Administration > Maintenance > Approval Lists
WorkPlace requires you to establish approvers for use with Routing Rules. Routing Rules define how a record is processed and who it must be routed to during approval. Records that meet the established rules will be routed to an approval session based on the list of the approver(s) required.
There are two methods of approval list setup - Hierarchical or Sequential - dependent on the system setting chosen. Sequential is the default and recommended setting.
Before approval lists can be setup, users with access to the approval session must be established in WorkPlace Security.
Select NEW to start the Approval List Wizard, which will guide you through the steps of creating an approval list. The Approval List Wizards consists of four steps:
List Definition
Add Users to List
Setup Alternates
Finished
Edit
Opens the Approval List Wizard for the selected Approval List.
Deletes the Approval List(s) where the Delete checkbox has been marked.
Delete Checkbox
Select the appropriate checkbox next to the approval list(s) you wish to delete and press the Delete button.
List ID
Click on NEW to create a new approval list or select an existing List ID to edit an existing Approval List this launches the approval list wizard allowing the modification of an existing approval list.
The description given to the associated approval list during creation.
Approval Lists
Select this button to return to the main screen and view all Approval Lists.
Enter up to 20 alphanumeric characters as an identifiable name for the approval list in this field; such as, IT Manager
Enter up to 60 alphanumeric characters as the corresponding description for the approval list ID; such as, Approvals for Hardware/Software
Parallel approvals provides an option to streamline workflows where multiple approvals may be required simultaneously for quicker processing. For example, if 3 users are added to the Approval list and the Minimum Approvers Required is set to 2, the transaction will be considered approved once any 2 of the 3 users have approved the transaction. At that point, the transaction will move to the next approval requirement or, if no further approvals are required, will be marked as approved.
When enabled, all users added to the Approval List in Step 2 will be able to approve transactions in parallel to expedite transaction processing.
Specify the minimum number of users required for approval. When Parallel Approval is enabled, this will be a required field or the user will be presented with an error when attempting to continue that 'Minimum Approvers must be greater then 0 when Parallel Approval for this Approval List is Enabled'. The number of users added to the list in the next step will be validated against this value to ensure the requirement can be met. The Selected User(s) or Role(s) count cannot be less then the defined Minimum Approvers Required.
When using the 'Enable Parallel Approval for this Approval List' option, the number of users added to the list will be validated against the 'Minimum Approvers Required' value assigned in the previous step to ensure the requirement can be met. Otherwise an error will be presented that 'The Selected User(s) or Role(s) count cannot be less then the defined Minimum Approvers Required'.
Approval Lists
Select this button to return to the main screen and view all Approval Lists.
Short description of the approval list.
Name of the Approval list.
Allows the user to select the desired view of available users. Based on System Configuration, available choices are Both, User and Role, when role-based security is enabled.
List of available user names which can be selected and defined as approvers on this approval list. All users that have been setup in WorkPlace Security will appear in the available users box.
List of user names which have been selected and defined as approvers on this approval list. With Hierarchical approval, lines are routed to approvers established on the approval list in order of appearance, to move an approver up or down on the list use the Order Up and Order Down buttons. Parallel approvers are permitted to approve simultaneously and the order in which they are added will not impact the workflow.
Order
The Order buttons will not be displayed when 'Enable Parallel Approval for this Approval List' has been activated for the Approval List.
Approval Lists
Select this button to return to the main screen and view all Approval Lists.
Displays User\Roles of Approvers for this approval list, the Alternate(s) are established or modified for by clicking on the User\Role. A pop-up window will appear and you will be able to specify a User or Role for the Alternate. There is also a checkbox called "Activate Email" on this page, when unchecked the alternate approver will not receive an Email notification when the alternate is active.
Once an Alternate or Alternates have been assigned this field will be updated to indicate the number of Alternates established for this approver. Multiple alternates can be designated for any given approver. Once an alternate is "active" it becomes an either/or for the approval session, the original approver and any active alternate(s) will receive the email notification and have the ability to load and process any records pending approval. email notifications for alternates are controlled by the "Activate Email" checkbox on the Alternate setup page.
Check this box to make the Alternate(s) active for this approver.
Once an alternate has been setup for an approver a button - Enable/Disable my Alternate Approver(s) - appears on their WorkPlace page allowing them to enable/disable their alternate. If the original approver forgets to enable their alternate(s), any user with access to this maintenance page can active the alternate by selecting this checkbox.
Approval Lists
Select this button to return to the main screen and view all Approval Lists.
Displays the List Name for this approval list.
Displays the Description for this approval list.
Displays User Names of Approvers for this approval list.
Displays any Alternate(s) assigned to this approver and notes whether or not they are active.