Manage approvals

The content of this website is last updated to F2 version 11. cBrain are working hard on supplying you with the newest documentation of F2.

The basic workflow for handling approvals through the approval gateway is as follows:

  1. The gatekeeper receives the approval.

  2. The gatekeeper adds a priority flag and a sorting deadline and then sends the approval to F2 Manager 2.

  3. The gated approver can return, mark as read, or approve the approval.

  4. 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.

The content of this manual is tailored to F2 Manager 2. If you are using F2 Gateway approvals with F2 Manager, you can read more here.

Send approval to F2 Manager 2

When the gatekeeper has processed and quality assured the approval, it can be sent to the gated approver’s F2 Manager 2.

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.

image9
Figure 1. Release to F2 Manager

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 2. Ticking the box also means that a returned or withdrawn approval will bypass the gatekeeper if it reaches the gated approver’s step again.

image27
Figure 2. Send immediately to F2 Manager

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 2 are sorted by the approval’s creation date. 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:

  1. The "Urgent" priority flag

  2. Other priority flags

  3. Sorting deadline

  4. Creation date.

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 2 display order

The gatekeeper can adjust the order in which approvals appear on the gated approver’s F2 Manager 2. 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.

image28
Figure 3. The "Edit F2 Manager display order" 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 2.

The gated approver can refresh the approval list on F2 Manager 2 by pulling down from the top of the screen.

overview approvals
Figure 4. Overview of prioritised approvals on F2 Manager 2

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.

image13
Figure 5. Apply approval via the "Gateway Approvals" tab

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.

image31
Figure 6. Adjust or apply decision

Skip gate on return or approval

Check the boxes "Skip gate when returning" and/or "Skip gate on approval" on the "Gateway approvals" tab if the gated approver’s decision needs no further processing by the gatekeeper and can be applied automatically.

image32
Figure 7. Skip gate on approval and return

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.

image33
Figure 8. Final approval 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 2. On F2 Manager 2, 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.

marked as read
Figure 9. The approval is marked as read by the gated approver

Resume approval

After an approval is returned, the gatekeeper can process the approval in connection with resuming. The gatekeeper can apply the gated approver’s decision to resume in the approval preview or from the ribbon on the "Gateway approvals" tab.

image
Figure 10. Apply resumption

The gated approver can also check "Skip gate when resuming" if the gated approver’s decision does not require further processing and must be executed automatically.

image
Figure 11. Skip gate when resuming from the ribbon

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.

image40
Figure 12. Gateway approval actions in the record history