Na2009 enus as_07

Chapter 7: Set Up and Manage Document Approvals

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CHAPTER 7: SET UP AND MANAGE DOCUMENT APPROVALS Objectives

The objectives are:

• Set up the general features of the document approval system • Set up approval templates • Set up user logins for use with document approvals • Set up approval users in a hierarchy • Set up the notification system for approvals • Manage overdue notifications • Maintain substitute approvers

Introduction The sales and purchase document approval system in Microsoft Dynamics® NAV enables users to submit a document, typically a sales order or purchase order, for approval according to a predefined hierarchy of approval managers with specified approval amount limits.

The approvals setup is usually done in close cooperation with the accounting manager or another similar significant role in the company. This role is responsible for the company's sales and purchase departments and is able to define which documents are relevant to approve and how to place users in the approval hierarchy.

In addition to the manager responsible for defining the approval hierarchy, appoint an approval administrator who maintains the approval system and who can:

• Have rights above all other users • Add new users • Set substitute approvers • Connect new documents to approve • View pending approvals for all users

"Set Up and Manage Approvals" is an introduction to the application administrator responsible for setting up and managing the document approval system.

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NOTE: For detailed information about how to use the document approval system, refer to the Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 courseware.

Set Up Document Approvals The initial setup of the sales and purchase document approval system involves approval administration, users and approvers, and the types of documents to include in the approval process. Described herein are the pages related to these tasks so that users can complete the initial document approval setup.

NOTE: The Document Approval setup can be performed in either the RoleTailored client or the Classic client. All setup in this content is performed in the RoleTailored client unless otherwise noted.

Approval Setup

To access the Approval Setup page, follow these steps:

1. In the navigation pane, click the Departments button. 2. Click Administration and then click Application Setup. 3. On the Application Setup page, click Document Approval and

then click Approval Setup.

FIGURE 7.1 APPROVAL SETUP

The overall settings are defined on the General FastTab and include the following:

• The formula for the date by which approvals must be made, for example within one week (1W).

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• The administrator of the approval system. The administrator has access to all setup functions, maintains the hierarchy of approvers, and defines which sales and purchase documents can be approved.

• Whether the rejection of a document must be explained by the approver in a comment or not.

All fields on the Notification FastTab relate to e-mail notifications to approval users. For more information, refer to the "Set Up the Notification System" lesson in this course.

Approval Templates

Templates for document approvals let users select which types of sales or purchase documents to include in the approval process, and which approval and limit type to use for each document.

A set of standard templates has been provided for this purpose in the Approval Templates page, accessed on the Application Setup page by clicking Document Approval and then clicking Approval Templates.

FIGURE 7.2 APPROVAL TEMPLATES

The following document type templates are supported in the standard version:

• Quote • Order • Invoice

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• Credit Memo • Return Order • Blanket Order

All of the templates mentioned are created for both purchases (P) and sales (S).

An approval template defines for each document type how the approval process is managed, such as the flow it must follow and the field values it must check.

NOTE: Document approvals functionality can be developed on any other table to expand it to other domains, such as manufacturing.

The fields on the Approval Templates page are described in the following table.

Field Description

Approval Code

Specifies the name of the approval template.

Approval Type

Defines which type of approval the template relates to. The following approval types are used: • Approver - for typical approval flows • Sales Pers. or Purchaser - for alternative flows For Sales Pers. or Purchaser types, sales persons and purchasers must be set up in the Approval User Setup page. For example, a salesperson is the logical user to connect to a sales order approval flow. For more details, refer to the "Set Up Approval Users in Hierarchy" demonstration.

Document Type

Specifies to which document type the approval template relates.

Limit Type Explains how amount limits are handled when approving the document type in question. The options are: • Approval Limits: There is a check on the approver's approval

limit when you are approving a document. • Credit Limits: The credit limit on a customer is checked. This

only applies for sales orders. • Request Limits: Used for a purchase request and checks if the

approver has permission to make a purchase request on that amount.

• No Limits: There is no check on amount limits. This option requires that an additional approver is set up. It is typically used in the situation where a hierarchy of users is not established, but where the same additional approver approves everything.

