Flexible workflow building blocks

Flexible workflow is SAP S/4HANA's approach to approvals for purchasing documents, available since release 1709 and the option SAP develops further. Instead of programming workflows or maintaining classification-based release strategies, a process expert configures approval rules in Fiori apps: when an approval is needed, how many steps, and who approves each step.

Apps and activation

Each document type has its own configuration app: Manage Workflows for Purchase Requisitions, Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders, and similar apps for other procurement documents such as service entry sheets and supplier invoices. Before the apps take effect, flexible workflow is activated in Customizing. For purchase orders the activity is under Materials Management, Purchasing, Purchase Order, Flexible Workflow for Purchase Orders, Activate Flexible Workflow for Purchase Orders; for requisitions it is activated per document type with the scenario-based workflow indicator. Activation is by document type, which is how flexible workflow and classic release strategies can coexist.

Workflow definitions and start conditions

A workflow definition is one approval rule. Its start conditions decide whether it applies to a document. For purchase orders, conditions can use values such as company code, purchasing organization, purchasing group, document type, material group, account assignment (cost center or project), currency and total net amount, combined with and/or. Contoso has two PO definitions: "PO 25k to 100k" and "PO 100k and above."

Definitions are kept in an order. When a PO is saved, SAP checks the active definitions from the top and starts the first one whose conditions are met; only one workflow starts. If none match, the default workflow applies, which in the standard approves automatically. A custom default must be active and last in the order. Getting the order wrong is one of the most common configuration defects: put the broad "above $25,000" rule above the "above $100,000" rule and the two-step approval never starts.

Steps and step conditions

Each definition has one or more steps, processed in sequence. A step names its recipients and can have its own step condition, so a step is skipped when it does not apply. Contoso could use one definition for all POs above $25,000 with a second step conditioned on "total net amount at least $100,000." Steps can be "release" steps (approve/reject) or other step types that SAP offers for the document, such as automatic release or rework steps; the list depends on the scenario and release.

Keep definitions few and readable. Each extra definition multiplies the cases to test and the chance that two overlap. Contoso documents its definitions in a one-page table (name, order, start conditions, steps, recipients) that the process owner signs, and the configuration in the apps must match it exactly.