Making Workflow Decisions

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As a Process Manager, you are responsible for keeping approval processes flowing smoothly through the organization.

A Process Manager only needs to take action when the situations in the following table occur:

Situation	How Process Managers Handle the Situation
Requests have errors Requests expire Requests have been rejected	Reassign an approver in the workflow process Restart the workflow process Return the workflow process to requestor Return requests with errors to workflow
Actions that create requests fail	Restart the workflow process Re-execute the action of the workflow process that failed
Requests require replacing an approver	Temporarily reassign an approver in the workflow process Permanently reassign an approver in the workflow process
Requests need to move in workflow without being approved or rejected	Moving Requests Forward in a Process Reassigning a Request

The My Workflow Processes page provides a central location where you can manage your tasks as a Process Manager for approval processes, also called workflow processes.

To access the My Workflow Processes page, do one of the following:

Click one of the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane on your home page.
Select Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.

The My Workflow Processes portal pane on your home page displays a summary of the processes in progress for which you are responsible. For example, if you have four processes in progress, the second hyperlink in the portal pane may say, 2 Workflow Processes In Progress (0 rejected to first stop, 2 on track).

Monitoring Current Requests

The list of current processes that you are responsible for as a Process Manager is available on the In Progress and Attention Required pages of My Workflow Processes. The In Progress page list processes with no issues. The Attention Required page lists processes with errors, expirations, or rejections.

From the In Progress and Attention Required pages, you can redirect the approval route of a request in one of the following ways:

Reassign an individual request.
Restart the approval process.
Return the approval request to the requestor.

You can determine the issue for requests on the Attention Required page from the View button. The table below describes your options for resolving each type of issue.

Resolving Process Issues

Route Status	Log text	Description of issue	Options for resolving these issues
Error	Error: User <name> inactive	Approver's user account is inactive but their approval is required in the route.	If the request must continue through the specified approval route, contact an administrator for help in resolving the issue with the user or group in the approval route. Then, you can restart the process. Reassign the approval to another user or group. See Sending Approval Requests for Review. Return the request to the requestor. This is a final rejection. Administrator intervention may still be needed if you resubmit the request. See Returning Requests to Requestors.
Error	Error: User with .lineItemList.project.mainAssignee .user not found	A user with a particular role or involvement with the record must approve, but there is no such user. For example, a request must be approved by the main assignee of a matter, but there is no main assignee.
Error	Error: Group <user group name> empty	No users in a group that is part of the approval route.
Stop Expired	Expired	You receive notification that a stop has expired. Stop expirations are only sent to you if specified in the approval rule.	Reassign the approval to another user or group. See Sending Approval Requests for Review. Restart the process by sending it to the first stop in the approval route. See Restarting Processes. Return the request to the requestor. This is considered a final reject, so the user would have to re- submit the request to start a new approval process. See Returning Requests to Requestors.
Route Expired	Expired	You receive notification that an entire route has expired. Route expirations are only sent if specified in the approval rule.
Rejected	Rejected	Rejections are sent if specified in the definition of the process. The user who rejects the request may provide comments to help you resolve the issue.

