Before you can create workflows that involve approval steps, you must set up the workflow users who are involved in approval processes. In the Approval User Setup window, you also set amount limits for specific types of requests and define substitute approvers to whom approval requests are delegated when the original approver is absent.

Note
Approval users, both approval requesters and approvers, must first be set up as workflow users in the Workflow User Group window. For more information, see How to: Set Up Workflow Users.

When you have set up approval users, you can use the setup to create workflow responses for approval workflows. For more information, see step 9 in How to: Create Workflows.

Note
To define that an approval request is not approved until multiple approvers in an approval chain have approved it, set up approvers in a hierarchy. For approver type Approver, set approvers up in the Approval User Setup window. For approver type, Workflow User Group, set approvers up in the Workflow User Groups window and define the hierarchy by assigning incremental numbers to each approver in the Sequence No. field. For more information, see this topic and How to: Set Up Workflow Users.

To define that an approval request is not approved until multiple equal approvers have approved it, regardless of a hirarchy, set up a flat workflow user group. For approver type, Workflow User Group, set up approvers in the Workflow User Groups window and assign the same number to each approver in the Sequence No. field. For more information, see How to: Set Up Workflow Users.

To set up an approval user

  1. In the Search box, enter Approval User Setup, and then choose the related link.

  2. Create a new line in the Approval User Setup window, and then fill the fields as described in the following table.

    Field Description

    User ID

    Select the user ID of the user who is involved in the approval process.

    Salespers./Purch. Code

    Specify the salesperson or purchaser code that applies to the user in the Salespers./Purch. Code field.

    You typically fill the Salespers./Purch. Code field if the salesperson or purchaser who is responsible for the customer or vendor is also the person who must approve the sales or purchase request in question.

    Approver ID

    Select the user ID of the user who must approve requests made by the user in the User ID field.

    Sales Amount Approval Limit

    Specify the maximum sales amount in LCY that the user in the User ID field can approve.

    Unlimited Sales Approval

    Specify that the user in the User ID field can approve all sales requests regardless of their amount.

    If you select this check box, then you cannot fill the Sales Amount Approval Limit field.

    Purchase Amount Approval Limit

    Specify the maximum purchase amount in LCY that the user in the User ID field can approve.

    Unlimited Purchase Approval

    Specify that the user in the User ID field can approve all purchase requests regardless of their amount.

    If you select this check box, then you cannot fill the Sales Amount Approval Limit field.

    Request Amount Approval Limit

    Specify the maximum amount in LCY that the user in the User ID field can approve for purchase quotes.

    To use this field, you must select the Approver Chain option in the Approver Limit Type field in the Workflow Responses window.

    Unlimited Request Approval

    Specify that the user in the User ID field can approve all purchase quotes regardless of their amount.

    If you select this check box, then you cannot fill the Request Amount Approval Limit field.

    Substitute

    Select the user ID of the user who must approve requests made by the user in the User ID field if the user in the Approver ID is not available.

    Note
    The substitute can either be the user in the Substitute field, the direct approver, or the approval administrator, in that order of priority. For more information, see How to: Delegate Requests for Approval.

    Email

    Specify the email address of the user in the User ID field.

    Approval Administrator

    Specify the user who has rights to unblock approval workflows, for example, by delegating approval requests to new substitute approvers and deleting overdue approval requests.

    Note
    The behavior of Approver Limit Type field only applies to application areas where limits can be defined, namely sales and purchase approvals. Any other type of approval where limits do not apply will always behave as described for the Direct Approver option.

  3. To test the approval user setup, on the Actions tab, in the General group, choose Approval User Setup Test. For more information, see Approval User Setup Test.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for every user who you want to set up as an approval user.

Tip

See Also