Configure Multiple Approvals

Requests can require approval by multiple people or levels of management.

The requests are routed through a sequence of approvers, or other people who need to be notified but do not have authority to approve requests. Example: The request goes first to the employee's manager, then to the human resources or union representative, then to another type of supervisor.

The approval sequence and number of approval levels can vary by the type or length of request. Requests can be escalated when an approver does not act within a timely manner. Only requests that have a status of submitted or pending can pass through multiple levels of approval.

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Access Profiles > Function Access Profiles. 
  2. Select the profile. Click Tap Edit.
  3. Click Tap Manager—Common Setup.
    • In Approval > Edit and View, select Allowed so that managers can approve requests and see approvals of requests.
    • In Request Subtype Transitions > Edit and View, select Allowed so that managers can suspend a request while a business process completes a task.
  4. Click Tap Save & Return.
  5. Make sure that the access profiles are associated with the relevant people. If you do not have access to People Information, contact the administrator who does have access.
  1. Select reviewers or others who need to be notified.
    1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Reviewer Lists. 
    2. Do one of the following: 
      • Click Tap New. Enter a Name .
      • Select one reviewer list. Click Tap Edit or Duplicate.
      • Select reviewer lists. Click Tap Delete. Click Tap Yes to confirm.
    3. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
    4. In Step One:
      • Select a first reviewer.
      • To add more reviewers, click tap Add. Each reviewer in a step must be unique.
      • To remove a reviewer, click tap None. Click Tap Save.
    5. To add more steps, click tap Insert a New Row. Select the reviewers.
    6. You can notify people who are not part of the review process about the status of a reviewer list.
      • From Also Notify, select one unique role or name. A row cannot have more than one role or name. Click Tap OK.
      • To remove a person, click tap X or click tap None. Click Tap Save.
      • Click Tap Save & Return.
  2. Define the purposes of an approval sequence to associate with reviewer lists.
    1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Reviewer Purposes. 
    2. In a row:
      • Enter a Name.
      • (Optional) Enter a Description.
    3. To add another reviewer purpose, click tap Insert a New Row.
    4. To remove a reviewer purpose, click tap Delete Row. If you remove a reviewer purpose, you cannot retrieve it.
    5. To keep the purpose but not use it, deactivate it; clear Active.
    6. Click Tap Save.
  3. Click Tap Save & Return.
  4. Assign reviewer purposes to reviewer lists for each employee.
    1. Click Tap Main . Select Maintenance > People Information. Select a person.
    2. Click Tap the Person tab > Approvals & Reviewers.
    3. In Reviewer List Assignments, select a Purpose and a Reviewer List.
    4. Click Tap Save.
    5. Repeat for other people.

Configure notifications so that the Control Center informs managers to approve or reject requests.

Map the task event to a generic notification

Tip: For all configuration options, refer to Create workflow notifications.

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > System Configuration > Workflow Notifications. 
  2. Select the notification.
  3. Click Tap New. 
  4. Click Tap Generic Notification.
  5. Enter a Name.
  6. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
  7. Select Recipient List will be Supplied at Runtime.
  8. Select Do Not Suppress Duplicates.
  9. Put the cursor in Short message.
  10. Select Insert Custom Tags.
  11. Select Workflow Task Details from Group.
  12. Select tags. Examples: Assignee, Initiator, Process Name.
  13. Click Tap Save & Return.

Link notifications to events

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Event/Notification > Control Center Notification Mapping. 
  2. For the Event, select the Generic Notification.
  3. Click Tap Save.

Assign notifications to people

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > System Configuration > Notification Profiles. 
  2. Do one of the following: 
    • Click Tap New. Enter a Display Name.
    • Select a notification profile. Click Tap Edit.
    • Select notification profiles. Click Tap Delete. Click Tap Yes to confirm.
  3. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
  4. Select the notification destinations for each priority level:
    • From Available, select the items and the right arrow . Alternatively, select the double right arrow  to select all items.
    • (Optional) Remove items. From Selected, select the items and select the left arrow . Alternatively, select the double left arrow  to remove all items.
  5. Click Tap Save & Return.
  6. Click Tap Main Menu  > Maintenance > People Information. Select a person.
  7. Click Tap Access Profiles.
  8. Select a Notification Profile.
  9. Click Tap Save.
  10. Repeat for other people.

Approval steps define notifications, reminders, and automatic actions for each step in a multiple-level approval sequence. You can also indicate whether you want approvers of request types associated with an approval step periodically re-evaluated. See Re-Evaluate Approvers for Submitted and Pending Requests for more information.

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service > Approval > Approval Step Setting.
  2. (Optional) In Filter, select whether to display Active, Inactive, or All settings.
  3. Do one of the following: 

    Best Practice: Because edits can affect pending requests, create new approval step settings rather than edit current settings.

    • Click Tap New. Enter a Name .
    • Select one approval step setting. Click Tap Edit or Duplicate.
    • Select settings. Click Tap Activate or Inactivate.
    • Select settings. Click Tap Delete. Click Tap Yes to confirm.

