Configuring approval flows

After you have registered the record, the next step is to configure either self approval flows or approval flows that define how the request gets approved.

An approval request with self approval flows is automatically approved by the system without requiring an approver to approve it. Whereas, approval flows determine the specific person or group of people to approve a request.

An approval process varies depending on how your organization configures and implements it.

The following image illustrates the end-to-end process of creating an approval process and approval flows:

The following video (2:44) demonstrates how to create approval flows.

The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Platform. The previous product name was BMC Helix Innovation Suite. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same.

 https://youtu.be/7mjz5BmQ9D0

To configure approval flows

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab.
2. Select Approvals > Approval Configuration.
3. On the Approval Configuration page, click New.
4. On the Create Approval Flow tab, click Approval Flows > Add New Flow Group.

5. Enter a name for the New Flow Group.
   A flow group a contains single or multiple approval flows. You can create one or multiple approval flow groups.

   Note

   Once the Flow Group is created, go to the approval process and in the Element Properties > Flow Group Name field, enter this flow group name. Ensure that the approval process is in enabled state.

6. From the Add New Flow list, select one of the following:

   • Level Up Approval Flow (Manager Approval): If you want to create level up approval flow, specify the following fields:

     Field	Description
     No. of Levels	Enter the number of levels the approval request must go through.
     Qualification	Define an expression to configure the conditions based on which the approval flow should be executed. To define an expressions perform the following actions: Click Expression. From the list of Available Values, click Record Definition. Select the record field or associated record field on which you would want to build an expression. Alternately, you can use Associations for creating the expressions. To use associations, expand Associations and select the record data. While building an expression, ensure that you select a Record Definition that has a GUID value. To use Foundation data in the expression, click .  From the Define Expression dialog box, select the Foundation data. Click Select corresponding to the Foundation data you want to use. Click Save. Any data selected from the Define Expression dialog box returns the GUID of the entity. Note: The approval request is sent to the approvers with status as Enabled. If an approver is deleted after the approval request is generated, then the approval request is not sent to that approver.
     Outcome	From the drop down, select the approval status: Approved, Rejected, or Errored.
     Process Name	From the list, select the process that you want to execute for the approval status that you selected in the Outcome field.

   • General Approval Flow: If you want to create a general approval flow or process chaining, specify the following parameters:

     Field	Description
     Approvers	Select approvers by using the Foundation data. You can set multiple approvers for one request. You can either select approvers by filtering specific approvers from department/organization/business unit or define a qualification or both. This enables you to narrow your selection by limiting the approvers and not select the entire group or organization. Note: The approval request is sent only to the approvers with status as Enabled. If an approver is deleted after the approval request is generated, then the approval request is not sent to that approver. To select the approver, click . In the Select Approvers dialog box, only the users with Enabled status appear in the approver list. Select the following options based on your preferences: To select specific approvers from application roles, functional roles, departments, primary organization, business unit, and so on On the Select Approver/s tab, from the Select Approvers for Approval Flow section, select specific approvers from the list. Click Save. To define a qualification to select approvers On the Define Expression tab, create an expression by using person (or its association) attributes.  Click Save.
     If Multiple Approvers	Select one of the following: One Must Approve—Use this option when only one of the approvers needs to approve the request. All Must Approve—Use this option when all approvers must approve the request. N% Must Approve—Use this option when a specific percentage of approvers must approve the request.
     Value of N%	Select the percentage of approvers that must approve the request. For example, if the request is sent to five approvers and you have specified the percentage as 60, then the request is approved only after any three approvers approve the request. This option is displayed only if you select the N% Must Approve option from the If Multiple Approvers field. Note: If the result of percentage is a decimal value, then the result gets converted to the nearest integer value. For example, if the result of the N% is 3.5, then the request is approved only after any four approvers approve the request.
     Qualification	Define an expression to configure conditions based on which the approval flow should be executed.  To define an expression perform the following actions: Click Expression. From the list of Available Values, click Record Definition. Select the record field or associated record field on which you would want to build an expression. Alternately, you can use Associations for creating the expressions. To use associations, expand Associations and select the record data. While building an expression, ensure that you select a Record Definition that has a GUID value. To use Foundation data in the expression, click .  From the Define Expression dialog box, select the Foundation data. Click Select corresponding to the Foundation data you want to use. Click Save. Any data selected from the Define Expression dialog box returns the GUID of the entity.
     Outcome	From the drop down, select the approval status: Approved, Rejected, or Errored.
     Process Name	From the list, select the process that you want to execute for the approval status that you selected in the Outcome field.

7. Click Save.

Where to go from here

Related topic

Approvals