Step 1: Accessing Approval Routes
Navigate to Approval Routes
Go to “Administration” on the Main Menu tool bar, then hover over“Routes” and then select “Approval Routes”
Step 2: Choosing Document Type & Department
Document Types & Departments
1. From the drop down menu select the document type the approval route will be for.
2. Scroll through the corporation, properties, entities, and departments to find the appropriate area for the approval route. Once found click on the selection. (The selection will be highlighted in blue)
There is the ability to set up approval routes at the Corporation, Property, Entity, and/or Department level. This is particularly useful for setting up the upper management Approvals. For example the Vice President of Food & Beverage can be set at the Entity level F&B and as long as merge approvals (discussed in step 3) is selected they do not have to be manually added in each department’s route.
Step 3: Defining Approval Route Settings
Approval Settings
The drop down menus for each setting have three options: Yes, No & Unspecified.
- Yes activates the setting.
- No deactivates the setting.
- Unspecified will look to the next highest approval level.
The flow is Corporation→Property →Entity →Department
Enabled
Enabled – If checked the approval route is Active, if unchecked it is Inactive.
Merge Approvals
Merge Approvals – If checked the approval route settings to be taken from the higher approval levels. This works in two ways.
- It allows the settings to be put on the property level rather than having to reiterate throughout.
- It also allows for approval routes to be merged from the higher approval levels.
Example: If Merge Approvals is selected for the department it will take the settings from the entity, property and corporation. There is the ability to lock and unlock this function.
Auto Advance/Days
Auto Advance/Days – Advance to the next approver if not approved in the number of specified days.
Approval Route Setup
Use Approval Route Setup Of - Once you select the approval routes in one document, if you want the same approval routes, you can select to copy them.
Password Authentication
Password Authentication – Requires a password to be entered when approving or rejecting a document.
Vacation Bumping
Vacation Bumping – Bumps to the next approver automatically if “Vacation Time” has been entered.
Budget Information
Show Budget Information - Displays the budget information on the document. Suggested to set as “no”.
Approving via Email Url
Enable Approving via Email URL – Enables a link in the Notification Email that allows the recipient to approve the document by clicking the link.
Approving via Reply Email
Enable Approval via Reply Email – Allows the recipient to approve a document by sending a reply email from the Notification Email.
Email Next Approver
Email Next Approver – Send a Notification Email to the next approver in the route once it is in their queue.
Email Requester on Progress
Email Requester on Progress – Send a Notification Email to the document originator after each approval.
Email Requester on Final Approval
Email Requester on Final Approval – Send a Notification Email to the document originator after the final approval.
Email Requester on Rejection
Email Requester on Rejection – Send a Notification Email to the document originator when the document is rejected by any of the approvers.
Email Address
From Email Address – The email address that the Approval Notification Emails will use. Typically the same email address is used for other functions (Purchase Orders, Bids, etc.) Please note this function is only supported on certain mail servers.
Dollar Limit Behavior
Dollar Limit Behavior – Control of dollar limit being enforced over or under the entered limits.
- Setting the dollar limit to over the approvals would not kick in unless the document was over the approval dollar setting. This allows a department to do purchases under the dollar limit without approvals.
- If the dollar limit behavior is set to under, all documents under the approval dollar setting will go through approvals.
Step 4: Adding & Deleting Approvers
Adding Approvers
Approvers can be added by commodity or just dollar limit. Both approving methods will include 3 action options.
- Required: The approver is absolutely necessary for every document. If this option is selected the user cannot be skipped in any way.
- Optional: Allows the approver to be skipped if necessary by the next approver. *RECOMMENDED*
- Notify Only: The user will receive a Notification Email but are not required to take any actions.
Adding Approvers by Commodity
Adding Approvers by Commodity:
1. Select Add Commodity. A grey area will appear.
2. Type – Either type in or use the Browse Icon to select the Commodity.
3. User – Either type in the user ID or select using the Browse Icon.
4. Dollar Limit – Enter in the approver’s dollar limit.
5. Action – Select from the following options using the drop down menu has a drop down menu.
- Required: The approver is absolutely necessary for every document. If this option is selected the user cannot be skipped in any way.
- Optional: Allows the approver to be skipped if necessary by the next approver. *RECOMMENDED*
- Notify Only: The user will receive a Notification Email but are not required to take any actions.
Adding Approvers by Dollar Limit
Adding Approvers by Dollar Limit:
1. Select Add Dollar Limit
2. User – Either type in the user ID or select using the Browse Icon.
3. Dollar Limit – Enter in the approver’s dollar limit.
4. Action – Select from the following options using the drop down menu has a drop down menu.
- Required: The approver is absolutely necessary for every document. If this option is selected the user cannot be skipped in any way.
