Allow institutions to configure their own Packaged PO approval rules
Could we please be provided with an option to disable or configure the auto approval rules of POs containing non 'Purchase/Purchase no Letter' POLs.
Institutions currently only have control over PO Line level approval rules in Alma and PO rules are limited as per the documentation - https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/020Acquisitions/020Purchasing/060Approving_and_Sending_POs
"A PO with PO Lines that are not one of the following Acquisition methods will not go to Waiting for Approval:
• Purchase
• Purchase No letter"
Providing us with the option to configure these options ourselves or via support requests to include/exclude specific acquisition methods will give us more flexibility to implement finance workflows more suited to our institution's needs opening the wider possibility of finance integrations particularly using API connections. This will be of benefit to those using both standard import profiles and EDI in Alma and those using Real Time Ordering via API.
Linked to development ticket - URM-208426: UWE - Have the PO approval process apply for PO's with PO lines that their Acquisitions Method is "Purchase at Vendor system""
Richard Ellis
shared this idea
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Richard Ellis
commented
Additional context to the above:
The current finance system integrations in Alma are severely limited for institutions that rely on Real Time Ordering (RTO) APIs with vendors and intend to integrate with an external finance system using API but not using 'burn down' POs. All vendors default to the 'Purchase at Vendor System' acquisition method as this doesn't trigger emails from Alma etc on approval.As it stands Alma exempts the POs containing POLs other than Purchase/Purchase no Letter from being flagged for approval. However for those institutions that intend to push PO's to a finance system over API they encounter problems of financial oversight. A number of institutions like us historically would raise PO's for the year as a lump sum with a particular vendor and supply these to the vendor, updating them throughout the year as the money is spent and run down. Based on discussions with others who have implemented a finance integration this requires additional work to provide the vendor with this PO information, match it to Alma as associated with the incoming order/invoice and allocate associated orders with the top level PO in the finance system.
The current configuration proves to be inflexible for those who wish to move away from this 'burn down' PO structure and will be required to generate a PO per received order for approval based on finance regulations at their institution. If the API trigger to push an Alma PO to the finance system is set to be the approval of the PO in Alma, the current rules will cause issues as these orders will not be checked before being pushed to the integrated finance system just automatically delivered skipping the oversight needed by finance teams.
Could we please be provided with an option to configure order approval rules POs if needed to improve these workflows for those who rely heavily on API in our workflows and to give customers alternative solutions other than the out of the box finance system integration reliant on file exports and SFTP servers. The alternative is to request API changes from vendors so every order is listed as Purchase No Letter to trigger the approval rules and to stop order notifications going to the vendor on approval of the PO. This comes with risks as institutions aren't aware of vendor API issues when they occur until a problem becomes apparent in the received data, meaning giving us control via an Alma configuration change is a more sensible approach.