Team Approval

In team approval, an administrator can create an ad hoc group of employees and assign the group to a particular approver or group of approvers without reference to the department to which the employees are assigned. Team approval overrides department approvals for the team members; if a member of a department is assigned to an approval team, the approver for that department will not receive the employee's timesheet or Expense report for approval. Employees may be members of more than one approval team. If employees are members of more than one approval team, their timesheets and expense reports will have to be approved by each team's approver(s) before achieving approved status.

In addition, supervisors/team approvers can be assigned directly to an employee record, for instructions please click here. Functionally speaking there is no difference between the Team approver and an employee approver assigned to an employee record directly. The primary difference is in the maintenance method, the ease of use and the maintenance preference. Under the employee setup the approvers need to be assigned individually, while under the Team setup one approver can be assigned to a group/team at once. If the approval structure is being loaded from another system it may be better to assign an approver to an employee for a better visualization of the structure.

To create a simple one-level Team Approval:

1. Expand Organization.
2. Click on Group Approval to expand the menu.
3. Click Team Approval.
4. Click on the Add button.

Step 1: Enter a Name for the Team

1. In the New Setup window, in the Name* field, enter a name for the new approval team. This field is limited to 100 characters.
2. Choose a Team Type*  
   
   • Main Team Approval (Default)
   • A Team Exception Policy Approval - this option can be used if a user has more than one Team approver assigned, but each team approver is approving reports under different conditions, for example one approvers out of pocket expenses, while the other credit card reports.
   • B Team Exception Policy Approval - this option can be used if a user has more than one Team approver assigned, but each team approver is approving reports under different conditions, for example one approvers out of pocket expenses, while the other credit card reports.
3. Click Next.

Step 2: Assign Users to the Team

1. In the Users Title window, click Add.
2. Using the filter  icon, enter in search criteria to look up a user. Search based on one or more of the following fields listed below.
   
   1. Employee
   2. First Name 
   3. Last Name 
   4. Operating Unit
   5. Department
   6. Location
   7. Active
3. Click on Apply to save the filter options.
4. Select the employee(s) from the employee list
5. Click OK.
6. Search for additional employees if desired and repeat the process.
7. Click Next once you have finished adding users.

Step 3: Set Approval Flows and Assign Approvers for the Team

1. In the Approval Flows window, click Add.
2. Enter a Level for the approval (example. 0 is first, 1 is second, etc.)
3. Enter a Description for this approval.
4. 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.

1. 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
2. Currency - Select the currency for the approval group
3. Enter a Min Amount (minimum amount) and a Max Amount (maximum amount) that this approval will apply to. This option only applies to expense reports and defines the amount limit an approver is authorized to approve.
4. 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. 
5. Save the form by clicking Save.
6. Click on the Approvers tab to assign approvers for this approval event.
7. Click Add.
8. Using the filter icon, enter in search criteria to look up a user. Search based on one or more of the following fields listed below
   
   1. Employee ID
   2. First Name
   3. Last Name
   4. Operating Unit
   5. Department
   6. Location
   7. Active
9. Click on Apply to save the filter options
10. Select the employee then click OK.
11. Search for additional employees if desired and repeat the process.
12. 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.
13. 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
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. In the Active field, select either Yes or No.
17. To add additional approvers click Add and repeat.
18. When done, click Finish

* Indicates a required field