To open a new or existing route definition

1. In the Designer window bar, in the Go To drop-down list, select Routes.
   The List Routes screen appears.
2. Do one of the following actions:
   • In the list of existing routes, click the name of the route you want to open.
   • Click New to create a route.The General screen displays by default.
3. Click the Stops tab to view the stops information, if necessary.
   

You may create, view, and modify a route on its Route screen, which has the following tabs:

• General—Displays the name of the route and object for which it may be used. See Defining General Route Information.
• Stops—Displays the stops and members of each stop. See Route Stops.

General Tab on Route Screens

After saving the name and the object selection for the route, you may click the Stops tab and define the stops in the route.

Points To Remember

In TC 5.0.3 version, an issue is encountered that is unable to open route from action tab of Approval rules and a popup is displayed with page loading.

Even after the user clicking the "ok" button, the page still keeps on loading and no other action can be performed on the page. To resolve this issue, the user must do the following action:

Apart from the following 'Setup Rights' to the user, i.e.,

Under Object Definitions→ View Object Definitions records and View Object Definitions rules

Under Routes→ View Routes records and View Route Stops

The user should also have the minimum requirement of “View History category” permission enabled in Admin→Groups→Any specific group→Category Rights→ View tab→History→ View category should be ticked.

By providing the minimum requirement, the user will not face this issue anymore.

Points To Remember

• If all users in a stop do not exist, the stop is skipped and the route proceeds to the next stop. For example:

  • If a stop includes only the Main Assignee of a Claim and there is no Main Assignee, then the stop is skipped and the route proceeds to the next stop.

  • If a stop includes only a certain assignee in the parent project of a project that is being deleted. If there is no parent project, then the route proceeds to the next stop.

  • If a user with a specified role is assigned to a stop in a route, and there is no such role assigned to any active assignee or group, the assignee is skipped and the request goes to the next approver.

Note: We have introduced a stop level check box from TCE 6.3.7 which helps the user to add a valid approver at the stop level if needed. For more information, refer to the Add Valid Approver at the Stop Level.

• If an assigned user with a specified role exists, but the user account is inactive, an error message appears if all members are required for approval or if there are no other valid members in the stop.
• Rejection of an approval request always works on a "first come, first serve" basis. Once any designated approver rejects a request, the request record is removed from the My Approvals list of all route members, regardless of which stop in the route the rejection occurred.
• Approval may work on a "first come, first serve" basis only if you want it to. For each stop of the route, you may control whether one approval is enough to allow the operation, or all stop members must approve the operation before the route proceeds to the next stop.
• If the sequence of approval does not matter, then you must place all of these members in one stop. Placing multiple members in one stop and requiring approval from all stop members (selecting the check-box) allows you to give more time for all members to approve the operation, rather than having them wait for the previous stop members to approve the operation first.
• If the sequence of approval does matter, then each member whose approval is required must be placed in a separate stop, in the order in which their approval is required. You must also make sure that the expiration time allows for all stops to be reached.

Stops may be viewed, added, deleted, or modified on the Stops tab of the route. The Stops tab also defines the order of the stops and whether all members of each stop must approve the request before the route proceeds to the next stop.

The following table describes the items on the Stops tab.

Stops Tab

Adding Stop Members

You may add stop members on the Stops tab of the route. You may add static members and dynamic members to a stop, depending on your needs.

Important: Make sure that there is at least one active user in a route that is being referenced by an approval rule. If no users are identified in a route, the route behaves as if everyone in the route approved the operation. The operation will be completed.

Adding dynamic stop members requires an understanding of Object Navigator. For details, see Using Object Navigator.

Member Types

The Member Type determines how users are included in a route stop as members: as members of a static user group, or as dynamically selected members. The following table explains the three member types.

Stop Member Types in Routes

The steps necessary to add members to a stop are different for each member type. The following are step-by-step instructions to help guide you through adding stop members:

• Adding Groups as Stop Members
• Adding User Paths as Stop Members
• Adding Users With Roles as Stop Members

You may add user groups to route stops. If any or all members of a certain group must always approve certain actions, then adding the group as a member of the route is a good idea.

Even though a group is a static stop member type, the route automatically uses only the current, active members of the group in the approval process.

