1. Performing Self Service Tasks with Oracle Identity Governance
  2. Working with Self Service
  3. Managing Pending Approvals

8 Managing Pending Approvals

The Oracle Identity Manager allows you to view and update the tasks waiting for your approval. You can do this from the Inbox or the Pending Approvals page of Oracle Identity Self Service.

This chapter describes some of the task actions in the following sections:

Note:

The features related to performing task actions in the Inbox section are provided by Oracle SOA. Refer to SOA documentation for detailed information about the task actions.

8.1 About Pending Approvals

When a request is submitted, the request service initiates the approval as a task in Oracle SOA Server. This task is assigned to the approver.

Oracle Identity Manager request service interacts with SOA Server to handle various aspects of human interaction in Oracle Identity Manager workflows. This request service is used to assign tasks to roles and users. You can perform various operations upon tasks assigned to you. For example, you can approve, reject, or claim a task, or request for more information. The process flow in corresponding Oracle Identity Manager workflow is dependent on the outcome of given tasks.

See Also:

Developing Workflows in the Developing and Customizing Applications for Oracle Identity Governance for information about approval workflows

Further processing of the request by request service remains pending, which is subject to the outcome of the corresponding task. The approver can access either the Inbox section or the Pending Approvals page of the Identity Self Service that lists all the tasks assigned to the approver. The approver can now act upon this task and set its outcome, for example, approve or reject. After the task outcome has been set, the request service resumes the processing of the request that is based on the task outcome.

On successful submission of requests, the request service creates Human Tasks in SOA and assigns them to users or roles in Oracle Identity Manager. Authenticated users can view the tasks waiting for action in the Inbox or in the Pending Approvals page.

8.2 Viewing Pending Approval Tasks

You can view the pending approval tasks from the Inbox or the Pending Approvals.

To view for approval details:

  1. Log in to Identity Self Service.
  2. Click Self Service. Self service Home page is displayed.
  3. Click the Pending Approvals box. The Pending Approvals page is displayed.

    The Pending Approvals page displays the details of your tasks in columns described in Table 8-1:

    Table 8-1 Columns in the My Tasks Page

    Column Description

    Title

    The title of the task.

    Assignees

    The assignee of the task.

    State

    The current state of the task.

    Created

    The date and time on which the task is created.

    Expires

    The expire date of the task.
  4. Click the task you would like to view details for.

    The task details page displays a detailed view of the request in the Details section, Summary Information section, the Request Details tab, the Approvals tab, and the Cart Items section. It allows complete management of the listed task.

    In the Cart Items section, the approver can provide data, without which (if the field is marked as mandatory) the approver will not be allowed to approve a request. For example, when an approver opens a task related to self-registration request, the organization field is marked as mandatory, but no value is specified for this field by the requester. Therefore, the approver must specify a value for this mandatory field.

    In addition, the following tabs display details associated to the request:

    • Request Details: This tab displays the target users or beneficiary information, and related requests, if any.

    • Approvals: This tab displays the complete approval flow with all approvers. You can select the Future participants option to display the next level approvers. You can select the Full task actions option to display all the approvals for the task.

8.3 Adding Comments and Attachments

You can add comments and attachments prior to performing any operation on the task such as approving, rejecting, or reassigning the request.

An attachment can either be a hyperlink or an actual file. It is recommended that the size of the file attachment that you upload be less than 2 MB. If you want to upload file attachments of size greater than 2 MB, then you must change the ADF configuration and increase the size limit.

To add comments and attachments:

  1. Log in to Identity Self Service.

  2. Click Self Service. Self service Home page is displayed.

  3. Click Pending Approvals box. The Pending Approvals page is displayed.

    Click the task for which you want to add comments or attachments. The details of the task are displayed in a new tab.

  4. To add a comment:

    1. Click the Approvals tab.

    2. In the Comments section, click the Create icon. The Create Comment dialog box is displayed.

    3. In the Comment field, enter the comments related to the task, and then click OK.

    4. Select Task Actions, Save to save the comment.

  5. To add an attachment:

    1. Expand the Attachments section if it not already expanded.

    2. In the Attachments section, click the Add icon. The Add Attachment dialog box is displayed.

    3. Select one of the following options as the attachment type:

      • URL: Specify the URL to an attachment.

      • Desktop File: Allows you to select and upload a file from the desktop.

      Note:

      By default, uploading of all file types are supported. However, the file types that will be allowed for upload can be configured, as follows:

      1. Login to Oracle BPM Worklist by navigating to the following URL and providing the WebLogic admin credentials:

        http://SOA_HOST:SOA_PORT/integration/worklistapp/faces/login.jspx

        See Using Oracle BPM Worklist for information about Oracle BPM Worklist and the configurations you can do by using it.

      2. Click WebLogic User at the top-right corner of the screen, and select Administration. The Application References page is displayed.

