Create a Decision for Invoice Approval Process

You will now add a decision to the flow of your process. With this you are able to include business logic.

1. Choose + following the automation Extract Invoice Data. In the menu select Decision, then New Decision to add a new one.

   

2. In the Create Decision window:

   • Maintain the Name: Determine Approver,
   • Description: Decision to determine who could approve the invoice,
   • Choose Create.

   The Identifier will be created automatically.

   

3. The Determine Approver Decision is now in the process. Choose the three dots and select Open Editor.

   

4. You see a Decision Diagram showing the flow of the data within the Decision, and also the Input and Output Parameters.

5. Add an input parameter with the following information:

   • Name: Invoice Parameter,
   • Description: Invoice Details,
   • Type: Invoice.

   “Invoice” is the data type which has been created in the Automation and contains all relevant extracted data.

   

6. The data type for Output needs to be created. Therefore, select + on the left-hand side to create one. Select Create > Data Type.

   

7. In the new pop-up window:

   • Define the Name: Approver,
   • Add a Description: Including the approvers email address,
   • Choose Create.

   The Identifier will be created automatically.

   

8. Create a New Field:

   • Maintain the Name eMail,
   • Choose the Type as String.
   

9. The new data type containing the email address of the approver is now created.

10. Save your work.

    

11. Go back to your Determine Approver Decision. Add an Output Parameter:

    • Name: Approver Output,
    • Description: Invoice Approver,
    • Select Type: the newly created data type Approver.
    

12. Save your work.

There are many ways to express a business rule, in this case you will create a decision table to determine the approver of the invoice based on certain criteria.

1. Open the Rules tab.

   

2. Choose Add Rule.

   

3. In the Create Rule window:

   • Set the Rule Name to DT Determine Approver,
   • Set the Description to Decision Table to determine approver,
   • Choose Next Step.
   

4. You will now configure the conditions:

   • Under Vocabulary, choose Invoice Parameter,
   • Select Sender Name,
   • Choose Next Step to configure the results.
   

5. You will now configure the results:

   • Under Result Vocabulary, select Approver Output,
   • Select eMail,
   • Select Next Step to review.
   

6. Review and choose Create to create the rule.

   

7. You may edit the rule you just created by selecting the pencil icon.

   

8. Define the attributes:

   • for Invoice Parameter.SenderName: EXISTSIN['ABC Communication']
   • for eMail: 'your SAP BTP user ID', e.g. 'diana.smith@mail.com'.

   You can also make use of the value help, by pressing the space bar before maintaining the expression in the first column.

   This means, if the company name in the invoice is “ABC Communication”, then the approval request will be sent to you. Otherwise, follow the next step.

   

9. Select the first row and Add Row to Insert After. In case the Invoice Parameter.SenderName is defined as EXISTSIN['Telecommunications'], the approval request should be sent to any recipient you might want to choose. e.g. 'jane.doe@sap.com'.

   When inserting emails please do not forget the simple quotes otherwise you will end up with an error when you save the decision artifact.

   

10. Save your work. The decision table is ready.

    

Though the Decision is ready, you need to connect it to the data flow of your process and define which data should be the input and output here. Also, to get rid of this error marker.

1. Go back to the process and select the Decision.

   

   You might not see entries in the Input. This is due to a bug. As a workaround, click on the three-vertical-dot and remove the decision. Add the decision again in the process.

   Please refer to the Knowledge Base Article for the complete workaround.

2. Define the Inputs:

   • Select DocumentNumber: map with DocumentNumber from Invoice Details,
   • Select GrossAmount: map with GrossAmount from Invoice Details,
   • Select SenderName: map with SenderName from Invoice Details.

   The input mapping is done.

   

3. Check the Output, it is eMail, as you have defined it in the decision itself.

   

4. Save your work.

You have now defined who should approve the invoice, based on the company name. Next, you will use the outcome of the business rule, the email address, as input for the approval.