IFS Workflow User Guide - IFS Enterprise Upstream Manual Journal Entry

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Introduction

The Manual Journal Entry Workflow, built on IFS Workflow, provides a process for review and approval of journal batches created in the General Ledger and allows the automatic execution of the batch being posted in the General Ledger if it is approved in the IFS Workflow.

Prerequisites and System Configuration

The workflow user needs to have training and experience with IFS Workflow, and this guide is not intended to be a training guide for IFS Workflow. Additionally, the user should be familiar with IFS Enterprise Upstream, and specifically the requirements and process for manual journal entry processing.

Initial configuration is needed within IFS Enterprise Upstream to enable the Manual Journal Entry workflow:

First, a new database trigger (called GL_JE_BATCHES_WORKFLOW_TRIGGER) has been created on the GL_JE_BATCHES table to assist in creating workflow cases as new batches are entered. This trigger is disabled by default and needs to be enabled for workflow cases to be generated by new manual journal batch creation.

Second, the following API Rest Services must be deployed on the target environments for IFS Workflow to utilize the API library:

• IFS Enterprise Upstream Manual Journal Entry Batch Post

• IFS Enterprise Upstream Manual Journal Entry Get Batch Details

The REST Service APIs are released as a part of the IFS Enterprise Upstream releases. Please refer to the IFS Enterprise Upstream versions and release notes for details on how to install the REST Services.

Third, the IFS Enterprise Upstream Manual Journal Entry Batch Post REST Service performs the same pre-validations as the Oracle General Ledger Post Journals form. If these pre-validations pass, the REST Service then submits the Oracle Posting single concurrent request for posting of the batch; returning any error messages in the response if pre-validations fail, or if pre-validations all succeed, the request ID of the Oracle Posting concurrent process returns in the response. To call the Oracle Posting concurrent program from the new REST Service, the Posting program needs to be added to a Request Group:

1. Navigate to System Administrator > Security > Responsibility > Define and query for the Responsibility that the Posting program is usually ran from by your user.

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Note the Request Group that appears for that Responsibility.

2. Navigate to System Administrator > Security > Responsibility > Request and query for the noted Request Group in the Group field.

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3. Add a new record for the Posting program to the Request Group.

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This adds the Posting program to the Request Group, which is a requirement to be able to submit the Posting process from the REST Service.

Note: The IFS Enterprise Upstream user is required to have access to the responsibility used above in order to submit the Posting process using the REST Service. 

Finally, the file directory can be customized by adjusting the trigger: Export to Shared Drive and adjusting the following code:

                       // Add any sub-directories you want here - can have multiple levels. MUST END WITH "/"

                       $subDirectory = @@RCGroup.'/'.@@accountingPeriod_label.'/';

This then will start to build a repository on the target shared drive, where data for RC Group and Accounting folders will be created, and then all uploaded and generated documents will be inserted in this location.

IFS Workflow Users and User Groups Must be Set Up

The workflow users, including any approvers, must be set up in IFS Workflow. The setup must include the email address of each user for notification distribution. Additionally, each user must be assigned to the specific group(s) that they belong and will be acting within the workflow. The groups functionality in IFS Workflow is used to provided access to workflows and assign tasks to the groups that they belong. The list of groups used in this workflow are:

• Automated Services

• GL Accountant

• GL Accountant Supervisor

• MJE Enter Journals

• MJE Approve Journals

PM (ProcessMaker, i.e. IFS Workflow) API Table Configuration

Please refer to  Environment Configuration .

Mount Network Shared Drive 

As a part of this workflow, the batch log files and output documents are shared to a network file location (this can be changed to a SharePoint site or Google Drive with some configuration changes to the workflow). To successfully export the documents to a shared network drive, the server that hosts IFS Workflow needs to be configured to the target Shared Drive. Below are the steps to mount a network shared drive to the Linux server.

Steps to create the shared drive:

1. Create a new group: sudo groupadd -g 6000 sharewindow

2. Add users to the group: sudo usermod -G sharewindow -a centos

3. Rerun line 2 and change centos to apache. Rerun for pmaker.

4. Create a new directory: sudo mkdir /mnt

5. Change owner of the new directory: sudo chown -R centos:sharewindow /mnt

6. Navigate to /mnt: cd /mnt

7. Create new dir: mkdir workflow

8. Change group owner on new folder: chgrp -R sharewindow /mnt/workflow

9. Change permission on workflow dir: chmod -R g+swrx /mnt/workflow

10. Modify the fstab: sudo vi /etc/fstab

11. Add this to the fstab file: //windowshare/sharefolder /mnt/workflow cifs username=##windowsuser##,password=##windowsuserpassword##,rw,users,uid=1000,gid=6000,forceuid,forcegid,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0

12. Save by pressing Esc, then :wq and press Enter.

13. Mount drive. sudo mount -a

More help can be found here.