Attention Required and In Progress Pages Field Descriptions

Field/Button	Description
Search (Attention Required page only)	Select whether you want to view All Processes, Errors, Expirations, or Rejections.
Record Drop-Down List	In the drop-down box, select a specific system, project, involved, or milestone approval type that you want to display, and then click Search. To further refine the search results, in the adjoining text box, enter identifying text that will help you locate the appropriate approvals, and then click Search. You can enter all or part of the identifying text as follows: Accounts or Documents—The name of the account or document Appointments—The subject of the appointment Contacts or Involveds—The first or last name of the contact or involved party Expenses, History, Tasks, Line Items, or Milestones—A short description of the expense, history, task, line item, or milestone Invoice—An invoice number Projects—The name or number of a project If you leave this box blank, the returned results will be all of the approvals that match the selected 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.
Attentions Required/In Progress table Note: Different fields may appear depending on your system settings.	Record Lists the record for which a user has submitted an approval request. For example, the record could be an invoice, matter, document, or some other type of record. Click the record's hyperlink to view it. Type The type of record for which a request was submitted (such as an invoice or matter). 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. Approval Rule Displays the name of the approval rule that defines the approval process. If you have the appropriate administrative rights, you can view the details of the rule by clicking the rule's hyperlink. This can help you understand the approval process in order to troubleshoot an issue. Route Status Indicates the status of the process. On your Attention Required page, the status could be: Rejected Stop Expired Route Expired Error On your In Progress page, all processes listed are On Track or Rejected to First Stop. In either case, this means that the process does not currently require you to take any action as the Process Manager. However, processes that were rejected to the first stop may need to be reviewed by you because an issue caused the approval process to begin again. Days in Route Indicates how many days have passed since the beginning of the process. Days Remaining Indicates how many days are left in the approval process, based on the approval rule. Depending on how the approval rule is defined, this could be based on a total number of days for the route, or the total number of days allotted for each stop. Action View Log —Click this button to view the log of events or activities that have occurred as part of the approval process. The log lists the following information for each event: Stop—The stop in the approval route at which the event occurred. Performer—The user who performed the activity. Activity—For example, Sent to Process Manager, Expired, Reassigned, or Sent for Review. Date/Time—The date and time of the event. Internal Comment—Comments entered by reviewers, approvers, or the Process Manager for events. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces. Reassign —Click this button to open the Reassign page and reassign the approvals to other users. Reassignment is one option for resolving process issues. For details, see Reassigning Processes.
	Select a process and click Restart to start the approvals over again at the first stop in the route. Restarting is one option for resolving process issues. For details, see Restarting Process.
	Select a process and click Return to Requestor to reject the request and discontinue the approval process. Returning the request to the requestor is one option for resolving process issues. For details, see Returning Requests to Requestors.

Reviewing Completed Requests

The Completed Requests page of My Workflow Processes provides you with a list of all completed requests that you can view as a Process Manager.

A process is considered completed when it is approved, rejected, or canceled. You cannot restart, reassign, or return completed requests.

To review completed processes

Go to the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Click the Completed Requests page.
In the View drop-down list, select which processes you want to view, depending on how they were completed or resolved:
- All Requests Completed—All requests that are approved, canceled, or rejected.
- Requests Approved—Requests that approvers in the route approved by the approvers in the route and requests that automatically approved when the route expired.
- Requests Canceled—Requests that the requestor canceled.
- Requests Rejected—Requests that an approver in the route rejected, requests that the process manager returned to the requestor, or requests that TeamConnect rejected when the route expired.
Using the Completed Date From and Completed Date To date fields, select the date range for completion that you want to view.
Click Search.

The list of processes refreshes to provide you with the filtered list of completed processes.

Completed Requests Section of Workflow Processes

Field/Button		Description
Search		This drop-down list filters the list of results on this page by the reasons for request completion. After making your selections, click Search to filter the results.
Completed Date From		The date that specifies the earliest completion date to appear in the search results. Select the to specify a date.
Completed Date To		The date that specifies the latest completion date to appear in the search results. Select the to specify a date.
Completed Requests table		Record Click to open the record for the approval request. Request The name of the approval request. Requester The name of the user who trigger the action that created the request. Rule The record and rule type that triggered the action that created the request. Start Date The start date of the approval process. Completed The date that the approval process completed. Action A description of the action that caused the approval process to complete.

Returning Requests to Requestors

As a Process Manager, you may need to return a request for approval to the requestor. Returning the request to the requestor is considered a rejection of the request. If the requestor submits the request again after you have sent it back, a new approval request process begins.

To return a request to the requestor

Go to the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Locate the process that you need to return to the requestor on the Attention Required page or the In Progress page.
Select the process that you want to restart. You can select more than one.
The Internal Comment field displays.
Enter a message to the requestor regarding your cancellation of the request. You can enter up to 2000 characters, including spaces.
Click Return to Requestor.
The Return Request dialog box opens, confirming that you want to return the request to the requestor.
Click Yes.

Returning a request has the following results:

The request is not complete. For example, if the request was to post an invoice, the invoice is not posted.
The request appears on the Completed page of the My Workflow Processes page with the status Rejected.
The request for approval no longer appears on the list of the approvers' pending requests in their My Approvals page.
Depending on email settings, the requestor may be notified that their request was rejected.

