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How To Setup And Use Approval Management Engine AME For Purchasing and iProcurement Documents
(Doc ID 434143.1)
In this Document
Abstract
History
Details

Assign AME access to users

Assign AME Roles and Responsibilities

Grant Transaction Type Access to Users

Review and Modify AME Setup

1. Action Types
2. Attributes

3. Conditions

4. Approver Groups
5. Rules

6. Test Workbench

Enable AME

For Requisitions:

For Purchase Orders:

For Requisition Change Request (* not included in the whitepaper attachment)

Test the Functionality

View the AME Setup

Troubleshooting issues

MSWord Format - AME for Purchase Requisition Approval - Whitepaper

Summary

Still Have Questions?

References

APPLIES TO:
Oracle Purchasing - Version 11.5.10 to 12.2.4 [Release 11.5 to 12.2]
Oracle iProcurement - Version 11.5.10 to 12.2.4 [Release 11.5 to 12.2]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
***Checked for relevance on 15-JUL-2010***

ABSTRACT

Purchase Requisitions and purchase orders (in 12.1.3) can be routed for approval using the AME Approval Management Engine. This
whitepaper describes how to setup AME for use with purchasing documents, and shows how the approval list is built based on the AME
setup.

HISTORY
Author : David Felton, Oracle Global Customer Services
Contributing Authors : Diego Rossenblum, Oracle Global Customer Services (added 28-MAY-2008), Sofia Burbano, (added
29-MAR-2012)
Create Date 01-OCT-2007
Update Date 10-OCT-2012
Expire Date 10-OCT-2013 (requires review after this date)

DETAILS
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Assign AME access to users

Assign AME Roles and Responsibilities
AME responsibilities in 11i.AME.A are assigned directly to the users. However, In R12 or 11i.AME.B and higher, AME responsibilities are
assigned indirectly to users through roles. The roles are assigned to the users by the SYSADMIN user using the User Management
responsibility. Once the roles are assigned, the AME responsibilities are automatically available to the users without specifically assigning
the AME responsibilities to the users. Here are steps to assign the roles:
1. Login as System Administrator user

2. Select the responsibility "User Management". (NOTE: User Management data is stored in the UMX schema)
3. Select "Users" menu option

4. Search for the user to whom you wish to grant AME roles
5. In the results table, click on update icon

6. In the update user page, user details can be seen along with a list of roles available to user.
Click on "Assign Roles"

7. Search for Approval% and Select roles from the resulting LOV. Choose the roles that are applicable (proper authority) for the
user, and click the Select button.
8. Specify justification and relevant dates for the newly assigned roles, and click Apply to assign the roles to the user.
Reference Note 413300.1 Oracle Approvals Management Not Enabled? What Does It Take To Enable It?

Grant Transaction Type Access to Users

AME restricts access to transaction types using Data Security. Grant users access to the transaction types using the Grants page. Set up
user access as follows:
1. Navigate to the Personal Home Page.
2. Select Functional Administrator Responsibility
3. From the Grants page, press on the Create Grant button
4. Create a grant with the following information:

Name <specify a descriptive name>

Grantee Type = Specific User
Grantee = <The user who desires AME access>
Object = AME Transaction Types

5. Click Next and select the Object Data Context

Data Context Type = All Rows

6. Click Next to define the object parameters and Select Set

Set = AME Calling Applications

7. Click Next. Review the changes and then Finish the process.

Review and Modify AME Setup

AME is designed to provide approval logic for many transaction types. Transaction types used for Purchasing include: Purchase
Requisition Approval, Internal Requisition Approval, Requester Change Order Approval and Purchase Order Approval (See Note
1487661.1 AME : Approval, E-Review, E-Sign and Withdrawal Features for Purchase Orders - for details on AME functionality for
purchase orders).
1. Navigate to the Approvals Management Business Analyst, Standard responsibility
2. Choose the Business Analyst Dashboard menu from the responsibility

3. Use the Transaction Type LOV to search and select the transaction type

4. Use the links on the right in the Approval Process Setup region to set the components (Attributes, Conditions, Action Types,

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Approver Groups) and rules, or to use the test workbench in AME.

1. Action Types
1. An action type is a collection of actions having similar functionality. Every action belongs to an action type. Action types are
enabled or disabled for a particular transaction type. AME may give an error when attempting to enable an action type for a
transaction if the transaction is not designed to allow that action type.
2. To disable or enable action types for the transaction, select the Action Types link

3. The Action Types page shows the action types that are currently enabled for the transaction type. Use the Previous and Next
links to scroll through the list of enabled action types. Select the Use Existing Action Type button to see other pre-defined action
types available in AME. Some of these may or may not be applicable to the currently select transaction type; AME will give an
error if the user tries to add a non-relevant action type for the selected transaction type.
4. If you are going to use Employee/Supervisor, assign a level (approval authority) to the jobs. Navigate to HR responsibility ->
Work Structures -> Job -> Description - to assign a Level (Approval Authority) to a Job. Query up the Job and enter the
appropriate Job Level in the Approval Authority field.

