Approvals in F2 Manager 2
| The content of this website is last updated to F2 version 12. cBrain are working hard on supplying you with the newest documentation of F2. |
F2 Manager 2 gives you access to active approvals where you are the approver at the current step. An approval is transferred to F2 Manager 2 when it is sent to a step where you are an approver. The approval disappears from the list of approvals when you return or approve it, thus leaving your step. After this you can find the approval on the "History" tab.
Tap Approvals at the bottom of the ribbon on F2 Manager 2 to display a list of all available approvals.
On the left you can see a list of transferred approvals (1). You can search for approvals using the search field above the list (2). When you tap an approval in the list, the approval document will be displayed in a preview on the right (3). Above the preview are functions for processing the approval (4). Above these functions are the metadata of the selected approval such as title, deadline, and record ID for the record associated with the approval (5).
| If you are a gated approver, your gatekeeper will select which approvals are transferred to F2 Manager 2. Some approvals may not be transferred to F2 Manager 2 even though you are an approver on the current step of the approval. Read more about the F2 Gateway Approvals module. |
The approvals list
Approvals are displayed in the approvals list with title and number of attached documents. The list is sorted by approval deadline. If there are multiple approvals with the same deadline, they are grouped. The deadline and the number of approvals in the grouping are shown in the grey band above a group of approvals.
Approvals marked "Urgent" are placed at the top of the list. Approvals without a deadline are placed at the bottom of the list. Approvals that are both marked "Urgent" and have a deadline are placed in the "Urgent" group. Unread approvals and documents are bolded in the list.
| If you are a gated approver, your gatekeeper can sort and prioritise your approvals. |
Search for approvals
You can search for approvals using the search field above the approvals list. You search by the title of the approval.
Approvals ribbon functions
The ribbon above the preview contains menu items for working with the approval.
When the ribbon is shortened, the menu items are gathered in the "More" drop-down menu.
The functions are as follows:
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
Full screen/Split screen |
Display the selected content on the entire screen or restore the default view. |
Share |
Share the document with other apps on your iPad. This function is only available for attachments. You cannot share an approval document. |
New chat |
Create a chat on the approval. |
Search |
Search within the selected document. The first match is highlighted in yellow. Other matches are highlighted in white. |
Hide annotations/Show annotations |
Hide or show annotations in the selected document. The menu item is only visible for annotated documents. |
Annotate |
Open the selected document in annotation mode. |
View Combined/Split view |
View the approval document and the attached documents in the preview either as a combined PDF or as separate PDFs. |
Return |
Open a dialogue where you can return the approval to a previous step. |
Approve |
Open a dialogue where you can grant approval. |
Resume |
Open a dialogue where you can resume the approval. |
Read and annotate approval
You can read and annotate approvals on F2 Manager 2 before processing them. You can:
-
Read the approval and its attached documents.
-
Annotate the approval and its attached documents.
Read approvals and their documents
When you tap an approval in the list on the left, its approval document opens in the preview on the right, and the list of its attached documents is expanded. The number of documents attached to an approval is shown next to the attachment icon on the item. Unread approvals and documents are bolded in the list.
Tap an attached document to preview it on the right.
Annotate documents
You can annotate documents. Tap a document in the list on the left to show it in the preview to the right. Then tap Annotate in the ribbon to open the selected document in annotation mode.
In annotation mode the annotation toolbox is placed at the bottom of the screen by default. You can move the toolbox by pressing it and dragging it to the desired location. F2 Manager 2 remembers where you placed the toolbox the next time you open a document in annotation mode.
Tap a tool to start using it.
Tap Cancel in the ribbon to undo your recent annotations and exit annotation mode.
Tap Save in the ribbon to save your latest annotations and exit annotation mode.
If the document already contains annotations, you can jump between them using the Previous annotation and Next annotation buttons.
The annotated document is saved as a PDF file on F2 Manager 2 and in F2 Desktop. When you reopen the document on F2 Manager 2, you can choose to view the PDF file with your annotations or you can choose to hide the annotations and view the original document.
Annotated documents are shown with a pencil icon in the list to the left.
| If someone edited the original document after you annotated it, e.g. another user updated the document in F2 Desktop, you may end up overwriting your annotations if you annotate the new version of the original document. |
Write annotations
You can make text annotations in a document. Tap the text box icon 
in the ribbon to open a text box in the document.
Tap the text box and write your text using the keyboard. Change the size of the text box by dragging the small blue dot on the right. Move the text box by pressing it and moving it to another location in the document.
Tap the round menu icon in the top right corner of the text box to open an options menu. Here you can choose font type, size, and colour, as well as background colour. From the menu you can remove the text box by tapping Remove.
Tap the pencil icon in the ribbon to display the toolbox with the other annotation tools.
Access annotated documents from approvals in F2 Desktop
The PDF file with the annotations can be accessed from F2 Desktop by all approvers on the approval. The filename for the PDF will be "[Original title] (annotated by [username])" as in the example below.
| An approval can only contain one F2 Manager 2 PDF. This means that an annotation risks being overwritten if more than one user makes annotations on F2 Manager. The PDF file name always indicates the first annotating user, but not any subsequent users. |
Process approvals
You can process approvals on F2 Manager 2 by returning them or granting approval. In addition you can resume an approval if it has been returned to your step from a subsequent approver.
| When you process an approval as a gated approver, your gatekeeper may apply or adjust your decision to either return or approve before the approval is sent to the relevant approval step. Read more about F2 Gateway Approvals. |
Return approval
Tap Return on the ribbon to return the selected approval to a previous approval step. A dialogue opens where you choose who the approval should be returned to and where you recommend resuming the approval. You can write a comment detailing why you are returning the approval.
Tap OK to return the approval to the selected approval step.
Tap Cancel if you do not wish to return the approval.
Grant approval
Tap Approve in the ribbon to approve the selected approval. A dialogue opens where you can add a comment before approving.
Tap OK to grant approval. The approval will move on to the next step or be approved finally if you are the last approver.
Tap Cancel if you do not wish to grant approval.
Resume approval
When an approval is returned to your step from a subsequent approver, you can resume it via the ribbon.
Tap Resume in the ribbon to resume the selected approval. A dialogue will open where you choose with whom to resume the approval. You can also add a comment.
Read more about resuming approvals.
Chat from an approval
You can chat on approvals from F2 Manager 2. You can create a new chat from the ribbon.
Tap an approval in the approval list to view its chats, if any. Chats are displayed under attached documents. Unread chats are bolded.
Tap a chat in the list to read it in the chat window.
You can find an overview of all your chats on F2 Manager 2 in the chat list.
You can also receive chats on approvals on which you aren’t an approver. This type of chat only appears in the chat list on the "Chats" tab and not on the "Approvals" tab.