Introduction

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition 2302 we introduce Flexible Workflow functionality for Billing Requests with Workflow Scenario WS02400089 – Workflow for Release of Billing Request.

Flexible Workflow is part of SAP Business Workflow and will allow you to set up and manage simple workflow scenarios in different lines of business, such as SAP S/4HANA Finance, Procurement, Human Resources, Manufacturing, and now also for Billing Requests in Convergent Invoicing.

You will find this Blog Post useful if you are planning to implement this functionality in your SAP environment, or if you are interested in checking the functionality and the steps to set up a workflow scenario.

There is also more documentation available on the SAP help portal: Flexible Workflow for Check and Approval of Credit Memos and Debit Memos

This Blog Post consists of two parts

Part 1 (this post) will explain how to configure Flexible Workflows

Part 2 (stay tuned) will show how to test the configuration and shows the notifications

Pre-requisites

1. Users

Flexible Workflow relies on SAP Fiori to be set-up and performed on SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2302. Apps like Manage Teams and Responsibilities and My Inbox will be used later on this blog to show you how to set-up and perform a demo scenario.

To get the Flexible Workflow functionality running you will have to follow certain steps with different users.

The Administrator needs to implement the Cloud BAdI in the Custom Logic App for Extension Point ID FKK_EVENT_8300 (BAdI: Workflow for Billing request release approval).

The BPC Expert needs to create a team in the Manage Teams and Responsibilities App and copy the Workflow Template for Billing Requests in the Manage Workflows App for Contract Accounting and activate it.

User	Description
ADMINISTRATOR	Administrator
BPC_EXPERT	User with Customizing-Authorization
INVOICING_SPEC_CINV	Invoicing Specialist

2. Cloud BAdI Implementation

As the Administrator user you have to implement the Cloud BAdI in the Custom Logic App for Extension Point ID FKK_EVENT_8300 (BAdI: Workflow for Billing request release approval). Therefore execute the Custom Logic App

Create a new implementation for Extension Point ID FKK_EVENT_8300 and give it a proper name.

For the implementation you must make sure that changing parameter ISWORKFLOWACTIVE is set to true if you want the Flexible Workflow to be triggered. In the following example the Flexible Workflow is triggered when the total amount of the billing request exceeds 100.

This step is relevant that the Flexible Workflow is triggered by the system. In our example it will happen if the total amount of the billing request exceeds 100.

However, triggering the Flexible Workflow will not automatically lead to a workflow. When creating a Team and assigning the Responsibilities it is possible to maintain conditions that must be met to create the Flexible Workflow instance by the workflow runtime as we will see later. Only if there are no special conditions maintained the implementation of the BAdI is sufficient. So this means if you are an old school ABAP Developer you can implement all of your conditions already here.

3. Manage Teams and Responsibilities

After implementing the Cloud BAdI with the Administrator create a new team in the Manage Teams and Responsibilities – Contract Accounting App with your BPC Expert User.

Create a new team for team type SCINVBREQWF

In tab Responsibility Definitions you can maintain a Billing Request Type and/or a Company Code for which the team is responsible.

In the Team Members tab add business partners that can approve the Flexible Workflow. Don’t forget to assign desired functions to the team member.

After you created your team, you can go over to the next step.

4. Manage Workflows for Contract Accounting

As BPC Expert navigate to the Manage Workflows for Contract Accounting App

In the app make sure to select the Workflow for Release of Billing Requests in the dropdown list

The List should display the Workflow Template – Billing Requests indicated by the icon. Select the template and press copy to copy it in a new workflow which will be used during the runtime.

Give the copy a proper name and a validity date.

Apply your changes. Your team should be visible in the recipients column in the main screen for the workflow.

For this example, we won’t use any preconditions. Remember, the only precondition is in the Cloud BAdI implementation with the total amount (see also chapter Cloud BAdI Implementation).

In the Steps tab there is already the level 1 function for approving as recipients as a default.

However, we want to use our team that we created. Therefore, navigate into the detail view and let’s see what needs to be maintained there. In the detail screen you have to choose your team that you created in Pre-requisite Step 3 by selecting Assignment By Team and choose your team from the dropdown list. In tab Step Conditions you can also define conditions that need to be met. We will leave this empty for this example.

Apply your changes. Your team should be visible in the recipients column in the main screen for the workflow.

In the Notifications tab you can create notifications. There are 3 different templates delivered that can be used for email notification. Here you can also define the recipients for the notifications.