Configure approvals

Read this topic to learn how to:

• Define approval conditions, approval rules, and approval gates.

• Merge approval gates when rules overlap.

Define approval conditions

Each approval rule must include at least one condition. To define a condition:

1. From the application left navigation area, select Administration.

2. From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management.

3. Scroll or search to locate Condition and select it from the list.

4. Select to add a condition.

5. Select the new condition, then enter information or make selections to configure the approval condition:

   • Name—Enter a unique name for the condition.

   • Business Type—Enter the business domain of the condition attribute.

     Note

     For agreements under negotiation, select Quote as Business Type.

   • Attribute—Any business data attribute and business relation attribute on the Quote, Sales Item, Document Header Price Item, and Item Header Price Item objects. When the approval rule runs, the attribute value is substituted as the left operand.

     Note

     For agreements under negotiation, the system uses business data attributes and business relation attributes on the Quote, Sales Item, Document Header Price Item, and Item Header Price Item objects for the approval process.

   • Search Expression—Define it in case the condition uses an attribute that is not shown in the condition attribute.

   • Operator—Select an operator from the list. Read Operators for information about supported operators.

   • Condition Value—Read Condition values for more information.

   • Secondary Condition Value—Applies only to the price item type attribute. If the administrator selects a price item type, secondary condition value automatically appears in the UI to enable further filtering.

   • Check on Price Item Base Amount—Applies only to the price item type attribute. Select if the user wants to check the base amount. If not selected, the condition is applied to the target amount by default.

   • Condition Source—Applies only to the price item type attribute.

     • 0 for Default (No filtering)

     • 1 for ERP

     • 2 for User Justified

     • 3 for SSC only

     • 4 for both ERP and User Justified

Operators

The following operators are supported:

• Equal to

• Not equal to

• Greater than

• Greater than or equal to

• Less than

• Less than or equal to

• In

• Not in

Condition attribute ranges and their supported operators are shown in the following table.

Note

• The In operator is selected if the value IS is among the values.

• The Not In operator is selected if the value IS NOT is among the values.

Condition values

The value that defines the condition as the right operand. Users can input any value regardless of the type. Moreover, Zilliant CPQ supports a predefined set of constant values via condition environment variables:

• VAR_LOGGED_IN_USER—Defines a signed-in user.

• VAR_LOGGED_IN_USER_ROLE—Defines a signed-in user role.

• VAR_TODAY—Represent today's date.

For example, a condition with these constant values can define a quote creator as a currently signed-in user or a signed-in user role.

Special conditions

• System Condition—Applies to all rules. Common conditions could be defined as system conditions.

• TRUE Condition—Value is always true. Use this special condition to make a specific rule TRUE by default.

Define approval rules

1. From the application left navigation area, select Administration.

2. From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management

3. Scroll or search to locate Approval Rule and select it from the list.

4. Select   to add a rule.

5. Select the new rule, then enter or select information to define it:

   • Name—Enter a name for the rule.

   • Rule Status—Define the rule status.

   • Conditions—Enter conditions for the rule.

   • Approval Gate Flow—Specify the approval gate for this rule, such as Require approval from sales manager and sales VP.

Note

If you use both agreements management and quoting capabilities in Zilliant CPQ, you must create the Is Quote Agreement condition and add it to all rules for agreements under negotiation. To create the condition, follow these steps and enter the following information:

• Name—Is Quote Agreement

• Business Type—Quote

• Attribute—Is Quote Attribute

• Operator—equal to

• Condition Value—true

Define approval gates

1. From the application left navigation area, select Administration.

2. From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management.

3. Scroll or search to locate Approval Gate and select it from the list.

4. Select   to add approval gate.

5. Select the new approval gate, then enter information or make selections to define the approval gate:

   • Name—Enter the name for the approval gate, such as Sales VP.

   • Role—Enter the role for this approval gate, such as ROLE_VP.

   • Approval Gate—Specify the gate for this flow. For example, Require approval from sales manager and sales VP.

   • Script to Execute—Enter the script.

6. Select Save.

Tip

Configure email notifications for each gate of the quote and agreement approval process. Read Email notification templates.

Merge approval gates

An approval flow sometimes includes overlapping rules based on roles. As a result, the system sends multiple notifications to users at each approval gate.

To streamline the approval process and prevent approval delays, merge the approval gates. In this case, approvers can see all rules and conditions but do not have to approve each of them separately.

To merge approval gates:

1. From the application left navigation area, select Administration.

2. From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management.

3. Scroll or search to locate Setting Boolean and select it from the list.

4. Select Enables setting to merge approval gates.

5. Set the Setting Value Boolean switch to YES.

6. Select Save.