You must have a solid working knowledge of Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle BPM Suite, and Oracle Business Rules before modifying the Oracle TRM Approval Ruleset. For information on these products, see:

- Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Rules
- Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite

Oracle Travel Request Management uses the TRM Approval Matrix Decision Table, in the Approval Ruleset, to determine the approval processing for a travel request. This decision table includes conditions and actions as its rows and rules as its columns. The rules test the values of the conditions and set corresponding values for the actions. The rules must account for all possible combinations of values of all conditions in the table. A value of otherwise means "all values not listed." A dash means "this value doesn't matter." Bucketsets are used to set pre-defined values for certain conditions.

The Approval Ruleset is based on the employee hierarchy of the organization. Each employee in the organization is programmatically assigned a level number. The CEO or highest employee in the organization is assigned to level one. The next highest employee is assigned to level two. The levels continue until the last employee is assigned a level number. The level numbers assigned to each employee are used in the globals. The Sample Organizational Hierarchy image shows a sample of an organizational hierarchy and the level numbers assigned to each employee.

Sample Organizational Hierarchy

Upon submission of a travel request, the rules engine tests each condition. If a combination of condition values matches a rule, the corresponding actions are taken. The TRM Approval Matrix Decision Table provides the details for each condition, its rules, and the actions to execute. Following the table is an example scenario explaining how a travel request is processed based on the given condition. The scenario use the organizational hierarchy as depicted in the Sample Organization Hierarchy image.

TRM Approval Matrix Decision Table

William Faulk submits a domestic travel request for $1000.00 - William's request is auto-approved because his employee level is 2.

You can modify the existing ruleset, condition, or actions. Take caution before modifying a condition or action, it can require source code changes. Travel request processing fails if this ruleset is deleted. To modify the ruleset, conditions, or actions, see "Editing Rules in an Oracle Business Rules Dictionary at Run Time," in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Rules.