Sheet Approval Plans is located under Management-->Approval Plans.
Sheet Approval Plans allow you to create different approval workflows for users who submit their timesheets, expense sheets, or custom entry sheets after each period. Users who have been assigned to Approval Plans will be required to submit their sheets to be approved by the approvers specified in the Sheet Approval Plan. If you have enabled interim approvals under Configuration-->System Settings-->Approvals and Auditing, Sheet Approval Plans for time entry will also apply to interim submissions when users are allowed to submit work in progress in addition to the final submission at the end of the period.

Creating and Managing Sheet Approval Plans

To create a new Sheet Approval Plan, select the create option for the Approval Plan type screen in the navigation menu under Management-->Approval Plans (see figure 21.1). This will direct you to the Sheet Approval Plan Creation screen, where you will configure the settings of the new Approval Plan. Specify a name for the Approval Plan (see figure 21.3).



Figure 21.1. Sheet Approval Plan main page



Figure 21.3. Approval Plan creation


The Currently Active dropdown allows you to choose between 'yes' and 'no.' If you want the Approval Plan to take effect immediately, you should set this option to 'yes.' The 'no' option is provided as a way to turn off the approval plan if you should ever find a need to have that process disabled. Please note that if you turn an Approval Plan off, any records that are 'in process' at the time you disable the process will continue through to completion. Next, select the Primary Approver(s) and Backup Approver(s) for the Approval Plan. Selection of a Backup Approver is optional. A sheet will be directed to the Backup Approver only if the Primary Approver has not taken any action on the sheet submitted for approval. The system allows you to select as many levels of Primary Approvers and Backup Approvers for each Approval Plan as you like. You may choose to select each Primary Approver by either the Username or Full Name. These dropdowns are dependent on one another, so as you select a name in one dropdown, the other will dynamically update itself. To add more approval levels to this Approval Plan, you must first save the Approval Plan by clicking the Save button. Once saved, the screen will refresh allowing you to select an additional level of Approvers and Backup Approvers. To remove an approval level, simply check the respective Remove checkbox and click the Save button. This will refresh the Approval Plan screen with the approvers having been removed.

To change the order of approvers within the Approval Plan, change the numbers in the Order text boxes to the left of each approver's name to reflect the new order of approvers. If you need to change only one approver level, you may use a decimal number to make the change.

The same processes apply when creating Expense and Custom Sheet Approval Plans.

Once a Sheet Approval Plan has been created, you can go to Management-->Approval Plans and choose the modify option for the Approval Plan type from the navigation menu to modify it. On the main Approval Plans screen for each type, you will see a list of existing Sheet Approval Plans (see figure 21.1). Furthermore, you can view the number of approval levels under the Levels column. To view a list of users that have been assigned to the Approval Plan, click the respective number under the Users column. This will launch a pop-up window containing the assigned users (see figure 21.4). To manage an Approval Plan, simply click the name of the Approval Plan. This will direct you to the Approval Plan Management screen.



Figure 21.4. Assigned users

To delete Approval Plans, select the Approval Plans and click the Delete Plan button from the main Approval Plans screen (see figure 21.1).

Sheet Approval Plan Email Settings

Each Sheet Approval Plan has Email Settings associated with it (see figure 21.3 and 21.5). Email Settings is located in its own collapsible section in the Approval Plan Creation and Management screens. In order for Email Settings to be enabled globally for all Approval Plans, you must specify the time of day that these emails are to be generated under Configuration-->System Settings-->Approval Plans (in the Approval Email Settings table). You must also have your mail server settings configured under Configuration-->System Settings-->Server and Email.



Figure 21.5. Approval Plan Email Settings

Within the Email Settings section of Approval Plans, you can view and manage the different emails that can be sent to approvers and users who have been assigned to the Approval Plan. The various Email Settings are detailed below.

User notification of rejection
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email to the user if his/her sheet has been rejected by any one of the approvers in this Approval Plan.

User notification of approval
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email to the user when his/her sheet has been approved by an approver.

Approver notification of sheet submission
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email to the approvers when an assigned user submits a sheet for approval.

Approver notification of sheet resubmission
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email to the approvers when an assigned user resubmits a sheet that had been previously rejected.

User notification of sheet due
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send a reminder email a specified number of days before a period ends to assigned users that their sheet is due for submission. The number of days can be set below the text section of this notification.

User notification of late sheet submission
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send a late notice email a specified number of days after a period ends to assigned users that their sheet is past due for submission. The number of days can be set below the text section of this notification.

Approver notification of late sheet submission by user
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email for late users a specified number of days after a period ends to assigned approvers. The number of days can be set below the text section of this notification.

Approver notification when they have sheets awaiting their approval
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email to approvers who still have sheets unapproved a specified number of days after a period ends. The number of days can be set below the text section of this notification.

Backup approver notification
When this email notification is enabled, the system will send an email at a specified point in time after a sheet has been submitted to, but not processed by, the primary approver associated with the Approval Plan. The sheet will be placed in the backup approver's queue a specified number of days after the period has ended if a submitted sheet has not been approved or rejected by the primary approver. The default is 1 day after the end of a period, though this value can be modified.

Late notice emails on weekends
This option allows you to decide if the late email notifications should be sent on weekends.

Email Log Options
The two email log options for each Approval Plan relate directly to the email log. The email log should generally only be used if you are having difficulties with the emails for this Approval Plan. Please enable these options only if instructed to do so by Journyx support.

The Email Setting fields for subject lines and messages accept plain text, HTML tags, and a selection of 'tricky tags' that pull information directly from the system database. The available tricky tags are given below along with the system information that the 'tricky tag' will display:

Assigning a Sheet Approval Plan to Users

Sheet Approval plans must be assigned to users before they can be applied. There are two methods of assigning an Approval Plan to users. You can assign users from the main Approval Plan screen for each approval type located under Management-->Approval Plans. Here each Approval Plan has an Assignment column that contains an Assign Users link (see figure 21.1). This method is ideal if wanting to assign users without making any modifications to the Approval Plan itself. By clicking the Assign Users link, you will be taken through the assignment process (see figure 21.6). The first step is to specify the search criteria for the users that you would like to assign to the Approval Plan. Once you have specified the search criteria, click the Search button. The search results will be displayed below the criteria. From the search results, select the users to assign to the Sheet Approval Plan and click the Assign Approval Plan button.

Figure 21.6. User assignment

Alternatively, you may assign users from the Approval Plan Creation or Management screen. This method is ideal when initially creating an Approval Plan or when making changes to an Approval Plan before assigning users. At the bottom of these screens, you will notice a Save and Assign Users button (see figure 21.3). By clicking this button, you will be taken through the assignment process. The first step is to specify the search criteria for the users that you would like to assign to the Approval Plan. Once you have specified the search criteria, click the Search button. The search results will be displayed below the criteria. From the search results, select the users to assign to the Sheet Approval Plan and click the Assign Approval Plan button.