Approval Management Engine

The purpose of Oracle Approvals Management (AME) is to define approval rules that determine the Approval processes for Oracle applications

Building Block Name AME Transaction Type

Purpose Think of this to be the entire Approval Business Process for a specific transaction type, for example PO Approval or iRecruitment Vacancy Approval. Of course a business process will consist of various rules. Global variables whose values can either be static or derived from SQL Statements. The SQL Statements can reference the transaction id, which for example could be "requisition header id" or "vacancy_id". These Attributes can be used for building the AME Conditions. These are IF Conditions that use variables, i.e. AME Attributes Action type defines how the action is taken to calculate the result. For example- the action be to use a specific Approval Group based on static list of employees. Alternately the action can be to use a dynamically built list of Approvers. Approval groups are used to build the list of approvers, either from Static list or from SQL Statements. Calls to Approval Groups are made from "AME Action Type". Combines the "AME Condition" and "AME Approval Groups". Indirectly though it references all the building blocks of AME. You can say that every piece of AME building block is glued together in an "AME Rule".

AME Attributes

AME Conditions

AME Action Type

AME Approval Groups

AME Rules

The Steps to create an AME Rule are as follows: (EVOTEST 8009) Scenario: This Rule is created for UAE Vehicle Information (EIT). The Information is send for approval to the supervisor. The steps to create this scenario are given as below 1. Responsibility Name : Approvals Management Business Analyst

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2. Select Transaction Type: Oracle Self Service Human Resources What is a Transaction Type ? An integrating application that uses AME may divide its transactions into several Categories, where each category requires a distinct set of approval rules. Each set of Rules are a transaction type. Different transaction types can use the same attribute name To represent values that the application fetches from different places. This enables Several transaction types to share approval rules, thus facilitating a uniform approval policy across multiple transaction types.

3. Navigation: Oracle Self Service Human Resources -> Setup

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4. Create an Attribute: What is an Attribute ? Attributes are business variables with a single value for a particular transaction. Examples of attributes are: Transactions total amount Percentage of discount An item's category A person's salary Approval rules use the attributes to determine the outcome such as a value for the Transactions total amount or a value for the percentage of discount

There are many seeded attributes in Oracle. Below is given an example of a seeded attribute which checks the Workflow Process Name Eg: WORKFLOW_PROCESS_NAME

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Now we shall create a custom Attribute which checks the Information Category of the workflow Navigate: Attribute -> Create

Attribute Name: EVO_GET_INFORMATION_CATEGORY

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Query: To Check Information Category from HR_API_TRANSACTION table SELECT hatv.varchar2_value FROM hr_api_transactions hat, hr_api_transaction_steps hats, hr_api_transaction_values hatv WHERE hat.transaction_id = hats.transaction_id AND hats.transaction_step_id = hatv.transaction_step_id AND hat.transaction_id = (76139) AND hatv.NAME = 'P_INFORMATION_CATEGORY_1'

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5. Create a Condition: A Condition is the IF part of an Approval Rule that specifies the conditions a transaction must meet to trigger an approval action. A condition consists of an attribute, which is a business variable, and a set of attribute values that you can define. When a transaction meets the specified attribute values, then the application triggers the appropriate action.

On the Basis of the attribute created, we shall create a condition. Below is an example on how to create a condition. Navigate: Conditions -> Create

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Attribute Name: EVO_GET_INFORMATION_CATEGORY Condition: Checking if Category name is UAE_VEHICLE_INFORMATION

6. Create the Action Type: What is an Action Type ? An Action Type is the generic type of specific actions. It enables you to specify the action to take if a transaction meets the condition of an approval rule. The action type, thus, generates the appropriate approvers for a transaction. As an AME administrator you can make particular action types available for specified transaction types. One can also use Existing Action Types

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Once one selects the Action type, all the approver groups created in the corresponding Action Type is displayed as shown below Navigate: Select Action Type -> Apply

7. Create Approver Group: What is an Approver Group?

An Approver Group is a collection of approvers you define, which you can include as part of actions when you set up your approval rules. Navigate: Approver Group -> Create/Use Existing

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Now we shall create an approver group which has the supervisor of the employee as his approver. (Dynamic)

Query: To fetch supervisor of the employee from HR_API_TRANSACTION table Note: We need to return back the person id in the format 'PER: '||person_id from the dynamic SQL. Apparently although Oracle AME supports personnel from PER, FND, TCA, iProcurement recognizes persons only from PER.
SELECT 'user_id:' || fu.user_id FROM per_all_people_f per, per_all_people_f sup, per_all_assignments_f paaf, hr_api_transactions hat, fnd_user fu WHERE SYSDATE BETWEEN per.effective_start_date AND per.effective_end_date AND SYSDATE BETWEEN sup.effective_start_date AND sup.effective_end_date AND SYSDATE BETWEEN paaf.effective_start_date AND paaf.effective_end_date AND per.person_id = paaf.person_id AND paaf.supervisor_id = sup.person_id AND hat.selected_person_id = per.person_id AND paaf.assignment_status_type_id IN (1, 2) AND fu.employee_id = sup.person_id AND hat.transaction_id = (:transactionId)

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Create AME Rule: A business rule that determines a transaction's approval process. You construct rules using conditions and actions.

Navigate: Rules -> Create / Use Existing Rule

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Now we shall create a Rule which includes the custom attributes and conditions a. Step 1: Rule Name

b. Step 2: Add Condition

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c. Step 3: Select Action Type where Approver Group had been created

Select Action Type -> Approver Group Created

Finish the process to create the Rule: EVO_VEHICLE_INFORMATION_RULE

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8. Real Time Example of the AME Rule created above. Navigate: Employee Self-Service -> UAE Vehicle Information

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Now AME Rule comes into Picture: The conditions are checked and AME Rule is applied to the current transaction. Click on Submit for Approval

SQL Statements used to track the EIT Transaction: HR API Transaction Tables
Select * from hr_api_transactions where TRANSACTION_ID = 76141 select * from hr_api_transaction_steps where TRANSACTION_ID = 76141 select * from hr_api_transaction_values where TRANSACTION_STEP_ID = 71075

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