Determining who approves a quote
Depending on the approval rule that is violated, a quote may have to be approved by one or more approval groups.
To determine who must approve a quote, and the sequence in which the approvals must occur, you can configure an approval group in Sterling Business Center. This topic describes a scenario in which only one approval group is configured for an approval rule violation.
Sometimes, multiple users have to approve a quote in a hierarchical sequence. To be defined as an approver of a quote, a user must belong to both the appropriate user group/role and team code. For example, Tom, a sales manager, is assigned to the manager user group/role and to the sales team code. However, Joe, an accounting manager, is assigned to the manager user group/role and to the accounting team code. If only the users from the manager user group/role and sales team code are allowed to approve a quote, Tom can approve the quote, but Joe cannot approve it.
If a quote has to be approved in a hierarchical sequence, the quote is first approved by the users from the user group/role-team code that has no predecessors. The hierarchy of subsequent approvers is based on the assignment of predecessors.
If Mandatory is set to Y in an approval plan, approval is required from the users in the corresponding user group/role-team code, regardless of whether approval rules have been violated or not. If mandatory approvals are not required, the approval process is complete when approvers in the hierarchy have approved the quote, and there are no further violations of approval rules.
Consider the approval plan described in the following table, where:
- Approval Sequence - Indicates the sequence of approvals.
- Approval Name - Indicates the approval name.
- Team Code - Indicates the team that provides the approval, such as Sales.
- User Group/Role - Indicates the user role of the approver, such as Sales Manager or Accountant.
- Predecessor Sequence - Indicates the sequence of
predecessor approvers. Note: Approvers do not necessarily need to approve in this sequence.
- Is Approval Mandatory - If the Mandatory flag is
set to Y, approval is required, regardless of whether approval rules
have been violated or not, and regardless of the approval hierarchy.
Approval sequence Approval name Team code User group/ role Predecessor sequence Is approval mandatory 1 K1 Sales Sales Manager 2 K2 Sales Sales Director 1 3 K3 Accounting Accountant 1 4 K4 Vice President Vice President 2, 3 Y
In the approval plan described in the previous table, the Sales Manager is the first approver because the Sales Manager has no predecessors. After the Sales Manager approves the quote, the next approvers are the Sales Director and Accountant, who can simultaneously approve the quote. The Vice President, who is a mandatory approver, is the last approver in the sequence.