Case and task approvals

An approval is an end-to-end process that starts when a case or task is sent for approval and ends with an approval outcome. Cases, automated tasks, and manual tasks might need approvals before case agents can proceed with cases or tasks. An ad hoc approval can also be raised from a case when an approval is required that is out of the usual approval cycle. An approver can be an employee, a company (business unit or support group), or even a vendor.

A case business analyst can configure approvals at different stages of the case or task lifecycle. Approvers can be a single approver, multiple approvers, or a percentage of approvers.

An approval configuration ensures that:

Administrators define the business logic for approvals quickly.
Approving authorities review the pending requests for approval, and approve or reject them, as required.

Prerequisites for approvals

The following figure shows the prerequisites that a case business analyst defines for case and task approvals:

This figure shows the prerequisites that a case business analyst defines for case and task approvals

Approval process

The following image shows the approval process of cases and tasks:

This image shows the approval process of cases and tasks

Approval types

A case business analyst configures self-approvals, approval flows, or a chain of approvals. The case business analyst can then apply the approval process to case and task templates. An approval process is triggered for the cases and tasks that are created with the associated case and task templates. The case business analyst can configure the approval to be triggered even for cases that do not use templates.

Self-approvals

Self-approvals are automatically processed by the system and contain expressions that the system evaluates to determine whether self-approval should be run. Self-approvals can be configured with or without processes. Self-approvals with processes evaluate additional expressions or perform additional tasks after cases or tasks match the self-approval expressions. Self-approvals without processes are used to automatically approve cases or tasks that match the defined qualification.

Examples:

Without process—Case status triggers an approval. Case matches the expression Priority = Low. Case is approved. Case status changes based on approval mapping.
With process—Task status triggers an approval. Task matches expression and status changes to Pending. Self-approval process is run and case manager is notified. Task is automatically approved. Task status changes based on approval mapping.

Approval flows

Approval flows contain flow groups that are logical groupings of approvals based on types of cases, lines of business, and user groups. Flow groups are used to define approval processes that belong to a specific group and create a chain of events. With approval flows, a case business analyst can group similar types of approvals, define how approvals will be executed, and also define the users who will approve the case or task.

The following flows are available out of the box:

Level up approval flow—Specifies the levels of approvals that a case or task requires.
General approval flow—Defines multiple approvers for a case or task and whether all or one of the approvers must approve the case or task.

The following flow groups are available out of the box:

BWFA Group—Contains a level-up approval flow: Manager Approval Flow. A case business analyst can add flows to this flow group. To create a custom flow group and corresponding approval flows, we recommend that you use Flowsets.
Ad hoc approval flow group—Contains the Ad hoc approval flow with Summary != $NULL$ as the qualification for ad hoc approval.

Examples:

Flow 1: Performance and award approval request—Approval required from the HR manager when an employee requests for a performance award for a colleague.
Flow 2: Create payroll details—Approval required from the direct manager of a new employee to create the payroll details of the employee.
Flow 3: Apply for medical leave—Approval required from the direct manager of an employee who wants a medical reimbursement.
Flow 4: Transfer to a different location—Approval required from direct manager and HR manager when an employee requests for a transfer.

Learn more about approval types in Types-of-approvals.

Ad hoc approvals

An ad hoc approval is an approval that is outside a regular approval flow, and which is raised run time during the lifecycle of a case. Ad hoc approvals are available only for cases.

By default, ad hoc approvals are not enabled. As a case business analyst, you can enable ad hoc approvals for your line of business. When ad hoc approvals are enabled, case agents with write permissions can raise ad hoc approvals for cases that are not in the Pending, Closed, Canceled and Approval Rejected status.

If you disable ad hoc approvals, cases for which ad hoc approvals are already raised go through the approval cycle. For other cases, the ad hoc approval option is no longer available.

Ad hoc approvals are configured based on the Ad hoc approval flow that is available out of the box. The approval flow contains the expression Summary != $NULL$ as the qualification. You can select One must, All must, or % must as the approvers for the ad hoc approval flow. All approval related activities and functions, such as notifications are applicable to the ad hoc approval flow.

Scenario

For example, Hannah, a case business analyst with Apex Global enables the CASE_ALLOW_ADHOC_APPROVAL configuration for the Finance line of business so that case agents can raise ad hoc approvals in certain cases. A case is created in which receipts are submitted for approval and payment for an onsite visit of a user. The per diem amount in the case is above the per diem limit. Bill, the case agent working on the case requests for an ad hoc approval from the Cost Center Head for the per diem amount.

Ways to approve cases and tasks

An approver can view and approve cases and tasks from in the following ways:

This image shows ways to approve cases and tasks

Examples

The following table shows examples for case and task approvals

Case approval example	Task approval example
Case agent creates a case for a monetary award for a user. Case agent uses a case template that is associated with an approval mapping. Case matches the approval flow and approval is triggered. Request goes to the manager for approval. Monetary award is large, so the request goes to the second-level manager for approval. After both approvals are received, case is marked completed and closed.	Request raised with Facilities team that a fire extinguisher from a floor is not working. Facilities team checks the expiry date and other equipment details. A manual task of validating log sheets is created. A task is created for the approval from the Facilities manager. After the approval is received, the task is completed and the equipment is replaced. Task is closed and then the case is closed.

Case approval example

Task approval example

Case agent creates a case for a monetary award for a user.
Case agent uses a case template that is associated with an approval mapping.
Case matches the approval flow and approval is triggered.
Request goes to the manager for approval.
Monetary award is large, so the request goes to the second-level manager for approval.
After both approvals are received, case is marked completed and closed.

Request raised with Facilities team that a fire extinguisher from a floor is not working.
Facilities team checks the expiry date and other equipment details.
A manual task of validating log sheets is created.
A task is created for the approval from the Facilities manager.
After the approval is received, the task is completed and the equipment is replaced.
Task is closed and then the case is closed.

Approvals for automated tasks

A case business analyst defines approvals for automated tasks to be triggered before a task starts or after it is completed. The following table shows how approval works for automated tasks:

Approval is configured to be triggered before the task starts	Approval is configured to be triggered after the task completes
Task status change triggers the approval process.	Task completion triggers the approval process.
If the approver approves the task, the task process starts.	If the approver approves the task, the status changes to Completed.
If the approver rejects the task, the task process doesn't start.	If the approver rejects the task, the status changes to Failed.

Notifications for case and task approvals

A case business analyst also creates approval notifications to notify individuals such as an approver, an agent, a requester, and so on about certain events. For example, a case business analyst creates a notification Case pending for approval that notifies an approver about a case that requires approval.

Learn about how to configure approval notifications in Defining-approval-notifications.