2109234 - How to Phrase an Approval Condition for all Possible Values Using the Wild Card '*'

An approval step is resolved even though the conditions outlined do not seem to be fulfilled.

You have setup an approval process for your business document. You want the corresponding step to be resolved only if the parameter is fulfilled in the document.

For example, you want that only Supplier Invoices with an account assignment to Individual Materials go for approval. To that end you have setup the following condition:

•        Field: Individual Material
•        Compare Operator : Contains
•        With Value : *

You have used the wild card '*' to cover all possible values. If the field contains any value at all, then this means that the account assignment is to Individual Material and the condition is fulfilled. You expect that if an invoice does not have an account assignment to Individual material, then this field will be blank and the condition will not be fulfilled. In this case, you expect the step to be bypassed.

In actuality, the step is resolved for all invoices, whether or not the account assignment matches the parameter. The document is therefore sent for approval as per the step.

The Issue is caused to the syntax used in the condition. An empty field will always match '*'. So in this case, the condition will always be resolved even if there is no individual material in the document.

To make sure that at least one non-empty entry exists in the table you should use the literal '+*' as comparing operand in the condition.

The condition should look like this :

•        Field: Individual Material
•        Compare Operator : Contains
•        With Value : +*

This will ensure that only non empty values will trigger the resolution of the condition. So if a document does not have an Account Assignment to Individual Material, then the field will be empty, the condition will not be resolved and the step will be bypassed.

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