Introduction

A position control tool provides information on your staffing levels, but it doesn't truly control anything unless changes to those positions go through a tightly controlled approval process. The dynamic and powerful approval workflows built into FTE Tree give your organization the ability to stay on top of changes to your position control, only allowing changes that your leadership approves of.

Your organization can create as many approval workflows as it needs and assign them to any part of your organization. You may create a unique one for each department in your entire organization. We don't limit how many you can create. Our software will track them all and ensure that each change to your approved position control goes through a tightly controlled workflow, automatically managing the paperless approval process for you. Every interaction and part of the approval process is automated and documented with timestamps, allowing you to keep track of exactly who signed off on what and when.

General Approval Settings

Reminder Email Settings

  • Reminder Email Days: Sets the number of days between reminder emails sent to approvers. For example, if the first request email is sent on Monday and this value is set to 3, a reminder will be sent 72 hours later on Thursday. Defaults to 3.

  • Reminder Email Total: Limits the total number of emails sent to a user when they are an approver. Includes the first email and reminders. A value of 0 means no emails will be sent. This value is checked each time an approval request is reviewed, so changes take effect immediately. Defaults to 5.

  • Reminder Email Days Back-off: Increases the delay between each consecutive reminder email. The value is compounding. For example, with a 3-day reminder interval and a 1-day back-off, reminders will be sent on days 3, 7, and 12. Defaults to 1.

  • Reminder Email Business Days Only: Counts only business days (M-F) between reminder emails. Disable this option to use calendar days. Defaults to True.

Approval Behavior Settings

  • Allow Pre-Approvals: When enabled, allows a user to pre-approve an upcoming request in a step that has not yet been started. When disabled, all previous approval steps must be completed first in sequential order.

  • Require Comment if Approving Request: When enabled, requires an approver to enter a comment or note when approving a request. Defaults to False.

  • Require Comment if Denying Request: When enabled, requires an approver to enter a comment or note when denying a request. Defaults to True.

  • Active Organization User Approvers: When enabled, only active organization users will be included in newly created approval requests. If the inactive user is the only approver in a step, it may result in an auto-approval. Defaults to False to minimize auto-approval risk.

Request Numbering

  • Prefix for Request Label: Attaches a prefix when a request number is displayed. For example, a value of 'R' on request #134 will display as 'R134'. Optional.

  • Number of Digits to Pad for Request Numbers: Pads the sequential request number to a specified number of digits. A value of 4 results in 'R0134'. Set to 0 for no padding. Automatically increments if needed.

Types of Approval Workflows

Approval workflows are categorized based on the type of position request being made:

  • Position Change: This type of request is made when a brand new position is created, or changes are made to a position's FTE amount, job code, pay adjustments, or wage rate. Any change to the position's FTE or cost will require an associated 'Position Change' approval workflow to be assigned. If the department is part of the change request, it will be routed to the approval workflow associated with the new department.

  • Replacement Position: When a user wishes to replace a currently approved position without making any changes to that position's FTE, job code, or cost, they may request routing through the 'Replacement Position' workflow. This type is typically used for a replacement position requisition when someone leaves your organization or takes another position.

Approval Criteria

Approval criteria allow you to define rules that determine which specific workflow steps apply to a request based on FTE and dollar amount thresholds. This enables you to route smaller requests through a simpler approval process while larger changes require additional levels of approval.

Workflow Steps

Each approval workflow consists of one or more steps that define who needs to approve a request and in what order. Each step can be assigned to:

  • Specific users: Individual organization users assigned as approvers.
  • Approval roles: Dynamic roles that are mapped to users by department, allowing the correct approver to be selected automatically based on the department in the request. See Permissions and Roles for more information on setting up approval roles.

Approval Workflow Attachments

The approval workflow provides support for attaching files to the approval request. These files are mapped to the specific approval workflow and will appear when a user makes a new request.

Each approval workflow file attachment requires:

  • Attachment Title: A clear description displayed instead of the actual file name.

  • Attachment Type: The file may be one of three types:

  • Information Only: For informational use only. Only the download link, title, and instructions are shown.
  • Required Attachment: Requires the user to attach a completed file with the approval request.

  • Optional Attachment: Similar to required, but the file submission is optional.

  • File Instructions: Optional instructions explaining how to use the file.

  • Display on New Request: Enable to show the attachment on new requests. Disabling does not retroactively remove it from existing requests.

All files within FTE Tree are encrypted in transit and at rest. Download links are time-limited to 15 minutes and restricted to authorized users. For additional details, see Audit and Data Integrity.

Assigning Workflows to Departments

Approval workflows are assigned through the department tree and cascade down similarly to how department roles are assigned. You can assign a specific workflow to the top of your department tree and let it cascade to all child departments, or assign specific workflows to specific departments or branches. In FTE Tree, an approval workflow must be assigned to a department for users to make approval requests.

Need Help?

If you have any questions about configuring approval workflows, please contact us or email us at support@ftetree.com.