Approval overview in F2
You have multiple options for gaining an overview of approval processes in your daily work with F2.
An overview of e.g. returned or completed approvals can be created by searching by approval record metadata.
Active approvals are always displayed in the “Approvals” list in the main window.
In the main window, an approval record can be identified by its circular approval icon, whose colour and content change depending on status. A detailed description of approval icons and their meaning is available in Approval icons.
View active approvals
F2 is installed with the “Approvals” standard search in the main window.
Click on Approvals to display the current approvals that the user is authorised to view. An example of what it could look like is shown below.
Approval columns
There are several columns in F2 which can be used when displaying the approvals in the result list:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
“Appl: Days left” |
Displays the time in days until the deadline for the approval of a record. |
“Appl: Progress” |
Displays a colour coded overview of the approval progress with the current approver highlighted in blue. Any previous approvers are highlighted in light blue, while future approvers are grey. The users set as approvers can be identified by their initials. Your own initials are displayed in bold. |
“Approval deadline” |
Displays the deadline for the approval. |
"Days until my next deadline" |
Displays the number of days until the deadline on your next step expires. |
“Location” |
Displays the current location of an approval. |
"My approval step deadline" |
Displays the deadline (if any) of the next step you are approving. |
“Urgent” |
Shows whether an approval has been marked as urgent. |
The user initials displayed in the list of approvals are maintained in the participant register and obtained from there. By default, the initials field in the participant register is updated/synchronised via AD (Active Directory). If this synchronisation does not take place or if there are no initials in AD, three asterisks (***) are displayed in the field.
| If there are two approvers or more on the same approval step, instead of initials the number of approvers on that step is shown. |
Creating specific searches for approvals
In addition to the pre-defined search for active approvals, it is possible to generate personalised searches based on the metadata of approval processes created in F2. This is done in the following way:
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Click on Archive (1).
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Click on Advanced search in the main window ribbon (2) and open the “Approval process” search group.
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The search fields related to approvals are displayed (3). Fill in one or more of the fields depending on the wanted search criteria.
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Save the search by clicking on Save search (4).
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The search is then added to the “Personal searches” list (5).
Depending on which search fields have been filled in, the user can perform specific approval searches. For example, it is possible to search for:
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My active approvals.
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My completed approvals.
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All approvals for which I am/have been responsible.
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Approval type.
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Approval status (returned, approved or conditionally approved).
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Approval deadline.
For more information on performing and saving searches in F2, see Searches.
The "Approval process" search group
Below is a detailed description of the search options in the “Approval process” search group.
| Search field | Possible values | Description |
|---|---|---|
“Responsible” |
User Unit Me My unit |
Search for approvals for which the specified user or unit is responsible. |
“Approvers” |
User Unit Me My unit |
Search for approvals for which the specified user or unit is an approver. |
“Current step” |
User Unit Me My unit |
Search for records with the specified approver for the current approval step. |
“Current step or thereafter” |
User Unit Me My unit |
Search for records with the specified approver for either the current or a pending approval step. |
“Deadline” |
Date Yesterday Today Tomorrow Undefined + [No. of days] - [No. of days] |
Fill in one or both date fields. Use + and - to define a dynamic period starting or ending a number of days from today. Search for approvals with deadlines within the specified interval. |
“Deadline, current step” |
Date Yesterday Today Tomorrow Undefined + [No. of days] - [No. of days] |
Fill in one or both date fields. Use + and - to define a dynamic period starting or ending a number of days from today. Search for approvals with current step deadline within the specified interval. |
“Start date” |
Date Yesterday Today Tomorrow Undefined + [No. of days] - [No. of days] |
Fill in one or both date fields. Use + and - to define a dynamic period starting or ending a number of days from today. Search for approvals that have been initiated during the specified interval. |
“Urgent” |
Yes No |
Search for approvals with or without urgent status. |
“Approval type” |
Value list created by an administrator. |
Search for approvals of the specified type. |
“Started” |
Yes No |
Search for approvals that either have or have not been initiated. |
“Approval status” |
In process Completed Cancelled |
Search for approvals that are either in process, completed or cancelled. |
“State of approval” |
Returned Approved Conditionally approved |
Search for approvals that have either been returned, approved or conditionally approved. |
Accessing approvals in the preview
All active approvals to which the user has access can be displayed by clicking on Approvals in the list view in the main window.
Clicking on an approval record in the result list opens a preview of the record to the right. This requires the preview feature to be activated, which is done from the “Settings” tab.
Click on Approval in the preview to see an overview of the approval, along with a log of the approval process.
The user can perform approval actions using the preview as long as the approval is at their step. It is not necessary to open the approval to comment, return or approve. This can all be done from the preview in the main window.
If the approval contains unsaved changes, and the user selects a different record in the list, F2 will ask the user if the approval record’s changes should be saved. It is not possible to undo a preview change. Therefore, it is important to either save or discard changes before the changing previews.