Managing the Approval Process Using Workflows

There are several reasons to require approval for a quote. Some examples include the following:

• The discount is higher than allowed.
• The total amount is higher than allowed.
• The total amount is higher than expected.
• A rule set by the company has been violated.

No matter the reason for requiring an approval, the process of submitting a quote is always the same.

Once a product is configured and added to a quote, the discount and total price for products can be modified. If the resulting discount is higher than the range allowed by the business rules, the quote will require approval. If the discount amount entered is higher than the allowed range, the quote will also require approval.

Discounts are calculated when the quote is saved. If a discount violates a rule, the Discount Percent field displays in red and the place order and checkout actions become unavailable. Users can hover over the red text to determine the rule that was violated. At the bottom of the cart, a table displays the products and the applied discounts. What's more, users can update the discount by selecting the percentage field.

After selecting the Request Approval button, the user is given the option to add comments for each violation and submit the quote for approval. Once submitted for approval, the quote's status changes, and e-mail notifications are sent to the approvers alerting them that action is required.

Once a quote is submitted for approval, it displays on the Quotes page of the approval parent (approver) under Waiting for Approval. The approver can act on the quote by approving or rejecting the request with comments. The comments are displayed under Approval History action located in Actions on the Quotes screen.

Organizing the workflow to configure the approval process includes the following tasks:

• Defining each status where a quote may reside.
• Defining which actions are available when the quote has a given status.

Modeling the workflow is the most important process of the implementation. Administrators should be able to account for every status and action of their business process.

A workflow should be configured for the three visibility tabs:

• My Quotes
• Waiting for Approval
• Other Quotes

As the quote moves through different statuses, the number of actions available is reduced. The users should not be able to edit the quote after it has been approved.

Normally there is one transitional action for each status. For example, there is one action that moves the quote to the approved status. There are several non-transitional actions, such as viewing a quote, attaching a comment, or downloading documents.

A quote can reside in many different statuses throughout its lifespan. All quotes begin in a default status. Typically, the default status is called Preparing or Open.

Any status can be set as the default status, but there cannot be two default statuses. Based on certain actions performed, the administrator may have designated the quote to change its status.

The following diagram represents an example of a workflow with the statuses Open, Waiting for Approval, Approved, and Quoted. SAP CPQ is preloaded with a number of commonly used statuses. You can add additional statuses to the workflow.

After creating a new status, the actions of that status must be defined. There are three states under Workflow Actions. Each state has a tab on the Load Existing Project/Quotation page. The tabs include the following:

My Quotes

The My Quotes tab is available to all users and displays the quotes that the current logged-in user created. This is the most robust workflow since it enables users with the ability to interact with their quotes.

Waiting for Approval

The Waiting for Approval tab contains quotes for currently logged-in users who are approval parents. Being an approval parent means they approve or reject quotes for other users. This could be configured so that the approval parent has the option to:

• Approve the quote
• Reject the quote
• Forward the quote

Hint

Forwarding a quote is typically used to send the quote to another Approval Parent. This is applicable in cases where the value of the quote is higher than the allowed approval amount.

Other Quotes

The Other Quotes tab contains quotes that can be viewed by users with visibility rights. Visibility rules are configured in the Setup → Quotes → Quote Visibility section.

Table View

The default view of the Workflow Actions workspace is the Table View. The Table View displays the workflow in a table or grid pattern. The table view is efficient for defining workflow actions because it offers fewer mouse clicks and displays all the actions on one screen.

The left side of the table represents start statuses. The top of the table represents end statuses. The list of actions within the intersecting areas specify the actions that prompt a quote. You can view the list by selecting the arrow within the cell. To close the list of actions, select the arrow again.

List View

Alternatively, you can view the workflow as a list by selecting Switch to: List View. List view provides users with a list of Start and End Statuses. List view also displays the tabs Action Name, Condition, Pre Action, Post Action, and associated Notifications. List View is useful for determining which actions define conditions, notifications, pre-actions, and post actions. It also allows you to copy, delete, edit, and search for workflow events.

When quotes are submitted for approval, there may be conditional rules that specify which specific approval parents are required for the quote's approval. Quotes may be approved by one or multiple parents. Specifications of one or all parents may be created for quote approvals.

Next, let's follow some exercises for creating a workflow status and actions, define discounts and approvals, and creating an approval rule using CTX tags.