Selection of approvers for Bid

[Former Member]

Hello all,

My one more thread is going on for Bid approval workflow problem. But since the subject requirement is different opened a new thread.

Version:

SRM 4.0SP08 SRM server 5.0

Set up:

Strategic purchaser has role SAP_BBP_STAL_STRAT_PURCHASER and sap_all.

Bidders have role of SAP_BBP_STAL_BIDDER

Purchase manager has a role SAP_BBP_STAL_PURCHASE_MANAGER and sap_all

The bidders are assigned to pur org for vendors "Vendor Porg"

and the same is local.

The bidders are created by strategic purchasers through EBP webpage and

link "Manage External business partner".

The purchaser manager is the boss of dept where the strat purchaser is

attached.

Workflow WS79000002 and WS79000010 are active with relevant currency.

Business Process:

The strat purchaser creates a bid Invitation , assigns bidders and

publish the same.

The bidders view the Bid Invitation , submit bids against it.

the strat purchaser views the bids, rejects higher bids and accepts the

lowest bid.

This winning bid is then set in status "awaiting approval" and all the available

managers are shown as the approvers in the approval window.

Requirement:

Our client wants that

say 10 purchase managers are assigned to the purchase dept

then the strat purchaser should be able to select the approvers.

He can choose more than one approver and all of these must approve the bid to complete the process.

PL. advise how to map these requirements in SRM.

Masa has already given the BADI BBP_CHNG_AGNT_GET in this relation.

(Hello Masa - Can you please ellaborate? )

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

Do you need parallel approval or sequential approval ?

I had similar requirement from customer and finally customer selected just simple 1 step approval. Specifying the approver by manual is not good from SOX compliance point of view.

Anyway, several possibilities:

1. If you maintain the Org. has 10 managers, the 10 managers get the approval workitem in his inbox. If one of the managers approve it, the workitem disappears from other manager's inbox. This is still 1 step approval.

2. The purchaser can change the approver in the preview screen and you can filter the possible selection with the BADI BBP_CHNG_AGNT_GET. Purchaser can also add additional approvers.

3. Set the approver rules in custom table and implements N-Step approval BADI. This is not manual approver selection.

4. Manager can forward the workitem to the responsible manager.

5. Manager can set delegation each other.

I think 2. will fit in your case.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Thanks Masa,

for prompt answer.

The approval process our client is looking at is, ALL the approvers selected must approve the Bid , so it's in a kind of sequential bid but with no heirarchy.

1. does not solve our purpose.

3. Not suitable for our scenario.

4. May be useful for the managers going on leave but not for main scenario.

5. Not suitable for us.

2. Ya, this seems close.

Currently our Bid approval window is showing all possible approvers. Now we want the purchaser to select the desired approvers.The workitem (bid) should appear in the worklist of the selected approvers only and should not be released untill ALL THE SELECTED approvers approve the bid.

Will this be possible with BBP_CHNG_AGNT_GET and how??

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

How about only activating the WF79000010 without approval? The purchaser has full responsibility to set approval steps manually if your purchasing compliance is OK. He can set without approval or N steps approval by his decision.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Masa,

Thanks a lot for your patience.

If you remember my other thread which you were only answering

We have activated both the WF with currency

WS79000002 &

WS79000010

Only thing is that because of the error "workflow definition not in version" these workflows are not working properly and we are not able to study the behaviour.

As per config guide we have to activate both the WF and not a single one.

(I have myself also tested this i.e. if only one workflow is active system gives error.)

Do you mean to say if workflows are working correctly ( for which SAP will hopefully help us )then we can keep only WS 79000010 active and then the purchaser can select approvers from all the available one?

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139 · Accepted solution]

Hello Dinesh,

It depends on combination with WF start conditions.

WS79000002 1 step approval of bid

WS79000010 without approval of bid

Which operation is suitable for the purchaser ?

WS79000002 - The purchaser should change 1 approver and add 9 approvers. If he skips the operation, 1 of managers approves it. It is 1 step approval.

WS79000010 - The purchaser should add 10 approvers. If he skips the operation, it means no approval.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

Please don't mind if this thread goes long.

we would like to go for the second operation i.e.

