FRAMEWORK FOR DELEGATING ROLES IN HUMAN RESOURCES ERP SYSTEMS

• US 20090064280A1
• Filed: 07/09/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Renli, Babeanu, Razvan Alexandre, Field, Justin Craig
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Embodiments presented herein provide transaction delegation systems and methods that allow a delegator to select any user to act as a proxy on that manager'"'"'s behalf with respect to certain transactions. In embodiments, a manager is able to select different users to manage different transactions. A user can accept a proxy request and obtain the necessary security access when the delegation is active. Thus, the proxy user is able to approve and/or initiate the selected transactions even if the security for those transactions is higher than what the proxy user would normally have. In embodiments, an administrator is able to configure the delegations and can ensure that the delegated authority is revoked when the delegated authority expires.

Claims

1. A method of delegating authority for managing transactions, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of a manager to provide authority to manage one or more transactions to one or more proxy users;

activating the authority for the proxy user;

in response to activating the authority, automatically providing additional security access to the proxy user;

revoking the authority for the proxy user; and

in response to revoking the authority, removing the additional security access for the proxy user.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

sending a request to the proxy user; and

providing a user interface to the proxy user to allow the proxy user to decide whether to accept the request to receive the authority.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further comprising receiving a selection from the proxy user to accept the authority.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, further comprising:

updating a delegation table to record the authority for the proxy user; and

updating the delegation table to provide the security access for the proxy user.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection from the proxy user to reject the authority.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, further comprising notifying the manager that the proxy user rejected the authority.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the authority has a start date and an end date, wherein the authority is activated on the start date and revoked on the end date.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of one or more transactions for which the proxy user will have authority to manage.

9. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when read and executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to execute a method for providing delegated approval for a transaction, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving a transaction request from a user;

instructions for determining a manager to manage the transaction;

instructions for determining whether a proxy is selected to handle management of the transaction on behalf of the manager; and

instructions for sending the transaction to the proxy if the proxy is selected to handle management of the transaction.

10. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 9, further comprising instructions for sending the transaction to the manager if there is no proxy selected to handle management of the transaction.

11. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 9, wherein determining whether a proxy is selected comprises:

instructions for calling a data model to determine if a proxy record exists;

instructions for accessing one or more delegation tables to locate the proxy record; and

instructions for returning one or more proxy records associated with the manager and the transaction.

12. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 9, further comprising instructions for receiving an approval from the proxy for the transaction.

13. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the manager reverses the approval.

14. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 9, further comprising instructions for receiving a denial from the proxy for the transaction.

15. A system for delegating authority for managing transactions, the system comprising:

a HCM system, the HCM system operable to manage human resources information;

a direct reports framework in communication with the HCM system, the direct reports framework operable to approve one or more transactions having data associated with the HCM system;

a delegation framework in communication with the HCM system and the direct reports framework, the delegation framework operable to delegate authority for approval of the one or more transactions from a manager to a proxy.

16. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the delegation framework includes a delegation engine for determining the proxy and reporting the proxy to the direct reports framework.

17. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the delegation framework comprises:

a user interface layer, the user interface layer operable to provide one or more user interface pages that receive input from a user or display information to the user;

a control layer in communication with the user interface layer, the communication layer operable to administer transfer of authority from the manager to the proxy; and

a persistence layer in communication with the control layer, the persistence layer operable to provide data table access, the persistence layer operable to transfer security privileges to the proxy.

18. The system as defined in claim 17, wherein the user interface layer comprises:

a setup interface, the setup interface operable to provide one or more pages to administer transfers of authority from the manager to the proxy;

a maintenance interface, the maintenance interface operable to provide one or more maintenance pages to manage existing delegations of authority; and

a runtime interface, the runtime interface operable to provide one or more pages to create delegations of authority, the runtime interface operable to provide one or more pages to delegate authority from a manager to a proxy for a transaction when the authority delegation is active.

19. The system as defined in claim 17, wherein the control layer comprises:

a delegation control layer, the delegation control layer receiving inputs from a manager, the delegation control layer creating one or more delegations of authority for the manager, the delegation control layer enforcing the delegations; and

a direct reports application, the direct reports application receiving requests for transaction, the direct reports application determining the existence of a delegation of authority, the direct reports application transferring authority for approval of the transaction to the proxy.

20. The system as defined in claim 17, wherein the persistence layer comprises:

a data model, the data model operable to access one or more delegation tables to create delegations, the data model operable to retrieve information from one or more delegation tables to enforce a delegation; and

a security module, the security module operable to change security privileges for a proxy to allow the proxy to approve or deny a transaction.