To view the properties of the Reserve Before Approve subprocess, select the process in the navigator tree, then choose Properties from the Edit menu. The Reserve Before Approve subprocess has a result type of PO Reserve Before Approve, indicating that when the subprocess completes, it has a result of Forward, No, or Yes. These results correspond to the lookup codes in the PO Reserve Before Approve lookup type, in the PO Standard item type.

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

If node 2 finds that encumbrance is on and funds for the document are not yet reserved, node 4 attempts to reserve funds for the document.

If funds cannot be reserved, node 6 sends the notification Unable To Reserve Document to the approver. The approver must then use the Approve Document window to try to reserve the document again if, for example, more funds have been allocated, and then respond with Retry in the notification; reject the document; or forward the document to somebody else with authority to reserve the funds.

If the approver forwards the document, node 7 checks if the forward-to approver has a valid user name. If so, node 8 sets the Forward-To/From information for the new approver.

If the approver rejects the document, node 10 rejects the requisition. If it cannot reject the requisition (because the document failed the state check-for example, its status has changed to closed, frozen, or on hold), node 13 sends a notification to the approver that the document could not be rejected.

If the Document Approval Manager fails at node 4 or 10, the notification activity at node 5 or 11 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.