Approval Workflow for Accepted Bids 

Purpose

As of Enterprise Buyer Release 3.5 SP03, you can use this workflow process in the context of a bid invitation with the SAP Bidding Engine. You use the workflow process after the initiator of a bid invitation – this will usually be a purchaser – has accepted one or more bids and thus declared this/these to be the winner of the bid invitation. The approver can approve or reject the acceptance for each bid using this workflow process.

SAP recommends that you do not reject those bids not required by the purchaser until the bid that has been accepted has successfully completed the approval process.
If the approver rejects this bid, then the purchaser can accept one of the bids that has not yet been rejected and submit it to a new approval process.
Otherwise – if the purchaser rejects all other non-accepted bids before the accepted one has been approved – he has no longer any bids that may be accepted at his disposal and he must start a new bid invitation.

Two workflow models are intended for use here:

Workflow model	Name	Description
WS79000002	Single-step approval workflow for bids	This workflow requires a single-step approval by the initiator‘s manager.
WS79000010	Bid workflow without approval	This workflow starts if no approval is required.

Prerequisites

Required Customizing Settings

To implement the workflow process completely, you have to make the following settings in the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG): Enterprise Buyer ® Cross-Application Basic Settings ® SAP Business Workflow:

...

       1.      Perform Task-Specific Customizing

                            a.      Activate event linkage for workflows WS79000010 and WS79000002.

                            b.      Make the employee assignment for standard task TS79007914.

       2.      Define Conditions for Starting Workflows

Adapt the (default) start conditions for BUS2202 to your specific requirements.

       3.      Define Recipient of Notifications

Here you define who receives a notification in the scenario Accept Bid in the event of an approval or rejection of the bid.

Notifications

In Customizing you can determine for both the initiator and the manager the circumstances in which they are to receive a notification (e-mail) after the work item has been processed (settings for notification of reviewers are not covered here):

·        Never

·        Only in the case of rejection

·        Only in the case of approval

·        Whether the bid is approved or rejected.

Menu path in the IMG:
Supplier Relationship Management ® SRM Server ® Cross-Application Basic Settings ® SAP Business Workflow ® Define Recipient of Notifications.

Process

·        An Enterprise Buyer document of type Bid (BUS2202) is accepted by the initiator of the corresponding bid invitation and has the status Accepted Bid in Approval.
Now the approval process begins.

 

·        Having evaluated the start conditions, the system carries out one of the workflows (either WS79000002 or WS79000010).
In order to define the start conditions, you can use as standard the attributes Corresponding Bid Invitation (BidInvitation), Initiator of the Corresponding Bid Invitation (LastDocumentProcessor), andVendor Who Submitted the Bid (Vendor) as well as the standard attributes.

 Example for start conditions (delivered by SAP)

Start condition 1:
The initiator of the corresponding bid invitation is assigned to the role SAP_BBP_STAL_PURCHASE_MANAGER (purchasing manager) ® the bid workflow without approval is started.
Start condition 2:
The initiator of the corresponding bid invitation is not assigned to the role SAP_BBP_STAL_PURCHASE_MANAGER (purchasing manager) ® the single-step approval workflow for bids is started.

 

·        Bid Workflow Without Approval
In this case no approval step is carried out.
The workflow calls up the object method SetReleased directly and the bid status changes to Bid Accepted.
(If the appropriate settings have been made in Customizing, the bidder receives an e-mail notifying him that he has won the bid invitation.)

 

·        Single-Step Approval Workflow for Bids
The approval process is started.
A work item is sent to the purchaser’s manager. The manager can display/edit it in his inbox (under Approval). (Shortcut approval via symbols in the Actions column is not available). The system displays the details of the bid. The manager can only accept or reject the entire bid – this is not possible for individual items. He can also create an internal note or attach a document.
After the approval, and depending on the Customizing settings, the initiator receives a notification (For more information, see Notifications above). The rest of the process is the same as that of the bid workflow without approval.
After the rejection, and depending on the Customizing settings, the initiator receives a notification (For more information, see Notifications above). The workflow calls up the object method SetRejected and the bid status becomes Bid Rejected.

 

Approval Preview
After the workflow process has started, an approval preview is available – adding or replacing of approvers or reviewers is, therefore, not possible.

Offline Approval
Processing of the work item in Offline Mode is not possible.

Changing the Bid During the Approval Process
Once the bid is in approval, it can no longer be changed by the purchaser or the bidder. Neither can the manager change the bid that is to be approved. (He can only approve or reject it in its entirety.)

The bid invitation, just like the bid, cannot be changed during the approval process.

See also:

Release Note Approval Workflow for Accepted Bids from Enterprise Buyer Release 3.5, SP 03.