Project Approval is a mechanism allowing a manager or system administrator to create approval workflows that are project specific. A project approval workflow establishes which manager(s) must approve an employee’s project specific time or expense submissions before those entries can be processed for project costs, billing, reports, etc.
Time and expense entries for the specified projects are routed directly to those managers established in the project approval workflow. Submitted time and expense entries that are not associated to a project approval workflow continue to be directed through any standard workflow process established for the employee.
The following describes how to (1) create and (2) edit a Project Approval workflow and how to (3) create and (4) edit a Project Approval template.
|
Note: Time and Expense entries associated with Project Approvals bypass all other established Workflows. |
Prerequisites:
The project(s) and its employee assignments should first be created.
The employees (managers) designated to approve time and expenses should first be created.
The Project Approval view
is accessed by clicking
the Project Workspace 
button in the Projects section of the side navigation bar
and then clicking the Project Approvals
tab at the top of the screen.
Using the Project drop-down list at the top of the screen, select the project for which the approval workflow will be created.
Click the Approval Workflow tab.
Click the New
button to launch the Add Workflow pop-up window.
Enter a unique name for this project’s approval workflow (up to 100 characters). It’s a good idea to also include the project name in this field or in the description field (step 8).
Select the type of workflow (Timesheet or Expense) from the drop-down list.
(Optional) Select a template from the drop-down list. If the exact same list of employees and managers is going to be used for multiple projects, then it’s a good idea to first create an approval template or use an existing one. When the Connect to Template box displays YES, any future changes made to the template can be transferred to the workflows created from it.
(Optional) Enter a description for this project’s approval workflow (up to 250 characters).
From the list of Available Employees, select and transfer
employees to the Assigned Employees
list using the Assign button 
(use the Assign All button
to transfer all available employees to the Assigned list).
|
Notes:
|
From the list of Available Managers, select and transfer the managers that need to approve the time or expense entries to the Approving Managers list. The Available Managers list includes all employees with access to administrative functions (assigned to "All" in the employee properties Software access field). To approve time and expenses, employees listed as a manager must also have a security level giving them access to the Time & Expense approval view.
The order of the managers displayed in the Approving Managers list represents the
approving order. The first manager shown will need to approve the time
or expenses before the second manager listed (if any) can approve the
time or expenses, and so on. To change the order of an approving manager,
select the manager and click the up 
or down 
arrow buttons.
Click OK.
Select the Project Approval Workflow.
Click the Edit button.
Make changes as required.
|
Warning: If the workflow Type is changed (from Timesheet to Expense or vice-versa), all workflow assignments and template links are lost. |
Click OK.
Project Approval Templates are primarily used to reduce the work involved in creating a new project approval workflow and to carry out widespread changes more efficiently. By using an approval template as a foundation, you can quickly create a new project approval workflow and link that workflow to its originating template. Then any future changes made to the template can be transferred to the workflows.
A project approval template is most useful when the same list of employees and managers is going to be used for multiple projects.
Select the Approval Template tab. All existing approval templates are displayed.
Click the New button to launch the Add Template pop-up window.
Enter a unique name for this Approval Template (up to 100 characters).
Select the type of workflow (Timesheet or Expense) from the drop-down list.
(Optional) Un-check the Public box to make this template available only to you. When checked, the template is available to all users with access to the Project Approvals tab.
(Optional) Enter a description for the Approval Template (up to 250 characters).
From the list of Available
Employees, select and transfer employees to the Assigned
Employees list using the Assign button .
|
Note: Please note that approval templates are not project specific (unlike project approval workflows). Therefore, the Available Employees for an approval template includes all employees. |
From the list of Available
Managers, select and transfer the managers that need to approve
the time or expense entries to the Assigned Managers list. Use the Up
and Down arrow buttons to adjust the approval
order for a manager. The Approving Managers list includes all employees
with access to administrative functions (assigned to "All" in
the employee
properties Software access field). To approve time and expenses, employees
listed as a manager must also have a security
level giving them access to the Time & Expense approval view.
Click OK.
Select the Project Approval Template.
Click the Edit button.
Make changes as required.
Click OK.
|
Notes:
|
In front of each listed workflow is an Update checkbox. Check the workflows to update.
Check the Update Employees and Update Managers boxes as required.
Press OK to complete the update.
