Creating a User Approval Task
Users can approve or reject these tasks using the Self Service Portal
If there is a Conditional Branching Task preceding the Customer Approval Task in the workflow and a Forward To recipient is specified on the Conditional Branching Task, then, at run time, the value specified in the Conditional Branching Task will override the value specified in the Customer Approval Task.
Why Use a Customer Approval Task?
Workflow processes often require approvals to be given before a workflow can progress. Approvals are a critical stage in any workflow; they restrict approval permissions to certain individuals or groups and record details of the approval or rejection for auditing purposes. Once an approval task is completed, the workflow progresses down certain dependency paths, based on the approval or rejection decision.
Generally, approvals are completed within the main ASM Core or NANO application with a workflow officer logging into the system, locating the approval and completing it.
The Customer Approval Task provides a similar function with some key differences:
Customer Approval Tasks can only be completed through the Self-Service Portal or via email.
A person flagged as a customer must exist in ASM for the Customer Approval Task to be assigned.
The benefits of using the Customer Approval Task
The approver does not need to know how to navigate the full ASM application interface. Learning how to use the Self-Service Portal interface requires less training than the full application.
The approver does not need a license; this means an unlimited number of customers can be approvers through the Service Portal.
A person can set up as both an analyst and a customer through their person details record, allowing analysts to complete Customer Approvals through the Self-Service Portal. This configuration can free up shared licenses.
User Approval Tasks can also be approved in the main application by full analysts with Approver rights on the Tasks tab of their Workflow Management security role. This may be necessary when a user is unavailable to handle an approval that has been assigned to them.
When a User Approval task is added to a workflow, a user must be linked to the task.
Request managers can assign one or more users to the User Approval task when adding the task to a workflow template or request (if the approval has not yet become active).
If multiple users are added, then when the task is activated, a separate User Approval task is created for each one.
Creating a User Approval Task
Search for the Request Details window, if it is not already on screen.
Select the Update Dependencies explorer option on the Request Details window, or the button from the toolbar. The Task Dependencies window appears with icons for task entity types displayed below the toolbar.
Choose the task icon from the palette, and drag it to the window.
On the dependency diagram, double-click the User Approval task icon to view the User Approval Details window.
Complete the common task fields on this task.
To link users to the task, expand the Recipients section and click Add.
In the Recipients window, find and select recipients.
People | Select to find and select users as the approvers. Specify the name and/or organization and click Find. From the results table, select each user you want to approve the task and click Add. |
Other | Select to forward the Approval task to the person selected in a specific field when the task becomes active. This could be the user selected on the request, user who logged the request, and so on. You can then select from the drop-down list of available fields. Alternatively, you can forward a User Approval task to a variable (such as the user selected on the request) using a Conditional Branching task. |
Stakeholders | Select to send the approval task to a request stakeholder. A list of stakeholder roles appears. choose how many levels of available Stakeholders to display in the selection list. The list of Stakeholders has recipients available related to Linked CIs. Notifications can be sent to the stakeholders of CIs linked to the CIs Attached to the current Request. This affects CIs linked up to 2 levels from the current CI. The linked higher/lower options relate to the CI relationship mapping.
Example: CI A is linked to CI B. CI A has stakeholder 1 and 3. CI B has stakeholder 2 and 4. If CI A has a change logged to it, the workflow can be configured to notify stakeholder 1, 2, 3, and 4 using the messaging task. Select the stakeholder role(s), and click Add. To select the stakeholder of the person who authorized the request, select Authorized By/Stakeholder. |
Click OK. The window is closed. The selected recipient(s) are added to the browse table on the Details window.
Repeat to add more recipients, then save the details.
When the User Approval task becomes active in the workflow, a separate user approval task will be created for each recipient. Only one user can be linked to a User Approval task once it has become active in the workflow so if you edit the task from the request, the Recipients tab is disabled.
Once the task is activated (that is, preceding tasks have been completed) the user receives an email, provided the user has an email address specified in their person details record. This email provides information on what needs to be approved and includes a web address. The user can click on the web address to be taken to the User Approval task in Self Service Portal (they may be required to log in before they can see the task) or they can click the Approve or Reject button in the email.
Users can also locate their tasks by logging into the portal and viewing their Approval Summary page, or by selecting the Outstanding Approvals option in the menu. Once the task has been opened, they can approve or reject the task.
If the linked request has been opened by an analyst when a user wishes to approve a User Approval Task, a warning message appears, but the task can still be approved. However, if the task has been set to update the request status and the request has been opened by another analyst, the request cannot be updated.
User Approval tasks are completed automatically as soon as the user approves or rejects the task.
Completing an Approval
Once the task is opened, the customer selects either the Approve or Reject button. They can then enter comments about their decision prior to completing the task (they may be required to re-enter their Service Portal password).
Customers having approval rights can view and action a Customer Approval Task assigned to them through the Service Portal, provided they have access to the portal. If the assigned customer is also flagged as an officer through their Person Details record, they can also view and action a Customer Approval Task assigned to them through the main application.
Customer Approvals can be approved in the main application by full officers with Approver rights on their Workflow Management security role. This may be necessary when a customer is unavailable to handle an approval that has been assigned to them.
