Defining roles for an approval process

The Approval Server can route a request to a role instead of an individual. When you route to a role, the request is routed to all members of the role. You specify whether one member of the role can approve a request or whether all members must approve it.

The Overdue Oversight role is an example of the use of roles in the Lunch Scheduler sample application. This rule works with the Rule-Based process to route approvals for an overdue account to the members of the Overdue Oversight role.

Related topic

Managing-signatures-for-multiple-approvers

To define a role

  1. Open the AP:Administration form.
    For more information, see Working with the AP-Administration form.
  2. On the Role tab, click Create.
    Defining an approver role
    22_1_approval_role_defintion.png
  3. In the AP:Role form, enter a role name in the Role Name field.
    The name should be descriptive of a job or a responsibility, for example, MIS Management.
  4. Select an option from the If Multiple Approvers list.
    This option determines how many signature line records the Approval Server creates for the role when the Approver List is built.
    The options are:
    • One Must Sign—Creates a single signature line record for the role. The signature line is complete when one of the members of the role acts upon the approval request.

    • All Must Sign (default)—Creates a separate signature line for each member of the role.
      This option is overridden when the If Multiple Approver setting for the process is defined as One Must Sign. In this case, the role follows the One Must Sign process setting.
      For more information, see Creating-an-approval-process.

      If you include a role in the member list of another role, the If Multiple Approvers option of the parent role will take precedence.
      For example, suppose that Role A is defined with If Multiple Approvers set to All Must Sign and you include Role A in the member list of Role B. Role B is defined with If Multiple Approvers set to One Must Sign. In this example, the Approval Server uses the settings for Role B.

  5. In the Status field, select Active (default) or Inactive.
  6. In the Member List field, type the names of the role members.
    You must enter valid user names or role names, and separate the entries with semicolons or hard returns.
    To open an expanded text box, click the Text Box button. This field has a maximum length of 255 characters.
  7. Click Save.

 

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