To view the properties of the Approve and Forward PO subprocess, select its process activity in the navigator tree, then choose Properties from the Edit menu. The Approve and Forward PO subprocess has a result type of PO Approval Action and Doc Verification, indicating that when the subprocess completes, it has a result of Invalid Action or Valid Action. These results correspond to the lookup code in the PO Approval Action and Doc Verification lookup type, in the PO Standard item type.

This subprocess activity is not runnable, indicating that it cannot be initiated as a top-level process to run, but rather can be run only as a subprocess when called by a higher-level process.

The subprocess begins at node 1.

Node 2 checks that the document status is compatible with an approval action (for example, its status is not closed, frozen, or on hold). If the document status is not compatible with an approval action, node 3 sends a notification to the approver that the document failed the state check. Then, at node 4, the subprocess reverts the purchase order to its status before it entered this subprocess, and the workflow ends at node 5. If you modify and resubmit the purchase order or create a new one, the PO Approval workflow starts over when you submit the purchase order for approval.

If the document passes the state check, node 6 verifies that the document is complete, such as ensuring that it contains at least one line and one distribution.

If the document is not complete, node 7 sends a notification of such to the approver. The approver can respond to the notification by choosing Retry, or reject the document. If node 8 cannot reject the document (because the state check fails again), node 11 sends the Unable to Reject Document notification to the document owner.

If the document is complete, node 13 approves and forwards the purchase order in one step and node 14 retrieves purchase order information and other internal workflow attributes, in case these have changed. The resulting status of the purchase order is Pre-Approved until the forward-to approver approves the purchase order (outside this subprocess) and Reserve Before Approve or Approve PO (also outside this subprocess) sets the purchase order status to Approved.

If the Document Approval Manager fails at node 2, 6, 8, or 13, the notification activity at node 9, 16, 17, or 18 sends a notification of the failure to the approver. Once the Document Approval Manager is restarted successfully, the workflow continues if the approver or system administrator responds to the notification with Retry.

See: Document Status Checks. See: Document Submission Checks.