Reassigning Individual Requests

As a process manager on the My Workflow Processes pages, you can reassign a request from one approver to another in the following situations:

A request is not yet completed (In Progress page).
A request has an error (Failed Actions page).
A request expired (Attention Required page).
A request has a rejection (Attention Required page).

To reassign a process

Go to the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Click Attention Required or In Progress, depending on whether the process has an issue or not.
The list of processes is displayed.
Click the Reassignment icon for the process that you want to reassign.

The Reassignment page displays for that process.
For each stop where reassignment is necessary, select the Reassignment Action and then select the user to whom you want to reassign the approval request.

If you are reassigning an expired process or stop to the same user, select Assign again.

If necessary, click Show Approval History to review the previous events in the process.
When you finish selecting assignees, click OK.

The new approvers are notified of the request in their My Approvals page, and receive an email if their notifications are set accordingly.

The reassignment now appears in the request log when you click the View icon.

Reassigning All Requests for a User

Use the Reassignment page to reassign approval requests from one user to another. When a user is unable to approve for a short period of time, you may want to reassign requests temporarily from the Temporary Reassignment section. If a user is no longer able approve at all, you can assign requests permanently from the Permanent Reassignment section.

Note: If you try to reassign Request A from User 1 to User 2 when both users are required in the same stop, the reassignment does not happen until User 2 has approved the request. When User 2 approves Request A, TeamConnect reassigns the same request from User 1 to User 2, and User 2 must approve again.

Note: Avoid including reassignment entries that create a circular logic and assign the same request back to the original assignee. For example, if you have a reassignment entry that reassigns Request A from User 1 to User 2 and another entry that reassigns Request A from User 2 to User 3, an entry that reassigns Request A from User 3 to User 1 creates a circular logic that does not end until you delete one of the entries.

To reassign approval requests temporarily

Click the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Click the Reassignment link in the left pane.
From the Temporary Reassignment section, enter information for a reassignment entry. Refer to the Temporary Reassignment table for more information about these fields.
Click Add to save the request.

To reassign approval requests permanently

Click the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Click the Reassignment link in the left pane.
From the Permanent Reassignment section, enter information for a reassignment entry. Refer to the Permanent Reassignment table for more information about these fields.
Click Add to save the request.

Conflicting Reassignments

If two reassignment entries conflict, TeamConnect applies the first entry added, which is the first entry in the table.

According to the previous image, TeamConnect reassigns all requests to User 5. If you want TeamConnect to reassign invoices until 11/15/2013 to User 6, delete the first entry and enter it again to change the order.

According the previous image, TeamConnect reassigns in the following way:

Invoices reassign to User 6 until 11/15/2013.
Invoices reassign to User 5 from 11/16/2013 to 11/22/2013.
All other objects reassign to User 5 until 11/22/2013.

Note: If the entries that conflict are in the two different reassignment tables, you cannot tell which entry you added first from the Reassignment page. Check the Workflow page of a record to determine the first reassignment entry.

Temporary Reassignment Section of the Reassignment Page

Field	Description
Assign From	The name of the user whose approval requests are being assigned.
Assign To	The name of the user who is being assigned to the approval requests.
Record Type	The type of records that you want to reassign. Only record types with active approval requests appear.
Start Date	The date when you want the requests to start reassigning. If you want all requests to reassign immediately, you do not need to select a date.
End Date	The date that you want TeamConnect to stop reassigning requests.
Reassign	The field that specifies whether reassigned requests return to the original assignee after the End Date. Place a checkmark in the check-box to specify that the requests return.
Add	The button you click to add the reassignment entry.
Cancel	The button you click to clear the reassignment fields or cancel your changes to a reassignment entry.
Action	The column that includes the following actions: Click the button to edit the reassignment entry. The fields above the table populate with the reassignment information. Click Add to save your changes. All workflow requests update with changes you make. Click Cancel to cancel any updates you have made. Click the button to delete the reassignment entry. If the Start Date of the rule has already passed, the reassigned requests return to the original assignee.

