Netsuite's Journal Entry Approval Process in detail

Hi All,

In this post , we are going to write about Journal Entry Approval Process. JE approval process

is applied to record types :- Journal Entry, Intercompany Journal Entry, Advanced Intercompany Journal Entry.

Once transacton is submitted, the workflow will determine the Next Approver based on the applicable Approval Rules – this process will recur until all approvers approve or the transaction is rejected.

Approval Process consists of :

Approval Rule Group :- The group of Approval Rules that can be set per a transaction type such as Purchase Order, Vendor Bill, Expense Report, Sales Order and Journal Entry.

Approval Rule :- Rules that can be sequenced to support complex requirements. A set of approval rules are defined for the Parent record – Approval Rules Group.

Super Approver :- A user with a special privilege to approve transactions by bypassing the normal 

approval cycle. It should be used to manage exceptions. 

Tolerance Tolerances are allowable percentages or amounts by which the original transaction could vary during the approval cycle. Any changes beyond the tolerance limit will trigger the re-approval from the beginning.

Approval History. Provides a consolidated view for all past approvers for a transaction, with the approval dates and status. Prevent edit on Approval History. Users can only view the Approval History.

Common Approval Features

• Approval rules are stored in custom records to allow flexibility to business users to setup and modify the approval rules.
• Multiple approval rules can be configured to execute in sequence.
• Email notifications are sent for the following statuses.

a) To Next Approver when the approval is in their queue
b) To Creator and Requestor of the transaction, when transaction is rejected
c) To Creator and Requestor of the transaction, after final approval

Email Based Approvals

Approve/Reject links are included in the email notifications to the approver. Approving or rejecting via email will trigger email authentication that will check the sender’s email address and the Next Approver’s email address.

Super Approver

A user defined as super approver should be able to bypass the approval process. When this user approves, the transaction should directly go to Approved status.

• Prevent Creator or Requestor as the Approver. The creator of the transaction cannot be an approver on the transaction unless a role approval is set and the creator has the same role.

Approval Rules Group and Approval Rules

The Approval Rule Group is the parent record used to define the Transaction Type, Subsidiary, Currency and Tolerance. Approval Rules record is used to define the individual business rules and sequence. The approval rules are associated with an Approval Rule Group.

An Approval Rule Group must be specified per transaction type that requires approval. It can be accessed via Lists> Custom> Advanced Approvals - Approval Rule Grp List.

Approval Rules Approval Rules needs to be defined and associated with an Approval Rule Group. It can be accessed via Lists> Custom> Advanced Approvals - Approval Rules.

The Total Debit Amount field (transaction currency amount) and Total Debit Amount (Base) field (base currency amount) will be populated.

The following will not undergo approval process and will follow the native JE approval

1. It is identified as reversal journal.

2. It is a voided journal from Bill Payments

3. It is already an approved JE.

Delegation

Delegation Approval can be delegated to another user if the original approver will not be available to approve the transactions. The original approver can specify the delegate and the delegation period using Employee Center role. If the delegate found is the creator of the transaction, it will not be set as the next approver.

Creator as Approver

The creator of the transaction is not allowed to be an approver of it (except for role approver). In such case, the approver will be skipped and approval will go to the next rule. In case of employee hierarchy rule, the approval will go to the next approver in the employee hierarchy chain.

Journal Entry Approval Process:

The following table describes each state in the Journal Entry Approval workflow

and the actions and transitions in each state:

States, Actions, and Transitions

State Name	Actions	Transitions
Check Reversal	1.Is From Allocation (WorkFlow Script) 2.Global - Record Type(WorkFlow Script) 3. Check if from Amortization Schedule 4.Check Is Reversal=T/F	A ) IS Reversal =T Transition to the Exit Workflow And Set Approved B ) Is From Amortization Schedule = T Transition to the Approved state C )Is Reversal = F And Workflow : Global - Is From Amortization Schedule = F Transition to the Initial Check State
State 0 : Initial Check	1. Add Button. Adds the Approve button according to the action condition. 2. Remove Button. Removes the Approve button included on the standard Journal Entry record form. 3. Remove Button. Removes the Save & New button included on the standard Journal Entry record form. 4. Lock Record. Lock Record according to the action condition Journal Entry record 5.Set Field Value : Pending Approval on Journal Entry 6. Set Field Value: Super Approver Approved=F on Journal Entry 7. Set Field Value : Release Hold according to the action condition on Journal Entry 8. Checks if transaction date within tax period range based on WF action script condtions. 9. Set Field Value. Sets the value of the Created By workflow field.	A) Transition to Super Approved state if the Super approver clicks on Super Approve Button. Transition to the Super Approver Approved State B) Transition to Approved State If journal Created From Field is not Empty Transition to the Approved State C) Transition to Approved state if the approver clicks on Submit Button. Transition to the Approved State D ) Transition to the Pending Approval state. Transition to the Set First Approver State
State 1 : Set First Approver List On Pending Approval Status in JE Record	1.Set Field Value Reject Reason- null 2.Based on Approval Rules Returns the Employee Id for Approval 3. Set First Approver Employee in JE Record. 4.Set Next Approver Role NULL in JE 5. Set Custom Transaction Original Amount to Debit Amount Field 6. Send Email. Sends an email that the journal entry was approved to the employee record in the Created By workflow field, when the record enters the state.	A) Transition to the Approver State
State 2 : Approver		A)Transition to the Set Approver List to Released B)Transition to the Create Next Approver List Based on Approval Action Via Email Approve C) Transition to the Create Next Approval State On Approve Button Click D) Transition to Super Approved state if the Super approver clicks on Super Approve Button. Transition to the Super Approver Approved State F) Transition to Reject Transaction if Approval Action Via Email Reject G) Transition to Reject If Reject Transaction Via Reject Button H) Transition to Approved Transaction Based on Transaction Next Approver Is Empty and Next Approver Role Is Empty.
State 2.1 : Set Approver List to Released	1.Set Field Value Release Hold =T	A) Transition to Create Next Approver List State
State 3: Create Next Approver List	1.Set Field Value Is RevRec Con Null=T based on workflow condition 2. Set Field Value Is Don't Proceed With Approval=T based on WF condition if RevRec=T and Exception=T 3. Based on Approval Rules Returns the Next Approval Employee Id 4.Set Field Value Transaction Next Approver on Journal	A)Transition to Next Approver

Thanks

Sravanthi Pentyala

Netsuite Guru