Approving, Rejecting, and Reviewing Requests

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After a requestor completes an action that sends a record into an approval process, one or multiple approvers become assignees of the approval request.

In addition to approving or rejecting a request, the approver can send the request to someone else to review. Users may also add an additional approval before and/or after approving the request.

Approving or Rejecting a Request

As an approver for certain processes defined in TeamConnect, you are responsible for approving or rejecting requests from other users to complete certain operations. For example, you may be an approver for invoice, task, or expense posting, or deletion of records.

Depending on how the approval rule is defined, you may be able to edit the record while it is pending approval. If the stop requires only one approver, you become the only approver for the stop for this request. You cannot edit the request if all members of the stop must approve.

If you and the other approvers at the current stop do not make a decision before the expiration date of the request, the request will be automatically approved, rejected, or sent to the Process Manager, depending on the settings made on the administrative side of TeamConnect.

The My Approvals page provides you with a central location where you can manage your tasks as an approver for approval processes.

You can access the My Approvals page in one of the following ways:

Click one of the hyperlinks in the My Pending Approvals portal pane on your home page.
Select Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu, which opens the Requests to Approve page.

You can approve or reject requests routed to you for authorization in the following ways:

From the My Approvals page.
From the record for which the request has been made.
From an email about the request if your system allows approval through email. The following events occur after you approve and reject a request.

What Happens after You Approve or Reject

Approver's Action	On the My Approvals pages	On the Workflow page of the record	To the event that created the request	To people who receive notifications
Approve	TeamConnect removes the request from your Requests to Approve list. If the approval stop requires only one approval, TeamConnect also removes the request from other approvers in the same stop and sends requests to approvers in the next stop.	Your approval displays in the Approval History of the record with your internal comments. Other approvers, reviewers, the Process Manager, and the requestor can view the Approval History in the Approval Requests section of the record.	If the request requires no other approvers.
The requested action (such as invoice posting) takes place.	The requestor is notified by email (if email notifications are set up accordingly). Depending on the route settings, other users may also receive notification emails.
Reject	TeamConnect removes the request from approvers in the same stop.	Your rejection displays in the Approval History of the record with your internal comments. Other approvers, reviewers, the Process Manager, and the requestor can view the Approval History in the Approval Requests section of the record. The comments that you wrote for the requestor displays in the Comments to Requestor field under the Approval Requests section of the record. If you rejected the posting of an invoice, your Reason for Rejection and Comments to Requestor display in the invoice's Comments to Vendor field	The requested action (such as posting an invoice) does not take place.	Depending on your system settings, the request is sent to the Process Manager, the requestor, or approvers in the first stop of the approval route.

Approver's Action

On the My Approvals pages

On the Workflow page of the record

To the event that created the request

To people who receive notifications

Approve

TeamConnect removes the request from your Requests to Approve list.

If the approval stop requires only one approval, TeamConnect also removes the request from other approvers in the same stop and sends requests to approvers in the next stop.

Your approval displays in the Approval History of the record with your internal comments. Other approvers, reviewers, the Process Manager, and the requestor can view the Approval History in the Approval Requests section of the record.

If the request requires no other approvers.

The requested action (such as invoice posting) takes place.

The requestor is notified by email (if email notifications are set up accordingly).

Depending on the route settings, other users may also receive notification emails.

Reject

TeamConnect removes the request from approvers in the same stop.

Your rejection displays in the Approval History of the record with your internal comments. Other approvers, reviewers, the Process Manager, and the requestor can view the Approval History in the Approval Requests section of the record.

The comments that you wrote for the requestor displays in the Comments to Requestor field under the Approval Requests section of the record.

If you rejected the posting of an invoice, your Reason for Rejection and Comments to Requestor display in the invoice's Comments to Vendor field

The requested action (such as posting an invoice) does not take place.

Depending on your system settings, the request is sent to the Process Manager, the requestor, or approvers in the first stop of the approval route.

For details about setting your email notifications to receive emails about your requests for approval, see Setting Up Email Notifications.

Approving or Rejecting from My Approvals

The My Approvals page allows you to approve or reject multiple requests at once without opening each request individually. If necessary, you can also approve or rejecting requests within individual records.

To approve requests from the My Approvals page

Open the My Approvals page from the link in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays with a list of requests. If necessary, select the Record drop-down and click Search to display only certain record types.
Click the Approve button in the Action column of the request(s) you want to approve.
If batch approval is enabled for your system, you can click Approve below the table to approve all the selected requests.
The Confirm Approval popup appears. Enter the reason for approving the request(s) in the Internal Comment field. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Confirm Approval.

