Creating an approval process for deploying operational rules

For operational rules that must be approved before deployment, you must create an approval process for the Incident object. The approval process ensures that an approver approves or rejects all incidents and service requests that deploy operational rules through linked task records.

When you create an incident or service request that deploys an operational rule that requires approval, the incident or service request record is submitted for approval and is locked until the approver approves or rejects the approval. Also, the Asset Core Approval Status field of the current incident or service request is updated based on the status of the approval process.

If the approval process fails, the reason for failure is logged in the Incident History section. If an approval is not required, the value of the Asset Core Approval Status field is Not Applicable.

To create an approval process for deploying operational rules

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration page.
2. On the Home page, click the Manage Workflows and Approvals tile, and from the menu, select Approval Processes.
3. From the Manage Approval Processes For list, select the Incident object.
4. From the Create New Approval Process list, select Use Jump Start Wizard.
5. In the Approval Process Information section, in the Name field, type a name for your approval process.
   A unique name is generated for the approval process from the name you have entered. You can choose to keep this unique name or create a new unique name for the approval process.
6. In the Specify Entry Criteria section, select Asset Core Approval Status from the Field list.
7. Select equals from the Operator list.
8. Click the Value list.
9. Select the Pending Approval check box.
10. Click Insert Selected.
11. In the Select Approver section, perform the actions listed in the following table to add staff members who can approve the incident or service request.
    Consider the following points before adding approvers:
    • The BMC Remedyforce integration of the Salesforce.com approval process with incidents and service requests does not support the Let the submitter choose the approver manually approver option.

    • If you define multiple approvers, an approval request is created for each approver. When each approver approves or rejects the incident or service request, the approver's individual response can be tracked, which is not possible when you assign a queue as an approver.

      Goal	Description
      Assign the approval to a queue	Select Automatically assign to queue. If you select a queue, only one approval is created for the incident or service request, and this approval appears in the Approvals list of all the members of the selected queue. If any of the queue members approves or rejects the incident or service request, the approval is designated as completed, and it is removed from the Approvals list.
      Assign the approval to selected staff members	Select Automatically assign to approver. By default, User is selected in the list that appears. Click the User lookup. Select a staff member to approve the incident or service request. Click the Add Row link to add another staff member to the list of approvers. In the User lookup for the next approver, select another staff member to approve the incident or service request. Note: A manager must be assigned to the staff member who is selected as an approver. For more information, see https://cs9.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/approvals_change _approval_user_pref.htm. Repeat step 4 and step 5 to add more staff members to the list of approvers. Select one of the following options to define how multiple approvals are applied to the incident or service request: Approve or reject based on the FIRST response. Upon receipt of the first response from any approver, the approval is removed from the Approvals list of the other approvers and the action records for each approver in the incident or service request are updated with the status of No Response. Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers. If any approver rejects the incident or service request, the Overall Status field of the incident or service request is updated to Rejected. However, the individual responses of all the approvers are updated as action records in the incident or service request. Select this option when you are resolving incidents or service requests of HIGH priority or implementing important changes that require approval from all stakeholders.
      Assign the approval to the manager of the client Note: Applicable to approval processes for the Incident object only	Select Automatically assign to approver. In the first list that appears, select Related User. In the second list, select Client Manager. When you select Client Manager, the approval is assigned to the user who is the manager of the client. You can assign a manager to a client by editing the client record and selecting a manager in the Approver Settings section. Only those users with a Salesforce or Salesforce Platform license can be assigned as managers. For more information, see https://na12.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/editing_users.htm and https://na12.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/user_fields.htm. When you create an incident or service request for a client with a manager, the manager is stored in the Client Manager field of the Incident object. The approval process retrieves the value of the Client Manager field and assigns the approval to the manager. Note: The approval process assigns the approval for incidents and service requests that are created in the Incident form and in Self Service. If the manager of the client changes, the approval is sent to the new manager only when you edit the incident or service request.

12. Click Save.
13. (Optional) In the summary page that appears, click View Approval Process Detail Page to view the details of the approval process you have created.
14. To create fulfillment records when you approve a service request that was automatically submitted for approval, perform the following actions:
    1. In the Final Approval Actions section, click Add Existing.
    2. In the Choose Action Type list of the Select Existing Actions page, select the Field Update action type.
    3. In the Available Actions list, select Field Update: Update Service Request as Approved.
    4. Click Add to move the selected action from the Available Actions list to the Selected Actions list.

    5. Click Save.

       Note

       Service requests are automatically submitted for approval when you select the Automatically Submit for Approval (when matching criteria is met) check box while creating a service request definition (SRD).

15. To update Pending Approval to Approved in the Asset Core Approval Statusfield of the incident or service request after you approve the incident or service request, perform the following actions:
    1. In the Final Approval Actions section, click Add Existing.
    2. In the Choose Action Type list of the Select Existing Actions page, select the Field Update action type.
    3. In the Available Actions list, select Field Update: Asset Core Approval Status Approved.
    4. Click Add to move the selected action from the Available Actions list to the Selected Actions list.
    5. Click Save.
16. To update Pending Approval to Rejected in the Asset Core Approval Statusfield of the incident or service request after you reject the incident or service request, perform the following actions:
    1. In the Final Rejection Actions section, click Add Existing.
    2. In the Choose Action Type list of the Select Existing Actions page, select the Field Update type of action.
    3. In the Available Actions list, select Field Update: Asset Core Approval Status Rejected.
    4. Click Add to move the selected action from the Available Actions list to the Selected Actions list.
    5. Click Save.
17. (Optional)To enable delegated approvers to approve incidents or service requests, perform the following actions:
    1. In the Approval Steps section, in the Action column, click Edit.
    2. In Step 1. Enter Name and Description, click Next.
    3. In Step 2. Specify Step Criteria, click Next.
    4. Select the The approver's delegate may also approve this request check box.
    5. Click Save.
18. (Optional)To enable all service requests to be automatically submitted for approval when a Self Service user submits the service request, perform the following actions.
    1. Select the Automatically Submit for Approval (when matching criteria is met) check box for the required service request definition.
    2. In the sidebar, navigate to Setup > Manage Users > Public Groups to create a public group that contains all portal users and staff members.
       For more information about creating public groups, see https://na12.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/creating_and_editing_groups.htm.
    3. Click New.
    4. In the Group Name field, type the name of the group.
    5. In the Available Members list, select All Customer Portal Users and All Internal Users.
    6. Click Add.
    7. Click Save.
    8. In the sidebar, navigate to Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals > Approval Processes to configure the created public group as an initial submitter of the approval process.
    9. In the Approval Process Name column, click the approval process that you have created.
    10. In the Edit list of the Process Definition Detail section, select Initial Submitters.
    11. In the Submitter Type list, select Public Groups.
    12. In the Available Submitters list, select the public group that you have created.
    13. Click Add.
    14. Click Save.
        If the Self Service users are not configured as initial submitters of the approval process, their service requests do not automatically enter the approval process. These service requests must be manually submitted for approval to enter the approval process.
19. In the Process Definition Detail section, click Activate to activate the approval process.
20. In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

Related topic

Creating an approval process