Topics covered:
Ordering processes may be achieved by adding a "Priority". The priority will be used when the approval service is deciding which process applies to the approval entity. Processes are grouped by type and ordered from highest to lowest. Caution should be used since if left empty the ID value will be substituted. This may cause unexpected results if one of many is left empty. The suggested set up is to define a priority when multiple of the same type exist.
Processes can be refined using a WHERE_CLAUSE to restrict which types will fall under the defined PROCESS. Example - a process of TYPE: Personnel Actions can have a where clause that only PA's of type "A WAGE INCREASE" will qualify for this process defined, and such P's of type: "ADDRESS CHANGE" do not.
A Process may have a "Start" and "End" date where it will be considered to be "effective". If the current approval entity's AS_OF_DATE falls either between dates if both given, after the start if the end date is not provided or before the end date if the start date is not provided.
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Abbreviation | Stored Value |
---|---|
Department Manager | 01 |
Position Manager | 02 |
Assignment Manager | 03 |
First Manager | 04 |
Specified Person | 07 |
Spec List Of People | 08 |
Last Approvers Manager | 09 |
All Managers | 10 |
Approvers may be restricted using a "WHERE_CLAUSE" (IMDAO) to which approval entity they can approve within this process. Example: For the PA beginning approved above The PROCESS has already said that only PA's of type "A WAGE INCREASE" will be approved. And the specified approver can now only approve PA's for employees in a specific "DEPARTMENT".
Approvers that qualify in the above WHERE_CLAUSE are then assessed for their particular type. (Department Manager, Position Manager, Assignment Manager, Any Manager, Specified Person, Spec List Of People)
The "Manager" types are considered to be off the prime assignment for the identity of the approval entity. Ex: For the PA in the example above. This PA is for specific person. The manager defined on the prime assignment either for department, position, assignment or any person who is a manager at any of the previous levels will qualify as an approver for the above approval step.
The "Specified Person" is the selected identity as the qualified approver the above approval step. The "List of People" allows all identities in the list as qualified approvers. People lists that are generated through ep2k can only be used in this selection. These people lists use the "WHERE_CLAUSE" functionality as defined in IMDAO Approvals_and_Authorization_03.jpg
When an approval Entity becomes eligible for approval. "Notification approval records" are created. These are approval records with the approval status of "Ready To Be Approved". There is one record for each identity defined as an approver for the first step of approval. These record in conjunction with work flow can be used to notify approvers of pending approvals.
Once an approval is made (for example a time sheet) an approval record is created for that identity with the appropriate status (approved, not approved, cancelled). At this time the old "notification records" are removed and notification records are created for the next step.
The next step will be determined by a couple of factors:
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Approvers may designate a temporary replacement in two capacities. Either a "Replacement" or an "Alternate" may be defined. Replacement designates relieve an approver of all approval responsibilities starting as of the "From date" and end on the "To date" starting at 12am on the date specified. If these dates are left blank (null) the beginning of time and end of time are assumed respectively. When an alternate is defined all responsibilities are shared by the specified person and the original approver.
Designate approvers will have the start and end dates qualified based on the current server date.
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Both types of replacements may be specific to a certain type of approval.
Ex: a manager may be away for a vacation and time sheets may need to be reviewed during that time frame so an alternate or replacement may be assigned specifically to "Time Sheets". If there was a salary review during that time, it would remain the responsibility of the original manager to approve.
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Approvals_and_Authorization_08.jpg When responsibility is transferred from the approver to the designate for a replacement, all approval records previously created for notification are moved from the approver to the designate when the new designate record is saved. This will cause work flow, all approver screens and self service splash "to do" lists to now be full for the existing approvals previously required for the approver. Any new approvals required will create new approval records for the designate and the original approver will not be notified.
Alternate designates will have a copy of the approval records created for them and the original approver will retain all existing approval records. Both the alternate and approver will receive notification of new pending approvals.
The maintenance of the approval records as described above will be limited to the specified approval types. If none are listed all approval records will be subject to this maintenance.
Approvals_and_Authorization_09.jpg This condition is attempting to restrict to a position code. In order to do that the condition must start from a column on p2k_sa_personnel_actions. This example works its way from p2k_sa_personnel_actions then to the prime assignment on p2k_hr_assignments ,then to the effective details of that assignment (p2k_hr_assignment_details), then to the position (p2k_cm_positions) on that assignment as noted from the foreign keys in the condition column. The "value" is the restricted position code.
Approval Bar
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The approval bar is divided into sections which represent each step in the process. The description of each step is displayed in bold to identify the step. Below the description is 1 approval record status used to describe that status of that step. In the example above an approval has been made on step 1 by the department manager and step 2 is ready to be approved by the HR personnel approver. To help show the status of each step is 2 chevrons colored green and red. Green notes an approval has been made and red notes a step waiting approval.