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Field Description

Additional Approvers

Indicates if the document requires approval by someone outside the normal hierarchy of approvers. For example, a specific sales order may require the approval by someone in credit control.

Enabled If selected, the approval template is activated and will apply to the document type in question. In CRONUS International Ltd., all approval templates are disabled by default to allow free posting of all documents from the beginning.

Table ID Displays the table connected to the template. For example, the P-BLANKET ORDER approval template is connected to table 38, Purchase header.

Additional Approvers

If a particular document requires two different reviewers, you can set this up for an approval template by selecting a User ID in the Additional Approvers page.

FIGURE 7.3 ADDITIONAL APPROVERS PAGE FOR A PURCHASE CREDIT MEMO

Additional approvers can be used as a simple way to define the approval hierarchy if you do not want to specify all the roles and management levels in the Approval User Setup page.

For example, this setup may be used in a small company where the manager or the owner has to approve everything. Then, the manager can be set as additional approver for all documents.

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Approval User Setup

The Approval User Setup page is the central setup page because it is where the approvals flow is defined in a hierarchy of users and rules.

FIGURE 7.4 EXAMPLE OF APPROVAL USER SETUP

Figure 7.4 is an example of an approval hierarchy. In this hierarchy, Susan is the sales order processor and Alicia is the purchasing agent. They have amount limits set to 50,000 LCY for both sales and purchases. Their managers are the sales manager (SManager) and the purchase manager (PManager), respectively. The managers have amount limits of 100,000 LCY for both sales and purchases. PS is a salesperson who has approval rights for all related sales and has the Admin assigned as his substitute approver since he or she is often unavailable.

Heading the two managers and the salesperson is an overall company director. The director has unlimited sales approval and a high request amount approval limit because he or she collects purchase receipts for the whole company.

The administrator (Admin) is the highest level in this hierarchy. The administrator has unlimited approval rights in all categories, even above the director.

NOTE: The setup of approval users is demonstrated in another lesson, however, it is not based on the users and rules described in this example.

The following table shows the fields that appear in the Approval User Setup page.

Field Description

User ID Refers to the user ID from the user's logon information, for example Admin.

Salesperson/ Purchaser Code

Refers to the code that can be used to refer to this person from a document, for example sales order or purchase order. In this way, the system can be set up to use this person's approval flow instead of the original approver's flow.

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Field Description

Approver ID

User ID of the approving person, for example the manager.

Sales Amount Approval Limit

Refers to the amount limit for the sales order process. When the sales order exceeds this limit, the document is sent to the approver.

Purchase Amount Approval Limit

Refers to the amount limit for the purchase order process. When the purchase order exceeds this limit, the document is sent to the approver.

Request Amount Approval Limit

Refers to the amount limit for the purchase request process. When the purchase request exceeds this limit, the document is sent to the approver.

Unlimited (Sales, Purchase, and Request) Approval

Used when an approval person has unlimited approval limits for sales, purchases, or requests. Instead of specifying an amount, a check mark is placed in the relevant unlimited field.

Substitute Allows the possibility to add a substitute approver.

E-Mail When the notification system is used, an e-mail address of each approver is specified so that the notification system can send e-mails out for approval.

On the Action Pane, use the Approval User Setup Test to test the setup on a user-by-user approach and view the results as a report.

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Demonstration: Set Up User Logins for Document Approvals The approval user setup cannot be done before all involved users are defined as windows logins with roles and permissions. Refer to the "Manage User Rights and Profiles" course in this training material. However, for the purpose of this training, users will be set up with Windows logins in the database prior to demonstrating the actual setup of an approval hierarchy.

Scenario: To prepare for the document approval set up, the application administrator sets up the following users with Windows logins:

• Manager - Connie • Sales Manager - Kevin • Sales Person - Susan • Purchasing Manager - Annie • Purchasing Agent - Alicia

NOTE: This setup must be completed in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Classic with Microsoft® SQL Server® client.

Steps: Create the Required Users

Follow these steps to set up the user logins:

1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Classic with Microsoft SQL Server client.

