Fourth’s Purchasing & Inventory release 4.6.98 includes new functionality. Specifically:
- Introduction of Approval Groups, allowing for role-based approvals
- Ability to split items from a requisition when auto processing
Reason for the Change
Role-Based Approvals
With the growing number of users and change in responsibilities, there is a need for an Approval Group against which multiple users can be assigned. When an item which requires review, approval or final approval, it can be actioned by any user who is assigned to the Approval Group.
Split Requisition on Auto Create & Transmit
When the Auto Create & Transmit option was introduced, there was no way to partially process a requisition – it was either processed or not. With the ability to split items from a requisition when auto processing, there is a possibility to process items that could be ordered and split the remaining ones into a separate requisition for further review.
Customers Affected
All Purchasing & Inventory users.
Release Notes
Role-Based Approvals
There is a new menu item under Property Setup > User Groups > Approval Groups from where listing of all available Approval Groups will be displayed, with the option to create new or edit existing ones.
Fig.1 - New menu item for Approval Groups
Creating or editing an Approval Group looks similar to the existing User Groups functionality, with additional fields for the action(s) that the group can complete (Review/Approve/Final Approve), an Approval Limit and the ability to Add/Delete users from the group. The Group Name should be unique.
Please note - an Approval Group cannot be deleted if it is part of any Route.
Fig.2 – Approval Groups edit screen
When adding a user, a search form is provided for easier filtering of users by:
- Full Name
- Title
- User Group
Fig.3 – User search screen
On the Add User screen there will be an extra tab for Approval Groups where users can be assigned to Approval Groups in the same way that are assigned to User Groups.
Fig.4 – User Edit screen
Before a User is deleted they should not be a participant in any Approval Group.
On the Route Builder screen it is possible to select either an Approval Group to accommodate group of people for a specific assigned role, or individual Users.
Fig.5 – Route Builder screen
Example: The Role “Final_Approver” that contains user A and user B is assigned to Approve. Both users will receive notification and be able to Approve.
If there are no users added to an Approval Group, the Approval Group will not be listed.
An extra column is provided, editable only for Approval Groups, where a minimum number of users that should complete a specific action can be entered. If the number is greater than the number of users in the Approval Group, an error message will display after Save is selected – see Fig.6
Fig.6 – Error message when minimum users criteria not met
For Final Approve only 1 User is required to complete the action (as it is currently with the User flow).
The highest action a User from an Approval Group can complete is taken from the Approval Group setup. An Approval Limit will be taken from the Approval Group and not individual Users.
When a document is submitted for Approval and the next step in the route is for an Approval Group, every user within the group will receive an email notification to advise that they need to action a document.
Whenever the minimal required threshold of users for completing an action for a document is reached, the remaining participants in the Approval Group will receive an email notification that no further actions are required at this stage.
If even one User from an Approval Group does Final Approval the document approval will be complete and the other users will be notified.
Limitations:
An Approval Group action can be re-routed to another User. However, a User or Approval Group action cannot be re-routed to an Approval Group.
Split Requisition on Auto Create & Transmit
There is a new setting under Property Administration > Requisition titled Split Purchase Requisition on Auto Processing, that becomes available only when Allow Purchase Requisition Split is also enabled.
Fig.7 – Split Purchase Requisition on Auto Processing option
When a Purchase Requisition is released the items in the order will be grouped by Vendor.
- Items that do not have a Vendor will be split into a new Purchase Requisition
- Items that have a Vendor but the Vendor has Automatically Create and Transmit Orders disabled, will be split into a new Purchase Requisition
- Items that have a Vendor and the Vendor has Automatically Create and Transmit Orders enabled, but there is no primary interface, will be split into a new Purchase Requisition
- Items that have a Vendor and the Vendor has Automatically Create and Transmit Orders enabled, and there is primary interface, but the interface is setup incorrectly – a Purchase Order will be created for those items but not transmitted
- If everything is fine with the items and Vendor, a Purchase Order will be created and transmitted
- If no items can be processed the existing PR will remain and will be released. However no Purchase Order will be created
The message shown in Fig.8 will appear based on the result of the split.
Fig.8 – Warning message with all possible scenarios after Auto Split
Additional validation when attempting to create an Order will apply:
Individual item lines (extended cost) under one Vendor that do not satisfy the Requisition setting Auto Create and Send Threshold Value – will be split into a new Purchase Requisition.
- The setting can be found by going to Property > Administration > Requisition (from left-side menu)
Fig.9 – Auto Create and Send Threshold Value
Items for one Vendor in an Order that are above the vendor setting for Minimum Order Quantity/Price – will be split into a new Purchase Requisition.
- These settings can be found by going to Property > Vendors > search for and select a Vendor > select Details
Items that are removed from the previous point will not be counted towards the total order value, as they will be split to a new Purchase Requisition.
Fig.10 – Minimum Order Type and Value
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