Predefined approval can be triggered on a request from the catalog or in a work order. To use approval on these records, an approval rule must be defined from the group Predefined Approval. Rules are defined in the section Approval → Approval Rules. Detailed information on creating rules and on the Predefined Approval rule group is provided in the documentation section Creating a rule and Predefined Approval rule group.
If the Approval item is not available in the main menu, you need to check the permissions for accessing this module in the user details (in the Users and Groups → Users section) on the Permissions → Approval item tab.
Predefined approval workflows are defined in the request or work order template, and it is possible to configure various scenarios in which the approval process is triggered. A request or work order for which approval has been triggered remains in the awaiting approval status until the approval process is completed, with no option to edit the record. Approval is only complete after comments have been provided on the individual approval steps (e.g., approval by a supervisor, sufficient number of approvals, comments on steps marked as mandatory, and so on).
Predefined approval in the request
Predefined approval follows a set of predefined steps, which are defined through the approval steps within the approval rule. Once this rule has been created, it can be selected on the request template. An approval process already in progress on a request cannot be edited. If you need to modify the approval process—for example, to add or change approvers—you must make these changes directly in the approval rule.
Approval can be configured on the request template using two parameters:
- Approval before resolving the request – This approval is triggered automatically after the request is created; the request cannot be resolved until the approval has been processed
- Approval during request resolution – Approval that you can initiate manually while resolving a request, or you can set up automatic initiation, either after the request status changes to Completed or after all tasks associated with the request are completed. You can initiate manual approval for a request in the request details by clicking the button Send for Approval. After clicking, a modal window will appear with a preview of the approval and a button to create it.
Both of these approval processes can be configured within a single request template.
Processing a request with approval
After creating a request from the catalog with approval before request processing, such a request is automatically in the awaiting approval status, and an approval request is sent to the approver (notification, approval request to the mobile app). The request cannot be processed further until it has been approved.
In the details of a request requiring approval, the header contains an Approval section. The color of the button with the approval name indicates the current approval status:
- Blue – approval is pending
- Yellow – approval has been denied and returned for revision
- Green – approval has been granted
- Red – approval has been denied
Clicking the approval button opens a modal window with approval details.
In addition to basic information about the approval and the request, the approval details also display information about the approval steps and their current status. The example shown in the figure illustrates parallel approval, where the required number of approvals is 2. However, one of the approval steps is mandatory. This approval will not be finalized until the approver of this mandatory step has provided their input, even if the condition for the required number of approvals has already been met. In this case, two scenarios may occur:
- The approver of the mandatory step gives their opinion positively – the approval will be evaluated as approved, the status of the request is automatically updated, editing is enabled, and the assignee can continue working on it. Approval with explicit consent is displayed in green in the top-left corner of the request details.
If the approver of the mandatory step responds negatively, the approval will be marked as denied, the request status will be automatically updated, and editing the request remains disabled.
However, approvers also have the option to Revoke their decision and subsequently comment again on the approval step, which may affect the overall approval outcome. You can change your decision by clicking the “Revoke current status” button in the relevant approval step. The button to revoke a decision is available only until a change occurs in the request compared to its status after approval. After clicking this button, the approval is re-evaluated (a denied approval may revert to an approval pending approval).
In the case of and the batch approval system, the approval interface is the same. The difference lies in the availability of approval steps, which are made available to approvers in the specified order—until the approver for a given step in the sequence has provided feedback, the remaining steps are unavailable for editing and cannot be reviewed by subsequent approvers.
If any one step in the batch approval process is denied, the entire approval is automatically denied, as this approval method requires all approvers to give their approval. The request is automatically updated to the denied status.
In the serial approval process, the approval rule includes an option to allow the re-approval of a denied request. When this approval process is initiated, in addition to the buttons for accepting and denying the approval step, a button is also available Deny, Return for Revision.
Clicking this button will deny the approval, but when you reopen the approval details, the “” button will appear. Add.
Clicking this button displays a form with the request, which can be edited to add information. All fields can be edited, but the following cannot be changed: Company and Request status. After the changes to the request are saved for the first time, the approval process is triggered again.
This option is intended for cases where approval cannot be granted—for example, due to missing data—and the request would therefore be denied unnecessarily. This allows you to add the missing data and resume the approval process without having to create a new request.
Predefined approvals in a work order
Approval in a work order can be initiated in a similar way to that for a request. In the work order template, in the Approval rule field, select the rule from the predefined approval group. For more information on approval rules and the “Predefined Approval” rule group, see Creating a rule and “Predefined Approval” rule group.
Processing a work order with approval
Until the approval process is complete, the work order remains in the awaiting approval status and cannot be edited. As with a request, the work order details page displays the sections Approval with information about the current approval status. Clicking the approval button displays the approval details.
If the approval has been marked as accepted, the work order status is automatically updated, and editing of this record is enabled to make it available for processing. If denied, the entire work order is denied, and further editing or resolution is not possible. Denying a single work order may affect the generation of subsequent work orders for the request if the completion of the previous order was a condition for generation.
The status and details of all approvals recorded in the system are available in the main menu under Approval → Approval.