Introduction

An agency has several options for creating an approval process. These options impact how a requisition is created. Briefly:

• Workflows are the approval process - you can create several workflows and several levels of approval. At least one Workflow is required.
• Requisition Departments are not required unless you want to: use automatic requisition numbering, create reports based on Departments, or restrict approvals by departments (in which case they also become part of the approval process).
• Workflows and Requisition Departments can be used together, and Departments can be used with or without the Agency setting of Restrict Approval by Req Department.

An agency can use:

1. One or more Workflow only.
2. One Workflow and multiple Departments.
3. Multiple Workflows and multiple Departments

General conditions include:

• At least one workflow is required. A Workflow is the process for approving a requisition.
• Requisition Departments are not required to create or approve requisitions. Two exceptions are:
• Requisition Departments are required to use automatic requisition numbering.
• Requisition Departments are required in order to use the Restrict Approval by Req Department setting.
• If you use Requisition Departments with the "Restrict Approval" setting, you must assign specific approvers to specific Departments. If you use Departments like this and only one workflow, make sure the Requisition Department has the appropriate approvers who can approve all line items on that type of requisition.
• You can use Departments without the "Restrict Approval" setting in order to group requisitions on the Status screen, or to generate Reports based on the Department names. You do not have to assign users to Departments. Users not added to any Departments will have access to all Departments. If you do decide to add users to Departments:
• Users added to a specific Department will not be able to select a Department they are not a member of when creating requisitions (or purchase orders).

Use Only Requisition Workflows (no Requisition Departments)

One way to set up an approval process is to create several workflows for different types of purchases, or for different divisions or offices, but not create Departments.

In this way:

• The requester would not have to select a Department.
• The requester would have to select the proper workflow for each line item of the requisition.
• Approvers can only approve items assigned to their workflow.

For example:

Figure 1 - Requisition workflows by regional functions

Figure 2 - Requester selects a requisition workflow

Use One Requisition Workflow with Several Requisition Departments

1. Create one workflow that has all approvers assigned to it. (This may be appropriate if you do not have many approvers, e.g., as in a small agency.)

2. Create several Requisition Departments for different bureaus, divisions, or offices. Departments can be used to organize and find requisitions on the Status and Approver screens, and to create reports.

3. You do not have to enable Restrict Approval by Req Department.

Under these conditions:

• A requisition can be assigned to only one Department.
• The requester would have to know which Department to select.
• The requester has just one workflow to select.

For example:

1. Create one workflow and any number of approval levels.

2. Assign approvers to the different approval levels:

3. Create several Requisition Departments.

Users will select a Department when creating requisitions, and they can then sort or filter requisitions on the Status screen by Department, and administrators can create and sort requisition reports by Department.

Figure 3 - Selecting a Department

Use Restrict Approval by Req Department

If create Requisition Departments, and you enable Restrict Approval by Req Department, approvers must be assigned to the same Requisition Department as a requisition to be able to approve it.

Assign the approvers to their respective departments, then enable the setting of Restrict Approval by Req Department.

Figure 4- Approver assigned to Department

Figure 5- Restrict Approval by Req Department

Use Requisition Workflows and Departments

You could create multiple workflows and multiple departments, and then either enable the Restrict Approval by Req Department or not.

If you do not enable the 'Restrict Approval' setting, Workflows are the approval process as usual, and Departments would serve to organize and find requisitions on the Status and Approver screens, and to create reports

If you do enable the 'Restrict Approval' setting, be aware that this adds another layer of restriction on approvers who are already restricted by being assigned to specific workflows. If you choose to do this, approvers must be assigned to both the appropriate workflow and the appropriate department. In this way:

• When a requisition is created, the requester would have to select a Department, and then also select an appropriate workflow for each line item.
• A requisition can only have one Department, so a requester might have to create several requisitions if specific items should be assigned to specific departments.
• Only those approvers assigned to the same Workflow as the requisition line item and the same Requisition Department as the requisition will be able to approve the requisition line items.