2. On the Tools menu, point to Security and then click Windows Logins.

3. Click an empty line. 4. In the User ID field, enter CONTOSO\Alicia. 5. Click an empty line. 6. In the User ID field, enter CONTOSO\Annie. 7. Click an empty line. 8. In the User ID field, enter CONTOSO\Connie. 9. Click an empty line. 10. In the User ID field, enter CONTOSO\Kevin. 11. Click an empty line. 12. In the User ID field, enter CONTOSO\Susan. 13. Close the Windows Logins window.

None of the new users have roles assigned to them because it is not necessary for this demonstration.

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Follow these steps to set up the users in the User Setup window:

1. In the navigation pane, click the Administration button. 2. Click Application Setup, then click Users and then click User

Setup. 3. In the User ID field, enter Administrator. 4. Go to the next line. 5. In the User ID field, enter Alicia. 6. Go to the next line. 7. In the User ID field, enter Annie. 8. Go to the next line. 9. In the User ID field, enter Connie. 10. Go to the next line. 11. In the User ID field, enter Kevin. 12. Go to the next line. 13. In the User ID field, enter Susan. 14. Close the User Setup window.

The users now exist as user IDs in the database that you can select in the approval user setup steps.

Demonstration: Set Up Approval Users in a Hierarchy This demonstration shows how to set up the hierarchy of approval users and amount limits in the Approval User Setup page.

Scenario: Now that user logins are set up, the application administrator creates the following sales document approval hierarchy:

• Susan, the order processor, must always get approval from the sales manager before posting sales.

• Kevin, the sales manager, can approve sales for amounts up to 10,000 LCY.

• Kevin must get approval from Connie, his manager, before he can approve sales for amounts over 10,000 LCY.

Since this is the initial document approval setup, the Administrator is set up as the Approval Administrator. After setup is complete, the administrator runs the Approval User Setup Test.

NOTE: The other users are applied elsewhere in this training.

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Steps: Set Up the Approval Hierarchy

Follow these steps to set up the three users in an approval hierarchy:

1. Open the RoleTailored client. 2. In the navigation pane, click the Departments button. 3. Click Administration and then click Application Setup. 4. On the Application Setup page, click Document Approval and

then click Approval Setup. 5. In the Approval Administrator field, enter Administrator. 6. On the Action Pane, click User Setup to open the Approval User

Setup page. 7. On the line for Connie, place a check mark in the Unlimited Sales

Approval check box. 8. On the line for Kevin, in the Approver ID field, enter Connie. 9. In the Sales Amount Approval Limit field, enter 10000. 10. On the line for Susan, in the Approver ID field, enter Kevin.

FIGURE 7.5 APPROVAL USER SETUP FOR SALES DOCUMENTS

Once the sales order template is activated, no sales staff can post without being entered in the Approval User Setup page.

Steps: Test the User Approval Setup

Before users begin to work based on the approval user setup, you can test the setup by running a test report from the Approval User Setup Test button. You can test each user ID in the setup for any of the following options:

• Sales Approval Setup • Purchase Approval Setup

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• Request Approval Setup • All

Follow these steps to test the current approval user setup based on Susan:

1. On the Approval User Setup page, click Approval User Setup Test.

2. In the User ID field, enter Susan. 3. In the What To Test field, enter Sales Approval Setup and then

click Preview.

FIGURE 7.6 TEST APPROVAL SETUP REPORT PREVIEW

The test report displays the actual hierarchy and specifies for each user that the setup is OK.

A typical error in the approval user report is when an approver's amount limit is lower than that of the user under the approver. For example, if Connie (Kevin's manager) had 10,000 LCY as an amount limit and Kevin had unlimited sales approval.

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Lab 7.1 - Set Up Document Approvals The purpose of this lab is to reinforce your understanding of the process required to set up document approvals

Scenario

As the application administrator, it is your responsibility to complete the purchase document approval as follows:

• Connie has unlimited purchase approval rights. • Purchasing manager: Annie

o Approver ID: Connie o Purchase amount approval limit: 10000

• Purchasing agent: Alicia

o Assign Annie to Alicia as approver.

