EEX 9.2: Fluid Expense Report Unnecessarily Routed to Approval Levels Due to Amount Exceeded Rule Even Though Offending Line Is Marked As Personal Expense (Doc ID 2827672.1)

Last updated on SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

A problem has been identified at the Fluid Expense Report creation, and submission pages, where workflow will unnecessarily route for approval an Expense Report whose Personal Expense Line meets the criteria defined at the Refinement Template of a specific Approval level.

For instance, for the Expense Manager approval level, define a new Refinement Template with only the 'Amount Exceeded' check-box selected. Hence, it is the expectation that if an Expense Report that is submitted for approval has any Expense Line marked as Amount Exceeded, then it would trigger that Approval Level for review and approval. However, should the offending Expense Report Line be marked as a Personal Expense, that would make it a Non-Reimbursable Expense, and as such, approvals should be bypassed for that level.

It is important to note that Online Classic creation and submission of such Expense Report transaction does not route it to that level.

REPLICATION STEPS:

    1.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Administrative User
    2.- Define at the Transaction Definition level for Expense Report, enable HR Supervisor and Expense Manager approval levels
    3.- Create a new Refinement Template for Expense Reports, and Expense Manager approval level, where the 'Amount Exceeded' option is selected
    4.- Link that new Privilege Template to the Approver Profile for Expense Manager on Expense Report transaction type
    5.- Define an Expense Location for this test, (Such as BOSTN)
    6.- Define an Expense Type, (Example: LUNCH), and ensure the 'Location Amount Table' radio-button is selected for the Rate Retrieval Table section
    7.- Proceed to define the Expense Location Amount, (For instance 50 USD), for the Expense Type and Expense Location previously created
    8.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses User
    9.- Go to the Employee Self-Service Fluid Homepage
    10.- Click on the Expenses Tile
    11.- Click on the Create Expense Report Tile
    12.- Fill in the Expense Report Header fields (Business Purpose, Description, Default Location, etc...)
    13.- Select the Expense Report Action of 'Add Expense Lines'
    14.- Once at the Fluid Expense Entry page, create two new Expense Report Lines with the below information:
            a) Expense Report Line #1: Expense Type SUPPLY, any amount, and Location
            b) Expense Report Line #2: Expense Type LUNCH, Location BOSTN, Amount of 120 USD, and mark it as a Personal Expense
    15.- The system will flag Expense Report Line #2 for an exception of Amount Exceeded given the Location and Expense Type entered
    16.- Fill in some wording for the Location Amount Exception Comments field
    17.- Save the changes
    18.- Submit the Expense Report for approval
    19.- Refresh the transaction, and confirm that not only the Expense Report has been routed to HR Supervisor approval level, but also Expense Manager, which is incorrect

To gather more information concerning this scenario and its related problem, refer to the available Replication Steps PDF Document here linked containing the complete configuration and the replication steps necessary to reproduce the issue.

Expense Report transactions are being unnecessarily routed to Approval Levels that will need to take time and effort in reviewing a transaction that is only sent to them due to an Expense Report Line that is marked as a Personal Expense, and as such, they do not need to review. As a result, approvals take more time to be completed, and Approver users get confused because the system is routing transactions they should not be spending time with. Delays in approvals mean delays on further processing of such transactions, including payment reimbursement as well.

If an Expense Report Line is marked as a Personal Expense, and as such, Non-Reimbursable for the company, Approval Workflow should not consider this line for potential routings on specific Approval Levels if their Refinement Templates are configured for such scenarios. Personal Expenses should not need approvals.

Changes

Cause

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