The Steps Required to Configure Authorization

Financial Authorization in SunSystems is the process of allowing or rejecting the posting of transactions for various functions. Only specially configured operator Ids in User Teams can authorize transactions. This help topic describes how to configure SunSystems to perform authorizations. For more information see What is the Authorization Facility?.

Note: 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.

Before attempting to configure authorizations, you should plan the authorization requirements carefully. An example authorization scenario is given below the basic configuration steps.

Basic Configuration

  1. From the Supplimentary Financials tab in Ledger Setup (LES), set the Authorization Required field to Yes.
  2. In Security Console or User Manager select Edit > Edit User. From Authorization select the Authorizer checkbox and create a password for each authorizer. Leave the Invalid Authorization Count set to zero.
  3. In User Team Setup (UTS), create the required authorization user teams. For each team, create a suitable team name and click Authorizer Operators to assign operators to the user team.
  4. In Financial Rejection Code Setup (FJC), create the required rejection codes. For each code specify a description that must be shown against any transactions rejected with this code. Specify which authorization stage type this financial rejection code is intended for. The following stage types are available: Payments, Matching/Allocations and Ledger Entry/Import.
  5. In Filter Designer (FLD), create the necessary filters for the different authorization stages and stage types.

For the Filter Type select Authorization Inquiry SAAUTH, and give the filter a suitable name and description. From the Data Item List drag the required filter conditions into the Filter Edit Area. The first condition must be Authorization Set Reference. In the Edit Condition dialog, check the Runtime Entry check box, and leave the Blanks check box unchecked.

Select any other data items that you require as filter conditions for a particular authorization stage. For example, you might want to create a filter that only invokes an authorization stage if the transaction uses a particular account code. This example is described in more detail below in the example Authorization scenario. Apart from the Authorization Set Reference, these data items must not have Runtime Entry checked in the Edit Condition dialog.

Select File > Select Results Destination from the Filter Designer menu. Click Form, and select Authorization Detail as the output form for the filter. Save the filter. See Filter Designer Help for more information.

Note: The filter you use for authorization must have its results destination set to a form; not a program.
Note: 

Authorization stages can be bypassed by a transaction if the conditions defined in the stage's filter are not met by that transaction.

  • In Authorization Stage Setup (AUS), create all of the necessary stages that you require in each authorization process. For example, you might want to create a two stage authorization process for Ledger Entry, in which the first stage requires the authorization of all journals, and the second stage only requires the authorization of those journals with a credit total greater than 1000. This example is described in more detail below in the example Authorization scenario.

For each stage, specify the appropriate filter that you defined in step 5 above. Specify the User Team required to authorize this stage of the process, and specify the Authorizer, that is, the operator Id of a user within that team to whom transactions are to be sent, by default, for authorization.

In Stage Type, specify which authorization process this stage is part of. The possible stage types are: Payments, Matching/Allocation, and Ledger Entry/Import.

Note: 

When numbering the authorization stages, you may want to group together stages within each authorization process. For example, Stage Numbers 1 to 100 may be reserved for payment authorization stages and 200 to 300 for ledger entry / import authorization stages. Leave gaps between stage numbers, so that any subsequently required additional stages can be easily inserted without having to rearrange the stage numbering.

Additional Configuration for Ledger Entry / Ledger Import

  • In Journal Types (JNT), specify whether each journal type requires authorization. For those that do, amend the journal type and check the Authorization Required check box in the Supplementary Financials tab. By default, this check box is unchecked, so if authorization is required for all journal types, this configuration step must be performed journal type by journal type.