Approvals

When you create a letter template, you specify whether the letter requires approval before it is printed and mailed. Internal messages do not require approval.

If a letter requires approval, you can specify how many approvals that letter needs. If multiple approvals are needed, you specify the order that the correspondence is routed to each approver—who gets the letter first, next, and last.

The following figure shows how correspondence moves from one approver to the next.

XTRAC also lets you determine who prints the letter after final approval.

If any approver in the approval chain rejects the letter, XTRAC returns the letter to the originating operator. That operator can make corrections and send the letter through the approval chain again.

See Approval Group Summary.

Approval Configuration

If you want to add approval, complete the following tasks:

• Define the queues to route correspondence to for approval.
  See Approval Queues
• Configure operators to approve correspondence.
  See Configuring Operators to Approve Correspondence
• For a specific correspondence type, define one or more approval queues.
  See Approval Queues
• Create an approval group that specifies the queues for multiple correspondence types.
  See Creating an Approval Group
• Assign an approval group to a node.
  See Assigning an Approval Group to a Node
• Assign one or more approval queues to a node.
  See Assigning Approval Queues to a Node

Approval Queues

When an operator submits correspondence that needs approval, XTRAC determines which approval queue to send it to by checking the following queues in order.

If XTRAC cannot find an approval queue, it displays a message indicating that the letter cannot be generated because the template requires approval and there is no associated approval queue.

1. The assigned approval group at the work item’s current node.

XTRAC first checks if there is an approval group assigned to the work item’s current node and the correspondence of the document is in the approval group. If both items exist, XTRAC routes the letter to the first approval queue that is associated with the approval group.

2. The approval queues that are associated with the correspondence type.

If an approval group is not assigned to the work item’s current node or the correspondence type is not in the approval group, XTRAC routes the letter to the approval queue that is designated as the first queue for the correspondence type.

3. The approval queues that are assigned at the work item’s current node.

If there is no approval group assigned at the work item’s current node or the applicable correspondence type is not associated with the approval group AND the correspondence type does not have any associated approval queues, XTRAC routes the correspondence to the first queue in the list of approval queues that are associated with the work item’s current node.

Configuring Operators to Approve Correspondence

If the approval queue is a personal queue, it must be either the operator’s personal queue or another personal queue that the operator has access to. See Creating an Operator.

To configure operators to approve correspondence

1. Set the following options for each operator in their operator profile:
   1. Select the Allow operator to approve correspondence option.
   2. Assign work access to the node where the approval queue is attached.

Approval Groups

You create an approval group by associating one or more correspondence types with one or more approval queues. See Approval Group Detail (Approval Queues Tab) and Approval Group Detail (Correspondence Type Tab).

You then assign the approval group to a node. When an operator working at that node generates correspondence, XTRAC routes letters of the specified correspondence type to the approval queues that you assigned to the group.

Creating an Approval Group

Note: To define an approval group, you need the Create and Approval Groups security functions as part of the security group that is associated with your entitlement set. See Approval Configuration.

To create an approval group

1. In Feature Explorer, click Correspondence.
2. Click Approval Groups.
3. In the Approval Group Summary window, click New.
4. In the Approval Group Detail window, in the Name field, enter a name for the approval group (up to 30 characters).
5. In the Description field, enter a description (up to 60 characters).
6. At the right side of the Correspondence Type tab, click Add.
7. In the Select Correspondence Types window, select one of more correspondence types.
8. Click OK.

The Approval Group Detail window displays a list of the correspondence types that you selected.

You can remove a correspondence type from the list by selecting it and clicking Remove. The Remove option is disabled until you select a row.

If you are not assigning approval queues to this approval group, go to Step 13.

9. In the Select Approval Queues window, select one or more approval queues, and then click OK.

The Approval Group Detail window displays a list of the approval queues that you selected.

You can remove a queue from the list by selecting it and clicking Remove.

10. Reorder the queues in the order you want the approvals to occur by selecting a queue and clicking Move Up or Move Down.

XTRAC enables the move options after you select a queue.

11. If you want the originating operator to print correspondence, check the Return to Creating Operator for Printing check box.

Otherwise, the last approver will print the correspondence.

12. (Optional) In the Change Request ID field, enter the change request ID (up to 30 characters).
13. (Optional) In the Memo field, enter the reason for creating the approval group (up to 60 characters).
14. Click Save.

XTRAC saves the new approval group and adds it to the Approval Group Summary window.

Assigning an Approval Group to a Node

See Approval Configuration and Approval Queues.

To assign an approval group to a node

1. In Feature Explorer, click Environment.
2. Click Nodes.
3. In the Node Summary window, select the node that you want to assign to the approval group.
4. Click Open.
5. In the Node Detail window, click the Correspondence tab.
6. From the Approval Group drop-down list box, select the approval group that you want to associate with this node.
7. (Optional) In the Change Request ID field, enter the change request ID (up to 30 characters).
8. (Optional) In the Memo field, enter the reason for associating an approval group (up to 60 characters).
9. Click Save.

XTRAC associates the specified approval group with the selected node.

Assigning Approval Queues to a Node

See Approval Configuration and Approval Queues.

To assign approval queues to a node

1. In Feature Explorer, click Environment.
2. Click Nodes.
3. In the Node Summary window, select the node that you want to associate with the approval queues.
4. Click Open.
5. In the Node Detail window, click the Correspondence tab.
6. On the right side of the window, click Add.
7. In the Select Approval Queues window, from the list of all personal and work queues in your organization, select one or more approval queues, and then click OK.

The Approval Group Detail window displays a list of the approval queues that you selected.

You can remove a queue from the list by selecting it and clicking Remove.

8. Reorder the queues in the order you want the approvals to occur by selecting a queue and clicking Move Up or Move Down.

XTRAC enables the move options after you select a queue.

9. If you want the originating operator to print correspondence, check the Return to Creating Operator for Printing check box.

Otherwise, the last approver will print the correspondence.

10. (Optional) In the Change Request ID field, enter the change request ID (up to 30 characters).
11. (Optional) In the Memo field, enter the reason for creating the approval group (up to 60 characters).
12. Click Save.

XTRAC associates the specified approval queues with the selected node.

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