Each step has two methods of making an approval. The first is the quick approve, noted as a check mark on the step which the approver (user) has rights to approve. If the user is not an approver with rights to approve the quick approve is not available. When the quick approve is clicked an approval is made and the process is progressed to the next step or final approval as required. An option to make comments is not available.
The second is a menu available with a right mouse click over the waiting step. The first menu item is a text item showing the approver name. The three options following that are approve, decline and send back with comments. The approve action on the menu provides an option to add comment to the approval via a dialog. The dialog has an optional comment box and approve or cancel action buttons. The approve will advance the process to the next step or make the final approval as required.
The approval bar menu also provides the same type of dialog for Decline with comments and Send back with comments. The last part of the approval bar is the information icon located to the immediate right of the approval bar. When clicked this action displays a view only dialog showing a record representation of the existing state of the approval proceeds based on the current approval records. Details shown include Date and time of the approval record creation, Step sequence, Status of the approval record, Approver Type, The identity for which the approval record was created, and optional comments made by an approver. These details may be viewed with more detail by day in DDAPR (see the Approval Screens section below). This dialog is based on the form (function) MDAPR.
IDAP Used to create approval processes, steps, approvers and to view approval records.
IDVAP Used to View approval records which are "ready to be approved" indicating an approval process waiting approval. This will show all the identities for each step which could actually make the approval.
IDVAR Used to view approval details and approve if the user has approval rights. This function is dynamic and displays different details specific to the approval entity. The example below is for a personnel action. DDAR Details of approvals and notifications may be viewed by day.
The following functions have an approval bar or approval action button where an approval may be made.
Product | Function | Function Description / Menu Label | GUI |
---|---|---|---|
AT | IAAL | Maintain Leave Records | Approval Bar |
AT | IALC | Certify Leave Records | Approval Bar |
AT | WMALP | Review Employee Leaves | Approval Bar |
BE | IBEL | Process Benefit Elections | Approval Bar |
BE | IBPOE | Process Employee Benefit OE Elections | Approval Bar |
CM | IDPS | Define Positions | Approval Bar |
CM | WADAR | Process Personnel Actions | Approval Bar |
CM | WADARH | View Personnel Actions History | Approval Bar |
CM | WADATS | Approve Time | Action Button |
CM | WMDAR | Review Personnel Actions | Approval Bar |
CM | WMDARH | View Personnel Action History | Approval Bar |
CM | WVDALR | Approve Leave Requests | Approval Bar |
CM | WVDAR | Approve Personnel Actions | Approval Bar |
CM | WVDARH | View Personnel Action History | Approval Bar |
CM | WVDATS | Approve Time | Approval Bar |
CP | ICDA | Plan Development Activities | Approval Bar |
CP | ICDP | Establish Development Programs | Approval Bar |
CP | ICPD | Maintain Personal Development Profile | Approval Bar |
CP | ICRS | Define Courses | Approval Bar |
CP | ICRSC | Maintain Class Schedules | Approval Bar |
CP | ICRSE | Maintain Class Registrations | Approval Bar |
CP | WACAT | Process Training Requests | Approval Bar |
CP | WMCAT | Review Training Requests | Approval Bar |
CP | WMCATH | View Training Request History | Approval Bar |
CP | WVCAT | Approve Training Requests | Approval Bar |
CP | WVCATH | View Training Request History | Approval Bar |
HR | PEAL | Maintain Aliases (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEAS | Maintain Assignment Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PECL | Process Classification Changes (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PECMP | Process Compensation Changes (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PECT | Maintain Employee Contacts (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEEI | Maintain Employment Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEID | Maintain Identity Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEMT | Maintain Military Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEPI | Maintain Personal Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEPP | Maintain Property Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEPR | Process Promotions (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PEST | Maintain Employee Statistics (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
HR | PESTT | Process Status Changes (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
PR | IPTR | Maintain Pay Transactions | Approval Bar |
PR | IPTRB | Balance Pay Transactions | Approval Bar |
PR | IPTS | Enter Employee Time Sheets | Action Button |
PR | IPTS | Maintain Employee Time Sheets | Action Button |
PR | MPPBT | Dialog | Approval Bar |
PR | PPPM | Maintain Payment Method Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
PR | PPRLC | Maintain CDN Tax Filing Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
PR | PPRLU | Maintain US Tax Filing Info (using PA's) | Approval Bar |
PR | WAPTE | Manage Time Collection Hours | Action Button |
PR | WAPTS | Manage Time Cards | Action Button |
PR | WEPTE | My Time Collection Hours | Action Button |
PR | WMPCTC | Review Employees Time Cards - Calendar View | Action Button |
PR | WMPTS | Review Time Cards | Action Button |
PR | WVPTE | Manage Time Collection Hours | Action Button |
PR | WVPTS | Approve Time Cards in Detail | Action Button |
RE | IRAS | Prepare Assessments | Approval Bar |