As a final step, test the purchase approval user setup based on Alicia.

Challenge Yourself!

Set the Purchase Document Approval for Connie, Annie, and Alicia as specified in the scenario.

Need a Little Help?

1. Open the Approval User Setup page. 2. Give unlimited purchase approval to Connie. 3. Create the following approval user line for Annie:

a. Make Connie the approval user. b. Purchase amount approval limit: 10000

4. Make Annie the approval user for Alicia. 5. Test the approval user setup.

Step by Step

1. In the navigation pane, click the Departments button. 2. Click Administration and then click Application Setup. 3. On the Application Setup page, click Document Approval and

then click Approval Setup. 4. On the Action Pane, click User Setup.

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5. On the line for Connie, select the Unlimited Purchase Approval check box.

6. On the line for Annie, in the Approver ID field, enter Connie. 7. In the Purchase Amount Approval Limit field, type 10000. 8. On the line for Alicia, in the Approver ID field, enter Annie. 9. On the Action Pane, click Approval User Setup Test. 10. In the User ID field, enter Alicia. 11. In the What To Test field, enter Purchase Approval Setup and

then click Preview. 12. Review the test report.

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Set Up the Notification System The notification system is designed to send e-mail notifications between users and their approvers about a document that needs approval.

The notification system is set up on the Notification FastTab of the Approval Setup page and mostly concerns the when and how e-mails are sent.

FIGURE 7.7 APPROVAL SETUP, NOTIFICATION FASTTAB

The following table explains the fields on the Notification FastTab.

Field Description

Approvals Select if users must be notified by e-mail of documents to approve.

Cancellations Select if approvers must be notified of cancellations made on documents approved by the approver. It may be beneficial to follow along with the process for an approved document, but the amount of e-mails can also affect performance of the system.

Rejections Select if users must be notified of approval request rejections. This notifies users if any documents are rejected.

Delegations Select if users must be notified that an approval task has been delegated.

Last Run Date

Displays when the Send Overdue Mails function was last run.

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The use of the notification system is optional. If the company does not want to use e-mail notifications, make sure none of the fields are selected.

As an alternative to e-mails, users can view the traffic of approvals in the Approval Entries and Approval Request Entries pages.

Server Setup for Notifications

When you decide to use the notification system, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server must be set up for e-mails to the involved users.

This setup is performed in the SMTP Mail Setup page. To open this page, follow these steps:

1. In the navigation pane, click the Administration department. 2. Click IT Administration and then click General. 3. On the General page, click SMTP Mail Setup.

FIGURE 7.8 SMTP MAIL SETUP

4. Fill in the SMTP Server field and the Authentication field with data relevant for users.

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Send Overdue Notifications The approval administrator sends out overdue notifications, for example, as a weekly routine to ensure all users remember to approve their documents.

To run this functionality, follow these steps:

1. On the Application Setup page, click Document Approval. 2. On the Document Approval page, click Approval Setup. 3. On the Related Information menu, point to Overdue and then click

Send Overdue Mails. 4. Click Yes to run the overdue check by the current date.

The e-mail messages are then sent to the approvers, and the Last Run Date field on the Approval Setup page is updated with the date of the last time the function was run.

The date formula ensures that overdue approvals already sent out are not sent out again. It is calculated as the last run date plus the due date formula specified in the Due Date Formula field on the General FastTab of the Approval Setup page.

Overdue Notifications

The system automatically enters a creation date for all documents and calculates a due date by using the due date formula (for example, the creation date plus one week). Documents are overdue if the current date exceeds the due date.

For example, consider a situation where overdue messages are sent out today. The approvals that have a due date before today's date receive an overdue notification. When the overdue check is run next time, the system checks on last run date plus one week (according to the due date formula). Everything that has a due date before this date receives a notification.

A list of all the overdue approvals that were found and sent out is shown in the Overdue Notification Entries page. This is a log that displays if there are any entries. If the page is empty, there are no overdue entries.

