The Approval workflow feature lets you define who approves a report and in what order.
When an Approval workflow is set on a Template, the Approvers approve or Revert the Report in the defined order after it is submitted.
Overview
Approval workflows are created by an Administrator in the "Approval workflow" section of the admin panel.
The created Approval workflow is then set in the "Approval workflow" field on the Template editing screen.
Approval workflows can be set on a Template by Administrators, Report Administrators, and Template Management administrators.
In Templates with an Approval workflow set, the "Submit" action for a Report becomes "Apply".
Reports awaiting approval are displayed together under "Approve" in the sidebar.
Specifications
Approval stages and Approvers
- Approval stages — Up to 5 stages can be set.
Stages are displayed as "1st Approval," "2nd Approval," and so on. - Approvers — Up to 10 people can be designated per stage, selected individually.
Designation by organization, job title, or Employment type is not supported. - Approval conditions — For stages with 2 or more Approvers, you can choose "All must approve" or "A specified number must approve."
If you want the process to advance when any one person approves, set "A specified number must approve" to 1. - Approval workflow name — Up to 100 characters.
Description — Up to 1,000 characters. - Only one Approval workflow can be set per Template.
A single Approval workflow can be used across multiple Templates.
Reports after submission
- Submitted reports are displayed in Team Reports as Submitted reports while awaiting approval, and Notify Organizations are also notified.
- While awaiting approval, the report author cannot edit or Delete the report.
The application cannot be Withdrawn either.
If changes are needed, please ask an Approver to Revert the report. - The report status is displayed as "Awaiting Approval," "Reverted," or "Approved."
How far the process has progressed can be checked in the report's "Approval Status." - The Approval Status can be checked by anyone who can view the report.
- If an Approved report is edited and resubmitted, the approval process restarts from the 1st approval (Redo).
Approving and Reverting
- Approvers open a report and select either "Approve" or "Revert."
Either action can include a Comment (optional, up to 1,000 characters). - Bulk approval from a list is not supported.
Reports must be opened and processed one at a time. - Once the required number of Approvers in a stage have approved, the process advances to the next stage. When the final stage is approved, the report becomes "Approved."
- For the Revert destination, you can choose "Return to author" or select a previous stage.
- Returning to the author reverts the report to Draft and removes it from Team Reports.
When the author makes corrections and "Reapplies," the approval process restarts from the 1st approval (Redo). - Returning to a previous stage keeps the report in "Awaiting Approval" status, and the Approvers of that stage approve it again.
The "Revert" action by an Approver and the "Revert to draft" action by the report author on their own Submitted report are separate operations.
People who do not become Approvers
- The person who submitted the report does not become an Approver for that report.
- People whose accounts have been suspended or Deleted are removed from the Approvers at the time of submission.
If, as a result, a stage has no Approvers left, that stage is skipped and the process advances to the next stage (the Approval Status will display "Skipped because there are no Approvers").
If all stages have no Approvers, the report is automatically Approved upon submission.
People who cannot view the report author's report due to Viewing restriction settings cannot approve it even if they are designated as Approvers.
A stage where the required number of Approvers cannot view the report will not be skipped — it will stall.
If the Approval Status displays "Approvers cannot view this report due to Viewing restriction," an Administrator should review the Viewing restriction or Approval workflow settings.
Expanding the viewing range will send an approval request to Approvers who can now view the report, and the stalled stage will advance.
When an Approval workflow is changed
- If the Approvers of a Published Approval workflow are changed, reports that are awaiting approval will also have their Approvers replaced with the updated Approvers for the current stage and all subsequent stages.
If you need to change Approvers due to a transfer or resignation, please edit the Approval workflow. - Adding, removing, or reordering stages will take effect starting with the next submitted report.
- If the Approval workflow set on a Template is changed, the change will also take effect starting with the next submitted report.
Archive and Delete
- An Approval workflow that has been used even once for approval Cannot delete.
If it is no longer needed, please Archive it. - When an Approval workflow is Archived or Deleted, Templates that had it set will become "No approval required."
Reports that are currently in the approval process will continue through to the end using the stages that were set at the time of submission. - Restoring an Archived Approval workflow reverts it to Draft.
To use it again, Publish it and set it on a Template again. - Only "Published" Approval workflows can be set on a Template.
Notifications
- Approvers receive a notification saying "An approval request for ◯◯'s report has arrived" when it is their turn to approve.
- Report authors receive a notification when all stages have been approved or when the report is Reverted to them.
No notification is sent when an intermediate stage is approved. - The count shown under "Approve" in the sidebar displays the number of reports awaiting approval and the number of results from your own submissions that you have not yet opened.
- Notifications are not sent by email.
Available screens
Creating and editing Approval workflows is done on a computer.
Submitting, approving, and reverting reports, as well as checking Approval Status, can also be done on smartphones and the app.
How to use
Create an approval workflow
https://teachme.jp/8/manuals/51976636
Edit, archive, and delete approval workflows
https://teachme.jp/8/manuals/51976685
Set an approval workflow on a template
https://teachme.jp/8/manuals/51976715
Request approval for a report and check its status
https://teachme.jp/8/manuals/51976754
Approve or return a report
https://teachme.jp/8/manuals/51976937