Department Approval

In department approval, one or more approvers are assigned to a Department. If a company's department heads are also approvers, this is the simplest approval structure to set up. Employees' department affiliation is a required field in the employee profile, so employees are already associated with a department. Assigning an approver to a department automatically makes that person the approver for all members of department.

If more than one approver is attached directly to the department (using the department setup screen rather than the approval menu), Admin defaults to allowing a timesheets or expense reports to be approved by any single approver. If all of the listed approvers need to take approval action, the approval group must be created from the Approval Group menu.

Admin permits two ways of assigning approvers to departments: creating an approval group and then associating the department, or attaching approvers directly to the department.

To create a simple one-level Department Approval:

1. Expand the Organization Menu.
2. Expand Group Approval.
3. Click on Department Approval.
4. Click on Add.
5. Enter a Name* that describes the department approval group and then click Next.
6. Click Add and select the Departments you would like this approval to apply then click Ok
7. Once you have added the departments click Next
8. Click on Approvers to assign approvers for this approval event.
9. Click Add.
10. In the Approval Flows wizard window, click Add.
11. Enter a Level for the approval (example. 0 is first, 1 is second, etc.) Note: Level has to always start with 0. If set to 1 or higher, the system will reset to start with 0.
12. Enter a Description* for this approval.
13. Select a Reset Option.
    
    1. Reset ALL - Reset from the beginning of approval structure if changes are made by approver.
    2. Reset current level - All the approvals currently in progress will be reset. 
    3. Reset off - No reset in approval structure if changes are made by approver

    4. Reset this level - Only the approvals for the group you're a part of will be reset.

       For Example: 

       If the approval structure includes 

       Level 1- 2 approval groups

       Level 2 - 3 approval groups

       Level 3- 2 approval groups

       If one of the approvers on Level 2 made a change, with the Reset Current Level option, this will reset the approval for all 3 groups on level 2, but will not reset any of the approvals on Level 1. 

       Let's say Level2 groups are A, B and C.

       With the Reset this Level option, if you are part of Group A and a change is made, only the approval for group A will be reset

14. In the Approval Type field:
    • Anyone can approve: One person in the approval group can approve the timesheet or expense report on behalf of everyone in the group
    • Everyone must approve: Everyone in the approval group must approve the timesheet or expense report before it is considered fully approved
15. Currency - Select the currency for the approval group
16. Enter a Min Amount (minimum amount) and a Max Amount (maximum amount) that this approval will apply to.
17. Enable Override by Routing - Select either Yes or No depending on if you would like this approval group to be overwritten when using the routing option. 
18. Save the form by clicking Save
19. Click on Approvers to assign approvers for this approval event.
20. Click Add.
21. In the Employee List wizard window select the employees you would like to add as approvers.
22. The filter option is also available by clicking on the icon.
    1. Employee ID
    2. First Name
    3. Last Name
    4. Operating Unit
    5. Department
    6. Location
    7. Active
23. Click Apply to save the filter options
24. Select the employee(s) from the employee list 
25. Click Ok
26. Search for additional employees if desired and repeat the process
27. In the Entry Type field:
    1. Select Time/Expense if this approver will approve both timesheets and expense reports.
    2. Select Expense Only if this approver will approve only expense reports.
    3. Select Time Only if this approver will approve only timesheets.
28. In the Approval Right field:
    • Select Approve Only if this approver is to be allowed only to approve or reject employee timesheets and/or expense reports, not modify them.
    • Select Modify and approve if the approver is to be able to make changes and then approve the modified Timesheet or expense report.
    • Select Review Only if the approver is to be able only to review timesheet data available to approvers, but not participate in the approval process (Review-only approvers can only access timesheets or expense reports through the Reports icon
29. In the Approval Type field:
    • Select Both if no approval restrictions are needed.
    • Select Primary if this approver is not allowed to approve his own timesheets and/or expense reports.
    • Select Secondary if this approver is to only approve the work of the primary approver.
30. In the Email Option field:
    • Select Yes if this approver wants to receive email notifications when timesheets and/or expense reports are released.
    • Select No if this approver does not want to receive email notifications. Email options and messages are configured under system options.
31. In the Active field, select Yes or No.
32. To add additional approvers click Add and repeat.
33. When done, click Finish

* Indicates a required field

Or as an alternative and approver can be attached directly to a Department record from Organization → Department Approval Flows tab