Create Advanced Workflows for Approvals

Once you have created a basic workflow for your approvals, you can use it as your base workflow to edit and update to a more advanced workflow to suit your requirements.

This process will show you how to:

• Edit the properties of steps and actions
• Create new steps and actions

Related Links:

Create Basic Workflows (for Approvals)

NCR Advanced Approval Workflow

1. Edit a Step

1.1 Select the relevant project and navigate to the Approval Workflows register (Other Setup > Approval Workflows).  In this example, we are selecting the "Basic workflow" for Hold Point. 

Note: For this example, the Basic Workflow has already been created. 

1.2 Select a step to edit by clicking on it. In this example, we are selecting "Requested" (click on Oblong in Blue).

Note: In the workflow chart, steps are represented by oblongs and actions, by arrows.  

1.3  On the right, the Step Properties panel will open. Here you can insert the number of "Days to Complete" or select how your step to be marked.  

Click "Save".

Notes:

• Every workflow requires a "First Step. In this example. "Requested" is the first step.
• To edit the name of a step, simply double-click on the step and the name will be highlighted. Type to overwrite the name.
• To delete a step, select the step by clicking on it, and hit "Del" on your keyboard. 

2. Edit an Action

2.1 Select an action to edit by clicking on it. In this example, we are selecting "HP Released" (click on the "HP Released" arrow that flows from Requested to HP Released).

2.2 On the right, the Action Properties panel will open. Here you can update the following fields:

• Requires Comment - if comments are required for approval
• Priority - specifies the order in which available actions are listed  in the dropdown list in the approval dialog box. For example, HP Released would be the first action that users (approvers) want to see so this would be ranked "1" while Rejected and NCR would be ranked "4" or "5" to be placed at the bottom of the list.
• Action Permissions - you can select who can action the approvals : Requester and/or Addressee, specific Users and Roles.

Click "Save".

Notes: 

• To delete an action, select the action by clicking on it and hit "Del" on your keyboard.  
• To edit the name of an action, double-click on the text box of the action (arrow) and type to overwrite the name.  

3. Create New Steps and Actions

You can choose to extend your existing basic workflow by adding more steps and actions to it or you can clone your basic workflow and use it to create a more advanced workflow.

For this example, we are going to extend our conditional approval status as the client requires that conditionally approved items are returned for review upon completion. We do this by adding a new step after the Cond. Released step called Condition Completed. This is reached via an action called Complete Condition. When the condition is completed, the client then has two available actions – to approve the condition’s completion, or request revision.

3.1  In this example, we are going to clone "Basic workflow - Hold Point" and use this to create the extended workflow for Hold Point as described above.

To clone a workflow,  right-click on the basic workflow and select "Clone".

3.2 Enter a name for the Advanced Workflow e.g. Extended Workflow - Hold Point and click on the tab "CLONE".

3.3 Click on the Extended Workflow to open its flowchart.

3.4  To add a new step, click "New Step" and drag it to a suitable position on the chart.

Note: you can adjust the positions of the steps and actions in the flowchart by dragging the shapes and arrows to create more space for the extended workflows.

3.5 We are going to name this step "Condition Completed" by typing in the new name in this step.

3.6a Next, we are going to add the actions required to flow to and from the new step. To add an action, hover your mouse over the side of a step until a solid green dot appears , then drag it to the meeting point of the other step that you want to link.  

In this example, we are adding  three actions ( arrows) :

• From Cond. Released to Condition Completed
• From Condition Completed to HP Released
• From Condition Completed to Cond. Released

3.6b. Next, we need to assign a name for each of the three new actions. Double- click on each of the text box on the arrows to enter a name. 

3.7  Once we have added the steps and actions, we'll need to update a couple of properties for the steps and actions that we have added. When the addressee statuses the workflow as Conditionally Released, the original requestor will then advise when the condition is completed. Following this, the addressee can either accept the condition completion, or request a revision. To reflect this, we'll update the properties of the steps and actions as follows: 

Steps (Fig 3.7a)

• Remove the Complete property on "Conditionally Released"
• Add the "Approved to Proceed" condition on Conditionally Released
• Update the "Days to Complete" property as appropriate

Actions (Fig 3.7b & c)

• Complete Condition – Requestor Can Action (3.7b)
• Revise Completion – Addressee Can Action (no screenshot but would be similar to 3.7c)
• Completion Approved – Addressee Can Action (3.7c)
• Set Requires comment to true for the Conditionally Release HP action, and all of the new actions.

Click "Save"

Note:  First Steps - Blue, Complete - Green, Approved to Proceed - White

Fig 3.7a

Fig 3.7b

Fig 3.7c