- Optional: Allows the approver to be skipped if necessary by the next approver. *RECOMMENDED*
- Notify Only: The user will receive a Notification Email but are not required to take any actions.
5. After adding in approvers click “Save” at the top. Once “Save” has been clicked the approval route flow will be shown at the bottom of the screen.
Editing an Approver
Editing an Approver
1. Double-click into an approval area to edit: type, users, dollar limit or action.
2. Make changes as needed.
3. Save the approval information.
Deleting an Approver
Deleting an Approver
To delete an approver, select the approver that needs to be deleted and click “Delete Row”.
Step 5: Setting up Vacation Time
Adding Vacation Time
If Vacation Bumping has been activated, approvers can add vacation time into the system.
- Click on their username displayed at the top right of the home screen. This will open up a drop down menu.
- Select “Vacation Time”.
- Select a Start Date & End Date using the Vacation Time Calendar.
- Click “Add”. Once added the dates selected will be highlighted in green.
Deleting Vacation Time
If the vacation time needs to be deleted:
- Click on their username displayed at the top right of the home screen. This will open up a drop down menu.
- Select “Vacation Time”.
- Click on an existing vacation range to delete it.
- A confirmation pop-up will appear asking if you want to delete the vacation range. Select Yes.
Step 6: Amending Approvals
Occasionally an approval route will need to be amended. Before changes may be made the approval route must not have any pending documents (INC-WTG). There are two ways of completing this task.
Opt 1: Clearing the Queue via Higher Approver
Clearing the Queue via Higher Approver: if there are multiple approvers in the route needing to be amended, the top approvers have the ability to pull the document into their queue to approve it. Once the document shows the status ‘OPN-CMP’ it is no longer in any approval queues. This function only works if there are approvers above the one being amended. If the top approver is the one being amended or the entire route please refer to option 2.
a) Go to Procurement →Approvals →Approve Documents
b) Under Current Queue clear out the current approver’s name and type in the username for the queue needing to be cleared.
c) Select the documents and click “Approve” (Reminder: Rejecting documents deletes the document entirely and the user will need to start again from scratch)
d) In the approve pop up screen select “All Waiting Lines”. By selecting “All Waiting Lines” allows the approver to approve all lines regardless of whose queue they are currently in. ("My Waiting Lines" only allows approval of selected queue.) Once this option is selected click “Ok”.
e) Now that the approval route has been cleared of all documents, start from the beginning of the guide and follow Steps 1-4.
Opt 2: Clearing the Queue via Incomplete Status
Clearing the Queue via Incomplete Status: Start by identifying the documents that are currently in the approval route that is going to be amended by accessing the Open Procurement Request Management page.
a) Go to Procurement →Requests →Open Requests.
- Using the Bill To area, select the department, entity or property that corresponds with the approval route.
b) Any document with the status ‘INC-WTG’ is currently pending in the approval route and will need to have the status changed to ‘INC-NA’. Double-click on the document, and then choose ““Line Defaults”.
- Leave all the areas checked and click “Ok”, then “Yes”.
- The document status will now show as INC-NA. Repeat these steps as needed for all pending documents.
c) Now that the approval route has been cleared of any documents, start from the beginning of this guide and follow Steps 1-4.
d) Once the changes have been made, the documents will need to be send back through approvals. Go back to the document(s) that were changed to INC-NA via the Open Procurement Management screen, double-click on the document, and then choose “Process & Finalize.”
- In the Process & Finalize screen select “Finalize”. The document status will go back to INC-WTG, meaning that it has been sent back into the amended approval route.
Approval Route Reports
There are two reports for approvals. One is for looking at the routes and the other is for document approval history. These reports can be exported into several document file types (PDF, Excel, CSV, etc).
Approval Routes
Approval Routes – Detailed list of Approval Routes as defined in the system, grouped by department with dollar limits.
- To access go to Reports→Administration→System Security→Authorization Routes.
- Show Parameters: Parameters - DOC Type (REQUIRED), Property, Division (Entity), Department and User.
Approval History by User/Date
Approval Routes – Listing of all documents sent through the approval process within the selected time frame with status, grouped by approver
- To access go to Reports→Procurement→Document Approvals.
- Show Parameters: Parameters - Begin Date (REQUIRED), End Date (REQUIRED), Property (REQUIRED), Division (Entity), Department, Approver, Document Status (REQUIRED) and Approval Status (REQUIRED).
