Approval templates

If you need a certain approval process more than once, you can save it as an approval template.

There are two template types:

Personal approval templates, which are created by the individual user and can only be seen and accessed by that user.
Shared approval templates, which are available to the entire organisation or selected departments. Shared approval templates are created by a user with the "Template administrator" privilege, who also determines who can see and access them.

An approval template can be added to an approval in the "New Approval" dialogue.

Figure 1. The "New approval" dialogue

It is possible to configure whether personal approval templates can be saved. F2 is configured in cooperation with cBrain.

The "Approval templates" dialogue shows a list of saved approval templates. You can access the dialogue from the "Settings" tab in the main window.

Figure 2. The "Approval templates" menu item

The dialogue lets you edit and delete approval templates. If you have the "Template administrator" privilege, you can also create shared approval templates.

The "Location" column shows the location of each approval template.

Figure 3. The "Approval templates" dialogue

Save approval flow as approval template

When setting up a new approval flow or when editing one, you can save it as an approval template. This means adding the desired number of steps, approvers, and deadlines, if any.

When you save an approval process as a template, you can specify relative deadlines. This means that you can enter +7 in the "Deadline" field, for example, to set the approval deadline to seven days from the creation date. When you or another user subsequently uses the approval template for a new approval, F2 calculates the deadline based on the creation of this approval. You can specify relative deadlines both for the entire approval and for individual approval steps.

Figure 4. Save approval process as template

Click on Save as template at the bottom of the dialogue to save the approval process as a template. The "Save as template" dialogue opens.

For personal approval templates: Enter a title for the approval template in the "Name" field. F2 suggests an external ID based on the name, but you can change it if necessary. Click OK to save the template. The template is now saved as a personal template, and you can select it next time you create a new approval.

Figure 5. Save personal approval template

For shared approval templates: If you have the "Template administrator" privilege, you can save shared approval templates. Enter a title for the approval template in the "Name" field. F2 suggests an external ID based on the name, but you can change it if necessary. Tick the "Template placement" box and decide whether to make the template accessible to all users in the organisation or to a specific unit only (i.e. either choose the top node or the relevant unit). Click OK to save the template. The template is now saved and can be selected by users.

Figure 6. Save shared approval template

Don’t tick the "Template placement" box if you want to save the template as a personal template

Create shared approval template

A user with the "Template administrator" privilege can create approval templates directly from the "Approval templates" dialogue. Open the dialogue from the "Settings" tab in the main window.

Click on New approval template to open the "New approval template" dialogue, where you can set up an approval flow that you want to save as a template.

Figure 7. Create new shared approval template

Click on Save as template at the bottom of the dialogue to save the template.

Figure 8. Save as template in the "New approval template" dialogue

The "Save as template" dialogue opens. Here you can specify a name and a placement for the template. Click on OK to save.

Figure 9. Save shared approval template

Edit and delete approval template

The "Approval templates" dialogue shows all approval templates that you can access, edit, and delete. Click on Approval templates on the “Settings” tab in the main window to open the dialogue.

Figure 10. The "Approval templates" menu item

To edit or delete an approval template, first select it in the dialogue. Then click on Edit template or Delete.

Figure 11. Edit or delete approval template

Deleted approval templates cannot be restored. You must recreate the approval flow and save it as a new template if you wish to recreate it

The names of deactivated users in the approval template are shown in italics. You can replace a user when editing the template.

Personal settings for default approval templates

You can choose a default approval template. This is done from the "Settings" tab in the main window, by clicking on the Personal settings menu item and navigating to the Approvals tab. In the "Select a default approval template" drop-down, you can select your desired approval template.

Figure 12. Select a default approval template