RE | IRCA | Maintain Candidate Profiles | Approval Bar |
RE | IRPO | Maintain Postings | Approval Bar |
RE | IRPOA | Approve Postings | Approval Bar |
RE | WARPO | Maintain Postings | Approval Bar |
RE | WRRAP | View Applications By Posting | Approval Bar |
RE | WRRMCA | Maintain Candidate Profiles | Approval Bar |
SA | ISPA | Maintain Personnel Actions | Approval Bar |
SA | ISPF | Balance Pay for Performance Increases | Action Button |
SA | ISRV | Record Performance Reviews | Approval Bar |
SA | MSSPA | Dialog | Action Button |
SA | WMSRV | Review Employee Appraisals | Approval Bar |
SA | WVSRV | Approve Performance Appraisals | Approval Bar |
TS | ITAPC | Approve Clock Adjustments | Approval Bar |
TS | WATAPC | Authorize Punch Changes | Approval Bar |
TS | WATTS | Manage Time Sheets | Action Button |
TS | WATTX | Manage Time Collections | Action Button |
TS | WMTAPC | Authorize Punch Changes | Approval Bar |
TS | WMTTS | Review Time Sheets | Action Button |
TS | WVTAPC | Authorize Punch Changes | Approval Bar |
TS | WVTSH | Approve Employee Time and Exceptions | Action Button |
TS | WVTTS | Approve Time Sheets in Detail | Action Button |
TS | WVTTSH | View Time Sheet History | Action Button |
TS | WVTTX | Manage Time Collections | Action Button |
When a step is ignored it will not show in the approval bar or have approval notification records created. It will appear as if the approval process did not have that step defined. When the empty step is the last step in the process the last approval made will be considered final approval and the approval entity will be updated to the "approved" stage.
Example:
Approval Process - Where clause = PEAS Personnel Actions only.
Step 1, Approver = Department Manager (no where clause)
Step 2 , Approver = HR personnel Specific person ( Where Clause - where wage Scale/Step is the last step sequence 3)
The assignment manager creates a new Personnel Action for a salary increase in PEAS for a salary increase to the next step. (2 of 3)
Notice only 1 step is displayed and the approval process includes two steps.
The approver where clause disqualifies the last approver.
Approval by the Department manager will result in final approval and the personnel action will become available for processing.
All manager type approvers are searched for based on a date in context to the approval entity. This will be the date used to search date sensitive details.
Personnel Actions - PA Status mappings translating from pa_status to approval stage.
Pending Stage_WorkInProcess
In Progress | Stage_WaitingApproval |
Submitted | Stage_WaitingApproval |
Failed Update | Stage_Approved |
Approved | Stage_Approved |
Completed | Stage_Approved |
Not Approved | Stage_Not_Approved |
Tracked Copy | Stage_Cancelled |
Cancelled | Stage_Cancelled |
Personnel Actions - PA Status mappings translating from approval stage to pa_status
Stage_WorkInProcess | Pending |
Stage_Not_Approved | Not Approved |
Stage_Cancelled | Cancelled |
Stage_WaitingApproval | In Progress |
Stage_Approved | Approved |
The current supported approval record statuses are:
Maintenance of approval records is accomplished in three ways. The first is automatically by the system when an existing IDAP definition pre-exists to an approval process starting and does not change during the approval. Secondly a manual button is on IDAP to update records if the approval process has been updated in any way with approvals in progress. The third is to run an update process UDAP. This process is suggested to be scheduled daily to allow start and end dates to be respected in IDAP processes or approvers, where clauses or designate approvers.
The term "Notification records" has been used to describe the records created to "notify" an approver, say for example an assignment manager of a pending approval via email using work flow. If on step one an approver is required to make an approval. Once the approval entities stage is set to Stage_waiting_approval, an approval record or notification record is created. This record has a status of "Ready to be Approved" as defined in the lexicon X_APPROVAL_STATUS. Up to Approvers also get a notification record with the status of "Approval In Progress".
If an approval entity is moved to the approval stage "Stage_WaitingApproval" and there has not been an approval process defined a generic 1 step approval bar will be displayed. Any user with access to the function and data may approve this type of approval. No approval records are ever created. The status of the approval entity is simply updated to the next stage upon approval.
A generic approval would be displayed as below with the right mouse click menu:
Two self service screens listed below have a toggle available for use located in the find block of each function. This toggle enables the data listed in the find block to change dynamically to show "potential" approvals verses "actual" approvals. WVDATS - Approve Time WVTSH - Approve Employee Time and Exceptions
It is highly recommended that properly built where clauses are used on both the approval process and approver levels. If the refining of approval processes and approvers is not properly done performance will be an issue. Consultants would be a good source to help ensure that all filtering is done properly to avoid any performance problems. Below is an example of too many rows for an approver to manage.
The site preference APPROVAL_WIP_REC now replaces the old simulation logic applied when trying to find the possible approvals an approver may need to make. This logic gives more of an accurate view of the up and coming approvals by monitoring specific tables defined by this preference. In IMST, preference records may be added as in the above example for table TIME
Screen captures are meant to be indicative of the concept being presented and may not reflect the current screen design.
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