Offline approval in ECC through Outlook

Hi,
We have of requirement for offline approval of SES through Outlook .
We are in ECC 6.0 and when a User creates a SES a mail has to be triggereed to the aprrover Inbox.
The manager should be able to approve or reject directly from his outlook. the manager is not a SAP User.
Please let us know the possible alternatives to achieve this functionality,
Any documentation will be of great help.
Regards,
Raj

Hi,
you need to develop SAP Workflow (Extended notification) to be able to approve/reject in Outlook. There is a separate SAP Workflow forum in SDN, you might want to have a look that forum.
Regards

Similar Messages

Offline approval - weird characters in Outlook

Hi all,
We're on SRM 5.0, Server 550, SP12.
Scenario: offline approval of Shopping Carts
After running report RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP, approver is getting an e-mail in Outlook 2003 with some weird characters:
**START**
Â
Â Â Â The following requires processing:
Â
Â Â Â 1 . Approve shopping cart of Shopper with value 64,78 USD
Â Â Â
Â
Â
Â Â Â Use the following link to log on to the system and carry out the approval online:
Â Â Â Log on
Â
Â
Â Â Â To approve or reject directly from this e-mail, select one of the following links:
Approve by E-mail Â Reject by E-mail Â Â
**END**
When I look at the same message in , these characters are not visible; but there seem to be spaces/blanks in those spots. Looks like Outlook is substituting spaces for some other character.
Also, there're some extra blank lines, which we would like removed.
Any ideas how to get rid of the unwanted characters and unnecessary lines, besides BAdI implementation?
Cheers,
Serguei

Hi,
Please check the foll note:
Note 1100912 - E-mail messages for work items with incorrect line break
Also,sometimes some junk characters are inserted into the offline mail if the required services(for the generation of mail ) are not active in transaction SICF.
Please see whether the following path is active in SICF:
SAP/BC/BSP/SAP/SMART_FORMS/DEFAULT.CSS
If the above service is not activated,then activate that and re-test.
Last option would be to implement the BADI BBP_OFFLINE_APP_BADI (method ~MAIL_DATA_GET) to remove the unwanted characters.
BR,
Disha.

Shopping cart offline approval with outlook

Dear Experts,
Currenlt we are working on SRM 5.0 classic scenario and ECC 6.0. I want to implement shopping cart offline approval with outlook.
Can you please guide me what all are the settings need to be done for offline approvals....
Thanks
Ravi

Hi Ravi,
The program RSWUWFMLEC was used to scehdule offline approval mails upto SRM 4.0(In SRM 5.0,report RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP is used)..
Please see the foll link for more deatils:
SRM5.0:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm50/helpdata/en/31/ec423b4ac8d506e10000000a11402f/frameset.htm
SRM 4.0:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm2007/helpdata/en/31/47c6cb8e9249f2bc29444212e4704a/frameset.htm
You need to check the settings mentioned in the link above before you scehdule the report for snding the approval mails to the external email ID's of the approvers.
The job mentioned are only for sending the approval mails.To send the requester notification messages to external mail box (instead of SRM inbox),see the foll thread for more pointers:
Re: mail refuse shopping cart
Do let me know if you need an further help.
BR,
Disha.

Offline Approval in SAP ECC 6.0

Hello experts,
Requirement: Approvers should be able to approve SAP workitems from Outlook mailbox without directly logging into SAP.
From my searches in SDN, I understand that Extended Notification along with Single Sign On will take care of most of the requirement, except that the approvers still need to have SAP login credentials and they will actually be executing the SAP workitem from the shortcut in the Outlook email.
Although Extended Notification provides a number of advantages over RSWUWFML2 in terms of HTML support, Web UI Support, consolidation and forwarding of workitems and such; the core functionality is still the same i.e. providing SAP workitem shortcuts in an external email.
Is there any way, we can get actual offine approval functionality in ECC like it works in SRM? The following wiki describes the steps required.
http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SRM/Offlineapproval-generalconfiguration
This is not available in ECC but is there something similar?
Or can a similar functionality be developed on the ECC side?
Has anyone attempted some development on similar lines?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advices.
Regards,
Supratim

