Work Order Approvals

Work Order Approvals allow you to route a work order to one or more authorized users for cost estimate approval. Approvers receive email notifications and are directed to view pending approval requests upon logging in. While the work order is in the approval routing process, the estimated amount is locked and the work order is locked in a Pending Approval status. This means that the work order can be cancelled but cannot be changed to any other status.

If a request is approved by all approvers, the work order status is changed to Approved, the Not to Exceed (NTE) amount is updated with the approved estimate, and the work order assignee receives an email notification. If any approver declines the request, the routing will stop, the work order status will be updated to Declined, and the work order assignee receives an email notification. If an approval request has been declined, a new estimate can be entered and the work order can be put back into the approval process, if needed.

Note:

You must have an estimated amount defined before you can add approvers. For more information, see Work Order – Estimates.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) calculations are suspended while a work order goes through the approval process.

To open the Work Order Approval page:

  1. Open the Request Details page.

  2. At the top of the page, click the Approvals link.

    At the top of the Work Order Approval page, a summary of the request details is displayed. At the bottom of the page, are two panes:

    • Approver Records – This pane lists all approver records that have been created. You can create new records, edit/ delete existing records, and send out approval notifications.
    • Request History – This pane maintains an audit trail of all approval actions that have occurred, containing one entry for each update made.

ClosedAdd an Approval Request

Adding an approval request creates a sequential approval step for the work order. Each approval step specifies the name of the user who needs to give his or her approval, and indicates that approver's approval limit. Approval steps are processed in the order in which you define them.

To add approval requests:

  1. In the Approval Records pane, click the New Approval Request button.

    The Add Approver dialog box opens.

  2. In the Approver field, select the name of the user you want to add to the approvals list.

    The list displays each user's approval level so that you can select appropriate users. You can select users with approval levels below the estimate, as business/subject matter approvers, but at least one user in the approval chain must have an approval level equal to or greater than the estimate.

  3. Enter a value for the Approval Step.

    The system automatically assigns the next sequential step to each approver you add. You can change this value, but you cannot use a value that is already assigned to another approval step.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each approver you want to add.

  5. Once your approvals are set up the way you want, click the Send Approval Notifications button.

    The system places the work order in Waiting Approval status and starts the approval process. An email notification is sent to the first user in the approvals list and the work order is added to that user's My Approvals page. Each time a user completes an approval, the next user is notified and the work order moves to that user's list.

ClosedEdit/Delete an Approval Record

Editing an approver record allows you to change the order in which the approval records are processed. You cannot change the user, only the order. You can, however, delete an approver add a different one.

To edit or delete an approval record:

  1. In the Approval Records pane, click the Edit button to the right of the approval record.

    The Edit Approval Request dialog box opens.

  2. To modify the step number:

    1. Enter a new value in the Approval Step field.

      You cannot enter a number that is already assigned to another step.

    2. Click UPDATE.

  3. To delete an approver:

    1. Click the Delete link.

      A dialog box opens asking you to confirm your choice.

    2. Click OK.

ClosedRequest History

The Request History pane maintains an audit trail of all request actions (including approval actions) that have occurred. For example, a new entry might be made when an approval request is made, if the work order was approved or declined by a specific user, or the entire approval cycle is completed. Updates are listed in chronological order with the initial updates at the top of the list and the most recent updates at the bottom.

The Request History information cannot be modified. For each entry, the following information is displayed:

  • Type – the type of entry

  • Update Date – the date and time the update was made

  • Comments – a description of the action taken, for example, Status has been changed to Waiting Approval

  • Status – the current status of the work order

  • Assigned To – the name of the user the work order is currently assigned to

  • Updated By – the name of the person who made the update

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