The Vacation Period rule is a standard functionality in Oracle Business Process Management (BPM) that allows users to set a delegate for approvals that come to them during a defined period of time. This feature allows users to set the dates for when they will be out of office and reassign or delegate their approvals to a designated individual.
This functionality eliminates the need to submit a Purchasing User Access Provisioning Request to modify the approval group in Oracle for a temporary period. Permanent changes will continue to follow the normal process.
DFA recommends users delegate their approval workflow to individuals in their departments with similar job responsibilities or approval authority to help ensure the delegate is familiar with departmental processes and approval methods. It is the responsibility of the individual delegating their workflow to ensure the delegate understands the notification process and any other approval nuances that will assist them in completing the approvals.
Audit: DFA has a report available that lists users who have enabled the Vacation Period rule. This report will be monitored to ensure the rule is being used appropriately.
Scope: Approval groups configured in BPM Worklist. Examples: Purchase Requisitions (roles include Department Approver, Restricted Commodity Approver, Ad Hoc Approvers, and Fiscal Approvers), Purchase Orders, Invoices, and General Ledger.
Steps to Enable the Vacation Rule
Navigate to the BPM Worklist
Using the arrow next to your name, click Preferences
Select My Rules and update the variables for the vacation period
Definitions
When you delegate, ownership of the task remains with the original approver. This function is commonly used to delegate the task to another user who will act on behalf of the original approver (e.g the CEO delegate to his/her assistant). Access to the delegated task is determined according to the access rights of the delegator. Either user – delegator or the delegate – can act on the task.
When you reassign a task, the chain of ownership is transferred to the new user and the new user's hierarchy is followed. Reassigned task access is determined by to the new user's rights. This option is commonly used when a task is assigned to an approver who no longer is responsible for managing it. In such a case, the approver himself or an admin can reassign the task to the relevant person.