To add a group as a stop member

1. Click the Stops tab of the route to which you want to add a group as a member.
2. From the Member Type drop-down list, select Group.
3. From the list of groups, select the appropriate group.
4. If appropriate, select the check-box requiring approval for all members.
   This requires approval for all members of the group and all other members of the stop, if there are other members.
5. Click add more to continue adding stop members, or click Save to save the route.

A User path stop member identifies a dynamic user. The user who receives the approval depends on which user is identified by the path. This stop member type is only available if a specific object is identified for the route on its General tab.

To add a user path as a stop member

1. Click the Stops tab of the route to which you want to add a user path as a stop member.
2. From the Member Type drop-down list, select User path.
   
3. Click the Navigator icon and create a path using Object Navigator.
4. If appropriate, select the check-box to require all members of the stop to approve the requested operation.
   This requires approval from all members of the stop, including all users who are identified by this path, as well as other members of the stop.
5. Click add more to continue adding stop members, or click Save to save the route.

When adding a user path as a member of a stop, keep in mind that if there is no user identified by the path, then the member is not added to the stop. For example, if you want the route to go to the Main Assignee of a project and this is the only member of the stop, then the stop is skipped if there is no Main Assignee, and the route automatically proceeds to the next stop.

When creating a path to a user for a member of a stop, the path must end with an attribute in the object model that identifies a user. This means that your final selection in Object Navigator must be one of the following:

• user->
• createdBy->
• modifiedBy->
• expensedBy->
• enteredBy->
• transitionedBy->
• Another attribute that identifies a user.

Important: Only users may be members of a route. Do not select an attribute that identifies a contact as your final selection for a user path.

The following table provides sample user paths created for a stop member.

User Path Examples for Route Stops

A User with role stop member identifies a dynamic user who is an assignee of a project. The user who receives the approval depends on which user is identified by the Assignee role indicated in the stop. This stop member type is only available if one specific object is identified for the route in its General tab.

To add a user with role as a stop member

1. Click the Stops tab of the route to which you want to add a user with role as a stop member.
2. From the Member Type drop-down list, select User with role.
   
3. Select the appropriate role in the second field.
4. Do one of the following actions:
   • If the role you selected belongs to the object for which you are creating the route, you do not need to create a path. Instead, continue to the following step.
   • If the role you selected belongs to a different object than the object for which you are creating the route, click the Navigator icon and create a path to the necessary project using Object Navigator.

For example, if you want the stop member to be the user with the role GC Attorney in the parent project of the project for which you are creating the route, select parent-> in Object Navigator.

5. Click add more to continue adding stop members, or click Save to save the route.

When you create a user with role stop member, follow these guidelines:

• If you are creating a user with role stop member and the Assignee role exists within the object for which you are creating the route, you do not need to create a path to identify the role.
• If the role belongs to a different object, you must create a path that indicates which object the role is from, in relation to the object for which you are creating the route, as shown in the examples in the User with Role Examples for Route Stops table.

When creating a path to a user with role, the path must end with an attribute in the object model that identifies a project (custom object). This means that your final selection in Object Navigator must be one of the following:

• project->
• parent->
• applProject->
• leftProject-> (this is not common in routes)
• rightProject-> (this is not common in routes)
• Another attribute that identifies a project.

Important: To build a path that identifies the PROJECT in which the user has the specified assignee role, do not select an end-of-path attribute that identifies the user.

The following table provides sample User with role paths for stop members.

User with Role Examples for Route Stops

 When adding a user with role as a member of a stop, keep in mind that if there is no user identified by the path, or if the user is inactive, then the member is not added to the stop. For example, if you want the route to go to the General Counsel assignee of a project and this is the only member of the stop, then the stop is skipped if there is no such assignee, and the route automatically proceeds to the next stop. If there are no further stops, then the request is approved.

Tip: You may add all project assignees as members of a stop by adding a User with role member for each role that is possible for the project. TeamConnect automatically routes the approval request to all users who are assignees of the project.

Customizing Route Stops

When you add stops to a route, records visit each stop by default. If you want a record to visit stops when certain conditions are present, you can customize the route.

