Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders
Application component: Purchase Order Workflow
App type: Transactional
Line of business: Sourcing and Procurement
Leading industry: Cross Industry
Solution capability: Purchase Order Processing (S/4)
Scope items: Procurement of Materials with Variant Configuration|Automated Purchase-to-Pay with SAP Ariba Commerce Automation|Requisitioning|Purchase Contract|Procurement of Services|Scheduling Agreements in Procurement|Sales Processing using Third-Party with Shipping Notificationx|Supplier Consignment
Description:  With this app, you can configure workflows to optimize the approval process for purchase orders as a configuration expert. The app provides several options for determining the approver, such as the approval by the cost center responsible, but you can also assign users directly. If a workflow with one or more steps is activated and the configured start conditions are fulfilled, the approval process is initiated. 
A Fiori application for managing approval workflows for Purchase Orders
Key features:    Define start conditions for a workflow, such as the company code, or the account assignment category Cost Center  Define the order in which the start conditions of existing workflows are checkedIf you have defined several workflows, the start conditions are checked in the order you have defined. As soon as the start conditions for a workflow are met, this workflow is used. This ensures that only one workflow in the list of your defined workflows is started, even if several workflows have matching start conditions.  Navigate into the details of a workflow   Activate or deactivate a workflow   Copy an existing workflow and modify it according to your requirements, or add a new workflow. You can configure the workflow as follows:   Define properties such as a description and a validity period   Under the section Preconditions, you can define the criteria that need to be fulfilled for the workflow to start. You can choose a company code, for example. If you use Total net amount of purchase order is greater than, the currency is automatically converted based on the exchange rate of the point in time when the workflow was triggered.     Add one or more step sequences. For each step sequence you define recipients and preconditions. You can define the order of the steps, and you can delete unnecessary steps. You can also set deadlines for the step. Step Properties Is Optional Step: You can mark a workflow step as optional using the step property, . This is an optional field, and by default a step is considered as mandatory. If a workflow step is marked optional and an approver cannot be determined for the step then the step gets skipped, and the workflow automatically moves to the next step, if any. Also, for the steps marked as optional, if the step goes to an error stage, then the step is skipped, and the workflow automatically moves to the next step. If the last step is an optional step, and if this step is skipped, then the purchase order is automatically approved. Exclude Restricted Agents: You can exclude creator of the purchase order from the workflow recipient list.  Choose the option Exclude PO Creator in Exclude Restricted Agents, this ensures that creator of the purchase order does not receive purchase orders created by them for approval in their inbox. Choose the option Exclude Restricted Agents Determined by BAdI to determine the recipients by the the BAdI Enhancement of Flexible Workflow Properties who will not receive purchase orders for approval in their inbox.Note The BAdI Enhancement of Flexible Workflow Properties is not applicable for the Step Type: Release of Reworkable Purchase Order. You can define the order of the steps, and you can delete unnecessary steps. You can also set deadlines for the step. For each deadline you can maintain an action that should be triggered when the step is not completed by the mentioned timeline. The timeline can be mentioned in minutes, hours, days, and workdays.Note To select a calendar relevant for the workdays, create an implementation for Determination of Factory Calendar for Workflow Deadline (MMPUR_PROC_WF_FACTORY_CALENDAR) in the app  Custom Fields and Logic. If no custom logic is defined, all days are considered as workdays. Refer to the BAdI documentation for more details. Note If you use either the role Person Responsible for Cost Center with Highest Debit or Person Responsible for Project with Highest Debit as the recipient, please use either the account assignment category Cost Center or Project, respectively, as the corresponding precondition. If you use either the role Manager of Last Approver, Manager of Workflow Initiator, or Manager of Workflow Initiator's Manager, the managers must be maintained in the system. This ensures that the workflow can find the correct approver. Note If all the steps in a purchase order workflow are skipped, then the purchase order is approved automatically. Also, when none of the steps in a workflow are applicable, then the workflow is approved automatically too.  Send mail notifications at the end of a workflow. Create a notification using the Create button. In Workflow Result, select the result for which to send the notification. In E-Mail Template, select the template to use. Then, fill in the Recipients fields and choose Create.  