Several things occur after you approve a request, as described in the What Happens after You Approve or Reject table.

To reject requests from the My Approvals page

Go to the My Approvals page using the link in the My Approvals portal pane on your home page or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays with a list of requests. If necessary, select the Record drop-down and click Search to display only certain record types.
Click the Reject button in the Action column of the request(s) you want to approve.
If batch approval is enabled for your system, you can click the Reject Selected button below the table to reject all the selected requests.
The Rejection Confirmation window displays. Depending on whether this is the final rejection of the request and whether the request is for an invoice record, you may see up to three fields: the Internal Comment field, a Rejection Reason drop-down list, and a Comments to Requestor field.
Enter the reason for rejecting the request(s) in the Internal Comment field. These comments display in the Approval History.
If the Rejection Reason field displays, select a rejection reason.
If the Comments to Requestor field displays, enter comments. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Confirm Rejection.

Several things occur after you reject a request, as described in the What Happens after You Approve or Reject table.

Requests to Approve Page of My Approvals

Column or Control		Description
Record		This drop-down list filters the list of results on this page. Choose a specific record type from the drop-down list so that only records of that type appear in the list of results. After making your selection, click Search to filter the results. If a search filter appears, enter search criteria and click Search again.
Default		The field that you use to select a record type as the default records that appear when you open the Requests to Approve page. Click Select to save the default record type.
Show Filter/Hide Filter		This link shows or hides the search criteria that you can use to find a certain type of request for a record type.
Search Filter Note: The search filter only appears if one is specified for the record type you select.		Field The name of the field you want to search. Operator The option that describes the criteria that you want to use to further narrow your results. See Operators for more information. Value The value you enter that the search uses to return specific results. Search The button that you click to execute the search. Clear Values The link that you click to remove all values from the search Reset to Default The link that you click to reset all operators and values to the default fields.
Requests to Approve table Note: Different fields may appear depending on your system settings.		Record The record for which a user has submitted an approval request. For example, the record could be an invoice or some other type of record. Click the record's hyperlink to view it. Request The name of the request that has been submitted. The request name indicates the type of action being requested. If the record is an invoice, the invoice amount is part of the request name. Type The type of record on which a request was submitted (such as an invoice). This column does not appear if you select a record from the Record drop-down. Requestor The name of the user who triggered the approval request. Click to open the user's contact record. Due Date The date by which the approval request expires. If the approver performs no action before this date, TeamConnect automatically approves, rejects, or sends the request to the Process Manager, depending on how the system's approval rule. Click the column heading to sort your approval list according to the expiration date. This column does not appear if the Days Pending Action column is present. Days Pending Action The number of days before the approval request expires. This column does not appear if the Due Date column is present. Last Approver The name of the last approver that manually approved the request. Action Click the Approve button to approve a request. Click the Reject button to reject a request.
Approve Selected		The button you use to approve multiple requests at the same time. Select the check-boxes of one or more requests before clicking this button. This button only appears if your system administrator enables batch approval.
Reject Selected		The button you use to reject multiple requests at the same time. Select the check-boxes of one or more requests before clicking this button. This button only appears if your system administrator enables batch rejection and you select one type of record from the Record drop-down list.
Send for Review		Click this button to send the approval request for review to one or more other users. You can send more than one request for review at one time by selecting multiple check-boxes. See Sending Approval Requests for Review.
Save For Later		This button is used to save the Invoices to be used at any time later.
Remove from Saved		This button removes the Invoices from the saved list.

Approving or Rejecting Within Records

Instead of approving or rejecting requests from the My Approvals page, you can open records that are pending your approval, review them, and make your decision directly on the record page.

Depending on how the approval rule is defined, you may be able to send a request to another user to approve before making your decision.

To send the request to another user before you approve

Click the Send for Approval button. Your system administrator can enable this button to display.
The Send for Approval popup appears.
From Recipient Type, select whether you want to send the request for review to a User or Group.
From Recipient, select the user or group to whom you want to send the approval request.
In the Internal Comment field, type any comments that you want the approver(s) to receive regarding this request. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Send.

If the new approver(s) approve the request, the request returns to you and you can approve or reject. If the new approver rejects the request, the reject action occurs.

