Invoice Approval Workflow through Spreadsheet

Oracle Fusion Cloud

1.     Introduction

Since Release 18C Oracle Fusion Cloud contains a spreadsheet upload for the approval flow of Payables invoices and GL journals.

Navigation: 

Setup and Maintenance > Manage Workflow Rules in Spreadsheet

2.     Advantages

• Quick implementation

The implementation of the approval flow will be much quicker than an implementation through BPM since the setup is easier and the screens are faster.

• Maintenance friendly

Maintenance can be done via the upload sheet which gives a clear and structured overview of all approval lines. Previous upload sheets can be reviewed and you can export the file. Furthermore, the upload process will give clear error notifications if the upload fails.

3.     Points to consider

• No export possibility from BPM to Spreadsheet

You cannot export existing approval flows from BPM to the spreadsheet. Therefore, if you want to use the spreadsheet functionality you have to take into consideration: 

Maintenance only via spreadsheet

The approval flow is still visible in BPM and can be adjusted in these screens but changes in BPM won’t be transferred to the upload sheet.

Re-implementation of the current approval flow

Any existing approval flows in BPM have to be setup again in the spreadsheet since they cannot be exported to the sheet. Also, when a new workflow is uploaded via spreadsheet it will fully overwrite the current approval flow in BPM.

• No advanced rules

The ‘advanced rules’ functionality from BPM is not available in the spreadsheet. Therefore the spreadsheet won’t be sufficient for all companies.

4.     Best Practice

The best practice to implement the approval flow is through the spreadsheet upload with job level approval.

Example of a Job Level Approval Flow

The ‘Job Level Range’ is linked to a Data Set: