View and Act On Notifications

Notifications alert you that something requires your attention or action. Click the Notifications icon in the global header to open your notifications list. The number on the icon indicates how many pending notifications you haven't acted on or dismissed yet.

Most notifications are for workflow tasks, but not all. So it's possible that what you see in the list isn't the same as what you see assigned to you in the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area. Also, for one task you see in that work area, you might get more than one notification. For example, one notification that someone requests information from you about the task, and later another notification that the task is approved.

Here's an example of the notifications list in the global header. The Notifications icon says there are 25 pending notifications. The first three are new ones you have never seen before and require some action on your end. The third one you can approve or reject without even opening the notification. The next two are just FYI.

On your home page, you can also find notifications in the Things to Finish section, which looks like this.

The first card in the Things to Finish section has two numbers:

• Assigned to Me: The number of notifications assigned to you either to act on or just FYI, in this case 10. The rest of the cards in the Things to Finish section are the notifications assigned to you, the exact same as the pending notifications you see in the global header.

• Created by Me: The number of workflow tasks you submitted that are still pending final approval, in this case 2.

Here are some things to know about both the Things to Finish section and the notifications list in the global header:

• From either place, you can open the Notifications page. That's where you can view and manage all your notifications in one place, not just the ones that are pending and assigned to you.

• Updates you make to workflow tasks in the global header, for example approving them, are automatically reflected in the Things to Finish section. Same goes the other way around, too. But changes you make elsewhere and changes that someone else makes aren't reflected in either place until the Synchronize Notifications in Global Header process runs, for example every two hours. The scheduled process updates workflow notifications with the latest task status and removes notifications older than 30 days no matter the status. For example, you approved one task from email, and someone else in the approval group that you're part of rejected another task from their notifications list. After synchronization, the notifications asking approval for these two tasks are removed from your list in the global header and your Things to Finish section. Because these tasks are no longer pending for you, based on the latest task status.

No matter where you see the notification, some aspects, for example the title or the Approve and Reject buttons, might not be in the same language that you selected when you signed in to the application. That text is displayed in the language that was used when the notification was generated.

How You Address Your Notifications

To view and act on notifications in the Things to Finish section, the global header, or the Notifications page:

1. Click the Notifications icon in the global header, or go to the Things to Finish section on the home page.

   • Here are a couple of things to know about the list that opens up in the global header:

     • The New icon (a blue dot) identifies any new notifications. Even if you close the list now without doing anything else, the same notifications are no longer new the next time you open the list.

     • You can search based on the text of the notification titles in the list. For example, if you search by the term reports, search results include all notifications with reports in the title, but not the ones with report.

   • In the Things to Finish section, you can click the Close icon just to remove the card. The notification is still assigned to you, so you can still find it, for example, in the global header or the Assigned to Me tab on the Notifications page.

2. Go on to the next step, or click one of these links to open the Notifications page:

   • Show All from the notifications list in the global header

   • A number on the first Things to Finish card to open the corresponding tab on the Notifications page, Assigned to Me or Created by Me

   • Show More in the Things to Finish section

3. For a notification that requires action, you have a few options:

   • Click the Approve or Reject button, where available.

   • Open the Actions menu and select an action, where available.

   • Click the notification title to see the details and select from all available actions. Depending on what the notification is about, some actions might not apply. For workflow tasks, you get the same task details that you do from your worklist, using the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area or region.

4. For a notification that doesn't require action, you also have a few options:

   • Click the Dismiss button to acknowledge the notification. For workflow tasks, this option is available only for FYI tasks. The FYI task itself isn't marked as acknowledged, so it's still pending to be either manually or automatically completed.

   • On the Assigned to Me tab on the Notifications page, click the Dismiss All button.

     • For workflow tasks, this option is available only for tasks where action is already taken and there's no more action pending with assignees. For example, the task is approved or withdrawn. This option doesn't apply to FYI workflow tasks.

     • If you still see some notifications after you click Dismiss All, those are notifications for FYI workflow tasks, notifications that still require action, or notifications that you have to first open up to see details before dismissing.

   • Click the notification title to open the details.

   • Just read the notification title, if the title is text-only and not a link because there aren't any details to display.

5. On the Created by Me tab on the Notifications page, you can see the workflow tasks you submitted that are pending final approval or already completed. Where available, you can take action on the pending items, for example to withdraw your request.

No matter which option you choose to address notifications that require action or not, the notification is taken off the list in the global header and is no longer assigned to you in the Things to Finish section or the Notifications page. You can still find the notification on the All tab on the Notifications page.

Use Alternate Notifications UI

If your administrator has selected the panel or banner home page layout, then you get an alternate UI when you click the Notifications icon in the global header. Also, the Things to Finish section and Notifications page aren't available.

Let's take a look at the alternate notifications list. In this example, you have two pending notifications, the first one you have never seen before. You can approve or reject both notifications without even opening them.

Here's how you use the alternate notifications list in the global header:

1. Click the Notifications icon in the global header.

   In the list that opens up, the New icon (a blue dot) identifies any new notifications. Even if you close the list now without doing anything else, the same notifications are no longer new the next time you open the list.

2. Take any of these steps to get another view of notifications:

   • Click the drop-down button to switch between pending notifications and all notifications.

   • Search based on the text of the notification titles in the list. For example, if you search by the term reports, search results include all notifications with reports in the title, but not the ones with report.

   • Click the More Details button to view and manage workflow tasks in your worklist.

3. For a notification requiring action, you have a few options:

   • Click the Approve or Reject link, where available.

   • Open the Actions menu and select an action, where available.

   • Click the notification title to see the details and select from all possible actions you can take. For workflow tasks, you get the same task details that you do from your worklist, using the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area or region.

   The notification goes off the pending list now that you have acted on it.

4. For a notification that doesn't require action, you also have a few options:

   • Click the Clear icon that appears when you hover over the notification, to dismiss the notification.

   • Click the notification title to open the details.

   • Just read the notification title, if the title is text-only and not a link because there aren't any details to display.

   In all cases, the notification is considered read and taken off the pending list. To keep a notification as pending, you can click the Undo link that temporarily shows up near the notification title after you click the title or Clear icon.