WS79000010 - The purchaser should add 10 approvers. If he skips the operation, it means no approval

But if I am keeping only WS79000010 active , my Bidders can not submit bid with error message " no approval workflow found".

With only Ws79000002 active ,all the possible approvers (those who are maintained as managers in purchaser's dept) are shown. How to select from them ?

How to ensure that unless all the selected approvers approve the bid ,it's not released for further process?

It seems that this calls for workflow development.

Can you give us detailed steps?

BR

Dinesh

(definitely you deserve points for every post)

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

Please change the start condition of WS79000010 always TRUE (For example client = XXX) and deactivate the WS79000002.

>How to ensure that unless all the selected approvers

>approve the bid ,it's not released for further process?

WF takes care this.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

one step ahead ,

with client=xxx, now I can work only with WS79000010.

But,in the submitted Bid approval window it shows 'No approval required' .

In yr earlier post you had said that with WS79000010 only active the purchaser can add approver if he wants.

But with purchaser's log in (and only WS79000010 active) I am not able to see any selection facility for approvers.

Please post yr mail ID so that I can send you screens of my settings to check if anything is missing.

More inputs please.

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

Do you see Add Approver link in Approval tab of Bid ?

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

No,

I am not able to see 'Add Approver' link or any other facility to select apprpvers ,in Approval tab of Bid.

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

My system is SRM50 SP5 and I see "Add Reviewer" and "Add Approver" buttons in "Approval Preview" subtab of Bid Header data before accepting the bid. The template is bbp_bid_inv/99/saplbbp_bid_inv_1100.html. Do you have same problem with WS79000002 one step approval ? The problem may be related with WF definition is missing in your system.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

Unfortunately we are on SRM 4.0SP08 only as I had described in the very beginning.

Is it a feature of 5.0?

For Ws79000002 also I am not able to find the buttons for 'Add Approver'.

For the error 'WF definition not in version' we have got a note from SAP.

Will come back after applying that.

Thanks,

BR

Dinesh

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

Can you pl. mail me the said template

bbp_bid_inv/99/saplbbp_bid_inv_1100.html

at my ID : dinesh.powale@googlemail.com

I got the screen shots of this template for EBP 5.5 but could not find somthing relevant to approval.

Am I missing somthing?

Is there anyother template for this ?

Our idea is to add the additional code in our resp template of EBP 5.0 in order to have this functionality.

Will it work?

Appreciate yr responce as always.

BR

Dinesh

[masa_139]

Hello Dinesh,

I have checked SRM40 system and confirmed the add approver button is not available in standard. But it seems possible to have add approver buttons in SRM40.

Please try this:

SE80, Service, BBP_PREVIEW

SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000

SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1100

Add the (WF_SCENARIO == "BI") in the SRM40 code

...

`BBPGroupBegin()`

`if ((WF_SCENARIO == "SC") || (WF_SCENARIO == "CF") || (WF_SCENARIO == "IV") ||

(WF_SCENARIO == "RT") || (WF_SCENARIO == "CM") || (WF_SCENARIO == "PO"))`

`BBPButtonBegin()`

...

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

I am working with Dinesh on the same reqt.As you have said the ADD APPROVER button can be added in the Template /screen.

But for the further action on the click of the button,which std code will i need to modify for the Approvers to be included in the WF?

Your help will be appreciated.

BR,

Disha.

[masa_139]

Hello Disha,

Please test add approver function with Shopping Cart approval WF in SRM4.0. If it works, I think you just need to change the template in my previous post.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

I have added the code for the ADD APPROVER button in the PREVIEW template...But no success...i am unable to see the button.

Do i need to add the button in the screen painter also?

BR,

Disha.

[masa_139]

Hello Disha,

We should debug the WF_SCENARIO value. (WF_SCENARIO == "BI"). I'm sure you see the Add approver button in SC preview. It calls same code. The point is "if" logic to enable the buttons.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

The SC approval preview uses the template SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000.

Do you mean to say that the BID application also calls the same template "SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000" and not "SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1100"?

Also does this mean that the template changes are not working only for the BID scenario?