Select Custom Sequence on the Stops tab of a route to enter the custom sequence. The following table describes the fields for entering a custom sequence.

Custom Sequence Entries

In the following image, consider an example of how the route evaluates each entry for a record. In this example, the record visits only Stop 2 and Stop 4 before completing. Invoice Condition3 and Invoice Condition4 are true for the record and all other conditions are false.

Customization Sequence for a Route

The following actions occur for the example:

1. From the first entry with Start as the Starting Stop (line 1), the route evaluates Invoice Condition1. Because Invoice Condition1 is not true, the route continues to the next Start entry (line 3).
2. From the second entry with Start as the Starting Stop (line 3), the route evaluates Invoice Condition3. Because Invoice Condition3 is true, the route visits Stop 2.

Note: Even though Invoice Condition4 is true, the route does not evaluate the condition because the previous Start entry is true.

3. After Stop 2 is complete, from the first Stop 2 entry (line 2), the route evaluates Invoice Condition2. Because Invoice Condition2 is not true, the route continues to the next Stop 2 entry (line 5).

4. The second Stop 2 entry (line 5) lists Default as the Condition, which means that the route visits Stop 4 without evaluating a condition.

5. After Stop 4 is complete, from the only Stop 4 entry (line 6), the route evaluates Invoice Condition5. Even though Invoice Condition5 is not true, the workflow process still ends and can no longer send requests to approvers because no more entries with Stop 4 exist in the Starting Stop column.

To customize the sequence conditions

1. From the route, click the Stops tab.
2. Add all stops to the page. See Adding Stop Members for information about adding stops.
3. Select the Custom Sequence option, as shown in the Customization Sequence for a Route image.
4. From the Starting Stop drop-down list, select Start or a stop. Start indicates which entry the route evaluates first before visiting a stop. A stop indicates which entry the route evaluates after that stop is complete.
5. From the Condition drop-down list, select the condition that must be true for the record to continue to the Destination Stop.
6. From the Destination Stop drop-down list, select the stop that the route visits if the condition is true.
7. Click add more to save the entry.
8. Add additional conditions if necessary.
9. Save the route.

To add a user or group as an email notification recipient

1. Click the Email Notifications tab of the route to which you want to add an email notification recipient.
   
2. From the Number of entries you want to add drop-down list, select the number of recipients to add.
3. From the Recipient Type drop-down list, select Group, User Path, or User with Role.
4. From the resulting Recipient drop-down list, select either the user name or group name.
5. From the Event drop-down list, select one of the following:
   • Final approval
   • Final rejection
   • Error
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for adding multiple recipients.
7. Click add more.
8. Click Save.

Note: When a user is the only recipient of an email notification, it is sent in the user's preferred language. When there are multiple recipients, the email is sent in the selected system language.

The following table describes the items in the Email Notifications tab.

Email Notifications Tab

Important: To set email notifications for users involved with the approval process as well as users with no direct role in the approval process, email notifications must be properly configured.2

Add Valid Approver at the Stop Level

Note: This option is available to the users who are on TCE 6.3.7 or above versions only.

A stop level check box is implemented named “A valid approver must be available on this stop”. It can be enabled at the stop level based on the user workflow, and the user can choose if they need a valid approver or avoid it on the workflow if a valid approver is not required.

The valid approver includes a group of active users or, if using a user path with role, the assignee must be active and have the required role. Following are the results if the valid approver check box is enabled and the stop has an Inactive User/Inactive Assignee or Assignee Role not available:

• When the Invoice is posted, it will be paused due to an empty stop.
• The Invoice displays a message indicating that it is paused - “Warning: This entity has a paused approval. Check workflow details for more information”.
• Under the Approval History section of the Invoice displays - “Warning: This stop does not have a valid approver available, but requires an approver. The approval is paused and has been sent to the process manager”.

• For Approvals- The Invoice is displayed on My Approvals page.
  • In the “Requests to Approve” column, the check box is not displayed to approve the paused Invoice or to send it to review.
  • The Action column displays as “Paused. With process manager” and no “Approve” & “Reject” buttons are displayed.

• For Workflow Process: The Invoice is moved to the “Attention Required” page when paused. When the Invoice is paused, “Reassign” and “Forward” options will not be available.