Use the field Step Type to define type of step, following options are available:    Automatic Release of Purchase Order: Recipients are determined automatically, this step typ is delivered by SAP as a fallback option. By default, this workflow is activated.  Release of Purchase Order: You can define the recipients and other step details. Release of Reworkable Purchase Order: This step type provides approvers with an additional option to send back purchase orders to purchase order creators for rework. For items subject to this workflow, approvers have an additional option Request Rework in the My Inbox app. Approvers can choose this option and request the purchase order creator to make some changes in the purchase order.Note The step type Release of Reworkable Purchase Order is available only if the business switch Activate Purchase Order Inquiry Workflow is activated. Please note that this switch is irreversible, you cannot switch it off once you have enabled it. Use the app Manage Your Solutions to use this switch.     Use the configuration option that is available using the app Maintain Email Templates. It enables you to send an email notification to the recipients of a workflow item when the workflow item is available in the app My Inbox. For more information, see the section Configuration below.  The configuration step Manage Conditions to Restart Flexible Workflow is available to manage conditions that retriggers the approval workflow for purchase orders. You can configure this step using the app Manage Your Solutions . Go to the configuration step Configure Your Solution  Sourcing and Procurement  Operational Procurement  Purchase Order Processing  Manage Conditions to Restart Flexible Workflow in the app Manage Your Solutions.  To decide which critical changes lead to restart, you can create an implementation for the custom logic Define Conditions to Restart Flexible Workflow in Purchase Orders in the app Custom Fields and Logic. For more information go to help.sap.comSAP S/4HANA CloudGeneral Functions for the Key UserExtensibilityCustom Fields and Logic.Note Refer to the blog Which fields are relevant for the restart of flexible workflow in purchase orders? to see which fields restart flexible workflow in purchase orders. Use the section Exception Handling to configure actions to be taken in case of the exceptions.   Section Required Action Recipients Deadline Action Result Impact on Workflow    Purchase Order Rejected Do Nothing Not applicable Not applicable Continue, Cancel Workflow, Repeat Step, Restart Workflow When a step is rejected, you can configure the action result as cancel workflow, repeat step, continue from subsequent step, or restart workflow from beginning.     Rework Purchase Order Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Not Supported: This combination of Exception and Required Action is not supported. If you make these configurations and try to activate the workflow, you will get an error. To activate the workflow, you will have to correct the configuration.   Rework Requested Do Nothing Not applicable Not applicable Continue, Cancel Workflow, Repeat Step, Restart Workflow Not Supported: This combination of Exception and Required Action is not supported. If you make these configurations and try to activate the workflow, you will get an error. To activate the workflow, you will have to correct the configuration.     Rework Purchase Order Recipients are determined automatically to whom the purchase order is sent for rework. Note The combination of Recipients as Role and Determined Automatically is only supported. Any other combination for the Recipients field is not supported. If you configure the workflow with the fields that are not supported, then you will get an error while activating the workflow. To activate the workflow, you will have to correct the configuration. The deadline by which the purchase order must be resubmitted after requested for rework. Continue, Repeat Step, Restart Workflow When a purchase order is submitted after rework, you can choose the action result as repeat the step, continue from subsequent step, or restart the workflow from beginning. Note that if the rework changes are restart-relevant, then the workflow is restarted irrespective of the action result chosen.    Additionally, for approval of purchase orders, you have an option to define approvers in the app Manage Teams and Responsibilities - Procurement. For more information, refer to Manage Teams and Responsibilities - ProcurementNote You need to configure the function in the app Manage Teams and Responsibilities - Procurement and ensure to select the same function as a recipient in the app Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders. While creating a team ensure you use the following configurations:  Select Type as Operational Purchasing  To make the team members as purchase order workflow approvers, assign the functions Operational Purchasing and Workflow Administration to the team members.   
Business roles: Configuration Expert - Business Process Configuration
Configuration Expert - Business Process Configuration : 
Performs business process configuration and other tasks required for implementing SAP solutions, such as scoping the solution, configuring the business processes, performing manual rework activities, and changing business process configuration.