Easily set up an approval flow on masterdata and documents.
Module Description
The Master Data Workflow app will ensure the quality and security of your master data.
It allows you to manage statuses by associating them with personal data and documents, also managing user permissions for changes.
Every state change and every modification is 'recorded' in a special log table in order to maintain a history. This table contains the state change performed, the user and the date and time of the modification.
Setup
Setup changes state
To start using the Master Data Workflow features, select the light bulb in the top right and enter “Master Data Workflow Table Setup”.
Open the list and click on “New”, populate the “Table ID” field with the number of the table to be configured.
Keep in “new” state until setup is complete.
The setup workflow will be active and usable only when the status is Certified.
States
Set the desired statuses for the previously inserted table by selecting “Process” and then “Statuses”:
We will populate the rows of this table with all possible states.
If they have not already been created we should add them to the list by selecting “new” at the bottom left.
By setting the 'Initial status' flag it will be possible to define in which status new documents or new records will be "born".
There is also the possibility, by activating the appropriate flags, to block the modification or deletion when the record is in a certain state. For documents, such as a sales order, you can also block the release, registration and/or printing.
For a better overview of the status display in the lists, it is possible to assign a different color to each status.
Change state
The next step will be to set up the various state changes.
To do this, select the table row and go to “Process” and “Change Status”:
Enter all possible steps, inputting the starting and ending states.
Always enter a status change by leaving the 'FROM STATUS' field blank and entering the initial status in the 'TO STATUS' field:
MDW User Groups
User groups are groups of users with the same approval permissions. In fact, these can be used within MDW state change permissions.
The table can be searched from the menu and here you can insert the various groups with the relative users with Code and Description:
User permissions
You can also set the authorized users for each status change.
Keeping the desired status change selected, click on “Process” and select “User Permissions”:
Permissions can be entered for:
- Single users
- User groups
- All users
To authorize all users, you can select “Process” and then “All users”.
Instead, to authorize a user or group of users:
- Position yourself on the line
- In the “Permit Type” column, choose the desired option
- In the “Permission ID” column we will select the user or group to authorize based on the option selected in the previous field.
Mandatory fields
For each status change, it is possible to set mandatory fields that the system will have to check upon transition.
Selecting the status change line, click on 'Process' and 'Mandatory fields':
It is possible, through the assist edit, to choose the fields from the list of those present in the table:
Additionally, using condition fields, you can set a mandatory value for the selected field:
Using the “Extend to rows” flag in the Master Data Workflow Table Setup, you can make it mandatory to fill in the fields on the document rows.
This feature can only be activated on setups with Table ID = 36|38.
By setting the “Extend to rows” flag = TRUE, an additional function “Required fields rows” will appear in the status change list.
Setting the mandatory row fields is identical to what can be done for the header.
State changing functions
An infinite number of functions can be associated with each state change.
For each status change line go to “Process” and then select “Functions”:
The standard functions that can be inserted are:
- Blocking and Unblocking of personal data (articles, suppliers and customers)
- Release and reopening on documents (tables 36 and 37 with each document type)
For example, for personal data, the block function is usually associated with the initial status change so that they are "born" in a status that cannot be used in purchase and sales documents.
Paths in Change of State
For each setup you can choose whether to activate the 'Path in State Change' option.
This function will allow you to identify different paths for different types of records.
Each path can therefore be associated with different status changes (with all the related tables):
By activating the flag, clicking on 'Process' and then 'Change State', the list in which to define the various paths will automatically open:
After defining the various routes, select 'Navigate' and 'Change state' keeping the desired route selected:
At this point the setup can be entered as described above.
MasterData Workflow stack setup
Inside the MasterData Workflow App there are also additional stacks that can be added to the various user roles and setup directly from the client.
Then choose 'MasterData Workflow Stack Setup':
The stack setup must be entered for each user.
Role Center Groups identify groups of stacks that can be added within the user role. They are groups of 3 stacks each.
Then select the Table ID to display and the various status changes:
Flow example
Massive state change
In case of massive status changes, it is possible to use the “Show MDW record statuses” page:
Populate the “Table ID” field with the table to be modified and, in the case of documents, also select the Document Type.
The rows will automatically be populated with all the records that satisfy the previously entered table filter:
Also filter MDW States:
Then select all records within the set filters or manually select records from the list and then select 'Change status':
All errors found will be displayed in the appropriate fields:
This page is very useful when importing bulk data.
When data is imported, for example, the master data, the initial status is not automatically populated, it will therefore be necessary to Synchronize the tables so that the system can initialize the data.
After inserting the table, select “Synchronize”.
Single state change
If you want to change the status of just one record at a time, the actions are present in the appropriate lists.
For example, on the list of items there will be a column “MDW Status Code” that will indicate the status of each master data. And on the right a factbox has been inserted that shows logs of the previous statuses of each master data and the option to change the status.
To change the status, select “Masterdata Workflow Record Statuses” on the right and then “Change Status”. Then select the new status from the list.