To approve a request from within the record

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays.
Click the Record hyperlink of the record that you want to approve or reject.
The record opens in Read-only mode and displays the General page. The Approve button is available on the record toolbar.
Note: Depending on how the approval rule is defined, you may be able to send the record to someone else to review before you make your decision. For details, see Sending Approval Requests for Review.
Click Approve from the record toolbar.
The Confirm Approval window opens.
Enter your comments in the Internal Comment field. These comments will be recorded in the Approval History.
You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces, in this field.
If Display next approval after my response displays, click its check-box if you want the next request in your queue to open automatically when you click the Confirm Approval button.
If Add a new approver after approval displays and you want to send the approval request to another user or group, select this check-box.
After you select the check-box, specify the User or Group.
Click Confirm Approval.

If you clicked the Display next approval after my response check-box, the next request in your queue opens for your action.

If not, you may click the Previous Record link or the Next Record link to move to another record in your queue.

For additional details about approving a request, the What Happens after You Approve or Reject table.

To reject a request from within a record

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays.
Click the Record hyperlink of the record that you want to approve or reject.
The record opens in Read-only mode and displays the General page. The Reject button is available on the record toolbar.
Note: Depending on how the approval rule is defined, you may be able to send the record to someone else to review before you make your decision. For details, see Sending Approval Requests for Review.
Click Reject from the record toolbar.
The Confirm Rejection window opens.
Enter your comments in the Internal Comment field. These comments will be recorded in the Approval History.
You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces, in this field.
If the Rejection Reason field displays, select a rejection reason for the invoice.
If the Comment to Requestor field displays, enter comments about the rejection.
You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces, in this field.
Click Confirm Rejection.

For additional details about rejecting a request, see the What Happens after You Approve or Reject table.

Approving or Rejecting through Email

If your system administrator has allowed approval and rejection through email, you receive an email when you have a request to approve.

To approve or reject a request from an email

Note: Clicking the Approve or Reject buttons in the email you receive does not automatically approve the request. You must send the second email that opens to complete the action.

When you receive an approval request email, review the contents of the email to determine what action to take next.
You should not respond to this email.
Click the Approve or Reject button in the email.
Note: Mailto links must be enabled for your email client for these buttons to work when you click them. You cannot enable mailto links for hotmail accounts.
A new email opens with [Approved] or [Rejected] and the name of the request in the subject of the email.
Enter Internal Comments and Comments to the Requestor in the spaces provided if necessary.
If your system requires internal comments and you do not enter comments, you receive an error in the form of another email.
Click the Send button on the email.
The request is not approved or rejected until you send the email.

After you approve or reject a request, it no longer appears in your list on the Requests to Approve page of My Approvals.

If a workflow stop requires only one approver, another approver might have already approved or rejected the request when you try to approve it through email. If you approve or reject a request after another approver has completed an action, your action and comments do not go through and you receive an error email.

Sending Requests for Review

As an approver, you may want to request feedback from one or more TeamConnect users about whether to approve or reject a request.

Note: The the approval rule that defines the approval process must be configured for you to have the ability to request reviews.

After the reviewer submits the review request, you receive their comments in an email (if you are able to receive email notifications). The reviewer's comments also display in the record's Approval History.

If the stop has more than one possible approver but requires only one approval to move to the next stop, you become the only approver for the stop in this request when you send the request for review. You cannot send the request for review if all members of the stop must approve.

Note: If you send a request for review, you must still approve the request by the original expiration date.

To request a review of a single record pending your approval

Open the My Approvals page by clicking its link in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting My Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays.
Click the Record link of the request that you want to send for review. The General page of the record is displayed.
Click Send for Review in the record toolbar. The Send for Review window appears.
In the Send for Review window, in the Internal Comment field, type any comments that you want the reviewer(s) to receive regarding this request. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Select whether you want to send the request for review to a user or group.
Select the user or group to whom you want to send the review request.
Click Send.
The following events occur:
- A message appears at the top of the browser window: "Review Request Sent".
- The reviewer receives an email, if email notifications are set accordingly.
- The request displays in the reviewer's My Approvals portal pane and Requests to Review section on the My Approvals page.
- The request for review is recorded in the record's Approval History.