HI Could you please check the details below this all is present in the Basic settings guide which you could find in the SAP help portal
An alternative method of setting up mail via SMTP is described in SAP Note 455140.
As of SAP Web Application Server 6.10, the SAP system's kernel supports SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) directly, meaning that e-mails can be exchanged between the SAP system and any SMTP-compliant mail server without the need for any additional external components. In the outbound
direction, the SAP system passes the mails to a single mail server, whereas in the inbound direction mails can be received from any number of mail servers.
As of SAP Web Application Server 6.20, faxes and text messages (pager/ SMS) can also be exchanged via SMTP. For this purpose, the faxes and messages are packed into e-mails. For sending, the mail server refers to the domain of their recipients' addresses and forwards the e-mails either to an internal fax/text message server (for example, [email protected]), or to an external provider (for example, [email protected]). For receiving, the fax/text message server or provider sends e-mails to addresses with the SAP system's domain (for example, [email protected]).
Prerequisites
The mail servers involved must be SMTP-compliant.
If you want to use text messaging in the SAP system, then you must define names for the messaging services to be used, such as SMS, with transaction SA14.
Procedure
Setting the Profile Parameters (Transaction RZ10)
You must adapt the SAP Web Application Server’s profile if the SMTP functionality is to be used. The SAPconnect send job can only be scheduled for servers on which SMTP is active, so ideally you should activate SMTP on all of the SAP system’s application servers.
You must set the profile parameters below. The placeholder <*> stands for the sequence number (starting with zero) of parameters that occur several times.eicm/plugin_<*> = PROT=SMTP,PLG=<prog>
This loads the SMTP plug-in. It is a dynamic library that implements the SMTP protocol. <prog> specifies the file name of the SMTP plug-in.
The program is located in the execution directory of the SAP Web Application Server instance, has the name smtpplugin and the extension typical for your operating system (.so, .dll, and so on).eÈhTÙï icm/server_port_<*> = PROT=SMTP,PORT=<port>
This opens a TCP/IP port for the reception of mails by the SMTP plug-in. <port> specifies the number of the port that is to be used. This port must not be occupied by any other program on this host. If no mails (including status notifications) are to be received in this SAP system, you can set <port> to 0.
You can use TIMEOUT to define an optional maximum time (in seconds) that is to be waited for a response from the mail server.eÈhTÙï is/SMTP/virt_host_<*> = <host>:<port>,<port>,...
This defines a virtual mail host for the reception of mails. If all inbound mails (including status notifications) are to be received and processed in a single client of the SAP system, this parameter is not required and is/SMTP/virt_host_0 = *:*; is taken as the default. If several clients are to receive, a virtual mail host must be created for every client. <host> specifies the name of the host
to which inbound mails are addressed. You can specify * here if the mails are to be distributed independently of the host addressed. <port> specifies the number of a port to which inbound mails are addressed.
User Administration (Transaction SU01) You must create a service user to process the inbound mails in every SAP system client in which mails (or status notifications) are to be received. You use transaction SU01 to create a user of the type Service and assign the profile S_A.SCON to it
Client Assignment (Transaction SICF)
Each SAP system client in which inbound mails (or status notifications) are to be received and processed must have an SMTP server. In transaction SICF, there should be one SMTP server (called SAPconnect) supplied in every SAP system. You use this one for the first client then create an additional SMTP server for each additional client. You make the following settings on the SMTP server
Host data -- You enter the sequence number of a parameter is/SMTP/virt_host_<*> from the profile. If you only have one client and therefore did not enter a parameter of this kind, you enter 0.
Service data-- You enter the client to which the mails received via this virtual mail host are to be forwarded, as well as the logon data of the system user created for inbound mails.
Handler list You enter CL_SMTP_EXT_SAPCONNECT as item 1.
SCOT :
Default domain--- Under SettingsDefault Domain, you define the domain of this SAP system client. This is used for the following purposes
 The SMTP plug-in logs on to the mail server using the domain as ID.0ˆN=?ü
 The message ID of outbound e-mails is compiled with this domain.0ˆN=?ü
 If an SAP user who has no Internet mail address maintained sends an e-mail, a sender address composed of the SAP user name and this domain is generated
Node----There is always one SMTP node in each client. This node is created by the SAP system and cannot be deleted. To configure the node for sending Internet mail, you:
1.Ensure you are in the Node view.
2.Double-click on the node name.
3.Select Node in use.
4.Specify the mail server to which outbound mails are to be passed in Mail Host and Mail Port.
5.Choose Set adjacent to Internet.
6.Specify the address areas of recipient addresses that are to be reached via this node. This is usually * if all e-mails are to be sent using SMTP.
7.Enter output formats for SAP documents. The following settings are recommended here:SAPscript/Smart FormsPDFABAP ListHTMBusiness Object/LinkHTMRAW TextTXT
8.Confirm.
Send job
E-mails sent from an SAP application are merely put into a queue. A periodic background process, known as the SAPconnect send job, takes the e-mails from this queue and sends them via the Internet. To schedule this job from SAPconnect administration, you:
1.Choose ViewJobs.
2.If there is not already a job scheduled, choose JobCreate.
3.Enter a job name and confirm.
4.Select the variant SAP&CONNECTALL by placing the cursor on it.
5.Choose Schedule Job.
6.Choose Schedule Periodically.
7.Enter an appropriate time period, such as 10 minutes.
8.Choose Create.
Inbound
If you want inbound e-mails to a specific address or with a specific content to automatically start a program that processes these e-mails, you can configure this under Settings>>Inbound Processing.
If you want inbound e-mails to a specific address or from a specific sender to be automatically redirected to another recipient or distribution list, you can configure this under SettingsInbound Distribution

