Workflow in Grantee Management

Use

In the Grantee Management solution, workflow can be used with master data and budgeting, as described below. Its use is optional and you can choose to use either master data workflow, budgeting workflow, or both.

Prerequisites

Master data workflow

Workflow can be used for reviews and approval of grant master data. Specifically, workflow can be initiated for any change in the grant master data status. Note that such changes include both lifecycle statuses, which are delivered as standard (Initial Draft, Proposal, Application, Award, Closing, and Closed), and user statuses, which are user-defined. Lifecycle and user statuses are used to represent an organization’s business processes, meaning that workflow can be invoked to obtain the required reviews and approvals prior to updating the grant master record to the next status.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

Before a grant lifecycle is changed from a Proposal to an Application or from an Application to an Award, an authorized official reviews the proposed master data update to determine whether the action is appropriate. If it is, the responsible person approves the master data using Grantee Management workflow.

In addition to reviews and approvals, workflow can also be used as a communication tool. In this case, a responsible person receives a workflow message for information purposes only, similar to providing a copy of an electronic mail. No action is required here, though the responsible person still receives a workflow message containing a description of the action reviewed or approved.

Budgeting workflow

Grantee Management uses the “Preposted” budget document status to initiate workflow processes for GM-GTE budgeting. When workflow is in use, the responsible person is allowed to review and approve budget documents before posting them.

In addition, budget documents can be entered for three Grant Lifecycle statuses: Proposal, Application, and Award. Although entering budget documents at each of these stages is optional, based on the organization’s business process requirements, workflow is supported for each stage the organization uses.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

If a budget document is entered for a Grant Proposal and approval is required, workflow is started when the budget document status is set to “Preposted”. In addition, workflow for Grantee Management budgeting can be implemented for each lifecycle status (Proposal, Application and Award). Such approval could be required for budget documents involving grants with a lifecycle status Application and Award, but not for the Proposal. This would mean that budget documents involving grants in the Proposal stage would not require approval, but once the grant master record is updated to Application or Award, budget documents would require approval by the user’s manager.

Process

Before using workflow in Grantee Management, there are some settings you need to enter for it. To do this, go to Customizing and choose Public Sector Management ® Grants Management ® Grantee Management ® Master Data ® General Settings ® Maintain Grant Responsibilities . Then proceed as follows:

In the responsibility type overview, you switch to change mode and choose New Entries . Then you enter identifiers and texts (of up to 40 characters) for each of the responsibilities you require.

Master Data

For Master Data workflow, you select one of the responsibilities in the overview and choose Define Workflow Details for Grant in the dialog structure. Choose New Entries and enter the following:

Workflow action

Lifecycle status

Status profile (if user statuses are being used)

User status (if user statuses are being used)

WF order

If there is more than one step in your workflow, enter numbers here to determine the sequence of the steps.

Save your entries.

Budgeting

For Budgeting workflow, you select one of the responsbilities in the overview and choose Define Workflow Details for Budget Document . You choose New Entries and enter the following:

Workflow action

Currency

From amount

To amount

You can leave the amount fields blank. The effect of this is that any budget documents, regardless of their amount, that satisfy the other criteria can participate in workflow.

WF order

If there is more than one step in your workflow, enter numbers here to determine the sequence of the steps.

Save your entries.

Result

Master Data

Workflow has two possible effects, depending on what you specified in the configuration process described above:

The responsible person receives a mail when the status of the grant changes, informing them of the change. This is called “notification of change of status”. No further action takes place.

The responsible person must approve the change. The change cannot take place if approval is not sought or is withheld. Where workflow is configured for this scenario, the grant master transaction includes a Submit for Approval button which you must choose to initiate the approval process.

When approval is given, the initiator of the workflow changes the status of the grant.

Budgeting

To action workflow in Grantee Managementbudgeting, you create a budget using a document type where workflow is set. That budget then passes through the approval mechanism configured by the settings you entered in the process described above.