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The Approvals Inbox

The Approvals Inbox lists everything waiting for your decision in one place: workflow approval steps, approval matrix stages, controlled documents and ERP documents. You approve or reject each one there, and the process it belongs to carries on straight away. People without back-office access use the "Waiting for my approval" page instead.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Processes:

  • Approvals Inbox — for every back-office user; the badge counts the requests addressed to you

Architect Panel → Automation:

  • Approvals Inbox — the same screen for architects

Who sees what

  • The Admin Panel entry is given to every back-office security group. A group created later needs the Approvals Inbox item added to its admin panel items; see Admin Panel.
  • Each person sees the requests that name them, their security group, their worklist team, a list they are on, or a person they are covering for under a delegation.
  • Requests that name nobody form a shared pool. They are shown to people holding the ERP: Approvals role, and to architects.

The screen

  • Tiles: Waiting for you (with a breakdown by kind), Oldest waiting, and You decided (last 30 days).
  • Tabs: Waiting for me, and Decided by me (your decisions over the last 90 days).
  • Filters: Search (title, record, document number or requester), Kind, and Order (Oldest first, Newest first, Largest amount first).
  • Buttons: Refresh, and for people with a role on a workflow, My processes and Run History.

Each card shows its kind (Workflow, Approval matrix, Document control, or the ERP document type), how long it has waited, the title, the record or document by name, the workflow or the stage it is asked at, the company, who asked and when, and any amount. The buttons are the decisions you can make, plus Lines (an ERP document's lines, without leaving the inbox), Open (the record) and Processes (the record's Processes page).

Deciding one item

  1. Press Approve or Reject on the card (an ERP document may offer other wording, such as Return for amendment).
  2. For an approval, add a Comment (optional). For a rejection, fill in Why are you rejecting it?: it is required, and the person who asked reads it.
  3. Press Confirm, or Not now to back out.

The card goes from the list and a message says where the process went: moved on to its next step, finished, or stopped.

Approving several at once

  1. Tick the items, or tick Select every item you can approve.
  2. Press Approve selected, add a Comment for all of them (optional), and confirm.

Each item is approved on its own, in turn, exactly as from its card; one that is refused stays in the list saying why. Rejections are always one at a time, because each needs its own reason.

Decisions you cannot make yet

When the server would refuse a decision, its button is shown disabled with the reason under the card rather than failing when pressed. A supplier invoice held by three-way matching shows a Match held pill and a link to open the Invoice Match Queue. A request on a record you cannot read shows a padlock and asks you to get Read access.

Waiting for my approval

An Approval step can e-mail the approver a link. It opens the Waiting for my approval page, available to every signed-in person including customers, partners and staff without back-office access. It has the same Waiting for me and Decided by me tabs, a search box, and Approve and Reject on each request, with a reason required to reject.

What goes wrong

  • A request I expected is not here. The step named someone else (check the run in Workflow Run History), or it is still on an earlier step.
  • The badge and the list differ. The badge counts requests addressed to you. A document waiting only for a move your permission allows is listed but not counted.
  • "That request is no longer waiting for you" on the end-user page: it was decided or withdrawn already.
  • A warning that one kind could not be read. The rest of the inbox is still shown.

Worked example

On Monday the operations director has eleven items waiting. They sort by Largest amount first, open Lines on a 30,000 purchase order to check what is on it, and approve it with a comment. They tick Select every item you can approve, which leaves out a supplier invoice showing Match held, and approve the rest in one step. Finally they reject a travel request with the reason "Book standard class and resubmit".

Recommendations

  • Work oldest first unless an amount demands otherwise.
  • Use Lines before approving an ERP document you have not seen.
  • Grant ERP: Approvals deliberately: it decides who sees requests that name nobody.
  • Tick the e-mail link on Approval steps aimed at people outside the back office.