 Successful creation of the mount drive to the target Network Shared Drive will allow the IFS Workflow system to automatically export all the uploaded documents and generated output documents.

Delivered Items

Full Map of the Workflow

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Process Description

The process begins when a GL Accountant creates a new journal batch (with a source of Manual, Spreadsheet or AutoCopy) in the General Ledger.

When a new journal batch is created with these sources, a record for the batch is triggered into the workflow staging table.

The workflow client(which can be scheduled) will pick up any records in the workflow staging table, and each record will generate a new case in IFS Workflow.

An email will be sent to the GL Accountant that created the batch that a new case is ready for Self Review.

The Self Review task allows the GL Accountant to review the journal batch information and add comments in the workflow system before sending for approval to the designated GL Accountant Supervisor.

The GL Accountant Supervisor will receive an email that the batch is ready for approval, and the Approval task allows the GL Accountant Supervisor to review the journal batch information, add any comments, and approve or reject the journal batch.

• If the batch is rejected, the case is routed back to the GL Accountant for review, so they can resubmit/delete.

• If the batch is approved by the GL Accountant Supervisor, the case goes into a series of automatic execution tasks to post only that batch in the General Ledger, and to verify the results of that process.

The GL Accountant Supervisor would receive an email notification with the results of the posting of the batch. All the uploaded reports, documents, and output cover sheet generated during the process will all be exported to a network shared drive. This will allow auditors to successfully see all the documents in one repository.

Delivered Items

User Groups

• Automated Services

• GL Accountant

• GL Accountant Supervisor

• MJE Enter Journals

• MJE Approve Journals

Tasks

Manual JE Entry

Self Review - This task contains details of the Journal Batch created by the GL Accountant in the General Ledger. The GL Accountant can add comments and resume later or submit for approval.

Approval - This task contains details of the Journal Batch created by the GL Accountant in the General Ledger for the GL Accountant Supervisor to review. The GL Accountant Supervisor can add comments and reject/approve the batch for posting.

Resubmit/Delete - This task occurs when the GL Accountant Supervisor has rejected the batch in the Approval task, and the batch is sent back to the GL Accountant for review/resubmit/deletion. The GL Accountant can see past comments, add additional comments, and re-submit for approval or delete the case.

Resubmittal Approval - This task allows the GL Accountant Supervisor to review a batch that has previously been rejected and is submitted for re-approval. The GL Accountant Supervisor can review past comments, add additional comments, and reject/approve the batch for posting.

Execute POST Request - This is a script task that will execute the POST request to perform validations and post the batch in the General Ledger.

Error Handling - This is a script task that will handle if the batch failed any initial validations(before the Posting process is ran) and will route the case back to the GL Accountant Supervisor for review.  

Confirm POST Completes - This is a script task that will handle reviewing the status of the actual batch Posting process (after having passed initial validations).

Upload Batch Logs - This is a script task that will retrieve any output documents that were generated from the posting process.

Export to Shared Drive - The final task is to take all the information and upload it into a shared drive for audit purposes. The IFS Workflow system will take the information and create a file directory in the configured Network Shared Drive with all the case information, allowing easy access to the case information.

Dynaforms

Self Review

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Batch Name: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Created By: Automatically fills in with the originator of the manual journal entry.

Source: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Debits: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Credits:  Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

GL Date: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Entry Date: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Currency: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Description: Automatically defaults from the IFS Enterprise Upstream System.

Self Comments: Simply add any comments needed for this manual journal entry and review.

Support: Selecting the green bar will bring up a File Explorer window to allow any reports to be uploaded to the case. This will be collected and exported to a shared repository at a later task.

Form Status: User can choose to save and complete the form later, or mark it as complete.

Approver: Originator can choose the person to approve their manual journal entry.

Submit: Selection here allows a user to move forward with the workflow.

Approval Form

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Note: All fields are from the previous dynaform load and are read-only.

Approve - Drop-down to choose if the manual journal entry is approved or rejected.

Approver Comments - Section for the approver to enter comments regarding approval or rejection of the manual journal entry.

Resubmittal Form

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This form is locked down from data change, and is only meant to show the information in the process for approval. The user simply selects Yes for approved or No for unapproved.

Unapproved forms are submitted back to the original accountant for change, while approved are submitted through the services for change.