      Note: You cannot delete approval step settings that are used by approval settings. First, unassign the approval step settings from the approval settings. Then delete the approval step settings.

  4. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
  5. In Approver Notification upon Request Reception, select the type of notification to send to approvers when the employee submits a request, or when it is an approver’s turn to approve a request.
    Caution:
    • Select a type of notification. The default value of <none> means that approvers are not notified to approve requests.
    • Make sure that the selected notifications are configured for multiple approvals. Otherwise, the notifications are not available.
  6. In Set a Reminder, specify:
    1. Reminder Message — Select a message to send to remind approvers to approve or refuse a request.
    2. After (Days) — Enter the number of days to wait to send the reminder. Enter whole days from 1—555, inclusive.
  7. In Set an Automatic Action upon Inactivity, specify:
    1. Automatic Action — Select an action to take if approvers neither approve nor refuse a request. In After (Days), enter the number of days to wait to take the action. Enter whole days from 1—555, inclusive. You must specify a value in the After (Days) field if you selected an automatic action.

      Note: If configured, the system re-evaluates request approvers every seven days. Because of this, if the value of the After (Days) field is seven or less, the request re-evaluation will never occur because the specified automatic action will have already been performed.

    2. Inactive Approver Notification — Select a message to send to approvers who do not act upon a request within the allowed time.
    3. Inactive Approver’s Manager Notification — Select a message to send to managers of approvers who do not act upon a request

      4. Note: For these last two options, select the same notification that is configured for the Inactive Requests event type so that these inactive time-off request notifications are routed to the System Messages in the Control Center. See Configure Notifications for Schedule Requests for more information.

  8. Enable Approver Re-evaluation — Select this check box if you want the system to re-evaluate submitted or pending requests for valid approvers. See Re-Evaluate Approvers for Submitted and Pending Requests for more information.

    Note: You can set this option only if you have specified an automatic action.

  9. Click Tap Save & Return.

Define notifications, actions, and approver sequences for single or multiple levels of approval for requests.

Note:

When Approval Settings have been configured with a Reviewer List and are associated to a Request Subtype:

  • Any Reviewer specified in the Reviewers section of the Reviewer List is authorized to approve the time-off request in both the Control Center and in the Schedule Planner Absence Calendar.
  • Managers specified in the Also Notify (Recipients) section of the Reviewer List receive notifications in the Control Center, but are not authorized to approve the request.

    • Note that in the Control Center panel, even though the Approve and Refuse buttons are active in the notification received by Also Notify managers, their functionality is disabled.

  • If a manager has access to the submitting employee (such as through their employee group or organizational set), but is not a designated approver in the Reviewer List, they cannot approve the request either in the Control Center or in the Schedule Planner Absence Calendar.

If the Request Subtype is configured without being associated to Approval Settings, then:

  • Control Center: Only the direct (Reports To) manager of the submitting employee receives a notification and can approve the employee's request. No other managers (including those who have access to the employee in their employee group) are notified or can approve the request in the Control Center.
  • Absence Calendar: Any managers with access to the submitting employee (such as through their employee group or locations) can approve the employee's request from the Schedule Planner Absence Calendar.
  1. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service > Approval > Approval Setting. 
  2. (Optional) In Filter, select whether to display Active, Inactive, or All settings.
  3. Do one of the following: 

    Best Practice: Because edits can affect pending requests, create new approval settings rather than edit current settings.

    • Click Tap New. Enter a Name .
    • Select one approval setting. Click Tap Edit or Duplicate.
    • Select settings. Click Tap Activate or Inactivate.
    • Select settings. Click Tap Delete. Click Tap Yes to confirm.

      Note: You cannot delete approval settings that are used by a request subtype. First, unassign the approval settings from the subtype. Then delete the approval settings.

  4. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
  5. Select a Default Approval Sequence. Only active sequences for time-off requests are available.

    Best Practice: Do not select an Approval Sequence that contains no reviewers or recipients. Otherwise, the process skips those approval steps that do not have approvers. Also, if an automatic action is selected, the action approves or rejects the request automatically. If no automatic action is selected, the request is rejected automatically.

  6. In Approval Step Settings, define notifications, reminders, and automatic actions for each step in the approval sequence:
    • Select the Default Approval Step Settings. Only active settings are available.
    • Approval Step Settings displays the Steps and <default> for the Approval Step Settings that make up the selected Default Approval Step Settings. To display the label of the Default Approval Step Settings, click tap Save. You can select different Approval Step Settings.

      Tip: The system retains your selections even if you select another Default Approval Step Settings. If you select the edited settings later, your selections remain. To clear the selections, select another Default Approval Step Settings to fill the table with different steps. Then, edit the settings.

  7. In Maximum Number of Approval Steps, select one of the following:
    • Always use all approval steps (default) — Use all active approver steps for all request subtypes. Skip the next step.
    • Request length controls number of approval steps — Define the number of approval steps according to the length of the time-off request.
  8. If the number of approval steps changes by the length of the request, define the following:
    1. Minimum Length (Days) — Enter the shortest time-off request that requires the defined number of approval steps. Enter whole days, greater than or equal to zero (0).

