Set up bill approval for Accounts Payable

Set up bill approvals on the Configure Accounts Payable page. Only bills and recurring bills created in Accounts Payable are subject to approval. Bills created in the Purchasing application go through purchasing approvals.

Only business users can set up bill approvals, but any user other than CRM users can be granted permissions to approve bills.

Step 1: Update user permissions for bill approval

The users you want to be approvers must be subscribed to the Accounts Payable application and have permission to Approve Bills. Business and Employee user types can be approvers. However, only business users can set up bill approvals.

1. Assign Accounts Payable Approve Bills: List permissions to allow the user to see the Approve bills queue.

   Follow the procedure that matches your configuration: either assign permissions to a role or assign permissions to specific users.
2. If you are going to include the user in a Value approval rule, assign a Bill approval level appropriate to the user.

   For example, if you want a user to approve bills with amounts that fall within first level of approvals, set the user's permissions to allow AP Bill approval levels: Level 1.

Step 2: Enable bill approvals in AP and set preferences

1. Go to Accounts Payable > Setup > Configuration.

2. In the Bill approval settings section, select Enable bill approval.

   Options for email notifications and approval policy management appear.

   Is the Enable bill approval checkbox grayed out?

   Because this option affects all entities within your company, you must be at the top level to enable or disable approvals.

3. Set the following options as desired:

   • Email notifications. Select to enable the ability to send email notifications. This allows users to decide, on an individual basis, whether or not they want to be notified of bills to be approved. This is done on the user’s Preferences page.
   • Unrestricted. Select a user who can override the rest of the approval cycle for a transaction by approving or declining the transaction.

Step 3: Define the bill approval policy

Your approval policy determines which bills require approval, which approvals are required, the sequence of approval, and whether any of the approvals should be based on the total bill amount.

1. On the Configure Accounts Payable page, select Manage for approval policies. The Accounts Payablebill approval policy page appears.

2. Define your Rule types.

   • If you select Vendor-based Approval, you’ll need to set up bill approvers for your vendors after you save the approval policy.

     Set the bill approver for a vendor on the Additional information tab of the vendor record, or using import. The bill approver field is available only when the Vendor-based Approval rule type is present in the approval policy.

   • If you select Value Approval, add a value approval rule by selecting Edit in the Manage Rule column.

     Then, follow the steps to Add a Value Approval rule type (permission-based).

   •  If you select Value Approval - Transaction Department, add a rule set to apply to this rule type, where you define the value approval rules. Do this by selecting Add in the Rule set column dropdown.

     Then, follow the steps to Add a Value Approval, Transaction Department rule type.

   • If you select User Level, select the user that you want to assign as an approver, in the User column dropdown.

     For a user to appear in the list, the following must be true:

     • The user has any user type other than CRM
     • The user has Approve bills: List permissions in Accounts Payable
     • The user is not restricted to any entities, departments, or territories

3. Select Save.

Add a Value Approval rule type (permission-based)

To set up the Value Approval rule type, set up the appropriate level approval amounts by using a value approval rule on the Value Approval Rule page. Select the number of levels of approval and amounts for each level.

Only users with AP Bill Approval Level permissions to appropriate levels will receive approval requests for bills whose total amount falls within that level. For example, if you are a level 1 approver, you need Level 1 permissions to approve bills. If you are a level 2 approver, you need Level 2 permissions to approve bills.

1. On the Accounts Payable Bill Approval Policy page where you've specified Value Approval as a rule type, select Edit in the Manage rule column. The Value Approval Rule page appears.
2. Add any optional Description.
3. For each level of approval you want:
   • Enter Value from and Value to to specify the minimum and maximum approval amounts for the level. For the last level, leave Value to empty. For the first level, you can specify a non-zero value for the minimum amount.
   • Select Minimum approvers to specify the required number of approvers for the level. Bills can be approved by anyone with permission for that level of approval.
4. Select Save.

Add a Value Approval, Transaction Department rule type

If you selected Value Approval - Transaction Department as a rule type, you must set up a rule set. A rule set enables you to define a collection of value approval rules for the Value Approval: Transaction Department rule type. A value approval rule defines the approvers you want and their approval amounts.

A rule set contains:

• Default value approval rules: The default value approval rules for any department that doesn’t have its own specific value approval rule. For example, you might not want to set up a rule for every department if your company has many departments. Instead, set up a default rule that will be used across all departments.
• Department-specific value approval rules: While one default value approval rule might work for the majority of your departments, other departments might need their own rules with different approvers and/or approval amounts. Use department-specific value approval rules for any departments that need their own specific rules.

To add a rule set and the default value approval rule for departments without specific rules:

1. On the Value approval rule set page, enter a Rule set name.
2. Specify the default value approval rule that will be applied to any department that does not have own specific value approval rule.
   • Select an Approver. For a user to appear in the list, the following must be true:The user has any user type other than CRMThe user has Approve bills: List permissions in Accounts PayableThe user is not restricted to any entities, departments, or territories
   • Enter Value from and Value to to specify the minimum and maximum approval amounts for the approver. For the first approver, you can specify a non-zero value for the minimum amount. For the last approver, leave the maximum amount empty.
3. Select Save.

   The Bill approval policy page appears.

After you've saved the default value approval rule, you can add value approval rules for specific departments.

To add a value approval rule for a specific department:

1. Select the View icon next to the name of the rule set you just added.

   The Value approval rule set page appears.

2. Select Edit.

   The Value approval rule set page refreshes.

3. In the Department-specific rules section, select Add.

   The Value Approval Rule page appears.

4. Select a Department ID.
5. Add any optional Description.
6. For each approver you want to add:
   • Select an Approver. For a user to appear in the list, the user must have permission to Approve bills in Accounts Payable.
   • Enter Value from and Value to to specify the minimum and maximum approval amounts for the approver. For the first approver, you can specify a non-zero value for the minimum amount. For the last approver, leave the maximum amount empty.
7. Select Save.

   The Value approval rule set page appears. A row for the department now appears in the table of department-specific rules.

8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for each value approval rule that you want to add for a specific department.
9. Select Save.

   The Bill approval policy page appears.