Introduction

Approval requests are the core mechanism through which changes to your position control are reviewed and authorized. When a user needs to create a new position, modify an existing one, or request a replacement, they submit an approval request that is routed through your organization's configured approval workflow.

Submitting an Approval Request

To create a new approval request, select one or more positions and the type of change being requested. All selected positions are routed as a group through the workflow assigned to the relevant department. The request type determines which approval workflow is used:

  • Position Change: For new positions or changes to FTE, job code, adjustments, wage rate, or position parent (reporting relationship).
  • Replacement Position: For replacing a currently approved position without changing its FTE, job code, or cost.

When submitting a request, all draft position attributes are included. If positions have job code attributes, those are also captured as a snapshot for reference. If your approval workflow includes required file attachments, you will be prompted to upload them when creating the request.

The Approval Process

Once submitted, an approval request progresses through the steps defined in the assigned workflow:

  1. Pending: The request has been created and is awaiting the first approver.
  2. In Process: One or more steps have been reviewed and the request is progressing through the workflow.
  3. Approved: All required approval steps have been completed and the request is approved.
  4. Denied: An approver has denied the request.
  5. Cancelled: The request has been cancelled by the submitter or an administrator.

At each step, the assigned approver receives an email notification prompting them to review the request. Reminder emails are sent based on your organization's approval settings.

Pre-Approval

If your organization has enabled pre-approvals, an approver may approve a request for a step that has not yet been reached in the workflow. This allows approvers who know they will need to sign off to do so ahead of time, speeding up the process.

Reassignment and Delegation

If an approver is unavailable, there are two options:

  • Per-Request Reassignment: A specific approval step can be reassigned to another user. This is a one-time action for a single request.
  • Approval Delegation: An ongoing delegation can be created so that one user can approve all requests on behalf of another. Delegations can be permanent or temporary, and appear automatically in the delegate's dashboard and approval lists. See Organization Settings and Users for details on managing delegations.

Note that delegation does not allow a user to approve their own request. If a delegate is also the requester, the delegated approval will not appear in their approval list and must be handled by another approver or through escalation.

Separation of Duties

To maintain proper separation of duties, the person who submits an approval request cannot approve that same request through the normal workflow. This applies even if the requester is assigned as an approver through a workflow role or has been delegated approval authority by an assigned approver.

If the requester is the only available approver on a step, the system automatically attempts to escalate by adding backup approvers from the configured escalation role. If no escalation role is configured or no eligible backup approvers are available, the step is auto-approved and logged in the audit trail.

Approver Comments and Response Choices

When approving or denying a request, approvers can enter a comment explaining their decision. Depending on the workflow configuration, comments may be required for approvals, denials, or both. All comments are recorded as part of the request's audit trail.

If the workflow has been configured with approval response choice groups, approvers will also see a dropdown of predefined reasons to select from when taking action. For example, an "Approve Choice Group" might include options like "Budget Verified" or "Within Headcount Plan", while a "Deny Choice Group" might include "Over Budget" or "Insufficient Justification". These choice groups are configured per workflow by your organization's administrators. See Approval Settings and Workflows for details on configuring comment requirements and response choice groups.

Request Comments

Each approval request has a dedicated comments page where users can have threaded discussions about the request. Comments support replies and user mentions with email and in-app notifications. This is separate from the approve/deny comments described above and is intended for ongoing discussion about the request.

To access comments, click the Comments button on the request detail page. Commenting on approval requests requires the position request permission.

Cancelling a Request

The submitter or an administrator may cancel an approval request at any time before it is fully approved. Depending on the workflow configuration, a comment may be required when cancelling.

Restarting a Request

If an approval request has been denied or cancelled, it can be restarted. Restarting creates a new approval request that is linked to the original and includes the same positions and draft attributes. The original request remains unchanged for audit purposes.

The new request uses the current workflow assigned to the department, which may differ from the original if the workflow configuration has changed since the original request was submitted. Fresh approval steps are created from the current workflow and the approval process begins from the start.

To restart a request, navigate to the denied or cancelled request's detail page and click Restart Request. Restarting requires the position request permission for the request's department.

Tracking Your Requests

Your dashboard provides quick access to:

  • Requests you have submitted and their current status.
  • Requests that are awaiting your approval.
  • The number of active and upcoming approval tasks assigned to you.

Every interaction in the approval process is timestamped and documented, providing a complete audit trail of who took what action and when.

Position Parent Changes

Approval requests can include changes to a position's parent, which defines the reporting relationship in the org chart. When a parent change is approved, the system applies the new parent to the position and updates the organizational hierarchy.

Before applying a parent change, the system validates that the change will not create a circular reference in the position hierarchy. For example, a position cannot become a child of one of its own descendants. If the hierarchy has changed since the request was originally submitted and the parent change would now create a circular reference, the change is blocked. In this case, the requester receives a dashboard notification explaining why the parent change could not be applied. The requester can then review the current hierarchy and submit a new parent change request if needed.

Need Help?

If you have questions about the approval process, please contact us or email us at support@ftetree.com.