Create or Edit Requisition Workflows​

​Introduction

Before creating workflows, it will help to write an outline of your agency’s approval process, identifying where a requisition begins, who makes the first approval, the second, etc., and the final approval. If you have different approval processes for different types of requisitions, you should outline them as well.

A workflow is the path for routing a requisition line item for approval. You can create as many workflows as necessary, each with as many approval levels and as many approvers as needed.

  • At least one workflow is required for any agency.
  • While Requisition Departments can also be used for an approval process, they are not required.

Workflows can contain a hierarchy of approval levels, so if you need requisitions to move from one approval to the next, and then to a final approval level, you would use a workflow to create that process.

A requisition can be made up of several line items and each individual item can be assigned to a different workflow, based on however an agency decides, e.g., by the commodity or the amount, etc.

Approvers must be assigned to the same workflow as the requisition line items to be able to approve the line items.

Create a Workflow

Three components make up a workflow: 1) the name of the workflow, 2) the approval levels, and 3) the individual approvers. First, however, users must be added and set up as Approvers in order to add them to the workflows.

1. Open Purchasing, and then click Administration.

2. After adding users as approvers, click the Agency tab, and then click the Workflow tab.

3. Type a name for the Workflow (approximately 50 characters). (The workflow will be selected when a requisition line item is added.) Be sure the Active check box is checked. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \.

Figure 1 - New Workflow example

 A workflow added on teh Agency screen

4. Click Add.

5. Click Select next to the Workflow. The Approval Levels section will appear. (The name of the workflow approval level corresponds to the name of the workflow.)

6. Type a name for the Approval Level (approximately 50 characters). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &,',“,<,and \.

Figure 2 - New Workflow Approval Level example

workflow select button highlighted and the approval level column shown
 

7. Click Add.

  • After adding several approval levels, you can sort the hierarchy of approval levels by clicking Up or Dn next to each level. However, once a workflow has been used (a requisition assigned to it), you will not be able to change the order of the approval levels.

8. Click Select next to the Approval Level. The Approvers section will appear (labeled with whatever you named the workflow approval level). The approval levels are in hierarchical order. That is, a requisition must be approved by the first level before it can be approved by the second level.

9. Select the approver name(s) from the drop down menu and then click Add. You can assign the same user(s) to different approval levels. You can also assign the same user(s) to different workflows.

Figure 3 - Add approvers example

approval level select button highlighted and a list of approvers shown
 

NOTE: Although the approvers appear in a list, they are a group of approvers – they are not a hierarchical list. You can create separate approval levels (which are in hierarchical order), and then assign the approvers to each individual level. This creates a process whereby a requisition has to be approved by a person in one level before it can be approved by a person in the next level.

Edit a Workflow

1. Open Purchasing, and then click Administration.

2. Click the Agency tab, and then click the Workflow tab.

3. To change the name of a workflow or workflow approval level, click Edit next to the workflow or level.

4. Change the name, and then click Update.

5. To delete a workflow, click Del next the workflow. All associated levels will be deleted. However, once a workflow has been used (a requisition assigned to it), the workflow cannot be deleted and Del will be disabled, even if all requisition items in the workflow have been processed.

  • Once a workflow is used, the only changes you can make are:
    • add or remove approvers
    • rename the approval levels
    • add approval levels
    • rename the workflow
    • inactivate the workflow

6. To stop a workflow from being shown as an drop down option for Requisition items, select Edit in the workflow grid on the Agency tab, and then uncheck the Active check box.

7. To change or remove approvers, click Edit or Del next to an approver's name, and then click Update.

8. To add a new approver, click Add below the list of approvers, add the approver, and then click Update.

Add or Update Workflow Approvers

Once approval levels have been created, individual approvers can be added or removed to workflows, or moved to different approval levels either on the Agency screen, or more easily on the User Maint (User Maintenance) screen.

1. Open Purchasing, and then click Administration.

1. Click the User Maint tab, then click Select next to an approver.

2. Click Edit next to the workflow you want to change for the Approver.

Figure 4 - Update an Approver example

A user profile with their associated workflow highlighted
 

3. Click the drop down menus for the Workflow and/or the approval Level to assign the approver to either a different workflow or to move them to a different approval level within a workflow.

Figure 5 - Update the workflow assignment example

A user profile with their associated workflow approval level drop down menu highlighted
 

4. Click Update.

5. Click Update User.

When adding a new approver to the application

1. After finding and adding the new approver, the workflow drop down menus will become available on the User Maint screen for that user.

2. Click the drop down menus for the Workflow and the approval Level to assign the new approver to a workflow and an approval level.

3. Click Add next to the workflow.

4. Click Update User.

Figure 6 - Adding new approver to workflow example

A user profile with the approver chack box and the workflow approval level drop down menu highlighted 

Examples of Requisition Workflows

Below are examples of requisition workflows, indicating workflows by bureau, office function, location, etc.

Figure 7 - Workflow example 1

 A list of workflows

Figure 8 - Workflow example 2

 A list of workflows

Figure 9 - Workflow example 3

 A list of workflows