Oracle Approvals
Management (Approvals
Management Engine - AME)
with iProcurement
Jan 17, 2007
Manoj Desai
Dharmang Purohit
TIBCO Software Inc.
 TIBCO Software Inc. is a leading business integration and
process management software company that enables real-time
business.
 With over 2,500 customers, TIBCO has given leading
organizations around the world better awareness and agility—
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technological leadership in service-oriented architecture (SOA)
and business process management (BPM) domains.
 Visit www.tibco.com for more information
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Presentation Objectives
 Business Case
 Feature Description
 AME Components
 Define Rule in AME
 Terminology
 Solution overview
 Implementation steps
 Benefits
 Lessons learnt
 Questions
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Business Case
 Situation prior to AME implementation
 Core purchasing approval structures within Oracle Purchasing based on:
 Job
 Department
 Approval amount limits
 Approval hierarchies maintained across 14 operating units.
 Linear Employee/Supervisor approval hierarchy
 Dummy job roles to facilitate budget review
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Business Case
 Major pain points
 Maintenance issues
 No possibility for creating global structure
 Approval hierarchies had to be maintained across 14 operating units
 Exceptions to Employee-Supervisor hierarchy were not handled
easily
 Approval cycle process issues
 Inefficient budget review process – rejections require start from
scratch
 Project objectives
 Determine an approval structure to be maintained on a global basis
 Improve budget review cycle time
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Business Case - ROI
 Cost of NOT implementing AME
 Manual data entry & testing to maintain 14 operating units – 8 hours per
month
 Data entry errors and recovery
 Longer requisition approval turnaround time
 Cost of implementing AME
 Consulting - 70 person days
 TIBCO internal – 36 person days
 Return
 Manual data entry reduced by 95%
 10% improvement in approval cycle time
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Feature Description
 What is AME?
 Oracle Approvals Management (AME) is a self-service Web application
that enables users to define business rules governing the process for
approving transactions in Oracle Applications (where AME has been
integrated).
 AME is tightly integrated with Oracle Workflow
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Define a rule in AME
Components of Rule are:
Attributes: requisition amount, department
Conditions: 5001 <= requisition amount <= 25000,
department = 84200
Approval: Pre-approval group + direct hierarchy
If
Requisition Amount between 5001 and 25000 USD
Rule
and
Department = 84200
then
require pre-approval from FA2 and approval in direct hierarchy up to absolute job level 6
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Terminology
 Pre approval group = A group comprising of finance analysts
responsible for budgetary approval (selected based on amount,
department)
 Chain of authority = The main approval group or employee
supervisor hierarchy
 Post approval group = A post approval group which can approve
requisitions after the initial chain of authority based on
conditions (amount, department, etc.)
 Job Level = Approval Authority level associated while defining a
job in Oracle HRMS
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Solution Overview - Global Purchase Requisition Approval
Hierarchy
Rule #1
Rule #2
Enter
Requisition
up to $1.5K
Enter
Requisition
Enter
Requisition
Up to $5K
Up to $10K
Rule #3
Pre approval
group
Line Mgr
Approval
Line Mgr
Approval
Mid Mgr
Approval
Sr Mgr
Approval
Rule #4
Rule #5
Enter Requisition
Enter Requisition
Up to 25K
Up to$50K
Financial
Analyst *
Financial
Analyst *
Financial
Analyst *
Defined in
AME
Line Mgr
Approval
Line Mgr
Approval
Line Mgr
Approval
Job Lvl 3
Mid Mgr
Approval
Sr Mgr
Approval
Director
Approval
Chain of Authority
Post approval group
Mid Mgr
Approval
Sr Mgr
Approval
Director
Approval
Dept VP *
Corporate
Controller
r
Mid Mgr
Approval
Job Lvl 4
a
c
Sr Mgr
Approval
Job Lvl 5
l
e
Director
Approval
Job Lvl 6
H
R
Dept VP *
Job Lvl 7
Sr. Officer
Job Lvl 8
Corporate
Controller
Defined in
AME
CFO
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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10
M
S
Implementation Steps
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Benefits
 AME helps you maintain your business logic associated with approval
transactions globally from single window
 Lets you cut down approval related workflow customizations, hence
reducing the cost of ownership
 Helps you leverage common expenditure policies across modules, thus
consolidating your approval policy requirements
 Any transaction is assured to be approved under the latest conditions,
regardless of organizational changes, currency fluctuations or
transaction data
 Built-in testing utility to check the correctness of setup performed for
both real-time and test transactions, hence reduces the need for
elaborate testing cycles
 Intangible benefits derived from solution design
 Reduced requisition approval turnaround times, thereby increasing the
efficiency of our procure-to-pay process
 Increased visibility of spending traits upfront to management chain
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Lessons Learnt…
 A well defined purchasing expenditure matrix helps to establish
a solid foundation for creating approval rules in AME
 Gaps within employee-supervisor hierarchy with respect to job
levels can extensively affect desired functionality
 It is always a safe practice to close down all in-process
requisitions before going live with AME implementation
 Analyze the impact of your implementation with other
applications already using AME and also with other applications
using employee-supervisor hierarchy for approvals
 Identify your exception handling strategy upfront in case of any
errors encountered during calculation of approvers by AME
 Identify your requirements for segregation of duties aspect
(SOX).
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Ubex Corporation
 Ubex Corporation is a premier provider of end-to-end solutions based
on Oracle Applications
 Ubex is an Oracle Certified Partner
 UBEX Booth
 Visit Booth # 14 today or www.ubex.com for more information
 Enter for a chance to win Nintendo Wii !!!
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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Q & A’s
© 2007 UBEX Corporation and TIBCO Software Inc. .
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End
- Thank You -