SAP Note

2924996 - FAQ: Workflows for approval of sales documents in SAP S/4HANA

Component: SD-SLS-WFL (Sales and Distribution > Sales > Approval Workflows), Version: 17, Released On: 27.09.2023

Symptom
1) You want to use the workflows for approving sales documents and have configured your system to do so, according to the
documentation for "Approval Workflows for Sales Documents". However, no work items are created or the work items are not visible in
the My Inbox app.
2) In the "Manage Sales Document Workflows" app, the value helps do not work or error messages about the validation of user data occur.
3) Even though agents and teams have been maintained in the "Manage Teams and Responsibilities" app, no agent can be determined for
a work item. The work item log contains the error SWF_FLEX_RUN046 ("No agent determined (rule id '&1')") for the rule ID
/FUNC/CMR1LVLA, for example.
4) During the withdrawal of a request for approval, a dump occurs with the message "Flow control: Entry SAPMV45B, , * , * , * , * is
missing in T185".
5) How can I set up a dual control principle for the approval of sales documents?
6) A sales document has been created and an approval workflow has been started for it. An approver has released the document via the
"My Inbox" app. Despite this, the document still has "In Approval" status and cannot be processed further. What is the cause of this
problem?
7) A workflow scenario delivered in standard SD does not meet my requirements. Can I modify the standard workflow scenario in
accordance with my requirements?
8) How can I reproduce an automatic approval function in the approval process as of SAP S/4HANA 1909?
9) You have enabled e-mail notifications for approval workflows and have copied the predefined templates to custom templates as
described in the documentation. The system sends the e-mail notifications as you expected, but the link to the "My Inbox" app contained
in the e-mail notification is invalid.
10) An approver has used the "My Inbox" app to release a sales document that is blocked by another user. Despite this, the document still
has the status "In Approval", and cannot be processed further. The workflow log contains an error message telling you that the sales
document *** is currently being processed by ***. How can the document be processed further?
11) You try to add users as possible approvers for sales document workflows either in the "Manage Teams and Responsibilities" app or
directly in the "Manage Sales Document Workflows" app. However, you cannot find the required users using the value help. What is the
cause of this problem? (Note: This problem may also occur for workflows for sales prices.)

Other Terms
Workflow, approval, sales quotation, quotation, sales order, order, credit memo request, WS02000447, WS02000006, WS02000029,
work
item, CL_SD_SALESORDER_WORKFLOW, CL_SD_CMR_WORKFLOW, CL_SD_SALESQUOTATION_WORKFLOW, TOBEAPPROVED,
SWE2, customizing, configuration, F3014, C_SALESDOCUMENTWORKFLOWVH_CDS, dual control principle, authorization,
SWDD_SCENARIO, scenario, SWF_FLEX_RUN 018, blocked sales document, V1042, V1 042

Reason and Prerequisites

You use SAP S/4HANA 1909 or a newer SAP S/4HANA release.
The e-mail notification function is available as of SAP S/4HANA 2020.

