Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 R2: The 'Procurement' tile.......what it is and how it can be used.

We've been seeing some confusion on the 'Procurement' tile and how it can and should be used by originators, approvers and purchasers when using the Purchase Requisition Approval workflow type for Workflow 2.0.

The Procurement tile functionality is summarized as "This area displays summary information, quick navigation to common tasks, and viewing the most recent activity for purchase requisitions. The information that displays in this area will only be for the purchase requisitions that the user has entered. Depending on the link you clicked, a window or a navigation list opens."

So, what exactly does that mean?

The best way to explain it is that this Procurement tile was meant for GP users who are originators/have submitted requisitions for approval, so that they can see the number of requisitions that are still pending user action (approval, rejection or delegation), have been saved and not submitted, rejected and those that have been approved and need to be converted into a purchase order.

In following this design, the Procurement looks at the 'Requested By' field in the open requisitions and only displays those that have the 'Requested By' value of the GP login that you're logged into Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 R2 as. It does not look at the Windows AD user that you're logged onto the machine as, so it doesn't matter if you're logged on as the Windows AD user that has been assigned the requisitions for approval, or another Windows AD user account.

For example, I have a Contoso domain environment with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 R2 installed and the Purchase Requisition Approval workflow type setup and activated for my company database with the following:

>Step 1: 'Action is always required for this step' > assigned to Contoso\WorkflowApprover as the step approver.

>The manager of the workflow is Contoso\WorkflowAdmin

I logon to Dynamics GP 2015 R2 as the Contoso\WorkflowCreator account and the 'sa' login. The Procurement tile shows 0/0/0/0 as the 'sa' login hasn't submitted any requisitions.

I then use the 'sa' login to submit 3 requisitions for approval: Requisition numbers 1, 2, 3.

I then log out of Dynamics GP 2015 R2 as 'sa' and login as another GP user named 'REQ'. This user then submits requisitions 4, 5, and 6.

At this point, the Contoso\WorkflowApprover has 6 requisitions assigned to them for approval.

However, if I log onto the machine as this Contoso\WorkflowApprover user account, then login to Dynamics GP 2015 R2 as 'sa', the Procurement tile will still show only 3 requisitions pending user action: 1, 2, and 3, as those are the only requisitions that 'sa' has submitted for approval. If I would login to the application as the 'REQ' user, Procurement would only show the 3 requisitions numbered 4, 5, and 6, as those are the requisitions that this GP user has submitted for approval.

In either case, since I'm logged onto the machine as the Contoso\WorkflowApprover user account, if I click on the 'Pending User Action' button in the Procurement tile, which brings up the Purchasing Requisition Transaction window, I will see all 6 requisitions, with the options to Approve/Complete, Reject or Delegate, since all of these requisitions have been assigned to my Contoso\WorkflowApprover user account for approval. This is true regardless of what GP user I'm logged into the application as.

If I logon as any other Contoso domain account besides Contoso\WorkflowApprover, in the Purchasing Requisition Transaction window, I'd only see three requisitions, depending on what GP user I was logged into the application as, and only the Recall option would be enabled. The Approve/Complete, Reject and Delegate options are disabled.

The Purchase Requisition Entry window (Purchasing > Transactions > Purchase Requisitions) works the same way as the Procurement tile in that it displays, by default, the open requisitions that were submitted by and have a 'Requested By' value of the GP user account you're logged into the Microsoft Dynamics GP application as, even if you're logged onto the machine as a Windows AD account that has multiple requisitions assigned for approval, from different GP users.

Within the application, if you browse to the Requisition Setup window (Purchasing > Setup > Purchase Order Processing; click 'Requisition' button at bottom of Purchase Order Processing Setup window), you can change the 'Display Requisitions During Entry for' setting for GP users, from the default 'Requested By' to 'All Requisitions', however this will allow the GP users, in the Purchase Requisition Entry window, to see all requisitions that were submitted for approval, even ones that they did not create and submit, regardless of what Windows AD user account you're logged onto the machine as, so use that setting with caution.

So, to summarize this information:

>>The Procurement tile provides the GP user accounts a quick view of the open requisitions they have submitted and how many are still pending user action, are still in saved not submitted status, have been rejected, or completed and waiting to be converted into a purchase order.

>>The Purchasing Requisitions Transactions is where the requisition approvers will want to go, as they will see all of the requisitions assigned to them, information about each one, and the options to approve/complete, reject or delegate as needed. The 'Purchasing Requisitions Pending Approval' navigation list under Purchasing > Purchasing Requisitions Transactions works the same way.

>>The Purchase Requisition Entry window only shows the open requisitions that have a 'Requested By' value of the GP user you're logged into the application as, by default. You can change this to show all open requisitions, regardless of who created and submitted them for approval.

I hope this information helps address those Procurement tile questions and how approvers can view their requisitions assigned to them for approval, if needing to approve from within the Microsoft Dynamics GP application itself and not via the workflow assignment emails.

Thank you!!