The [Approval] case element (
) is used for creating approvals, as well as for setting up approval-related notifications.
Specify the approval parameters in the element’s setup area (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 The [Approval] element properties
Specify the case element purpose by typing in a header at the top right-part of the element setup area. This will make the element more recognizable on the case diagram.
[Approval purpose] – default purpose is “Approval required”. The approval purpose is displayed on the [Approvals] detail of the record being approved.
[Approval section] – the records of this section will be submitted for approval.
Note
The drop-down list contains sections where approval is enabled. More information about approval setup is available in a separate article.
[Record Id] – the record being approved. This is a required field.
Note
If approval is enabled for the section where the case is being set up, the [Approval section] and [Record Id] fields will be populated automatically.
[Approver] – select the approvers. Approver can be a specific employee, manager of a specific employee, or any employee who is a member of a bpm’online organizational or functional role.
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Select “User” and populate the [Employee] field with the approver employee.
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Select “Employee’s manager” and populate the [Employee] field with the employee whose direct superior will be assigned as the approver. The approval will be submitted to the contact specified in the [Manager] profile on the employee page for that employee.
Note
If employee’s manager cannot be found, the approval will still be created, but the [Approver] field in it will be empty. In this case, a system administrator user can use the [Change approver] command in the actions menu of the [Approvals] detail to assign an approver.
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Select “Roles” – select the approver’s role. In this case, any employee who belongs to the selected role will be able to set this approval.
[Approval may be delegated] – select the checkbox to allow the approver to forward the approval to another employee.
In the [Send email notification] area, set up sending of email notifications for the employee who created the approval and the approver.
Attention
Set up the mailbox for email notifications in the [Mailbox for sending email with information on approval] system setting. Access the system setting in the Process Designer by clicking the 
button in the [Send email notification] area.
Note
Create email templates in the content designer, for the corresponding object. For example, to set up a notifications for document approvals, create a template using the [Approvals in section Document] object. The approval objects are created automatically, when you select the [Enable approval in section] checkbox in the section wizard. If the lookup of the [Enable approval in section] does not contain the template you need, click 
in the right part of the field to add a new email template. The process of creating an email template is described in a separate article.
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Select the [Notify that approval is required] checkbox to notify the approver. As a result, the approver user will be notified whenever a record is submitted for approval. If you select “Role” in the [Approver] field, all members of the corresponding role will receive notification.
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[Email template] – select a notification email template from the [Email templates] lookup.
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Select the [Notify about the approval result] checkbox to notify the employee about the result of the approval.
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[Recipient] – specify who will receive the email notification. (either an email address, a contact or an account). You can edit the value in the [Recipient] field directly or map it using the parameter value menu. Usually, the recipient in this case is mapped to the [Owner] field of the record submitted for approval.
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[Email template] – select a notification email template from the [Email templates] lookup.
[Ignore errors on sending] – select the checkbox to send email despite email-related errors. If there was an issue with sending an email, the case will also end with an error.
[When is the step performed?] – indicates whether the element is activated at the start of the stage or upon completion of a specified case step. By default, the step is performed at the start of the stage. Select “After the previous step is complete” if the [Approval] element must start after the previous step in the case stage. Specify the step in the [Perform after step] field.
[Step type] – specify if the step is required. Select “Required step” if the task needs to be completed to transition to the next stage. If the approval is not required to perform to transition to the next stage, select “Optional step”.
Note
A user can advance to the final “lost” stage from any stage without completing the required steps.
[Change stage after element is completed] – click [Add condition] and set up transitions based on the approval results.
Select one of the available approval results in the [If result] column and specify the next stage in the [Set stage to] column.
What happens when the [Approval] process element is activated
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A new approval record is created. All approval information, such as the approver, approval result, comments, etc. is displayed on the [Approvals] tab of the record that was submitted for approval. More information about the [Approvals] tab is available in a separate article.
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The first email notification is sent at the moment the approval record is created.
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After the approver approves or denies the approval, another email notification is sent to the employee specified in the [Recipient] field under the [Notify about the approval result] checkbox.
See also