Offline approval process in ECC

Hello All,
Is there any way to achieve offline approval process in ECC the way it is in SRM?
We want to replicate the same process in ECC as in SRM, with mail being sent to the user with approve/reject buttons, and on clicking any of the options provided, the same need to be updated in SAP.
Any help will be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Regards,
Razia Shaheen.

Hi Jennifer,
Since SRM PO will be leading PO in extended classic scenario, why donot you design the process controlled workflow in line with the existing release strategy that you are using for ECC PO?
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan
Ranjan Sutradhar

Application Request to be approved/reject through Outlook 2010

Dear Experts
Need your suggestions / inputs in implement a requirement i.e any application (WF) request can be either approved/ rejected
through outlook 2010 instead of every time logging into application portal and then to approve or reject.

This is possible SAP workflow with extended notifications.
Refer here: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-15808
Explore SAP Workflow forum in SCN if you need more info.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Sahir.

Offline approval with Adobe forms

Hi All,
We have a case in which we need to send a Adobe interactive form as an attachment to approver's email address(outlook) and perform offline approval.
Could you pls help me guiding how to achieve this?
System is mySAP ECC 6.0.
(I have heard that offline approval is available in SRM, but do not know about ECC6.0)
Thanks in advance.

Hi Akshay,
SRM uses a program to simulate an offline approval. It's not form based.
Adobe forms are better.
But at the end of the day any form is just a UI to enter and display data. It's up to the programmer to decide what happens after the form is uploaded.
There are tutorials on SDN in the Adobe section on how to upload the forms. In the logic behind the upload you need to code in what happens next anyway - i.e. where the form data is to be stored in the system, whether a workflow event should be raised or whatever.
In ECC 6.0 you might want to try using the ISR/PCR technique with Adobe. Where at least the WebDynpro application for viewing the forms are already created, and you put your logic for raising the workflow event in the QISR BADI.
You will probably still need to create a WebDynpro app to allow either mail upload or email receipt of Adobe forms. Both of which are described in the SDN tutorials.
By the way there is a Interactive forms with Adobe forum on SDN where you can put questions if you have any troubles with using the forms or developing a WebDynpro application around it.... but of course please work your way through tht tutorials first.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Jocelyn

SRM Shopping Cart Offline Approval

1. I see from SAP Note 1166763 there is a Consulting Solution for the Blackberry. I see from various SAP Notes that other customers do approve Shopping Carts via the iPhone.*
Does SAP also have a Consulting Solution for the iPhone?
Are there any additional hardware/software requirements to approve Shopping Carts via the iPhone?*
2. Not all users may have a Blackberry or iPhone. They may have to approve via Mircrosoft Outlook, as described in this URL: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm2007/helpdata/en/31/47c6cb8e9249f2bc29444212e4704a/content.htm*
s the Offline Approval method configurable by user? Can some users approve via MS Outlook, and some users by Blackberry or iPhone?

