Workflow - General Ledger Overview

Distribution

Director of Accounting Services

GL Administrator

UVA Workflow Specialist

Ownership

The Director of Accounting Services is responsible for ensuring that this document is necessary, reflects actual practice, and supports University policy.

Reference Documents:

MD.20 App Extension Definition and Estimates – GL JE 20, GL JE 21, GL JE 25 Workflow Customization
MD.50 App Extensions Functional Design – Workflow Customization
MD.70 App Extension Technical Design – GL JE 20, 21, 25 Approval Routing Workflow Customization
MD.020/050/070 Employee Authorization Limits For Customization

Go Direct Routing Method

UVA has selected the Go Direct method for routing transactions in the General Ledger. Any journal entry that exceeds a preparer’s self-approval limit will be forwarded to only one approver. The employee to receive that journal entry is the first approver in that chain of employees with the appropriate approval level. Once that approver has approved the journal entry, it is ready to be posted.

The Go Direct routing is determined by the user who last updates a journal entry and/or clicks on the Approve Batch button. For example, one user may prepare a journal entry and save it. A second user may open that journal entry for editing. Upon finishing the edits to the journal entry, the second user clicks the buttons ‘Reserve Funds’ and ‘Approve Batch.’ The journal entry will route according to the workflow hierarchy established for the second user; not the user who originally created the journal entry.

Authorized Approval Levels

A minimum approval level of $5,000 was established for all employees, and a structured range of approval maximums was set. The following table arrays the authorized approval levels. All General Ledger users should be assigned one of the first eight options in this table. No other dollar amounts should be entered into the employee limits tables.


Option	Amount	Defined By
Minimum Limit	5,000	defined within department
Option 1	250,000	defined within department
Option 2	500,000	defined within department
Option 3	5,000,000	defined within department
Option 4	25,000,000	defined within department
Option 5	50,000,000	defined within department
Option 6	100,000,000	defined within department
Option 7	5,000,000,000	defined within department
Option 8	9,000,000,000	defined within department
Option 9	10,000,000,000	Acct Services Director

Employee Table

In the General Ledger Workflow hierarchy, both the preparer and approver must be General Ledger users with an assigned GL responsibility.

The list of employees that appears for Workflow is from an HR Table. To appear in the HR Table, a person must be setup as a current employee of the University. However, being a current employee of the University does not necessarily mean the person has General Ledger access. As a result, before a new employee is added to the GL Workflow hierarchy, you must confirm he/she has been assigned a responsibility within General Ledger. Also ensure that his/her approver has been set up in the Workflow hierarchy and that the approver has also been assigned a responsibility level within General Ledger.

Employee ID numbers have been added to this table to ensure the correct employee is set up in the Workflow hierarchy. You should always verify the Employee ID number of both the employee and the approver because the HR Employee Table contains employees with the same or similar names.

Email Notification

IS offers a ‘notification preference’ for workflow: ‘QUERY’ OR ‘MAILHTML’. ‘QUERY’ means that notification will only be received in the IS Apps Notification screen. ‘MAILHTML’ means that a user will receive an e-mail along with a notification in the IS Apps Notification screen. This preference is a global selection. If one application requires ‘MAILHTML’, then it applies to all applications. UVA has set this preference to ‘MAILHTML.’

As a result, users will receive both emails and notifications in the General Ledger Apps Notification screen when a journal entry requires approval and when it has been approved, rejected or cancelled. Because users receive both an email and a notification, the “informative” notifications (i.e. notifications not requiring an action) received in the IS Apps Notification Screen will immediately appear closed.

This preference does allow users to respond through their email to approve or reject journal entries. However, it is not recommended as it leaves much room for error. Journals should be carefully reviewed before approving. The General Ledger Apps Notification screen is a better choice because it provides direct access to the journal lines for thorough review.

Time Out Functionality

IS provides a time out function to push along those journal entries that have not been approved within a specified time frame. UVA has selected to use the Time Out Functionality to handle any expected or unexpected absences and has set the time frame at 81 hours. Any journal entry notification that has not been approved or rejected after 81 hours will be returned to the preparer.

The preparer may resend the notification to the Approver or to the Approver’s Manager. If that approver does not respond within 81 hours, it will again return to the preparer. It is important to note that once the preparer selects to ‘Resend to the Approver’s Manager’ the routings are adjusted up one level if the notification times-out again. For example, if the preparer initially selects to ‘Resend to the Approver’s Manager’ and the notification times-out, the next time the preparer chooses to resend to the Approver, it will actually go to the Approver’s Manager. If the next time the preparer chooses resend the Approver’s Manager, it will actually go the Approver’s Manager’s Manager.

UVA has elected to use the Time Out Functionality to handle any expected or unexpected absences.

Delegation of a Notification

Notifications may be delegated to anyone at any responsibility level by selecting the notification and clicking on the Delegate button. By delegating the notification, you are granting that user the ability to do the same thing you can do with the notification. For example, if you are an approver and you delegate a notification to another individual, you are asking him/her to review the journal entry and approve or reject it. If you are a preparer and you delegate a notification that you received because it timed out, you are asking that individual to either resend it to your Approver or resend it to your Approver’s Manager. Thus a preparer is not bypassing the established approval route by selecting the Delegate button.

No Approver Found for Your Journal Entry

A user with access to General Ledger may create journal entries without being set up in the Workflow hierarchy. However, if that user creates a journal entry and tries to route it for approval, the system will notify the preparer that no approver can be found. In this situation, a notification is also sent to ISDS Workflow Administrator. To release the transaction for processing, the UVA Workflow Specialist must first set up the preparer in the Workflow hierarchy. Then, the UVA Workflow Specialist should notify the preparer and approver that the problem is fixed; then, SYSADMIN can release the transaction. Upon release, the preparer’s approver is sent a notification regardless of whether or not the transaction is above the preparer’s self-approval limit. The approver must approve or reject the transaction before it can be posted or before any changes can be made to it.

Revision: 4 mr