EEX 9.2: Travel Authorization Header and Line Statuses Remain in Approved Value Even After Closing the Linked Expense Report if Transaction Never Got Staged for Payment (Doc ID 2974142.1)

Last updated on SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

A system inconsistency has been detected for Travel Authorizations remaining in Approved status both at the Header and Line levels, (PS_EX_TAUTH_HDR.TRAVEL_AUTH_STATUS = 'APR', and PS_EX_TAUTH_LINE.EX_LINE_STATUS = 'APR'), even after its related Expense Report has been marked for closure, and fully processed by Closed Liabilities.

An Expense Report is created from an approved Travel Authorization, and submitted for approval, approved, and Post Liabilities is run. At this stage, the transaction is marked for closure, and Close Liabilities is run to completion. While the Expense Report Header and Line statuses have been properly updated to Closed (CLS), the same does not happen to the Travel Authorization Header and Line statuses, remaining incorrectly in Approved status (APR).

This only seems to take place if the Expense Report is marked for closure directly from a status of 'Approved For Payment' (APY). However, if the Expense Report has been first Staged for Payments, and subsequently Un-staged, and then marked for closure, when Close Liabilities process is run, both the Expense Report and Travel Authorization get updated to a Status of Closed (CLS) at the Header level, but the Travel Authorization Line status will still show a status of Approved (APR).

REPLICATION STEPS:

  + First test with Expense Report never staged for payments:

    1.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Employee
    2.- Create a new Travel Authorization, and submit it for approval (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Travel Authorizations Tile > Add Travel Authorization)
    3.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Approver
    4.- Find and approve the submitted Travel Authorization (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Approvals Tile > Pending Approvals > Travel Authorization)
    5.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Employee
    6.- Create a new Expense Report by defaulting into it the approved Travel Authorization, and submit it for approval (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Travel Authorizations Tile > Travel Authorization Search > Copy To Expense Report)
    7.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Approver
    8.- Find and approve the submitted Travel Authorization (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Approvals Tile > Pending Approvals > Expense Report)
    9.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Administrator
    10.- Launch the Expense Processing program with Post Liabilities option selected (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Expenses Processing)
    11.- Mark the Expense Report for closure (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Close Expenses > Mark Expense Report for Closure)
    12.- Launch the Expense Processing program with Close Liabilities option selected (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Expenses Processing)
    13.- Query the Expense Report Header and Line Records, and confirm that the statuses are Closed
              a) Record Field PS_EX_SHEET_HDR.SHEET_STATUS = CLS
              b) Record Field PS_EX_SHEET_LINE.EX_LINE_STATUS = CLS
    14.- PROBLEM: Query the Travel Authorization Header and Line Records, and confirm that the statuses are still Approved
              a) Record Field PS_EX_TAUTH_HDR.TRAVEL_AUTH_STATUS = APR
              b) Record Field PS_EX_TAUTH_LINE.EX_LINE_STATUS = APR

  + Second test with Expense Report staged for payments, and later un-staged:

    1.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Employee
    2.- Create a new Travel Authorization, and submit it for approval (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Travel Authorizations Tile > Add Travel Authorization)
    3.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Approver
    4.- Find and approve the submitted Travel Authorization (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Approvals Tile > Pending Approvals > Travel Authorization)
    5.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Employee
    6.- Create a new Expense Report by defaulting into it the approved Travel Authorization, and submit it for approval (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Travel Authorizations Tile > Travel Authorization Search > Copy To Expense Report)
    7.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Approver
    8.- Find and approve the submitted Travel Authorization (Navigation Path: Employee Self Service Fluid Homepage > Approvals Tile > Pending Approvals > Expense Report)
    9.- Log into the FSCM Online Application as an Expenses Administrator
    10.- Launch the Expense Processing program with Post Liabilities and Stage Payments options selected (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Expenses Processing)
    11.- Launch the Expense Processing program with Un-stage Payments options selected (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Expenses Processing)
    12.- Mark the Expense Report for closure (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Close Expenses > Mark Expense Report for Closure)
    13.- Launch the Expense Processing program with Close Liabilities option selected (Navigation Path: Travel and Expenses > Process Expenses > Expenses Processing)
    14.- Query the Expense Report Header and Line Records, and confirm that the statuses are Closed
              a) Record Field PS_EX_SHEET_HDR.SHEET_STATUS = CLS
              b) Record Field PS_EX_SHEET_LINE.EX_LINE_STATUS = CLS
    15.- Query the Travel Authorization Header and Line Records, and confirm that the statuses are still Approved
              a) Record Field PS_EX_TAUTH_HDR.TRAVEL_AUTH_STATUS = CLS
              b) PROBLEM: Record Field PS_EX_TAUTH_LINE.EX_LINE_STATUS = APR

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 problem.

The inconsistency of the system handling and updating the Travel Authorization differently, depending on whether the related Expense Report got staged, or not, is confusing to Employees, as the original Travel Authorization can then be re-used on subsequent Expense Reports.

Regardless on whether the related Expense Report got staged for payment, or never staged, the system should handle the Travel Authorization the same way, marking both Header and Line statuses in Closed status (CLS). Un-staging an Expense Report resets it back into Approved For Payment (APY) status, so it should not have any effect for potential differences.

Changes

Cause

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