Procedures for Automatic Approval 

Use

When the supplier publishes a purchase order with his or her confirmation data in SAP Supply Network Collaboration (SAP SNC), SAP SNC automatically determines whether there are deviations between the confirmation data and the request data. There are two different procedures to determine the deviations and set the approval status. Depending on the procedure, the system accepts deviating data or sets the status Manual Approval Required.

Features

Procedures

You can choose from the following procedures for the automatic approval process:

●      Approval Process Without Tolerances

Here, the system does not consider any tolerances for quantity or date/time deviations. If the confirmation data does not deviate from the request data, the system sets the approval status Accepted. You can configure how the system is to react to deviations in data. Depending on these settings, the system sets the approval status Acceptedor Manual Approval Required. You can make the settings dependent on customer, supplier, and product.

You configure this procedure in Customizing for Supply Network Collaboration under Purchase Order ® Approval Process. For more information about determining deviations with this procedure, see Deviation Analysis (Without Tolerances).

●      Approval Process with Consensus Finding

Here, the system uses the deviation analysis of consensus finding and the condition technique. The system can consider tolerances for quantity and date/time deviations as follows:

○       Quantity tolerances

The system uses the underdelivery tolerance and the overdelivery tolerance from the purchase order item. For items without underdelivery and overdelivery tolerances, you can maintain a corresponding quantity profile in consensus finding.

○       Date/time tolerances

To define date/time tolerances, you have to maintain a corresponding time profile in consensus finding.

The system automatically accepts deviations within the tolerances, and therefore sets the status Accepted. For deviations outside of the tolerances, a manual approval is required. The system therefore sets the approval status Manual Approval Required.

For more information, see Purchase/Replenishment Orders: Consensus Finding Settings.

Purchase Order Items for Which No Approval Process Has Been Set Up

Even if not all items of a purchase order contain a product for which you have explicitly set the approval process, all items of the purchase order are subject to the approval process. If you have not configured an approval process for a product, the system sets the approval status Manual Approval Required when there are deviations.