Background documentationApproval Process

 

The approval process of change requests in Project Issue and Change Management is managed through activities.

In the standard system, SAP delivers the following activity categories for the definition of approval activity types and activity templates:

  • Approval activity

  • Cost planning activity

In the standard system, SAP delivers the following activity types:

  • CR1: Cost Planning Activity

  • EAA: External Approval Activity

  • IA1: General Activity

  • IAA: Internal Approval Activity

  • UPA: Update Activity

  • IA2: Change Request Alternative (note: this is a technical activity and must not be used to create activity templates)

In the standard system, SAP delivers the following activity templates:

  • ICMACT: General Activity Template

  • ICMALT: Change Request Alternative (note: this is a technical template and must not be deleted or be used to create activities)

  • ICMUPD: Update Activity Template

  • EXTAPPROV: Send for Customer Approval

  • INTAPPROV: Internal Approval

Process

  1. Create a cost estimation alternative to plan costs for the change request (type CRC).

  2. Create a cost planning activity (activity type CR1).

  3. Plan the details of the change in the change planning workbook of the Project Cost and Revenue Planning application.

  4. Mark the status of the cost estimation alternative as ready for approval.

    Note Note

    • When multiple cost estimation alternatives exist for a change request, you can only mark one as ready for approval.

    • The cost of the change corresponding to the cost estimation alternative marked as ready for approval, is the value that is considered in the Pending Costs column in the Project Cost Status report.

    End of the note.

  5. Mark the status of the cost planning activity as complete.

  6. Upon saving the object, the system automatically creates an internal approval activity for the change request and assigns an employee responsible according to the rules defined in Business Rule Framework plus (BRFplus).

  7. The system sends an e-mail notification to the employee responsible.

  8. The employee responsible approves the internal approval activity.

  9. Upon saving the object, the system creates an external approval activity for the change request and assigns an employee responsible according to the rules defined in BRFplus.

  10. The system sends an e-mail notification to the employee responsible.

    Note Note

    • The employee responsible can forward this e-mail to an external approving authority or the customer, as a manual task. Since this e-mail is intended for external recipients, Project Issue and Change Management provides a PDF attachment with the required details. For more information, see Customizing for Project Issue and Change Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Settings Next navigation step Configure Output Formats for Printing End of the navigation path.

    • The approving authority or the customer sends the approval to the employee responsible.

    End of the note.

  11. The employee responsible updates the status of the external approval activity. When the external approval activity is approved, the system marks the status of the cost estimation alternative from Ready for Approval to Approved.

    Note Note

    The cost of the change corresponding to the cost estimation alternative marked as approved, is the value that is considered in the Approved Costs column in the Project Cost Status report.

    End of the note.

  12. The system marks the change request as approved and also updates existing forecasts with the approved quantities and costs.

  13. If you have assigned any purchase order as a reference object to the change request, the system updates the purchase order, if you have activated the Business Add-In BAdI: Updating of Purchase Orders with Additional Quantities (/PICM/BADI_UPDATE_DOCUMENT). This BAdI allows you to add material quantity in existing purchase orders (POs) by using approved change requests. This BAdI checks the PO for the original quantity, based on the reference object assigned to the change request. For the addition of an approved material quantity, a new line item is added in the PO.