Approval Step
The approval step in a workflow allows user interaction with the job.
At a minimum the approval step has a
- Target List of users
- A Notification email
Target List
Each approval step has a list of target list can can approve the request. The target list can be a reference to any object that then resolves to an Active Directory user or group.
This list is resolved at the time the approval is sent. Subsequent changes will not be reflected.
- Target Users
If the target list resolves to a user then the user in included in the list of users can can approve the request. The users GUID is stored as the approver. This means that if the user's account is deleted or recreated then they will not be able to approve the request. However, renaming the user account will not affect there ability to approve the request.
- Target Group
If the target list resolves to an Active Directory group, then the group is made the approver. This means that changes to group membership will be reflected in the ability to approve the request. For example, sending approval to the 'Financial Approvers Group' means that any users in this group can approve or decline the request. This includes users add after the approval was started. It is assumed that the target group is mail enabled and notification emails are sent to the group rather than individual users.
Notification Email
The notification email should include the basic information on approving the request and will normally include a link to allow the approver to directly approve the request.
Other Options
The following section outlines other options for configuring approvals.
Approval Type and Required approvals
The following are the available approval types:
| |
|---|---|
Option Name | Description |
Any | Any of the approvers can approve or decline the request. Notifications are sent to all approvers. |
Select | The user is made to select one or more users from the available Target List to request approval from. Only the selected users will be approvers and be sent any notification emails. |
By default only one approval if required to approve or decline a request. However, this can be override by changing the Required Approvals property. Valid options are:
| |
|---|---|
Option | Description |
N | At least N approvals are required for this request to be approved. The default 1 means that only one approval or decline is required. Setting it to '2' would mean that at least 2 approvals are required from different people to approve this request. |
All | All users in the list must approve the request. |
Submitter Approval
This option controls what happens if the submit user is also an approver. Valid options are:
| |
|---|---|
Option Name | Description |
Auto | If the submit user is also an approver then the request will be automatically approved. This means that the approver does not have to actually approve the request as a seperate step. |
Allow | Allow the submitter to approve there own requests, however, they must perform a seperate approval step. |
Deny | A submitter is not allowed to approve their own requests. This option means than even if the submit user is an approver they cannot approve the request. This option normally requires a escalation of process for having more than one approver. |
Previous Approvers
This option controls what happens if multiple approvals are required for a request. For example, if a 'Manager' and 'Financial' approval step are required and a user can approve both steps, do they need to do two seperate approvals or just one?
| |
|---|---|
Option Name | Description |
Auto | If an approver of any previous step is also an approver on this step, then assume that they have already approved the request. Note: This option can only automatically approve a request, if no additional information is required. |
AutoParent | If an approver of any previous step in this job or any parent job is also an approver on this step, then assume that they have already approved the request. Note: This option can only automatically approve a request, if no additional information is required. |
Allow | Allow a previous approver to approve multiple steps. |
Timeouts
The Activate timeouts are a declarative way of specifying what happens after a period of time when an approval step is running. If this is not specified for a specific approval step, then the default values are obtained from //Resources/Configuration/DefaultApproval.
The DefaultApproval timeouts are:
- Every 2 days send a reminder email to all current approvers
- After 5 working days escalate to the approvers manager
- After 8 working days escalate to the service desk role.
Advanced Options
There are numerous advanced options for controlling the approval screen and UI. These options include options for overriding the button text and displaying additional information.