5. In AME, select any or all of the following Action Types for JOB BASED approvals if applicable for your business requirements:
absolute job level / chains of authority based on absolute job level
final approver only / chains of authority containing only the final job-level approver
manager then final approver / chain of authority includes requestor's manager and then the final approver
relative job level / chains of authority based on relative job level
supervisory level / chains of authority based on number of supervisory levels

6. In AME, select any or all of the following Action types for APPROVER GROUP approvals if applicable for your business
requirements:
post-chain-of-authority approvals / group approvals after the chain of authority
pre-chain-of-authority approvals / group approvals before the chain of authority
approval-group chain of authority / chain of authority includes an approval group

7. In AME, select any of all of the following Action types for POSITION BASED approvals (Only in R12 and higher) if applicable for
your business requirements
hr position / chains of authority based on a particular HR position
hr position level / chains of authority based on HR positions

2. Attributes
1. Attributes are the base element for an AME Rule. Attribute values are retrieved from the Oracle E-Business Suite Applications
database or derived from values in the database. AME is seeded with attributes relevant to the transaction type, and the user can
create new attributes in AME for use in AME rules.
2. Select the Attributes link to view or add attributes for the selected transaction type

3. Use the Previous and Next links to scroll through the existing attributes. Some of the attributes include ITEM_CATEGORY,
ITEM_NUMBER as well as other attributes. When AME approvals is enabled, these values get populated for the purchasing
document, and AME uses this information to determine the appropriate AME rule(s) to use.

4. In addition to the seeded attributes, a customized attribute can be created. DAVE_CATEGORY_SEGMENT is an example of this.
This attribute uses a query to capture SEGMENT1 of the Item Category flexfield. The Item Category flexfield may be setup to use
one or more segments; this customized AME attribute captures only SEGMENT1 of the flexfield. This allows the users to setup
conditions and rules that are dependent on a certain value in SEGMENT1 of the ITEM Category used on the requisition. NOTE:
The new attribute DAVE_CATEGORY_SEGMENT1 uses the same sql query as the seeded ITEM_CATEGORY AME attribute, except
it selects mck.segment1 rather than mck.concatenated_segments.

3. Conditions
1. Conditions identify values and value ranges for some or all of the attributes available. AME rules refer to these conditions to
determine if a particular rule is applicable for the specific document being approved. For example, an AME rule can be setup to
require certain approvers if $0 USD <= requisition total < $1000 USD. Since REQUISITION_TOTAL is a seeded attribute, the user
can define a condition $0 USD <= requisition total < $1000 USD, and then use this condition in a rule to require certain
approvers for the requisition. The rule cannot refer to this condition until it is defined in AME Conditions for the Purchase
Requisition Approval transaction type.
2. Select the Conditions link from the AME Business Analyst Dashboard after specifying the transaction type. Selecting the
Conditions link will display the existing conditions defined for the transaction type, and also allow the user to create new
conditions for the transaction.

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3. Click the Create button to create a new condition

4. To define the new condition, specify whether the condition is ordinary, or an exception condition (which can only be used in an
exception rule). Use the Attribute LOV to choose the attribute on which the condition is based. The condition will specify a value
or range of values for the attribute, so the attribute must be selected before the value(s) can be defined.
5. Define the allowed value or value range for the selected attribute. Click Apply to complete the condition definition.

4. Approver Groups
1. Approver Groups are optional. Setup Approver Groups if additional approvers are required for particular conditions, or to
specify a dynamic sql query for additional approvers. The rules defined for the transaction can be based on Approver Groups,
Jobs defined in HR setup, or Positions defined in HR setup (only in R12); the rules may also use a combination of Job, Position,
and Approver Group basis. (See the Rules details later in this paper for more information about the rules)
2. Select the Approver Groups link from the AME Business Analyst Dashboard.

3. View and edit existing approver groups, or Click the Create button to create a new approver group.
4. When creating the approval group specify all the mandatory values.
a. Give a name and description to the approval group.

b. Specify an order number (order number of this approver group relative to other approver groups).

c. Choose a voting regime, only Serial is supported for Purchase Requisition Approval in 11.5.10 and 11.5.9. R12 does
allow other voting regimes that use parallel routing.

d. Choose Static if approvers will be selected when defining the approval group, or choose Dynamic if a sql query is used
to dynamically find the approvers for this approver group when the approval transaction is being processed.
e. Click the Add Another Row button to add approvers to the approval group now.
f. Click Apply to save the approver group

5. The approval group members can be added as additional approvers to the normal chain of command approvers generated by
AME.

