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    Thomas Paul
    Automate Launching of Journal Approval Workflow
    Topic posted October 11, 2019 by Thomas PaulBronze Medal: 1,250+ Points, tagged Financials, General Ledger, Intercompany, Setup / Administration 
    67 Views, 15 Comments
    Title:
    Automate Launching of Journal Approval Workflow
    Summary:
    Any way to launch the Approval workflow for Journals?
    Content:

    Hi,

    Is there any way to trigger the Journal Approval workflow in an automated manner. Currently, the user has to go through the Journal screen and initiate the same for manual journals. Similar question for spreadsheet journals as well- any way to trigger the workflow?

    I know there is something similar in AP, but not aware of GL feature.

    Thanks.

    Thomas

    Comment

     

    • Kevin McCulley

      There is a scheduled process, AutoPost Journals that you can schedule to run which will achieve this.

      You will need to define an autopost criteria set first.

      here for info: https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/financials/19d/faugl/journals.html#FAUGL6499

    • Thomas Paul

      Thanks for the response. Few clarifications:

      Typically, we have 2 steps in the Approval Process:

      - Submit Journal for Approval

      - Then AutoPost the approved journals

      I am not clear how the AutoPost Journals scheduling will achieve the first step? 

       

       

      • Kevin McCulley

        If you have a journal and it is marked as complete but not yet sent for approval then AutoPost will send it for posting. That request to post will trigger the journal approval process if the journal needs approval. Once approved, the journal will post automatically.

        Users can send a journal for approval without posting, then AutoPost will also pick up those and post them.

        • Neelam Thakur

          Hi Thomas,

          Agree with everything Kevin said. However there is one gotcha that you should be aware of in using the AutoPost process. As Kevin said, AutoPost will select all Journals in a "Complete" status and initiate them for approval. When creating a manual journal, you have to explicitly mark a journal as complete. However for Journals uploaded via ADFDI, they come in as a status of complete. And then when AutoPost runs, they will be sent for approval. We often have a case when a creator uploads a JE via spreadsheet and leaves for the day thinking that they will attach supporting documents the next morning. But our AutoPost is scheduled for 10 PM every night and all Journals in a complete status are sent for approval. The creator will find that their journal which was not really "Complete" has already been sent to the approver. They then have to withdraw or the approver rejects it so that the creator may attach supporting documents. To mitigate this situation, we have instructed users to make sure they don't leave half bakede Journals overnight. 

          Ideally Oracle should change functionality so that JE's uploaded via spreadsheet are not in a Status of Complete.

           

          Hope this helps.

           

          Thanks,

          Neelam

           

          • Rohan Kamat

            Hi Neelam

            Just to add , we have gone a step further to catch for missing attachments . With auto-post scheduled , we automatically reject the journals which are missing the attachments with the a text saying missing attachment - Auto Rejected .

            By this ,when the auto-post runs ,  the creator is notified of any missing supporting documents to be attached . This might be a potential resolution to the half baked journals :)

            Thanks

            Rohan 

            • David Zachar

              Hi Rohan...

              Just wanted to confirm that you achieved this by creating a rule that uses the condition "Journal Header.Attachments Exists" = N.

              Having said that, I am unsure where you would have created your text ("Missing Attachment - Auto Rejected"). Is that what you entered in the Rule Name?

              Cheers

              David

              • Rohan Kamat

                Hi David

                We used Task Attachment since our all the Email notifications include the attachment which is mailed to the approver .

                The missing attachment text was added in the BIP template by validating the condition for Journal Batch .Attachment

                Thanks

                Rohan

                • David Zachar

                  Thanks for the quick reply Rohan..

                  I havent used Task Attachment before.. Will take a look.

                  Thanks again..

                  David

          • Kevin McCulley

            I removed Spreadsheet from the list of sources in our AutoPost criteria set to overcome this issue wink

            • Thomas Paul

              Curious- for Spreadsheet, do you just submit them manually for Posting?

              • Kevin McCulley

                Yes - users attach their working papers and hit the post button. The user gets a message that the journal requires approval before posting. If there are any in-progress journals on the last day of the accounting period I warn users that they will be deleted at the end of the day if not approved and posted before period close.

                 

    • Thomas Paul

      Hi Neelam,

      Thanks very much for that additional piece of information! Also had a related question 

      If we run this through Autopost program, the journal will show up as having been submitted by the system admin account through which the autopost job runs, rather than the user that has created the journal. 

      How do you handle that if there is a need to report on the journal creators.

      Thanks.

      Thomas

    • Thomas Paul

      Also, I see a potential issue on Role segregation with the AutoPost program.

      For example, have scheduled AutoPost program under User A

      Let's say the Journal has been created by User B.

      When the AutoPost runs, it will show that the journal has been forwarded by user A(i.e the creator). In that case, User B will be able to approve their own journal! Am I missing something in this logic?

      • Kevin McCulley

        Not any longer - in one of the recent updates (19B or C I think) AutoPost can be set to preserve the journal creator's name when sending for posting. If you have AutoPost scheduled currently, you will need to cancel that one and re-schedule it in order to turn the option on.

     

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