Notification Templates

You can customize the templates for the e-mail notifications to be sent to approvers. To access this functionality, follow these steps:

1. On the Application Setup page, click Document Approval. 2. On the Document Approval page, click Approval Setup. 3. On the Related Information menu, click Mail Templates.

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Use this function to import, export, or delete e-mail templates. The corresponding templates for overdue documents can be managed in a similar manner in the overdue templates function.

NOTE: Microsoft delivers these templates with the CRONUS demo company. They must be copied from here to other databases. It is important to do it in this manner for the templates to work correctly.

Delegating Substitute Approvers It is the responsibility of the approval administrator to maintain the Approval User Setup page. This includes adding substitute approvers and ensuring that pending notifications are delegated to the substitutes.

When a substitute approver is assigned to a user, all approval documents will be sent directly to the substitute person when the Delegate function is run in the Approval Request Entries page.

If the notification system is set up to send notifications when the administrator is delegating documents, an e-mail is sent to the user whose document has been delegated. Otherwise no notification is sent.

In the Approval Request Entries page, the administrator can see all entries in the document approval system and check the status and dates for the approvals. The status Open indicates the approval document that has to be approved next.

NOTE: If the approver's substitute is also unavailable, the substitute approver must be changed manually in the Approval User Setup page.

Summary The sales and purchase order document approval system is a comprehensive tool to use for documents that need approval from another person in the company.

The hierarchy of approval users and amount limits must be considered carefully to ensure a balance between the number of steps in the approval flow.

The optional e-mail notification function is flexible and can be customized to suit the individual company's needs.

The approval administrator must master all setup aspects of the approvals system because it affects the productivity of users in the database and because the system must be updated regularly, for example to plan for substitute approvers.

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Test Your Knowledge Test your knowledge with the following questions.

1. On Approval Templates, what field activates the approval process for the selected document?

( ) Activated ( ) Started ( ) Enabled ( ) Initiated

2. Which of the following tasks is an Approval Administrator directly responsible for? (Select all that apply)

( ) View pending approvals for all users ( ) Add new users ( ) Assign security rights (roles) to users ( ) Set substitute approvers

3. Which of the following Document Type templates are supported in the standard version? (Select all that apply)

( ) Order ( ) Invoice ( ) Receipt ( ) Credit Memo

4. The Approval Request Entries page shows all entries in the document approval system, including the status and dates for the approvals. Which Status indicates the approval document that has to be approved next?

( ) Approved ( ) Open ( ) Next ( ) Created

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5. In regard to Overdue Notifications, when the overdue messages are sent out, the system checks the Last Run Date and what other field on the Approval Setup page?

( ) Next Run Date ( ) Due Date Formula ( ) Run Date Formula ( ) Message Send Date

6. Which of the following amount limits can be set up on document approvals? (Select all that apply)

( ) Approval Limits ( ) All Limits ( ) Request Limits ( ) Credit Limits

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Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned Take a moment and write down three key points you have learned from this chapter

1.

2.

3.

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Solutions Test Your Knowledge

1. On Approval Templates, what field activates the approval process for the selected document?

( ) Activated ( ) Started (•) Enabled ( ) Initiated

2. Which of the following tasks is an Approval Administrator directly responsible for? (Select all that apply)

(√) View pending approvals for all users (√) Add new users ( ) Assign security rights (roles) to users (√) Set substitute approvers

3. Which of the following Document Type templates are supported in the standard version? (Select all that apply)

( ) Order (√) Invoice (√) Receipt (√) Credit Memo

4. The Approval Request Entries page shows all entries in the document approval system, including the status and dates for the approvals. Which Status indicates the approval document that has to be approved next?

( ) Approved (•) Open ( ) Next ( ) Created

5. In regard to Overdue Notifications, when the overdue messages are sent out, the system checks the Last Run Date and what other field on the Approval Setup page?

( ) Next Run Date (•) Due Date Formula ( ) Run Date Formula ( ) Message Send Date

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6. Which of the following amount limits can be set up on document approvals? (Select all that apply)

(√) Approval Limits ( ) All Limits (√) Request Limits (√) Credit Limits

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