5. Rules
1. Define rules to specify approvers that should be included in the approval list under specific conditions for the approval
transaction.
2. Select the Rules link from the AME Dashboard after selecting the transaction type
3. Review the list of existing rules already defined for the transaction

4. Select the Create button to create a new rule for the transaction. (Optionally, if there already exists a similar rule choose the
Duplicate icon or the Use Existing Rule button).
a. Specify a name for the new rule and choose the rule type and effective dates. Rule types are explained in the
AME online help pages along with examples. The most common types are List Creation, Pre List Approver Group
and Post List Approver Group. (NOTE: Some rule types may not be available if the corresponding action types have
not been assigned to the transaction type. Use the Action Types feature to add or remove action types for the
transaction)
b. Specify one or more conditions that activate the rule. The Conditions are defined in the AME Setup, and they
may be seeded conditions or user defined conditions.

c. Choose the Action Type and then choose a specific action. The list of actions available is dependent on the Action
Type selected. The actions are related to Jobs, Positions (in R12), or Approver Groups. (Action Types are discussed
previously in this whitepaper)
d. Review the rule details and click Finish to complete the rule setup, or click Back to make changes.

6. Test Workbench
Use the Test Workbench to determine which AME Rule(s) apply to a specific document, or to determine which AME Rule(s) apply
for an adhoc combination of values specified at the time of the test. Select the Test Workbench link from the AME Dashboard
1. Specific Requisition test

a. Click the Run Real Transaction Test button.

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b. Specify the value of REQUISITION_HEADER_ID from PO_REQUISITION_HEADERS_ALL as the Transaction Id value.
Click Go to see the AME rules that apply to the requisition.
c. Adjust the rules setup to cause rules to be called differently based on the business requirements.

2. Specific Purchase Order test

a. Click the Run Real Transaction Test button.

b. Specify the value of AME_APPROVAL_ID from PO_HEADERS_ALL as the Transaction Id value. Click Go to see the AME
rules that apply to the purchase order.
c. Adjust the rules setup to cause rules to be called differently based on the business requirements.

Note: AME for purchase orders is available in Procurement rollup Patch 14254641:R12.PRC_PF.B or higher. See Note
1487661.1 AME : Approval, E-Review, E-Sign and Withdrawal Features for Purchase Orders to learn the scope,
limitations and features of AME for purchase orders.

3. Adhoc test

a. Click the Create button on the Test Workbench page

b. Specify Name and Description for the test, and specify values for pertinent attributes (e.g. Requisition Total = $100
USD)
c. Click the Run Test Case button to see the applicable AME rules, and the resulting AME approval list that will be built
based on the conditions specified for the attributes.

Enable AME
For Requisitions:
1. Navigate to Purchasing responsibility

2. Setup / Purchasing / Document Types

3. Select Purchase Requisition (or Internal Requisition) as the document type

4. Specify Approval Transaction Type = PURCHASE_REQ (or INTERNAL_REQ) to enable

AME approvals for Purchase Requisitions (or Internal Requsitions) in the current operating unit

For Purchase Orders:

In order to enable AME for Purchase Orders, create a document style and associate the AME workflow. Refer to Note 1487713.1 Setups
for Purchase Order Approval Using Approvals Management Engine (AME). This note has screenshots and detailed steps to create the
document style and enable AME for purchase orders.

For Requisition Change Request (* not included in the whitepaper attachment)

1. Navigate to Purchasing responsibility

2. Setup / Purchasing / Document Types

3. Select Change Order Request Requisition as the document type

4. Specify Approval Transaction Type = RCO

You may specify Approval Transaction Type = RCO (Requester Change Order Approval) if you want to have unique
AME approval logic for the change requests, as this is the default approval transaction type intended for use with
change requests. If you want to use the same AME logic as for Purchase Requisitions, you may specify
PURCHASE_REQ as the Approval Transaction Type, although you will need to test this to make sure it works as
expected for the change request cases.
**NEW**
Note: The REQUISITION_TOTAL for RCO - Requester Change Order Approval AME transaction is determined
differently than the REQUISITION_TOTAL in the Purchase Requisition Approval AME transaction. The
REQUISITION_TOTAL in RCO transaction gets the New Revised Total specified for the Change, but

