EEX 9.2: Time Report Fluid Approvals Display a Blank on Project and Activity Description Fields if Approver Is Not Part of Project/Activity Teams, Should It Be Enforced (Doc ID 2951018.1)

Last updated on MAY 25, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

A problem has been detected when performing Time Report approvals in Fluid User Interface, where the Project and Activity Description columns within the Detail Hours grid get displayed in blank. This is taking place when the below conditions are being met:

    - The Project ChartFields Display Option at the Expenses BU Definition level is set to Descriptions
    - The Project Costing Business Unit options have set to enforce Team membership at both Project and Activity levels
    - The User acting as an Approver is not part of the Project Team or Activity Team

REPLICATION STEPS:

    1.- At the Time Report Transaction Definition level, enable the approval levels of HR Supervisor and Project Manager (Navigation Path: Set Up Financials/Supply Chain > Product Related > Expenses > Management > Approval Setup > Map Approval Trans Definition)
    2.- Under the Expenses Business Unit Definition level, define the 'Project ChartFields Display' option as Descriptions (Navigation Path: Set Up Financials/Supply Chain > Business Unit Related > Expenses > Expenses Definition > Business Unit 2 tab)
    3.- At the Project Costing Business Unit Options level, ensure to enable Project and Activity Team Enforcement for Expenses (Navigation Path: Set Up Financials/Supply Chain > Business Unit Related > Project Costing > Setup PC BU Options > Project Costing Options tab)
    4.- Create a new Project ID under then given Business Unit (Navigation Path: Project Costing > Project Definitions > Define Project General Info)
    5.- Define at least one Activity on the newly created Project ID (Navigation Path: Project Costing > Activity Definitions > Define Project Activities)
    6.- At the Project Team level, define a couple of new Employee IDs as Resources: (Navigation Path: Project Costing > Project Definitions > Manage Project Team > Project Definition Resources)
           a) Define the first Employee ID A as the Project Manager, and do not copy the same into the list of Activities
           b) Define the second Employee ID B as the Project Consultant, and do copy the same into the list of Activities
    7.- Log into the system as the Expenses Employee User
    8.- Go to the Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage, and click on the Time Entry Tile
    9.- Create a new Time Report, adding the Project Costing BU, Project ID, and Activity ID, as well as project hour values, and submit the transaction for approval
    10.- Log into the system as the HR Supervisor Approver
    11.- Go to the Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage, and click on the Approvals Tile
    12.- Find the submitted Time Report, and open it
    13.- PROBLEM: Confirm that within the Detail Hours section, the columns of Project and Activity are displayed in blank, instead of showing the description values of the transaction
    14.- Proceed to approve the Time Report, so it gets routed to the next level of approvals, Project Manager
    15.- Log into the system as the Project Manager Approver
    16.- Go to the Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage, and click on the Approvals Tile
    17.- Find the submitted Time Report, and open it
    18.- PROBLEM: Confirm that within the Detail Hours section, the column of Activity is displayed in blank, instead of showing the description value of the transaction, while Project column displays description value just fine

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.

Seems that if the Approver is not part of the Project and/or Activity Teams, the Fluid Approvals for Time Reports only show blank on the Project and Activity columns, which creates confusion to the Approvers, as they cannot review all important details of the submitted transaction, and hence, can delay approvals. Being Time Reports something that can be interfaced to Project Costing, and later Billing, and Receivables, this can affect the revenue stream of the business if it delays too much.

The Project and Activity columns within the Time Report Fluid Approvals component should properly display the Description values, regardless if the Approver User logged in the system is part or not of the Project/Activity Teams.

Changes

Cause

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