      Minimum Length excludes the length of a request.

    2. Maximum Length (Days) — Enter the longest time-off request that requires the defined number of approval steps. Enter whole days. The maximum length must be longer than the minimum length.
      • Maximum Length includes the length of a request.
      • The system interprets the interval of time as: Minimum Length <= length of request <= Maximum Length
      • But: Minimum Length < Maximum Length
    3. Approval Steps — Enter the number of approval steps. Enter whole numbers, greater than or equal to zero (0). The number of steps must be fewer than the default number of all approval steps.
    4. In the same Approval Settings, you can define approval steps for different-length time-off requests. Click Add a New Row. Repeat this step.

      Example: If the requested time off is:

      Less than 7 days: Complete 1 approval step: Minimum Length = 0 days; Maximum Length = 6 days; Approval Steps = 1 step.

      From 7-14 days: Complete 2 approval steps: Minimum Length = 7 days; Maximum Length = 14 days; Approval Steps = 2 steps.

      Longer than 14 days: Complete 3 approval steps: Minimum Length = 15 days; Maximum Length = 99 days; Approval Steps = 3 steps.

  9. (Optional) In Set an Automatic Action before Request Start Date, select the following:
    1. Automatic Action — Select an action to take if the approver does not approve or refuse a request before the start date of the request.
    2. Before (Days) — Enter the number of days before the start date of the request to take the action. Enter whole days, greater than or equal to zero (0).

      Caution: Make sure that the Reminder Template and Automatic Action Template in the request subtype are consistent with these Approval Settings.

      Tip: To implement multiple levels of approval more easily, use the default versions of the business processes for Automatic Action and Reminder Timer as they are or edit them as needed.

  10. Select the types of notifications.

    Caution: Make sure that the selected notifications are configured for multiple approvals. Otherwise the notifications are not available for request subtypes.

    1. (Optional) Select the type of notification to send to the employee who submitted a request:

      Tip: You must define the notifications for multiple levels of approval before you configure Approval Settings. Name the notifications so that you can identify the correct ones easily.

      • Employee Notification upon Submission — Notify the employee when they submit a request.
      • Employee Notification upon Pending — Notify the employee when a request changes status to pending.
      • Employee Notification upon Final Approval — Notify the employee if a request is approved by all approvers.
      • Employee Notification upon Refusal — Notify the employee if a request is refused by any approver.
      • Employee Notification upon Cancellation — Notify the employee if a request is canceled.
    2. (Optional) Select the type of notification to send to the listeners. Listeners are notified of requests even though they do not approve or refuse the requests.
      • Listeners Notification upon Initial Request — Notify all listeners when a request is submitted.
      • Listeners Notification upon Final Approval — Notify all listeners when a request is approved by all approvers.
      • Listeners Notification upon Refusal — Notify all listeners when a request is refused by any approver.
      • Listeners Notification upon Cancel Submission — Notify all listeners if the employee requests to cancel a request.
      • Listeners Notification upon Cancellation — Notify all listeners if a request is canceled.
      • Listeners Notification upon Deletion — Notify all listeners when a request is deleted due to an employee's termination.
    3. (Optional) Select the type of notification to send to all approvers who have approved the request if the request is automatically approved, canceled, or refused:
      • Approvers Notification upon Auto Approval — Notify all approvers when a request is automatically approved.
      • Approvers Notification upon Refusal — Notify all approvers if a request is refused by any approver.
      • Approvers Notification upon Cancel Submission — Notify all approvers if the employee requests to cancel a request.
      • Approvers Notification upon Cancellation — Notify all approvers if a request is canceled.
      • Approvers Notification upon Deletion — Notify all approvers when a request is deleted due to an employee's termination.
  11. Click Tap Save & Return.

Request subtype transitions suspend a request while another business process completes tasks.

Note: You can configure UKG Pro Workforce Management™ to send an employee’s Reports To manager an email with a calendar attachment (.ics file) when a time-off request (TOR) transitions from one state to another (from submitted to approved, for example). Contact your UKG Representative for more information.

  1. Make sure that a business process model is available for time-off requests, activated, and assigned to the request subtypes.
  2. Click Tap Main Menu  > Administration > Application Setup > Employee Self Service > Request Subtype Transitions. 
  3. Do one of the following: 

    Best Practice: Because edits can affect pending requests, create new request subtype transitions rather than edit current transitions.

    • Click Tap New. Enter a Name .
    • Select one request subtype transition. Click Tap Edit or Duplicate.
    • Select transitions. Click Tap Activate or Inactivate.
    • Select transitions. Click Tap Delete. Click Tap Yes to confirm.
  4. (Optional) Enter a Description. 
  5. Select a From State and a To State. The From State that you select affects the To States that are available.
  6. Select the business process model to execute before (Pre-Processing) or after (Post-Processing) the state transition.
  7. To add another subtype transition, click Insert a New Row. One of the states must be unique for every transition, even if the transitions use the same business process model.
  8. Click Tap Save.