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REQUISITION_TOTAL in the PURCHASE_REQ transaction retrieves the current Total rather than the revised Total.
PURCHASE_REQ - Purchase Requisition Approval
REQUISITION_TOTAL = SELECT nvl(SUM(decode(order_type_lookup_code, 'RATE', amount, 'FIXED
PRICE', amount, quantity * unit_price)), 0),
po_ame_setup_pvt.get_function_currency(max(requisition_header_id)),
po_ame_setup_pvt.get_rate_type(max(requisition_header_id)) from po_requisition_lines_all where
requisition_header_id = po_ame_setup_pvt.get_new_req_header_id(:transactionId) and
nvl(cancel_flag, 'N') = 'N' and nvl(modified_by_agent_flag, 'N') = 'N'
RCO - Requester Change Order Approval
REQUISITION_TOTAL = select po_ame_setup_pvt.get_changed_req_total(:transactionId),
po_ame_setup_pvt.get_function_currency(:transactionId),
po_ame_setup_pvt.get_rate_type(:transactionId) from dual

Be sure to check the attribute definitions for each transaction attribute and compare to ensure you get the expected
results with using the attributes. The intended design is to use Requester Change Order Approval (RCO) for changes,
and use Purchase Requisition Approval (PURCHASE_REQ) for new documents. The seeded requisition total calculation
for change requests looks at the PO_CHANGE_REQUESTS table to get the new values, because the
PO_REQUISITION_LINES_ALL and other requisition tables will only have the original values, not the changed values
while the change is being submitted and processed.

Test the Functionality

1. Create a requisition or purchase order and verify that the Approval List is built per the AME rules based on the conditions
present on the attributes.

View the AME Setup

1. Click the Setup Report link in the Quick Links section of the Dashboard

2. Select the appropriate transaction type (Example: Purchase Requisition Approval) and click Go.

3. Click the Printable Page button to view the complete setup for the selected transaction type (Attributes, Conditions, Rules,
Approval Groups, and etc.)

4. Compare the AME setup to the requisition attributes and approval list generated for a specific requisition, or compare the AME
setup to the business requirements.
NOTE: This document is not considered formal documentation of the product, but is a useful tool for applying the functionality
described.

Troubleshooting issues

Refer to Note 1437183.1 'AME : How to Diagnose Issues With the Default Approver List in Purchasing When Using
Approvals Management' for tips to troubleshoot AME issues with the approval list.

In addition to the AME Setup Report and the Test Workbench mentioned above, this query may be useful, to check
attributes and conditions associated to rules directly at the table level (for requisitions). Although, the information in the
setup report is more nicely formatted.

For performance issues in AME, capture trace files to identify slow performing SQL. Also capture a debug log and review
the timestamps for large intervals between debug log statements. Even an interval of 1-2 minutes in the timestamp can
indicate a performance issue if this same delay interval occurs multiple times in the debug log for the same code call.

MSWord Format - AME for Purchase Requisition Approval - Whitepaper

NOTE1: These same instructions are provided in MSWord document format with screenshots in the file attached to this note. Please see
the attached MSWord document for more details. This document is not consider formal documentation of the product, but is a useful
tool for applying the functionality described.

SUMMARY
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This paper describes the setup steps for accessing AME, designating AME as the approval choice, and using the AME approval routing for
requisitions or purchase orders. Use this document as a guide for initial AME setup, or for validating and adjusting a current AME setup
to meet changing needs. This information is also helpful for troubleshooting approval routing issues when using AME approvals. For
additional troubleshooting ideas review Note 1437183.1 and Note 428552.1.
Please provide feedback with your comments or recommendations for improving this document.

Still Have Questions?

Join our growing Oracle Procurement Community and learn from your peers and Oracle on how to address your unique issues in Procurement.

You can access the main Oracle Communities page at http://communities.oracle.com (If you are enrolled, the Procurement community will be liste
already enrolled in the Procurement community, you can do so by clicking on the link Edit Subscriptions).
OR

From "My Oracle Support" as follows:

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Log into My Oracle Support

Click on the 'Community' link at the top of the page
Click in 'Find a Community' field and enter Procurement
Double click on Procurement in the list
Click on the 'Create a Community Post' button and submit your question.

REFERENCES
NOTE:428552.1 - How To Diagnose Issues With Approvals Management Engine (AME) In Procurement
NOTE:1437183.1 - AME : How to Diagnose Issues With the Default Approver List in Purchasing When Using Approvals Management
NOTE:404152.1 - Release Content Documents for E-Business Suite Release 12 and 12.0.x Release Update Packs
NOTE:1207863.1 - Master Reference For AME Based Requisition Approval In R12
NOTE:413300.1 - Oracle Approvals Management Not Enabled? What Does It Take To Enable It?
NOTE:293315.1 - 11.5.10 FAQ for Approvals Management (AME) Integration For iProcurement and Purchasing
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