Change Request Lifecycle Management

As a project manager or project application administrator, you can configure change request lifecycle to route requests to the appropriate approvers based on defined criteria, such as priority or financial impact thresholds.

Configuring Approval Rules

To use workflow-based approvals for change requests, you must complete both these setup tasks:

• Define approval routing rules using the Project Change Request Approval rules template on the Manage User-Defined Rules for Project Management page.
• Enable workflow for the change request status on the Manage Project Statuses page.

To define approval rules:

1. Navigate to Setup and Maintenance > Manage User-Defined Rules for Project Management..
2. Download the Project Change Request Approval rules template.
3. Enter rules and conditions, then upload the approval rules template and confirm the upload is successful.

In the approval rules template, enter rules and conditions. For example, if the cost impact of a change request is greater than $5,000, the application routes the request to a designated approver. If the cost impact is $5,000 or less, the application automatically approves the request.

To enable workflow for change request approvals:

1. Navigate to Setup and Maintenance > Manage Project Statuses.
2. On the Manage Project Statuses page:
   • In Status Objects, select Change Request.
   • In Change Request: Status Classifications, select Submitted.
   • In Change Request: Submitted: Statuses, select the Enable Workflow check box and set the Status After Change Accepted and Status After Change Rejected workflow attributes to Approved and Rejected respectively.

After workflow is enabled and approval rules are configured, submitting a change request triggers the approval process based on your rules. For example, when a change request with a cost change of $10,000 is moved to Submitted status, the application starts the approval workflow. The designated approver receives an email notification with the request details, and can approve, reject, or request additional information. If approved, the change request status is updated to Approved.

Some points to consider:

• You can include external approvers by adding them as project team members. They can approve change requests from email notifications.
• Internal approvers can act on approvals from the bell notification or the Worklist page.
• You can enable workflow for Submitted or any other custom status only when no change requests currently use that status.
• Workflow can be enabled only for statuses in the Submitted status classification.
• You can withdraw change requests that are submitted for approval from the Worklist page. When withdrawn, the status returns to New.

Setting Next Allowable Status

Use Next Allowable Status to control the permitted status transitions for a change request. This determines the change request process flow. For example, to require an internal review before submission, create an In Review status and set In Review as the next allowable status for New. This ensures change requests go through internal review before final submission.