Hi
The Blackberry Consulting solution can be used for iPhone too. The solution works this way, The email communication happens through SRM SErver and your mail server for these devices. When email comes back from these devices, the SRM programs for offline approval reads the emails for some particular action (may be YES NO or , APPROVED etc). If the return email has the information in it, then offline approval programs gets executed and approves the cart.
So the solution is just to decode the incoming email and then process the work item
Regards
Virender Singh

Problem while receiving a mail in blackberry using offline approval

Dear SRM Gurus,
We are working with SRM Server 5.5, SP08.
We are using offline approval functionality using Blackberry device. We
have observed that in an approval mail sent to blackberry, the approver
does not see hyperlink for "Approve by mail" or "Reject by mail" text.
However, when the same approval mail is checked on any other mail
application like gmail or yahoo, we are able to get an hyperlink and
approve the work item.
While execution of report "RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP", we have selected
a checkbox "with approval links".
Kindly suggest, how can we rectify this problem. We will appreciate your immediate help.
Thanks in advance,
chandra sekhar
0062 081510685482

Hi
Yes, but for this you need have SAP MI (mobile infrastructure) configured in the landscape. MI is part of SAP NW. Integration of MI is possible with SRM2.0 and upwards.
For details refer -
http://service.sap.com/mobile - mobile procurement
Re: Shopping Cart approval process in SRM using Black Berry
Shopping Basket Approvals Through Blackberry
To change standard email text
Re: How can we change the standard email text?
There is a former thread dealing with text modification in the RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP .
https://forums.sdn.sap.com/click.jspa?searchID=3694563&messageID=3714821
Configuration of Approval mails to Blackberry - Refer to the HELP links ->
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm40/helpdata/en/5a/af5eff85d011d2b42d006094b92d37/content.htm
Other related links ->
WF does not restart when requester accept changes
RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP
Offline Approval: RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP Vs RSWUWFMLEC
RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP
Re: Offline approval
Re: Is it possible to action an approval work item sent to Lotus Notes mail
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2005/helpdata/en/index_srmaddon.htm
WF-BATCH or not WF-BATCH....
Do let me know.
Regards
- Atul

Workflow user-decision mail with Approve & Reject button to Outlook.

Hi All,
Requirement: To send a mail with Approve & Reject buttons to outlook inbox.
Approach: I have used the user-decision step in the workflow and the approve, reject buttons are displayed . As far as solution in SAP inbox is concerned, it is solved.
However the requirement is to show the mail with the buttons in the outlook mail.
Resolution Required For: to show the mail with the buttons in the outlook mail. I am new to workflows sending mail to outlook inbox. Is there any way to do this using ABAP developments.
Thanks for your time.
Best Regards,
Goutham.

Hi,
If you are on ECC 5.0 or above, you can use the Extended Notif. for achieving this.
How are you getting the Outlook mail ?. If you already have Extn.Notif, then do the following :
1. In Transaction SWNCONFIG,for your Scenario and Category,
in the Subscription Basis Data -->Subscription Settings,
Set the parameter SHOW_ACTION_DECISION_AS as "LINK"
This will give you the options of your user decision as LInks in Outlook mail.
There is lot of material in this forum for Extended Notif. if you search.
Hope this helps.
venu

SRM Offline Approval via Blackberries is not working

SRM Experts,
We are using SRM 5.0, PI-7.0. We don't have SAP MI (mobile infrastructure) configured in the landscape. Whenever user approves the Shopping cart from blackberry, it does not work. If user approves from MS-Outlook, it works. I heard that we can approve SC from blackberry without configuring MI in the landscape.
I also observed that when SC is approved via blackberry, it does not have subject line and workitem number information whereas when it is approved via Outlook it has. Any idea why subject line and workitem number information is missing via blackberry?
Can someone please help!
Points will be rewarded..
Thanks in advance!
MP

