Defining approval notifications

Notifications are a great way to inform users about events that occur while working on records such as cases, tasks, and knowledge articles so that users have the latest information. As a case business analyst, after configuring an approval, you can create notifications for case and knowledge article approvals for your company.

For example, when an approver approves a case, a notification is sent to the case assignee. You can create email-based notifications for case and knowledge approvals so that the approvers receive an email notification for every new approval request. The approvers can approve, reject, or hold a request through an email.

For information about the concepts related to notifications, see Notifications.

Approval events

BMC Helix Business Workflows provides default notifications for events related to approvals. The following table describes the approval events for which the default notifications are available:

For more information about the default approval notifications, see Notification events and templates.

Approvals for knowledge events

BMC Helix Business Workflows provides default notifications for events that are related to knowledge approvals. The following table describes the approval statuses for which the default notifications are available:

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created an approval flow so that you can map a notification process with the approval flow. When the approval flow is run, the mapped process is run to send the notification.

Creating an approval notification

The following table describes the tasks that you must perform to create an approval notification:

To create an approval notification

1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
2. Click My Application Settings .
3. Select Approvals > Notification Configuration.

4. On the Approval Notifications page, click New.

   Create a new notification configuration that is exactly same as any of the following table notification configurations for cases and knowledge articles:

   Case	Knowledge articles
   BWFA New Signature BWFA Reject BWFA Approve BWFA Reassign BWFA Cancel BWFA More Info Return BWFA Hold BWFA More Info	Knowledge New Signature Knowledge Reject Knowledge Approve Knowledge Reassign Knowledge Cancel Knowledge More Info Return Knowledge Hold Knowledge More Info

   Important

   Before you create a new notification configuration, delete the out-of-the-box configuration.

5. In the New Approval Notification window, complete the following fields:

   Field	Action
   Record Definition Name	Select com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case to create the approval notification for cases. Select com.bmc.dsm.knowledge:Knowledge Article Template to create the approval notification for knowledge articles. Select com.bmc.dsm.task-lib:Task to create the approval notification for tasks.
   Notification Name	Enter a name for the approval notification.
   Notify On	Select the event for which you want to send notifications. Note: The event that you select from Notify On and the approval event that you created in BMC Helix Business Workflows should be same. For example, if you created the Approve event, from the Notify On list, select Approve.
   Notification Expression	In addition to the Notify On event, specify the conditions that control when the notification should be sent, such as Priority=Critical.
   Global Notification	Enable this option to apply a notification configuration for all approval notifications. If you select this check box, you do not need to specify an approval flow in the Approval Flows field.
   Send To	Select one of the following options to notify users: All Approvers—Select this option to notify all the approvers of a case that is pending for approval. Other—Select this option to notify users other than the approvers. The list below Other displays fields from the case record definition. Select a field that contains the user to whom you want to notify. For example, Contact. Note: All the recipients that you specify in Send To and while creating the notification template receive the approval notification. For example, in Send To, you select All Approvers. In the notification template, you select Approvers and add Allen Petersen as recipient. When the event occurs, the approval notification is sent to Allen Petersen and all the approvers of the case.
   Notification Method	Select Email to send approval notifications through emails. Select Process to create approval notifications.
   Subject	When you choose to send notifications through email, to define the subject for the email notification, click Click to build an expression for Subject. On the Edit expression page, define the expression, and click OK.
   Message	To define the email body for the notification, click Click to build an expression for Message and define the email body. On the Edit expression page, define the expressions, and click OK.
   Process Name	Select the process to create approval notifications.
   Enabled	Select Enabled to activate the approval notification.

6. Click Save.
   The process of creating an approval notification is now complete.

Configuring an email notification

To enable email notifications for the approvers, you must perform the following configurations:

Related topics

Case approvals

Approving or rejecting cases