"Delivery completed" indicator causes approved Purchase order to be re-sent for approval (Flex. WF)

[prague_sap1234598]

Hello experts, 
I'd like to ask for your advice. I have the following case with one of my customers:
They use transaction MASS to mark "Delivery completed" indicator in Purchase orders. These POs do not have any GR posted or Invoice attached. These POs are used to charge business trip expenses, service expenses, etc. Invoices are managed without reference to POs. Flexible workflow is in place and each PO is approved by a responsible person when created. After some time, POs are formally closed in SAP by selecting "Delivery completed" indicator. 

After selecting "Delivery completed" indicator in MASS transaction, some of the POs return back to the agent's inbox to be approved again. User's concern is: why some POs need to be re-approved? What is causing this behavior?

Looking at the POs that do not require re-approval and those that do, I do not find any apparent difference. I also do not find any conditions for workflow restart maintained in SPRO under "Flexible workflow", nor Characteristics and Classes. 

Instead, workflow settings seem to have been done in Fiori app "Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders". When I googled a bit, I found out it should be possible to see the workflow restart conditions maintained in this app under "Edit" button, but I do not find it there - maybe I lack certain authorizations? Apart from that, no user exit or BADI has been implemented regarding WF in the system, I've checked that as well. 

My questions would be: Have any of you dealt with the same or similar issue with PO approval restart after modifying "Delivery completed" indicator for certain POs? Where could I find the restart conditions in the mentioned Fiori app (no other apps are there in the system)? Would anyone be able to navigate me how to handle this issue? 

Many thanks in advance! 

[Sanan]

Would you be able to share the screenshots from SPRO for Manage conditions screen and also Fiori workflow ?

[prague_sap1234598]

Hello Sanan,
SPRO "Manage Conditions to Restart Flexible Workflow for Purchase Orders" is empty:

Also "Define Conditions to Restart Flexible Workflow" is empty (no BADI created). 

"Activate Flexible Workflow for Purchase Order" is maintained for doc. types

Fiori app "Manage Workflows for Purchase Orders" looks like this:

[prague_sap1234598]

Hello @Ankush,

[prague_sap1234598]

Hello Ankush,

Below are my findings on this issue. Please note it's based on my particular settings, which might be different in your system. 

1. No restart conditions for workflow are configured in SAP (neither in GUI customizing path SPRO or t-code SWDD / SWDD_SCENARIO, nor in Fiori). When these are maintained, system only triggers restart of the Purchase order approval when those fields that are defined as restart conditions are changed or updated.

Another option would be to have BADI MMPUR_PO_WORKFLOW_RESTART in place (with defined restart conditions), but it's not our case either.

2. Considering this, I had to focus on the change history of various Purchase orders instead, to see whether I could find any pattern regarding to when Purchase order's approval is restarted and when it's not.

3. I analyzed a change log of different Purchase orders, looking at both Header and Item changes, specifically for those document types that have Flexible workflow in place + Account assignment category (mostly "K" Cost center). There was indeed one pattern that deserves attention:

• When Purchase order is approved by approver (in change log of Header changes it has processing status "05" = Approved successfully) and later "Delivery completed" indicator is marked (either manually in ME22N or in MASS), Purchase order's approval workflow is NOT restarted.

• When Purchase order is rejected by approver (in change log of Header changes it has processing status "08" = Rejected) and later "Delivery completed" indicator is marked (either manually in ME22N or in MASS), Purchase order's approval workflow IS restarted.
  

• When any other field is changed or updated in the approved or rejected Purchase order (f.e. Purchasing group, Purchasing organization, Net price, Quantity), Purchase order's approval workflow IS restarted, which can be considered as standard system behavior.

I believe we can then assume that when we do a mass update of "Delivery completed" indicator for Purchase orders, those that were originally rejected will need to be approved again (their processing status will automatically change from "08" = Rejected to "03" = Ready for processing). I can't, however, answer the question why is it happening (mostly due to the fact that no specific restart conditions are maintained anywhere in our SAP).

In this case I suggest to make sure that before mass update of the Purchase orders one makes sure there are no documents with processing status "08" - Rejected. The workaround might be to block the Purchase order item(s) instead of using the "Delivery completed" indicator. 

Thank you. 

[Arthur-]

@prague_sap1234598 @AnkushJani 
Dear Colleagues,
When a Purchase Order (PO) is rejected, the system automatically triggers a restart of the workflow upon any modification, except when all items are deleted. This is an SAP standard behavior.

Best Regards,
Arthur

[Sanan]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing the screenshots, my suggestion is to reproduce the issue in Quality system and work closely with the developer guy to debug this issue. Even after debugging if you didn't find the solution, I would recommend reaching out to SAP directly.

Thank you & good luck.

Sanan Afridi

[AnkushJani]

Dear All,

Is there any solution for this issue, as I am also facing the same.