Manage approvals
The basic workflow for handling approvals through the approval gateway is as follows:
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The gatekeeper receives the approval.
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The gatekeeper adds a priority flag and a sorting deadline and then sends the approval to F2 Manager.
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The gated approver can return, mark as read, or approve the approval.
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The gatekeeper receives the approval again and can apply or adjust the gated approver’s decision.
In addition, there are options for handling approvals that can be used when further adjustment is needed.
When a decision from the gated approver can be immediately applied, the gatekeeper can process the approval directly from the main window. If there is a need to quality assure attached documents, the approval can be opened and processed from the record window.
The various tools for handling approvals are described in the following sections.
Send approval to F2 Manager
When the gatekeeper has processed and quality assured the approval, it can be sent to the gated approver’s F2 Manager.
Click Send to F2 Manager to send the approval to the gated approver’s iPad. From there it can be processed by the gated approver.
Send to F2 Manager immediately
If an approval must be quickly forwarded to the gated approver, tick the box "Send to F2 Manager immediately" on the "Gateway approvals" tab. This will immediately send the approval to F2 Manager. Ticking the box also means that a returned or withdrawn approval will bypass the gatekeeper if it reaches the gated approver’s step again.
The gatekeeper can tick "Send to F2 Manager immediately" before the approval reaches the gated approver’s step. This may be relevant when an approval has been quality assured before reaching the gated approver’s step.
When "Send to F2 Manager immediately" is selected, the gated approver receives the approval as soon as it is approved on the previous step. This can be advantageous if it occurs outside the gatekeeper’s working hours.
Approvals that have not yet reached the gated approver’s step can be found in the "Upcoming approvals" list.
Sort and prioritise approvals
By default, approvals on F2 Manager are sorted alphabetically by their records' titles. Gatekeepers can further sort approvals by using priority flags and sorting deadlines, which also influence the approval sorting order for the gated approver.
The sorting hierarchy is as follows:
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The "Urgent" priority flag
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Other priority flags
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Sorting deadline
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Record title.
This means that priority flags are the primary sorting criterion followed by sorting deadline.
| It is possible to configure F2 Gateway Approvals to also sort by the approval deadline. This will add a fifth level to the sorting hierarchy, with the approval deadline criterion placed between priority flag and sorting deadline. Configurations are performed in cooperation with cBrain. |
Edit F2 Manager display order
The gatekeeper can adjust the order in which approvals appear on the gated approver’s F2 Manager. Click Edit F2 Manager display order on the "Approval Gate" tab to open a dialogue. From here, select an approval and adjust its flag and sorting deadline using the drop-down menus at the top of the dialogue.
| The "Edit F2 Manager display order" button is only active when the "On F2 Manager" list is selected and in the record window for approvals located on F2 Manager. |
The gated approver receives a notification from F2 Manager when the order is adjusted. The gated approver can refresh the list by pulling down from the top of the screen.
The display order can be changed for approvals on which the gated approver is either an approver or a copy recipient.
Apply or adjust approvals and "marked as read"
The gated approver processes an approval by either approving it, marking it as read, or returning it. Afterwards, the approval is sent back to the gatekeeper, who can then ensure its quality and adjust or execute the gated approver’s decision.
Click on Apply approval, Apply return or Apply marked as read on the "Gateway Approvals" tab or in the preview to execute the gated approver’s decision.
Click on Adjust decision in the preview if needed. It may be necessary to adjust a decision if the gated approver has mistakenly approved. Afterwards, the approval process can continue, e.g. by returning the approval to a previous step.
Approve on behalf of the gated approver
The gatekeeper has the option of approving on behalf of the gated approver. The approval log then indicates that the approval was made by the gatekeeper on behalf of the gated approver.
Gated approver as copy recipient
A gated approver can be added to an approval step as a copy recipient.
When a copy recipient is a gated approver, the approval is first received by the gatekeeper, who then sends it to F2 Manager. On F2 Manager, the gated approver can add a comment, mark the approval as read, and notify the approver on the approval step.
Once the gated approver has processed the approval as a copy recipient, the gatekeeper can apply the marked as read status and, if needed, adjust the comment. If there is no need to adjust the comment, the gatekeeper can check the "Skip gate when marked as read" box on the "Gateway approvals" tab in advance.
Record history information
An approval record’s history includes information about gateway approval actions. These are actions performed by the gatekeeper on behalf of a gated approver. This makes it possible to see which actions were performed on behalf of which gated approver.
Open the record history by clicking on the History menu item on the "Advanced" tab of the respective record. On the "Show metadata" tab in the "Record history" dialogue, you can see information about gateway approval actions.