      3. Click the Administration tab if it is not active.

      4. In the File Types Allowed for Upload field, specify the comma-separated list of file type extensions that you want to allow for uploading, for example, txt,png,pdf.

      5. Click Save.

      6. Restart Oracle Identity Manager server and SOA server.

    4. Click OK.

  6. Select Task Actions, Save to save the attachment.

8.4 Approving a Task

You can check details of the task, provide comments if required and approve the task from the Pending Approvals page.

To approve a task that is assigned to you:

  1. Log in to Identity Self Service.
  2. Click Self Service. Self service Home page is displayed.
  3. Click Pending Approvals box. The Pending Approvals page is displayed.
  4. Select the task that you want to approve.
  5. Click the task to view its details in a new tab, and then click Approve.

    The task is approved and is no longer displayed in the tasks table.

Note:

A self-registration request is assigned to the System Administrator role by default. Before you can approve a self-registration request, as a member of the System Administrator role, you must claim a self-registration task, provide the organization name, and update the request before approval.

8.5 Rejecting a Task

You can check details of the task, provide comments if required and reject the task from the Pending Approvals page.

To reject a request that is assigned to you:

  1. Log in to Identity Self Service.
  2. Click Self Service. Self service Home page is displayed.
  3. Click Pending Approvals box. The Pending Approvals page is displayed.
  4. Select the task that you want to reject.
  5. Click the task to view its details in a new tab and provide any comments. Then, click Reject. The task is rejected and is no longer displayed in the tasks table of the Approval Details page.

8.6 Reassigning a Task

You can check details of the task, and reassign or delegate the task to another user from the Pending Approvals page.

To reassign a request that is assigned to you:

  1. Log in to Identity Self Service.
  2. Click Self Service. Self service Home page is displayed.
  3. Click Pending Approvals box. The Pending Approvals page is displayed.
  4. Select the task that you want to reassign.
  5. Click the task to view its details in a new tab. Then, from the Task Actions menu, select Reassign.

    The Reassign Task dialog box is displayed.

  6. Select any one of the following options:

    • Reassign (transfer task to another user or group): To reassign the task to another user, group, or application role. On selecting this option, you can search and select users, groups, or application roles for reassigning.

    • Delegate (allow specified user to act on my behalf): To delegate the task to a user that you can search and select. The delegated user will take actions on the task on your behalf. The privileges of the delegatee are based on the delegator's privileges.

  7. Search for user or groups to which you want to reassign the task, and select the users or group. Otherwise, click Select All to select all searched users or groups.
  8. Click OK. The task is assigned.

8.7 Suspending a Task

You can suspend a task from the Pending Approvals page.

To suspend a task:

  1. In the Approval Details page, search and select the request that you want to suspend.
  2. Click the task to view its details in a new tab. Then, from the Task Actions menu, select Suspend.

    A message is displayed stating that your request has been processed successfully.

8.8 Withdrawing a Task

You can withdraw a task from the Pending Approvals page.

To withdraw a task:

  1. In the Approval Details page, search for the request that you want to withdraw.
  2. Click the task to view its details in a new tab. Then, from the Task Actions menu, select Withdraw.

    A message is displayed stating that your request has been processed successfully.

8.9 Skipping Current Assignment

In the Pending Approvals page, the Skip Current Assignment option in the Actions menu or Task Actions menu is displayed only to users with the System Administrators role. This option is not displayed for end users.

Skipping the current assignment is not a valid action for an approver. If an approver chooses this action, then the corresponding request fails. Therefore, this option can be hidden for system administrators also. See Hiding the Skip Current Assignment Option in the Developing and Customizing Applications for Oracle Identity Governance for information about hiding the Skip Current Assignment option.

8.10 Claiming a Task

You can claim a task that is not assigned to you from the Pending Approvals page.

To claim a task that is not assigned to you:

  1. In the Approval Details page, search and select the request that you want to claim.

  2. From the Actions menu, select claim.

    A message is displayed stating that the request has been assigned to you.

8.11 Modifying Grant Duration

You can modify the grant duration of the role, account, or entitlement which are pending for approval from the Pending Approvals page.

To modify the grant duration of the role, account, or entitlement to the user:

  1. In the Approval Details page, search and select the request for which you want to modify the grant duration.

  2. Open the request details.

  3. Click Claim in the request details page.

  4. In the Request Details tab, click the Grant Duration icon.

  5. Modify the values in the following fields:

    • Start Date: The start date when the role, account, or entitlement will be provisioned. This must be a future date. This field is not available for modification if the role, account, or entitlement is already assigned to the user.

    • End Date: The end date when the role, account, or entitlement will be revoked.

    For detailed information about grant duration, see Adding and Removing Grant Duration.

  6. Click Update in the Request Details tab.