To send multiple approval requests for review

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
The Requests to Approve page displays.
Select the check-boxes next to the approval requests that you want to send for review. As you click check-boxes, the Internal Comment field appears for each clicked request.
For each request, type any comments that you would like the reviewer(s) to receive in the Internal Comment field. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Send For Review.
The Send for Review window opens.
Select whether you want to send the request for review to a user or group.
Select the user or group to whom you want to send the review request.
Click Yes.
The following events occur:
- The reviewer receives an email, if email notifications are set accordingly.
- The request is displayed in the reviewer's My Approvals portal pane and Requests to Review section on the My Approvals page.
- The request for review is recorded in the record's Approval History, including your comments.
- If not all members of your approval stop are required to approve, then the approval request is removed from the other approvers' work lists.
If you want to send the records to any other users, repeat steps 2 through 7.

Reviewing a Request

The approver of a request may want someone else to review the request first. If an approver asks you to review a request, you can provide comments, but you cannot actually approve or reject the request unless you are an approver in the process.

All your review requests appear on the Requests to Review page of My Approvals, which you can access in one of the following ways:

Click the Pending Review hyperlink in the My Pending Approvals portal pane on your home page.
Select Approvals from the All tab, which opens the Requests to Review page.

If your email notifications are set, you can be notified through email when you receive a request for a review. For details about setting your email notifications to receive emails about review requests, see Setting Up Email Notifications.

You can submit your reviews either from the My Approvals page or within the individual records while you are viewing them.

After you submit a review, you can find a record of the review in the Approval History of the record. As the reviewer, if the record is still pending approval after you review it, you may not be able to see the Approval History.

Before you submit a review, a review may no longer appear in your reviews request list in the following cases:

The user who made the request (the requestor) cancels it.
The request is approved, rejected, or expired, and is therefore no longer in the current approval stop.
The approver who sent the request is reassigned by the Process Manager.

Reviewing from My Approvals

The My Approvals page allows you to submit multiple reviews at once, to quickly move reviews out of your work list. Or, you can submit them one at a time.

You can also submit reviews directly within the requested records, as described in Submitting Reviews Through Individual Records.

To submit reviews from the My Approvals page

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink to your pending reviews in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
Click the Requests to Review link, if that section is not already displayed.
The list of reviews that have been requested from you is displayed.
Type your review comments in the Comment to Requestor field for each selected request. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click submit review.

Your reviews are sent to the approver who requested it in an email, if emails are set accordingly, and is recorded in the record's Approval History, where the approver can view it directly in the record.

Requests to Review Section of My Approvals Page

Field/Button	Description
Record	Indicates the record on which there is a pending action for which an approver has requested your review. For example, the record could be an invoice, document, or some other type of record. Click the record's hyperlink to view it.
Type	The type of record for which the request was submitted.
Request	The name of the request that has been submitted. The request name indicates the type of action being requested. If the record is an invoice, the invoice amount is part of the request name.
Requestor	Displays the name of the user who triggered the approval request. Click to open the user's contact record.
Expiration Date	The date by which the approver must submit his or her decision. In order to give the approver time to consider your feedback, submit your review some time before this date.
Approver	The approver who requested a review from you.
Message	Comments from the approver who is requesting a review from you.
Submit Review	Click this button to submit a review for a request. A window will open, allowing you to enter comments.
Internal Comment	Type your review feedback before clicking submit review. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.

Reviewing Within Records

It may be easier for you to submit a review while you are viewing the record for which a request has been made, such as an invoice.

To submit your review through a requested record

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink to your pending reviews in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
Click the Requests to Review link, if that section is not already displayed.
The list of reviews that have been requested from you is displayed.
Click the Record hyperlink of the record that you want to review.
The record opens with its General page displayed.
Click Submit Review in the record toolbar.
The Submit Review window opens.
Type your feedback in the Comment to Requestor field. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Submit Review.

Your review is sent to the approver who requested it in an email, if emails are set accordingly, and is recorded in the record's Approval History, where the approver can view it directly in the record.

To submit your review through a requested record

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink to your pending reviews in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
Click the Requests to Review link, if that section is not already displayed. The list of reviews that have been requested from you is displayed.
Click the Record hyperlink of the record that you want to review. The record opens with its General page displayed.
Click Submit Review in the record toolbar.
The Submit Review window opens.
Type your feedback in the Comment to Requestor field. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Submit Review.

To submit your review through a requested record

Go to the My Approvals page using the hyperlink to your pending reviews in the My Approvals portal pane or by selecting Approvals from the All drop-down list on the Main menu.
Click the Requests to Review link, if that section is not already displayed. The list of reviews that have been requested from you is displayed.
Click the Record hyperlink of the record that you want to review. The record opens with its General page displayed.
Click Submit Review in the record toolbar.
The Submit Review window opens.
Type your feedback in the Comment to Requestor field. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Submit Review.