In Element's Workflow Manager, you can create workflows that involve approval steps, and using an approval-based workflow like this can help ensure that critical steps in a process are properly validated before proceeding. It's commonly used in scenarios where accuracy, compliance, or validation from higher authorities are necessary.
Permission Sets Required
The ability to view, create, edit, or approve tasks is controlled by Permission Sets. To learn more about assigning Permission Sets to users, check out this article!
- Elements Workflow Manager Administrator - This Permission Set allows a user to read, create, edit, and delete approvals within Workflow Templates
- Workflow Manager Approver - This Permission Set allows a user to approve workflow tasks
- Salentica Elements Workflow Manager - This Permission Set allows a user to read approval summaries
Designing your Workflow to Include Approvals
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Workflow Template Creation: Start by designing your workflow template. This template outlines the sequence of steps that need to be completed for a specific process or task.
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Approval Step Addition: Identify the steps within your workflow that require approval. These are typically points in the process where a decision needs to be made or a specific action needs validation.
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Approval Configuration: For each approval step, you will set up the approval configuration. This involves specifying which tasks need approval, and who needs to approve the task.
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Approval Process: When a workflow reaches an approval step, the designated approver(s) will receive notifications or tasks indicating that their approval is needed.
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Approval Decision: The approver(s) will review the information related to the preceding step and make a decision: approve or reject. If approved, the workflow moves on to the next step. If rejected, the rejection handling mechanism you set up will be triggered.
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Rejection Handling: Plan what happens if an approval step is rejected. This could involve sending notifications to relevant parties, updating the status of the task, and possibly triggering a revision process to address the concerns raised during the rejection.
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Next Workflow Step: After approval, the next step in the workflow will be initiated. This could involve automated tasks, notifications, or other processes related to the approved step.
Using an approval-based workflow like this can help ensure that critical steps in a process are properly validated before proceeding. It's commonly used in scenarios where accuracy, compliance, or validation from higher authorities are necessary.
Create an Approval Step on a Workflow Template
To create a step with the Approve/Reject buttons, you must first create a preceding step that can be referenced in the approval step.
1. Open the Elements Configuration App from the App Selector.
2. Click Workflow Templates tab and open a Workflow Template by clicking the Name of the Template.
3. Select the Steps tab.
4. Select an existing Step by clicking on the Name of the Workflow Template Step or create a new Step.
5. Fill out the Required fields (indicated with a red asterisk)
6. On the Details tab of the Step, select the following options on the Step to create an Approval Step:
- Select Type of Approval.
- Select the Approval Step, which is the preceding step.
- Select one of the Upon Rejection options, whether Cancel Workflow or Reopen Preceding Step.
7. Click Save.
Once saved, on the Details tab of the Workflow Template Step you will see
- Type = Approval
- Approval Step = Preceding Workflow Step Name
- Upon Rejection = Rejection Handling for the Workflow Template Step
Once the Step is saved, the Type will now show as the Approval on the Step list. In this example, Step 4 is to Approve the forms submitted in Step 3.
Upon Rejection Options
Cancel Workflow will cancel the entire Workflow. No future Steps will kick off any remaining tasks. To continue the business process, a new Workflow would need to be kicked off from the beginning.
Reopen Preceding Step will reopen the Step specified in the Approval Step. This will allow the previous step Assignee to update their task and resubmit for Approval.
Approval Options on the Related Task
When designing the Approval Steps, make sure the user assigned to approve the step has Workflow Manager Approver Permission Set assigned to them.
From there, on the task, there are two options on the corresponding Approval Task: Approve or Reject. Once the Approval Status is selected on the Task, it will automatically set the Task status to "Completed". The Approval Status may not be changed after one of the Approval buttons is clicked. The task cannot be Reopened once it is marked Completed.
Approval Summary
An Approval Summary will be recorded on the Approval Step (the preceding step) displaying whether an Approval or Rejection was selected, by whom, and the date and time stamped.
Rejection Cancellation Notification
The Workflow record Owner will be notified via the in-app Notifications that a Workflow has been canceled. Notifications are available on both the Desktop and Mobile app.
Approvals Video
To see Approvals in action, as well as setting up Approvals in Workflow Templates, watch this quick video.
