18.2 Plan Tasks

Task Content

Each task in a plan has:

1. Activity, which determines what action must be undertaken:
   • Request Approval: Send the document out to the task owner for approval.
   • Request One Step Approval: Send the document out to the task owner for approval and allow approval to be undertaken directly from the approval eMail message.
   • Require Receipt: Invoke the 3-way match for this order and send an eMail to the task owner.
   • Notify User: Send an eMail to the task owner.
   • Notify External Party: Send an eMail to an external party.
   • Initiate External Process: Initiate a process on an external server (e.g. budget review).
   • Execute a Sub Plan: Call and follow a sub plan of the same plan type.
2. Owner, to designate the person responsible for the activity. The task owner receives an eMail notification message to inform them of their required action and can be defined in one of two ways:
   • Role: Choose a previously defined role to own the activity.
   • User: Choose a single PECOS P2P user id to own the activity.
3. Criteria, to determine what conditions have to be met for the activity to be performed by the owner. Each criterion is made up of a combination of:
   • Field: Select a PECOS P2P requisition or order field.
   • Operator: Variable operands are selectable to link each field to a value. (e.g. <,>,=,contains)
   • Value: A selectable or text entry field to define what value is to be validated using the selected operator for the selected PECOS P2P field.

Please refer to the ‘Workflow Criteria Guide’ for a detailed explanation of all the criteria used in Approval Plans

Multiple criteria can be grouped together using ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ logic. If all criteria are not met for a task the activity will be bypassed.

Example1:

Field Operator Value

Doc: Total Amount > 500

For the activity to be valid and approval undertaken, the document total amount must be greater than £500. If it is not, approval is deemed unnecessary.

Example 2:

Field Operator Value

Order: Supplier Name Contains Computer Supplies Ltd

For the activity to be valid and approval undertaken, the document must contain items purchased from the supplier called Computer Supplies Ltd. If it does not, approval is deemed unnecessary.

Example 3:

Field Operator Value Logic

Doc: Total Amount > 500 AND

Order: Supplier Name Contains Computer Supplies Ltd

For the activity to be valid and approval undertaken, the document must contain items purchased from the supplier called Computer Supplies Ltd AND be greater than £500 in total. If one or both criteria do not apply, approval is deemed unnecessary.

Serial and Parallel Tasks

Serial Task: Each task is followed in order one after the other. Each task is a child of a parent task and will not be undertaken until its parent has been completed.

Parallel Task: Tasks are followed together. A set of tasks are children of a parent task and will be undertaken at the same time as each other when the parent task has been completed. All parallel tasks must be completed before a document moves forward to the next child (serial or parallel) task.

Rejected Requisitions or Purchase Orders (i.e. not approved by task owners) are returned to the requisitioner with an eMail explaining why it was rejected (see Organisation Maintenance > Notification Messages). The requisitioner can modify, resubmit or cancel.