Journal Workflow

Journal Entry Manager uses a cascading workflow model, enabling users to act at their assigned role level and any level below it. To maintain integrity, the system incorporates Segregation of Duties. Once a user has acted on a journal, they cannot take further action on that same journal.

The journal goes through the following states: 

  • In Process: The initial state in which the journal is editable.

  • Prepared: The first non-editable state. If changes must be made, the Preparer must recall the journal or the Approver must reject the journal.

    NOTE: Approvers also have access to the recall action if they prefer not to leave the journal in a rejected state.

  • Partially Approved: Applies only when the journal template requires multiple levels of approval.

  • Fully Approved: Indicates that the final approver has signed off. The journal is ready to be confirmed as Posted.

  • Rejected: A state where the journal becomes editable again. This is typically initiated by an Approver to return the journal to the Preparer’s queue for revisions.

Role

In Process

 Prepared Partially Approved Fully Approved
Preparer

Prepare

 Recall No Action No Action

Approver

Prepare

 Recall, Reject, or Approve Reject, Unapprove, Approve Reject, Unapprove, Confirm Posting, Download

Administrator

Prepare

 Recall, Reject, or Approve Reject, Unapprove, Approve Reject, Unapprove, Confirm Posting, Download

NOTE: The table above displays if each role acted in this order. The available actions differ if an Approver prepares a journal. The variations in actions are dictated by OneStreammaintaining Segregation of Duties for each journal entry.

Posting State

Journal Entry Manager includes an additional layer of workflow called the Posting State, which informs users of where a journal is in the posting process and what actions are required to move it to the final Posted state.

  • Awaiting Approval: The initial posting state for a journal. Journals are not sent until they are Fully Approved, so this state alerts users that the approval workflow must be completed before posting can begin.

  • Ready to Send (Direct Download, Schedule Reversals, and Recurring Journal Definitions only): Appears after the journal reaches the Fully Approved state in the Direct Download workflow. Since manual extraction is required to send the journal from OneStream, this state signals that the user must perform that action. This state is also used when a reversing journal has been created for a future period and is being held until the effective date to send.

  • Awaiting Confirmation: For Direct Download, this state is triggered once the journal is downloaded. For SFTP or OneStream File Explorer, this state follows the Fully Approved status.

    Example: The Posting State moves from Awaiting Approval to Awaiting Confirmation.

  • Posted: After the journal is sent to the ERP, the final Approver or an administrator can confirm the posting. This is done with the Confirm icon, where the ERP ID and an optional comment can be added. Once confirmed, the journal moves to the Posted state.

  • Failed to Send: If the journal fails to reach its destination folder using SFTP or OneStream File Explorer, it enters the Failed to Send state. This indicates a connection error. Once resolved, the journal can be resent.

  • Failed to Post: If the journal reaches the ERP but fails to post due to validation errors, it enters the Failed to Post state. The journal can then be returned to In Process, revised, and re-submitted through the workflow.

Role

Awaiting Approvals

 Ready to Post Awaiting Confirmation Posted Failed to Send Failed to Post
Preparer

No Action

 No Action No Action No Action No Action No Action

Approver

No Action

 Download Confirm No Action Recall, Reject, Unapprove Recall, Reject, Unapprove

Administrator

No Action

 Download Confirm No Action Recall, Reject, Unapprove Recall, Reject, Unapprove

Manual Posting State Selection

When confirming a journal in the Awaiting Confirmation posting state, administrators and final approvers indicate the posting outcome by selecting Yes or No.

  • If Yes is selected, indicating that the journal was successfully posted, the confirmation dialog displays fields for ERP Journal ID and Posting Details.

  • If No is selected, indicating that the journal failed to post, only the Posting Details field is displayed.

This ensures that all posting outcomes are tracked and audited and enables accurate manual intervention when necessary.

IMPORTANT: If Enable Manual Posting Confirmation is set to No, the manual posting icon and confirmation dialog do not display. See Journal Template.

 

Reject or Unapprove a Journal and Extract Deletion

When a journal is in the Awaiting Confirmation posting state and is moved back to Awaiting Approvals, for example if the journal is rejected or unapproved, the system will automatically delete the previously sent journal extract from the file folder (File Share or SFTP). This ensures that if the journal is later re-approved and re-sent, no duplicate extracts exist. The Reject and Unapprove actions are available in the following posting states:

  • Awaiting Approvals

  • Failed to Send (File Share/SFTP only)

  • Failed to Post (File Share/SFTP only)

NOTE: Once a journal reaches the Posted state, Reject and Unapprove are no longer available.