Approval Framework

Using the Approval Monitor

This chapter provide an overview of the Approval Monitor discusses how to:

Configure the Approval Monitor.
Use the Approval Monitor.
Use the User Monitor.

Understanding the Approval Monitor

The Approval Monitor gives administrators a view into all approvals to which they have access, as well as the ability to take necessary actions on pending approvals. Administrators are provided access to Approval Transactions based on the Role defined as System Administrator on the Approval Process Definition page. Actions available for the administrator are:

Reassignment	Allows the system administrator to reassign pending approvals to a new approver based on search criteria.
Approve	Allows the administrator to act on behalf of the assigned approver. The approval is initiated for a specific user, wherever that user may be pending within a specific transaction. Once the administrator takes action, the approval resumes the approval process.
Denial	Allows the administrator to act on behalf of the assigned approver. The denial is initiated for a specific user, wherever that user may be pending within a specific transaction.
Ad Hoc	Allows the administrator to add a reviewer or approver to a specific transaction.
Resubmit	Allows the administrator to resubmit a completed transaction to all approvers in the approval path.
Push Back	Allows the administrator to send the process back to the previous approver.

Understanding Approval Reassignment

The administrator can reassign pending tasks to another approver, or an administrator can reassign all tasks that belong to a specific approver to another approver. Use reassignment in the following situations:

The approver chooses to redirect the task to another approver, thus delegating a specific task (step) to another approver.
The administrator decides to reassign all pending tasks within a step that belong to an approver to another approver.

This reassignment usually occurs when an approver is unexpectedly absent and the administrator reassigns all pending tasks to another.

When the administrator redirects a workflow task to another approver, the administrator can modify the approval process map.

Note. The Approval Framework is set up for administrative reassignment and escalations only.

Configuring the Approval Monitor

This section discusses how to configure the Approval Monitor.

You can configure the Approval Monitor to display the information necessary for an administrator to approve a transaction when the original approver is not available. You can also configure the actions that can be performed by the administrator. Each process ID can be configured.

Page Used to Configure the Approval Monitor

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Approval Monitor Configuration	EOAW_MONDIS_CONFIG	Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, Monitor Configuration	Configure the approval monitor.

Configuring the Approval Monitor

Access the Approval Monitor Configuration page (Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, Monitor Configuration).

Configure Monitor Approvals

Use this section to control the actions available in the Monitor Approvals page for this approval process.

Include in Search

Select to have the approval process available on the Monitor Approvals page.

Display Only

Select to have approval process available in display only mode.

Allow Approve, Allow Deny, Allow Pushback, Allow Resubmit/Restart, Allow Reassign, Allow Mass Reassign, Allow Mass Approve, and Allow Mass Deny

Select each action that will be available in the Approval monitor for this approval process.

See Utilizing the Approval Monitor for a Specific Approval Process.

Configure User Monitor

Use this section to assign user roles and approval functions for monitoring this approval process.

Transaction Display Level

Use this section to select which fields at the header and line level should be displayed in the User Monitor for this approval process.

Using the Approval Monitor

This section discusses how to:

Use the Approval Monitor search page.
View search results.
Utilize the Approval Monitor for a specific approval process.

The approval monitor gives administrators a view into all approvals to which they have access, as well as the ability to take necessary actions on pending approvals.

Warning! Due to the complex rules used by PeopleSoft Expenses, the Monitor Approvals page should not be used to approve or deny expense transactions. To approve and deny expense transactions use the PeopleSoft Expenses approval pages. See: PeopleSoft Enterprise Expenses PeopleBook, Managing Approvals in PeopleSoft Expenses.

Pages Used to Use the Approval Monitor

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Monitor Approvals	EOAW_ADM_MON_SRC	Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, Monitor Approvals Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, User Monitor	Use the Monitor Approvals page as a system administrator to search approval processes and perform mass reassignments.
Monitor Approvals	EOAW_ADM_MON_ACT	From the Monitor Approvals Search page, select the link for the approval step you want to modify.	Use this page to perform an action on a specific approval process.

Using the Approval Monitor Search Page

Access the Monitor Approvals page (Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, Monitor Approvals).

