this PO. Would he be able to approve it?
A: Since he has been 'delegated' the approval authority from you, his approval actions would be adjudged as if you were taking those actions on this document. However, the document would remain inaccessible to him. This is because by 'Delegating', you are only allowing him to act on approval decisions on your behalf, rather than also delegating him the access authority.
A: Since he has been 'delegated' the approval authority from you, his approval actions would be adjudged as if you were taking those actions on this document. However, the document would remain inaccessible to him. This is because by 'Delegating', you are only allowing him to act on approval decisions on your behalf, rather than also delegating him the access authority.
Q9. I have end-dated a position but still have the employees assigned to this position. These employees continue to be able to approve the POs as before. Why?
A: They would continue to be able to approve as long as they have valid assignments!
When you are altering your organization structure by expiring a position, you MUST also make alternatives for the open assignments on this position. This should be a part of your organization structure migration process. Once you have migrated completely to the new Position Structure, including the proper employee-position assignments, run the Fill Employee Hierarchy program. This would affect the PO Approval accordingly.
A: They would continue to be able to approve as long as they have valid assignments!
When you are altering your organization structure by expiring a position, you MUST also make alternatives for the open assignments on this position. This should be a part of your organization structure migration process. Once you have migrated completely to the new Position Structure, including the proper employee-position assignments, run the Fill Employee Hierarchy program. This would affect the PO Approval accordingly.
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