Permanent Reassignment Section of the Reassignment Page

Field	Description
Assign From	The name of the user whose approval requests are being assigned.
Assign To	The name of the user who is being assigned to the approval requests.
Record Type	The type of records that you want to reassign. Only record types with active approval requests appear.
Start Date	The date when you want the requests to start reassigning. If you want all requests to reassign immediately, you do not need to select a date.
Add	The button you click to add the reassignment entry.
Cancel	The button you click to clear the reassignment fields or cancel your changes to a reassignment entry.
Action	The column that includes the following actions: Click the button to edit the reassignment entry. The fields above the table populate with the reassignment information. Click Add to save your changes. Click Cancel to cancel any updates you have made. Click Add to save your changes. All workflow requests update with changes you make. Click Cancel to cancel any updates you have made. Click the button to delete the reassignment entry. If the Start Date of the rule has already passed, the reassigned requests return to the original assignee.

Returning Requests with Failed Actions to Workflow

Use the Failed Actions page to review errors that occur when the action that triggers a workflow process fails. For example, a prerequisite that prevents an invoice from posting could cause the request to fail and appear on this page after an invoice is approved.

You have two options when an action fails:

Execute the failed action again without sending the request to more approvers.
Restart the workflow process from the beginning with the first approver.

To re-execute the failed action

Resolve the issue that caused the error.
You can re-execute the failed action in one of the following ways:
- Click the Execute button in the Action column of a request.
- Select the check-box(es) for the approval request(s) that you want to restart and click the Execute Action button.
From the Execute Action popup, click Yes.

To restart the workflow process

Resolve the issue that caused the error.
You can restart the workflow process in one of the following ways:
- Click the Restart button in the Action column of a request.
- Select the check-box(es) for the approval request(s) that you want to restart and click the Restart Workflow button.
From the Restart Request popup, click Yes.

Failed Actions Fields

Field	Description
Record	The name of the record that is part of the request.
Type	The type of the record that is part of the request.
Request	The action that triggers a workflow process. For example, when TeamConnect creates the request after a user posts an invoice, Post appears in this field.
Error Message	A description of the error that causes the request action to fail. For example, the message might be for an error that occurs when TeamConnect tries to post an invoice, as shown in the Failed Actions Page image.
Action	You can click one of the following buttons to complete an action on this page: Execute—Click this button to execute the failed action again without sending the request to anymore approvers. Restart—Click this button to restart the workflow process from the beginning with the first approver.
Execute Action	The button you click to execute the failed action(s) again for all selected requests.
Restart Workflow	The button you click to restart the workflow process(es) for all selected requests.

Returning Requests With Errors to Workflow

As a Process Manager, you may need to restart a workflow process in the following situations:

The process expires at its current stop in the approval route.
The request has been rejected and you believe that the approval process needs to be restarted.
The process is in progress and you believe that it should restart for some other reason.
The process encounters an error that one or more users in the approval route are not available.

In most of these circumstances, you can restart the process or from a point in the process without taking additional action.

However, if the process has encountered an error, the system may require some troubleshooting before the process can be restarted. For example, a system administrator may need to modify the approval route, user group, or user account in the system. The process cannot be restarted and removed from your Attention Required page until such issues are resolved at the administrative level.

To restart a process

Go to the My Workflow Processes page using the hyperlinks in the My Workflow Processes portal pane or by selecting Workflow Processes from the All drop-down list on the tab bar.
Locate the process that you need to restart on the Attention Required page or the In Progress page.
Important: If you are restarting a process with an Error status on the Attention Required page, you may not be able to restart the process without assistance from an administrator.
Select the process(es) that you want to restart.
Click Restart.
A popup displays to confirm that you want to restart the request(s).
If you are restarting a process on the Attention Required page, the Start with latest stop check-box also appears. Select this check-box to send the request to the approver(s) part of the workflow process when the error, expiration, or rejection occurred.
Click Yes.
The approvers in the first stop of the approval route receive notification of the request. The Approval Status on the Workflow page of the record updates.

Moving Requests Forward in A Process

As an administrator, you may want to forward the approval process to another user from a particular stop in the workflow. This option is available for processes in both the Attention Required and In Progress.

Navigate to the Workflow Processes page.
Click the Forward icon on the right side of the records.
Select which stop you want to forward to from the dropdown menu.

Note: If a workflow is on the final stop, TeamConnect will display a message stating that there are no more stops left to forward to.