What is the Authorization Facility?

SunSystems Financials includes an optional authorization control facility. It ensures that selected transactions are authorized for particular types of processing. For example, authorization may be required to:

  • post a journal to certain sensitive accounts
  • produce a payment over a predefined limit.
Note: 
  • You should not confuse Financials Authorization with the Approval facilities in Order Fulfillment.
  • Authorization is not designed to perform work-flow functionality, nor is it intended to be used as an audit trail to track authorized or rejected transactions.

The configuration of Financials Authorization is described in detail in The Steps Required to Configure Authorization. An example authorization scenario is also provided to demonstrate one possible use and configuration of authorizations.

Authorization can apply to selected transactions in any of following Financials processing:

  • Ledger Entry/Import
  • Matching/Allocations
  • Payments.

Authorization is only permitted in the A Ledger. Only certain transactions require authorization. These depend on the transaction details and the process. They also depend on the filters you configure and assign to the authorization stages.

Authorization Stages and User Teams

Different stages, or levels, of authorization can be defined for the Financials processes identified above, and more than one level of authorization can apply to some transactions. See Defining Authorization Stages.

A team of valid authorizers, called a user team, is assigned to each authorization stage. Any member of the authorization team is able to approve the transactions, providing the total is within their authorization limit. See Setting Up User Teams.

The Authorization In Tray lists all of the sets awaiting authorization by the particular authorizer. When a member of a user team selects an authorization set from their in tray, the set is 'checked out' for authorization. This prevents any other member of the team from trying to authorize the same set at the same time.

Note: Authorizers are not alerted to the fact that new transactions are awaiting their authorization, hence they must check their authorization in-tray frequently.

The Authorization Status

Each batch of transactions that requires authorization is placed in an allocation set and given an authorization status. The authorization status identifies the point the batch has reached in the authorization process. It is set and maintained automatically by the system.

An authorization set has one of the following authorization status codes:

  • Awaiting Authorization
  • Complete
  • Rejected.

The Authorization Originators In-Tray lists all of the authorization sets that were created by a particular operator. This way, users can see the status of all the transactions they generated requiring authorization. When an authorization set is displayed as rejected, it can be deleted, or recalled for modification in Ledger Entry, or resubmitted for authorization. Authorization sets that have been authorized and posted are also displayed, with an authorization status of Complete. These can optionally be deleted, however, the transactions are not deleted from the ledger; only the authorization sets are removed from the originator in tray.

Note: Originators are not alerted when their transactions are authorized or rejected, hence they must check their originator in-tray frequently.

Authorization Sets

A set of transactions requiring authorization always moves through the authorization process as an authorization set. It is always authorized or rejected as a whole. So, even if only one of the transactions in a set cannot be authorized, the entire authorization set must be rejected. This makes it impossible for different transactions in an authorization set to be at different stages in the authorization process.

Processing Authorized Transactions

When the set of transactions is authorized for the last authorization stage in the chain, the status of all of the transactions is set to Authorization Granted. The status on the authorization set is set to Complete.

The next processing that takes place depends on the function triggering the authorization requirement. This is the Stage Type defined on the authorization stages. In general, processing is completed and the transactions are posted or updated. For example:

  • If the transactions are for payment, when they are fully authorized the payment run is completed automatically.
  • If the transactions are journals held by Ledger Entry or Ledger Import, when they are fully authorized they are posted automatically (providing they still balance).
  • If the transactions are for authorization by a matching process such as account allocations, when they are fully authorized the matching processing is performed automatically and the allocation of the transactions is completed.

You can manually run Payment Documents (PYD) for a Payment Run that has been authorized and posted. Any discounts applied are included on the payment documents.