Using Workflows for Budget Documents

Budget documents can be subject to a workflow approval process. This means that without official approval, the budget document will not have an effect on the budget that is available for spending - through the functionality of Availability Checking (AVC).

The following chapter focuses on the following:

• The set up of budget workflows
• Conditions (when is a manual approval required)
• Agent determination (who gets the workflow)
• The principle of prudence (implication on AVC)

Budget workflow approvals only apply to the creation of budget documents using the Manage Budget Documents app. It does not apply to any mass generation of budget documents through automatic processes such as Revenues Increasing the Budget (RIB) and Residual Budget Processing. It also does not apply for budget uploads using the Import Financial Plan Data app. Reversal documents can be subject to Workflow Approval.

The workflow is set up using the user BPC_EXPERT in the Manage Workflows for Budget Documents - PSM app. It is possible to configure the workflow subject to different conditions such as the amount, document attributes (for example, the document type), or account assignments of the budget document. It is possible to route the workflow to specific users, for example, the responsible user for the cost center of the budget document.

The following figure depicts a configured budget document workflow:

Agent determination of a workflow describes the means by which the recipients of a workflow are determined. For the budget documents, 4 different possibilities exist:

1. A dedicated user.
2. All users with the role Budget Responsible.
3. Responsible of a master data object, which is used in the budget document. This option exists for funds, costs centers, and WBS elements. If the budget documents has several lines with different assignments, the workflow task is sent to multiple recipients.
4. Teams defined in Responsibility Management with the following function: Approve Budget Document.

In the workflow configuration, it is possible to determine whether all recipients have to approve or whether the task is approved by the first recipient.

If no agents can be determined during the workflow task generation, then a task will be created without an agent. These erroneous tasks should be monitored and cancel by the administrator.

The principle of prudence for budget workflow approval describes the following scenarios:

• A budget address, which receives budget (either through transfer or supplement), will not receive the budget unless it has been approved.
• A budget address, which sends budget (either through transfer or return), will already send the budget even if it has not been approved yet.

The following video depicts this principle for a budget transfer.

After the creation of a budget document, which is subject to workflow approval, the Approval Details tab shows the current Approver of the budget document and further details of the workflow set-up. The document status of the budget document is Awaiting Approval.

The following figure depicts a budget document header awaiting approval.

When the budget document creation has generated a workflow task for one or several receivers, the receivers need to approve or reject the workflow task in their inbox. In order to access the inbox, all receivers need to have the business role SAP_BR_EMPLOYEE assigned to them.

When the work item has been completed, it will automatically disappear from the inbox (but is still visible in the Outbox app).

The following figure depicts a budget document in the inbox of the approver.

You should be now able to understand the process of approving budget documents.

The key takeaways are as follows:

• Flexible workflow setup allows the user to define conditions to when the approval will be required and the recipients of the workflow task.
• The principle of prudence ensures that budget subjects to approval is spent before the approval.