Hello,
I am assuming that you are using the standard out of the box offline approval process in SRM. What you are saying is that when someone clicks on the link using Blackberry, it does generate an encrypted response but does not populate subject text?
If that is the case please check the version of Blackberry operating system. Try using the functionality from a latest Blackberry model with latest device software installed.
Earlier versions of the BBerry devices/OS did not even support mailto: hyperlink inserted in the approval request mail.
Abhay
PS: I have tested this functionality using Blackberry Pearl and I did not come across any problem of subject line not getting populated. The encrypted approval response also gets populated correctly.
Hope this helps.
Edited by: Abhay Joshi on Mar 4, 2008 5:51 PM

Offline approval

Hello
We all know that during offline approval of shopping carts the approver used to get a failure mail if there is some error .
Some cases even after approval the approval status is not getting updated which is still showing awaiting approval where the approver says that he has done the approval .In those cases how to check the status.Is there any special task avaialble by which we can configure in such a way so that user will get a confirmation mail for the successful approval of shopping carts through offline(email).The points will be provided relatively.Give your valuable comments.
Thanks & regards
Rajan.S

Hi Rajan,
This is interesting issue. Who's ID was locked ? SC owner, Approver, WF-BATCH ?
I think the deadline monitoring by system admin is one of solution. [http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm50/helpdata/en/7c/09eb38c4084d7ce10000000a114084/frameset.htm|http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm50/helpdata/en/7c/09eb38c4084d7ce10000000a114084/frameset.htm]
Regards,
Masa

Offline Approval using Workflow in ECC6.0

Hi,
I wanted to know if there is any way in which we can enable offline approvals of work items in ECC 6.0.
I know that in a SRM system it is possible with the use of RBBP* reports, but these reports are not present in the ECC system. I have tried making use of swnadmin and swnconfig transactions, but I have not been able to achieve what I am trying to, which is offline approval (approve/reject) of tasks/workitems (without having the user to interact with SAP GUI windows/html).
An ideal scenario would be that a user recieves an email with Approve/Reject option, and on clicking any of these options, the necessary updates are registered by the SAP system.
So is it possible to implement the above by making use of WebServices or something else?
Any help or guidance will be very helpful and rewarded
Thanks,
Shailesh

Shailesh,
Notrix is third party software and used to link between Lotus Notes and SAP.
A Job runs in Notrix and pulls all workflow work items and sent to approvers lotus notes inbox, also you gotta write down some FM into SAP as a plug-in to Lotus Notes.
its a collective effort from Basis team, Notrix, ABAP developer and workflow consultant. Most important client has to be in consent for this all cost.
hope that it will help. for more info about Notrix pls google.
Cheers
Jai

Offline approval: handheld device

Dear SAP gurus,
We have a requirement in which the approvers in our company will do offline approval through their handheld device. In here they dont want to logon to the system and doing approval and rejection in the system, rather they want to click on a button only in the email and this should be suffice.
This is possible as SRM provides offline approval, in which when user click approve or reject essentially an email containing command to approve or reject will be sent to SRM. This is quite standard, but then they actually want this offline approval to become the same with online approval, in which they can also able to forward the work item.
I dont think it is possible, however if you know that it is actually possible can you enlight me on how to do that?
Best regards,
Yosea

Hi,
there is a problem for the blackberrys and offline approval emails. A note is created as well: 1074757
The problem is with the chars !?~&
Use the report RBBP_NOTIFICATION_OFFAPP_ESC1
I hope this helps. If did, please do not forget the reward points
Daniel

Offline approval for shopping cart PO and contract

Hi ,
we have the requirement to have the offline approval for all the procurement documents.
please can you guide me the procedure to set up the offline approval.
i know the report /sapsrm/offlineapprovasend has to be executed , but what i want to know is what selection data i need to give to schedule the job and what all settings i need to maintain for it to work properly
please help .

Hi,
Please check note:
[1247911 - Offline Approval: Buttons not available in mails office 2007|https://css.wdf.sap.corp/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/sapnotes/index2.htm?numm=0001247911]
This note proposes as solution
"Users with Outlook 2007 should open the mail in a window (double click)
and use the option "other actions" -> "view in browser" to see and use
all functionalities of the mail."
This is because Outlook 2007 does not support HTML forms.
Please, generate the mail in browser and check how the system works.
In order to use such functionality, you have to follow steps available
in note 1247911.
Also for more information about offline approval please read:
http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/SRM/Offlineapproval-generalconfiguration
Thanks,
Melina

Offline approval in ECC through Outlook

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