Solution
1) Check whether event linkage has been activated for workflows:
To do this, go to customizing for SAP NetWeaver under "Application Server -> Business Management -> SAP Business Workflow ->
Perform Task-Specific Customizing" and then proceed as follows:
1. Expand the displayed component hierarchy and choose "Activate Event Linkage" for SD-SLS.
2. Check whether event linkage is active for WS 02000006 (workflow for sales orders), WS 02000029 (workflow for credit memo
requests), and WS 02000447 (workflow for sales quotations).
3. If event linkage is not activated, activate it.
If you still do not receive any work items in the app "My Inbox" after the activation of event linkage, check whether all of the steps listed
here have been performed in your system. If not, carry them out now.
Furthermore, make sure that all start conditions of the workflow defined in the Fiori app "Manage Sales Document Workflows" are
fulfilled by the sales document to be approved. In addition, no workflow is created for sales documents that are created or changed outside
the validity period defined for the workflow using "valid from" and "valid to". A typical error message in an event trace with transaction
SWEL in this case is: "Mitigation for start within application failed (workflow not started)" (SWF_FLEX_RUN018).
Finally, note the information in KBA 2424054 regarding the setup of the My Inbox app. In particular, ensure that the task filters are set up
correctly in your system.
2) Make sure that all necessary OData services have been registered correctly. For the value helps, this is particularly important for the
OData service C_SALESDOCUMENTWORKFLOWVH_CDS. The documentation (for example, here for SAP S/4HANA Release 1909) also
specifies the other OData services to be registered.
3) Check whether the back-end user used for the workflow, for example, SAP_WFRT, has all necessary authorizations assigned. In
particular, the following authorizations are required to determine the agents correctly:
Authorization object: RSMTEAM
With the following fields and values:
RSMTEAMNAM: *
RSMTEAMTYP: *
RSMTEAMCAT: SALES
ACTVT: 03
Authorization object: B_BUPA_GRP
With the following fields and values:
ACTVT: 03
Authorization object: B_BUPA_RLT
With the following fields and values:
RLTYP: BUP003 or BBP005 or BBP010
ACTVT: 03
Authorization object: B_BUP_PCPT
With the following fields and values:
ACTVT: 03
4) The dump "Flow control: Entry SAPMV45B, , * , * , * , * is missing in T185" normally occurs for the withdrawal of an approval
request if changes were made to the customizing of the incompleteness checks while documents were already in the approval process. In
particular, the setting of the "Incomplet.messages" indicator in customizing for sales document types results in a situation where it is no
longer possible to save an incomplete document. In this case, it is then not possible to withdraw the approval request, either. For this
reason, do not make any changes to the customizing of the incompleteness checks if there are already documents in the approval process.
In order to be able to process documents for which a dump occurs during the withdrawal of the approval request again, temporarily
remove the "Incomplet.messages" indicator, withdraw the approval request, and then set the indicator again.
5) The term "dual control" here means that first a level 1 approver must approve a sales document and then a level 2 approver must
approve the same sales document. This can be achieved by creating a workflow with two steps of the "Release of [sales document
category]" type and defining the same or at least overlapping preconditions for the two steps. The "Sales Document Approver - Level 1"
role is assigned to the first step as the recipient and the "Sales Document Approver - Level 2" role is assigned to the second step as the
recipient.
6) The most common reasons why a sales document still has "In Approval" status even though an approver has already released the
document via the "My Inbox" app are as follows:
Missing/insufficient authorizations on the part of the approver: In this case, error messages with details about the missing
authorization are usually displayed in the workflow log (transaction SWI1). If this occurs, make sure that all users involved in the
approval process have the necessary assigned authorizations. For details, see the "Approval Statuses and Authorizations" section in
the "Approval Workflows for Sales Documents" documentation. (For SAP S/4HANA Release 2021, you can find this documentation
here, for example.)
Incorrect workflow setting: Check which value you have set in the "Manage Sales Document Workflows" app for the "Assignment"
setting of the "Release of [sales document category]" step. If you have defined that the step must be completed by all recipients, the
approval status of the sales document will only change to "Released" once all assigned approvers have actually released the document
in their "My Inbox" app. This scenario can also be identified by the fact that multiple release work items are displayed in the
workflow log (transaction SWI1) directly after the creation of the sales document even though only one release step was defined for
the workflow itself.
7) No, workflow scenarios delivered in the standard system are not allowed to be modified. If a workflow scenario delivered in the
standard SD delivery does not meet your requirements, the function you require is not available in the standard system. In this case, see
SAP Note 11 for more information about how you can help shape and influence future releases of SAP products.
You can create a customer-specific workflow scenario and implement it according to your requirements. However, simply copying the
standard SD workflow scenarios may not be sufficient. You may have to make further individual modifications, for example, in the SD
program code, to include a copied workflow scenario completely in sales document processing.
Note that customer-specific workflow scenarios in SD are not supported by SAP. For help with issues relating to configuration,
instructions, and implementation, refer to the appropriate self-service resources. For more information, see SAP Note 83020. If necessary,
contact your SAP consultant.
8) For this, you must configure the BAdI SD_APM_SET_APPROVAL_REASON in such a way that no approval request reason is assigned
to the sales document for which no approval workflow is required.

A document without an approval request reason is not included in the approval process and is therefore automatically released for all
follow-on processes.
9) The generation of the URL behind the link in the e-mail notifications depends on various parameters that must be maintained in the
table SWP_URL_CONFIG. In particular, no URL is created if there is no entry with ID = MYINBOX. You can maintain the entries using
the following customizing node: ABAP Platform > Application Server > Business Management > SAP Business Workflow > Basic Settings
(Workflow System) > Maintenance of URL Settings. The documentation of the customizing node contains further information on how to
maintain the entries/parameters.
10) First check whether your system contains the changes from SAP Note 3316421. This SAP Note ensures that a temporary exception is
triggered in the case described above.
As a result of this exception, the system automatically makes five attempts to retrigger the approval workflow. If the sales document is
unblocked within these five attempts, the document is released as expected during the next attempt.
If your system does not yet contain SAP Note 3316421 or if the sales document is still blocked after five attempts, restart the workflow
manually using transaction SWPR as soon as the sales document is no longer blocked. Do not use the "Withdraw Approval Request"
function, as it cannot clean up the status of the sales document.
11) Users can be added as approvers to sales document workflows if they are set up as business users and have the authorization
V_VBAK_APM assigned. For information about the concept of business users and how to set them up, see SAP Note 2570961. (For sales
price workflows, the authorization V_KONH_APM is required in addition to setting up the users as business users.)

Attributes
Key Value

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Master Data > Conditions and Condition Maintainance (SD-MD-CM)

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Fiori User Interface > Sales Apps (SD-FIO-SLS)

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Sales (SD-SLS)

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Sales > Inquiries / Quotations (SD-SLS-QUT)

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Sales > Returns (SD-SLS-RE)

Other Components Sales and Distribution > Sales > Sales Orders (SD-SLS-SO)

This document is referenced by

SAP Note/KBA Component Title

3165628 How to report efficiently a problem about Approval Workflows in SD Sales