Approval Process

Select an approval process. The list of approval processes available is determined by the administrator role associated with the approval process definition. If a user is associated with the role specified in the Admin Role field on the Setup Process Definitions page, they can view or act on that process ID within the Approval Monitor.

Definition ID

Select the process definition that is determined on the Setup Process Definition page.

Header Status

Select a status in this field to display the selected status. Choices are:

Approved

Complete

Denied

Hard Deny

Initial

Not Active

Pending

Pending Denial

Suspended/Pending Denial

Terminated

Approver

Select an approver. In order to view or take action on an approval processes for a specific approver this field is required.

Approver Status

Select a status from those available. This field is only available when a specific approver is selected in the Approver field. The statuses available for selection are based on the statuses of that specific approver in the cross-reference table associated with the approval process ID.

Originator

Select the user who entered the transaction that started the approval process.

Requester

Select the user who requested the transaction that started the approval process. The originator is not always the requester.

Reassign Pending Tasks

Use this section to reassign approvals to another user. This section is only available if the process allows reassignment.

Viewing Search Results

After entering the selection criteria on the Monitor Approvals page, click the Search button.

For the approval process selected, specific fields will be displayed based on the transaction display level configured for the approval process.

See Transaction Display Level.

Filter	Use this button to filter the result set based on criteria entered.
Toggle Header and Line	If the approval process contains header and line approvals, you can use this button to toggle the display to view the details.

Utilizing the Approval Monitor for a Specific Approval Process

Access the Monitor Approvals page (Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, Monitor Approvals, then select the link for the approval step you want to modify).

This page will reflect the options selected when you configured the approval monitor for the process. The Reassign Pending Tasks section and the buttons available in the Administrative Approve/Deny section will display as configured on the Approval Monitor Configuration page.

Approver	Select an approver. All approvers associated with pending steps within the approval process are listed.
Comment	Enter text to appear under the approval graphic in the Approval Comment History section.

Reassign Pending Tasks

Reassign To	Select an approver to whom to reassign all pending steps within the approval process.
Reassign	Click the button to initiate task reassignment. At the end of the procedure, all pending task of the corresponding approval process instance is assigned to the user who is specified in the Reassign To field. Reassignment history is captured as comments and viewable in the approval graphic at the bottom of this page.
Allow Self-Approval	Select to enable self-approval. When it is enabled, the approval is assumed and the process continues.
Allow Auto Approval	Select to enable auto-approval. When it is enabled, the system remembers an approver’s action for that process at the header or line level, and applies the same action automatically for any subsequent appearance in the Approval Framework routing.

Administrative Approve/Deny

Approve	Click the button to act on behalf of the selected approver. This action applies to all tasks pending for the approver selected within the context of the approval process.
Deny	Click the button to act on behalf of the selected approver. This action will apply to all tasks pending for the approver selected within the context of the approval process.
Pushback	Click to requeue the previous step to its approver. This button is only available at a step that is greater than one. For example, a transaction has three approvers. The first approver has approved the transaction, therefore, the transaction is pending at step two. The administrator needs additional information from the requester and, therefore, pushes the transaction back to the requester.
Restart	Click to restart a pending transaction to all approvers in the approval path. This button is only available when the transaction is pending.
Resubmit	Click to resubmit a completed transaction to all approvers in the approval path. This button is only available when the transaction is complete. The transaction can only be resubmitted in its current state and cannot be modified before resubmitting for approval.
View/Hide Comments	Click to expand the Comments section and view comments regarding reassignment or text that is captured in the Comment field when any of the action buttons is clicked.
Request Information	Click to request additional information about this transaction from another user in the system. This selected user might not be an approver of this transaction, but he or she must respond to the request before the approval process can move forward to the next level. The system displays a new approval graphic, showing that more information has been requested as well as the user responsible for the request. As the requester, you can use the comments section to clarify the type of information you are requesting.

Requesting Additional Information About the Transaction

When you click the Request Information link in the approval graphic, the system:

Places the current transaction on hold. Doing so prevents anyone from coming in and approving the transaction before the approver (who requested the information) gets the chance to review the returned information.
Inserts the requester as a reviewer of the transaction for that step.
Triggers the Request Information event. Any processing in the applications event handler is triggered; any notifications that is defined in the transaction configuration is sent as well.

