Objective
In this unit, you will refresh your knowledge of the Feature Hierarchies configuration tool that you learned about in the Concur Request Configuration Tools unit. Then you will learn about the specifics of configuring Feature Hierarchies for Concur Request.
Note
It is strongly recommended that you have a copy of CVI's business requirements available as you complete this unit.
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
Feature Hierarchies control areas of functionality within Concur Request, Concur Expense, and Concur Invoice. You use the Feature Hierarchies tool to define the hierarchy and its levels. The data that populates the hierarchy is configured later.
All hierarchies must have a Source List, often a Multi-Level list, which provides the structure that is used to define the hierarchy.
The Feature Hierarchies tool is shared across Concur Request, Concur Expense, and Concur Invoice, with each service having its own set of hierarchies.
When configuring Concur Request, be sure to only work with the hierarchies that pertain to that service.
This training will focus on the hierarchies available to Concur Request.
Review the table below to learn what hierarchies are used by each SAP Concur service.
| SAP Concur Service | Feature Hierarchy |
|---|---|
| Concur Request |
|
| Concur Expense |
|
| Concur Invoice |
|
| Concur Analysis / Concur Intelligence |
|
As you can see from the table above, Concur Request only uses two hierarchies - Request Authorized Approver and Request Cost Object Approver. The Employee hierarchy is shared by all SAP Concur services. Let's briefly go over what these two hierarchies are used for.
The Request Authorized Approver function is the same as the Expense Authorized Approver function: It allows you to define different approvers based on your custom data. The system will then route each request to the proper approver based on this data. This hierarchy is limited to Employee and Request Header, but is usually based on the Request Header.
In the example below, the hierarchy is based on the Business Unit list at the header level. This means that you could have different approvers for each Business Unit, ensuring that all requests get routed to the proper approver for the selected Business Unit.
Request Cost Object Approver function is the same as the Expense Cost Object Approver function: It allows you to define different approvers based on custom data. The system will then route each request to the proper approvers based on this data. The hierarchy is limited to the Request Header and Request Allocation data, but is usually based on allocation data.
In the example below, the hierarchy is based on the cost object list at the allocation level. This means that you could have different approvers for each cost object, ensuring that all necessary approvals take place.
For example, if I allocate my request to two cost centers, and each cost center has a different approver, the system will route it to both approvers for approval.
Note
Cost Object Approvals can increase the time it takes to fully approve a request. If Concur Request is integrated with Concur Travel, this can mean that the prices of selected travel segments could change between the time a request is approved and the travel is booked.
Caution
Feature Hierarchies are one of the more complicated areas of configuration. After a hierarchy is configured, it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to modify. For customers: Before starting work in this area, please reach out to SAP Concur to make sure you are not going to damage your site.
Select the Feature Hierarchies Setup Guide to open the system documentation for Feature Hierarchies.
This lesson covered the basics of Feature Hierarchies. CVI's business requirements do not require the creation or modification of a hierarchy.