Workflow Assignment (Participant based Approval) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 finance and operations -Part:2

This blog is the continuation of my previous blog where I have explained about workflow approval assignment based on Hierarchy and in this blog, I will explain another type of assignment which is “Participant based”.

If you have missed my previous blog, click here to read:

https://exploredynamics365.home.blog/2020/11/27/workflow-assignment-hierarchy-based-approval-in-microsoft-dynamics-365-finance-and-operations-part1/

So, lets start:

In the workflow approval step > assignment type, we have one option of participant using which we can assign the approval flow to a specific member, role or a user group based on the scenario. So, when we select the assignment type as “Participant” we have three options to assign a approver:

User group Participant
Security role participant
Expenditure Participant

In this blog, I will explain how to setup these assignment types and give one scenario which you can try on your own and see if that can be utilized in your customer implementation.

User Group participant:

This type of assignment is used when you would like to send the approval to more that one user or group of users for approval, now approval can be done by lets say by single user or majority of the users or all users. Let us understand this by scenario:

Scenario: We are setting up purchase order workflow and in that one step approval is require from “Finance Team” where there are 3 users responsible for this approval and if any one of them approves this system should go to next stage.

These three users can be changed at any point of time and when other user is getting added for this approval, we should not go and edit the workflow setup.

So, how we can achieve this scenario using the “User group participant” assignment type, where we will create one user group for “Finance PO Approver” and assign all three users and this group will be assigned to the workflow “Approval step. Now since we are defining the user group in approval so tomorrow if there is change in user mapping for approval we will just add/remove in the user group, no need to edit the workflow setup.

Step-1: Create user group and assign user

System Admin > User > User group > Click new > Give name and Description > Click user > Assign users to group

Step-2: Define the workflow approval step with Assignment Type

Step-3: Define Completion Policy

This step is to define that from all users how many user should approve to complete this step, in our scenario if one approves it should be completed so we will select single approver

Security Role Participant

This type of assignment is used where we want to assign the approval step for the security role defined in System irrespective of who is the user mapped to whom it is being assigned.

Scenario: Customer is implementing Purchase order invoice workflow and it require the approval from “Accounts Payable Manager”.

So, in this case we can select the “Security Role Participant” and assign the security role as “Accounts Payable Manager”.

Expenditure Participant

You can set up expenditure reviewer configurations to dynamically route expenditures for review based on the user who is assigned to a project role or a financial dimension where the expenditure is being charged. The workflow process uses the specified project role or financial dimension owner to determine whom to route the expenditure to.

You can define one or more expenditure reviewer configurations, and then select a configuration when you create a workflow. You can configure the expenditure reviewer values for every legal entity in your organization. After you define the expenditure reviewer configurations, you assign the configuration to your workflow task.

Let’s see the scenario:

Scenario: Customer is setting up Purchase requisition workflow and using Business Unit as financial dimensions, in that workflow one approval step is from the “Business Unit” head. So, based on Business unit head selected in Purchase requisition workflow approval should be assigned to “Head of Business Unit”.

To achieve this we can use expenditure participant approval assignment. To do so, we can define following configuration:

Step-1: Define Business unit Value financial dimension owner (Head )

General Ledger > Chart of accounts > Dimensions > Financial dimensions > Business > Values