The approver (who requested the information) can act on the transaction by clicking any action button at any time.

Here is a use case of the Request Information link:

Jane Doe submits a requisition request to purchase a monitor and a hard drive.

The request routes to three group managers at step 1. Two of the three managers' approvals are required.
Manager Jen Smith wants to know why Jane needs to purchase such a large monitor, so she clicks the Request Information link on the approval graphic trying to gather more information about this requisition.

The requisition transaction is now on hold and awaiting her action. The other two managers can still issue their approvals at any time, but the transaction will not move until the hold is lifted.
Depending on the how the application implemented the approval feature, Manager Jen Smith can enter comments in the Comments field, which will render in the Status Monitor, or seek information by any other means of communication (for example, by phone, by email, walk to my office and ask).

Similarly, depending on the implementation, Jane Doe can respond by either entering comments through the application (this will trigger the Request Information Added event), or communicating to Jen Smith through other means (for example, by phone, by email, or other).
Jen Smith can either approve or deny the transaction after (or before) she receives a response. Normal processing resumes.

See ApprovalManager Class Methods, ApprovalEventHandler Class Methods.

Reassigning Tasks Assigned to You

To reassign your tasks to another approver, select a step assigned to you as an approver and request that the step be reassigned to an alternate. You must have an administrator role to perform this task.

The Approval Framework reassigns that step to the newly appointed approver, and deletes the original approver’s worklist entry. The system creates a new worklist entry for the new approver, and notifies the new approver.

The Approval Framework adds a comment to the approval thread to log the reassignment.

Reassigning Tasks as an Administrator

To reassign a specific approver’s pending tasks to another approver:

Filter the display to present pending approval processes for the specific approver.
Indicate the steps to be reassigned and the users affected.

The system submits a request to the Approval Framework to reassign all of the pending steps.

Once you have reassigned the pending tasks to a new approver, the approval path is updated and the approval transaction is routed to the new approver.

Note. You can create reassignments through the user profile. However, workflow reassignments through the user profile don't alter the actual approval process. Reassigning using the Monitor Approvals component performs the reassignment and creates the worklist for the new user.

The administrator can also take action instead of reassigning.

Comment History

Expand the Comment History section to view the previous workflow streams. This section is available when the system has resubmitted the transaction due to a change in the transaction.

For example, a requisition is approved by two out of three approvers. Then the requisition is changed before the third approver sees it. The system resubmits the requisition and begins the approval path from the beginning. The Comment History section retains the original stream, indicating that the first two approvers had approved the original requisition.

Using the User Monitor

This section discusses how to use the User Monitor.

The User Monitor provides a generic approval page that is very similar to the Approval Monitor. The only difference is that is designed to only display approval items where the signed on user is either the approver or the requester.

Page Used to Use the User Monitor

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
User Monitor - Monitor Approvals	EOAW_ADM_MON_SRC	Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, User Monitor	Approve and review transactions.

Using the User Monitor

Access the User Monitor - Monitor Approvals page (Enterprise Components, Approvals, Approvals, User Monitor).

Select your current role, either Approver or Requester and click the search button to display the transactions.

See Using the Approval Monitor Search Page.

Approval Process	Select an approval process. The list of approval processes available is determined by the administrator role associated with the approval process definition. If a user is associated with the role specified in the Admin Role field on the Setup Process Definitions page, they can view or act on that process ID within the Approval Monitor.
Definition ID	Select the process definition that is determined on the Setup Process Definition page.
Header Status	Select a status in this field to display the selected status. Choices are: Approved Complete Denied Hard Deny Initial Not Active Pending Pending Denial Suspended/Pending Denial Terminated
Approver	Select an approver. In order to view or take action on an approval processes for a specific approver this field is required.
Approver Status	Select a status from those available. This field is only available when a specific approver is selected in the Approver field. The statuses available for selection are based on the statuses of that specific approver in the cross-reference table associated with the approval process ID.
Originator	Select the user who entered the transaction that started the approval process.
Requester	Select the user who requested the transaction that started the approval process. The originator is not always the requester.