Define Approver Properties

Use the Approvers page in the Approval Block Editor (accessed from within the Approval Editor) to define the approver properties.

The following properties can be defined:

  • Number or percentage of votes required for an approval, including which votes to count from which source.
  • A mixed list of users, customers, and/or teams to designate as approvers, including users within teams and workgroups.
  • Text to display in the details field of the approval.
  • Number or percentage of votes required for a denial, including which votes to count from which source.

To define approver properties:

  1. Open the Approval Block Editor. For more information, see Approval Editor and Open the Approval Block Editor.
  2. Select the Approvers page.
  3. Define approvers for the Approval Block:
    1. Select Add.
    2. In the drop-down list, select a type of approver to add to your list of approvers:
      Note:
      • When adding users, teams or workgroups, you can use search. Enter a search term, consisting of case insensitive partial or multiple words, and select Enter or the magnifying glass icon. Select one or more approvers from the results and select the right-arrow. Select X to remove a search filter and return to the complete list of potential approvers.
      • When selecting approvers, they are shown as a tree that you can expand and collapse by selecting the arrow >. Using the tree, you can select users, customers, teams, or workgroups to add to your list of approvers.
      • Add Users

        Select this option to add a specific CSM user to the list of approvers.

        Tip: Select Ctrl + A to select all users, or Ctrl + click to select a contiguous list of users and then select the left or right arrow to move them from selected to deselected or vice versa. Double-click an approver to add them to the list and close the window at the same time.
      • Add Teams

        Select this option to add a CSM team (example: 1st Level Support, IT Management) to the list of approvers.

      • Add Customer Workgroup

        Select this option to add a CSM customer workgroup (example: Accounting, Human Resources) to the list of approvers.

      • Add Approver Workgroup
        Select this option to add a CSM approver workgroup (example: Executive Management, Team Leaders) to the list of approvers.
        Tip: Approver workgroups can be added to multiple Approval Blocks.
        Note: When teams and customer workgroups are part of an approver workgroup, the values set for votes required for approval is for all the users and customers within those teams. Voting thresholds cannot be set per team. See Define Approver Properties.
      • Add User Based on Expression

        Select this option to add a user based on a selected Business Object field, system function, expression, stored value, or metric value that contains the ID of the user (example: An approver based on the Expression Change Request.Owned By field will be approved by the owner of the Change Request).

      • Add Users Based on Relationship

        Select this option to add an approval for each user associated with a selected relationship.

        The Add Approvers Based on Relationship window opens, where you can select a relationship, limit records further based on the relationship by using an expression, and select a Business Object field, system function, expression, stored value, or metric value that contains the ID of the users in the relationship.

    3. Select OK when you have finished selecting your approvers.
      Your chosen approvers are shown as a tree that you can expand and collapse by selecting the arrow >. To add and remove approvers in your tree, use the buttons on the right-hand side.
      Tip:Edit is only available when users have been added based on expression or relationship.
      Note: Ordering Approval Blocks within the Approval Block Editor changes the order in which approvals are triggered but changing the order of approvers within an Approval Block has no effect.
  4. Define the number of votes required for approval:
    • All approvers

      Select this option to require the approval of all designated approvers.

    • Percentage

      Select this option to require the approval of a defined percentage of votes. Then, provide a percentage or use the Up/Down arrows to increase/decrease the percentage.

    • Specific number

      Select this option to require the approval of a defined number of votes. Then, provide a number or use the Up/Down arrows to increase/decrease the number.

    Important: For information on Primary Settings and details of how approval and denial thresholds work, see Approval and Denial Threshold Rules.
  5. Define the number of votes required for denial:
    • Enable Denial Threshold

      This check box is only when the All approvers option is cleared. Select this option to enable denials for an approval request.

    • Percentage

      Select this option to require the denial of a defined percentage of votes. Then, provide a percentage or use the Up/Down arrows to increase/decrease the percentage.

    • Specific number

      Select this option to require the denial of a defined number of votes. Then, provide a number or use the Up/Down arrows to increase/decrease the number.

    Important: For information on Primary Settings and details of how approval and denial thresholds work, see Approval and Denial Threshold Rules.
  6. Define which approvals and denials to count during the voting process. In the drop-down list, select one of the following options:
    • Count this block only

      Select this option to only count the approval and denial votes generated as a part of this block. This selection is recommended for multi-level approvals. Manually created approval and denial votes are ignored.

    • Count block and manual

      Select this option to only count the approval and denial votes generated as part of this block and those manually created by users. Approval and denial votes created by other blocks are ignored.

  7. Define default properties for approvals (if not overidden by individual approvers):
    • Approval Text

      Provide text to include in the email sent to each approver.

    • Append [Major Business Object] Description

      Select this check box to add the custom approval text to the Major Business Object's description.

    • Deadline

      Select this check box to define a default amount of time to allow for the approvers to respond. Then, define a number and unit of time (hours, days, or months). If the approvers don't respond within this timeframe, they are considered to have abstained.

  8. Select OK.

  9. Publish the Blueprint (File > Publish Blueprint) to commit the changes, or save the Blueprint (File > Save Blueprint) to continue making other changes.