BR,

Disha.

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

You were right.For all the scenarios ,the template used is "SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000".

Also,as you said, the changes are not working only for the "BID" scenario.This is because for the SC scenario,we had to remove the "ADD APPROVER" button and those changes are properly reflecting in the Approval Preview screen(i.e. ADD button not visible).

Another observation here is that for the 2 scenarios i.e. SC and BID,the requiremnt for the ADD APPROVER button is contradicting.So for both the changes,we may have to add 2 seperate conditions in the template "SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000".What do you suggest?

BR,

Disha.

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

Any suggestions on this?

BR,

Disha.

[masa_139]

Hello Disha,

Have you tested your requirements with if statement in the template ? Delete "SC" and add "BI" ?

...

`BBPGroupBegin()`

`if ((WF_SCENARIO == "SC") || (WF_SCENARIO == "CF") || (WF_SCENARIO == "IV") ||

(WF_SCENARIO == "RT") || (WF_SCENARIO == "CM") || (WF_SCENARIO == "PO"))`

`BBPButtonBegin()`

...

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

Do you mean to say i should delete SC from the IF condition and then test for BID Scenario?

BR,

Disha.

[masa_139]

Hello Disha,

Yes. That is my idea. I have not tested the code in the system.

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

I have changed the condition as told by you:

`BBPGroupBegin()`

`if ((WF_SCENARIO == "CF") || (WF_SCENARIO == "IV") ||

(WF_SCENARIO == "RT") || (WF_SCENARIO == "CM") || (WF_SCENARIO == "PO") ||(WF_SCENARIO == "BI"))`

`BBPButtonBegin()`

`if ((GV_ADD_APPROVER_DISABLED == "X") || (GV_IS_VIEW_ITEM_LEVEL == "X"))`

`BBPDisabledButton(BUTTON_ADD_REVIEWER.label)`

`BBPButtonSpace()`

`BBPDisabledButton(BUTTON_ADD_APPROVER.label)`

`else`

`BBPButton(BUTTON_ADD_REVIEWER.okcode, BUTTON_ADD_REVIEWER.label)`

`BBPButtonSpace()`

`BBPButton(BUTTON_ADD_APPROVER.okcode, BUTTON_ADD_APPROVER.label)`

`end`

`BBPButtonEnd()`

`BBPVSpace()`

`end`

But still the button does not appear.ALso,as i said earlier,all the changes made for SC scenario in the SAPLBBP_PDH_WFL_1000 template are working fine but not for the BID scenario.

BR,

Disha.

[masa_139]

Hello Disha,

Did you publish the template? So the next step is debugging...

Regards,

Masa

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

Yes ,i saved the changes and published the template but no success:-(

Can you pls give me some guidelines for debugging the BID tcode?

BR,

Disha.

[Former Member]

Hello Masa,

Tons of thanks for your inputs and patience.

(Max. pts awarded)

With your support and some R&D we could get the "ADD APPROVER" nutton on our Bid approval screen.

But for us still the task balance is selection of approvers and parallel approval.

For which Disha has opened a new thread.

I am sure your valuable inputs will come.

BR

DInesh

[Former Member]

Hi Masa,

I was successful in getting the ADD APPROVER button on the Approval Preview screen by changing the IF condition.Thansk a lot for your help!!

I have opened a new thread and i request you to reply to that so that i can reward you .:-)

But now regarding the further functionality of the buttons.

Since we have added the buttons for Manual selection of the Approvers,i need to remove all the possible agents whcih are determined through the ORG structure so that the Witem goes to the Selected approvers(Through ADD APPROVER ).

Now how do i delete all the agents whcih are determined and which appear in the approval preview?

I tried implementing the BADI BBP_CHNG_AGNT_GET wherein i tried to change the table ET_AGENTS but no success.Also, by doing so the ADD APPROVER functionality is also affected in the way that after clicking on the FIND button i am not able to see the List of Managers.Also,this BADI is getting triggered for the complete Approval Preview screen i.e. in the SC approval also.Now how do i go further?Is there any other BADI avaliable for BID only?Or do i need to make changes at the WF side?

BR,

Disha.