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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-03-08
Concept: Approval Chain Step

Concept: Approval Chain Step

An
Approval Chain
 step is a sequence of approvals on a business process that starts with an individual, then routes to the selected role for that person. The approval continues up the chain until the step reaches the top of the chain or meets an exit condition.
You can require designated approvers to enter a comment before they can approve the step. Access the
Maintain Additional Step Configuration
 task from the related actions menu of the step and select the
Require a Comment
 check box. This requirement also applies to the Bulk Approve task. Note that selecting the
Disable Comments
 check box on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
 task overrides the
Require a Comment
 check box.
To determine the next-level approver of the step, you can configure the
Approval Chain
 step to route based on:
  • Management hierarchy. Workday routes the step to the manager of the person's position, then to the manager of the person's manager in the position, and so on. Workday bases all event routings on the person's position. By default, Workday uses position-based routing to route approval chain steps if you don't enable organization-based routing.
    On the
    Approval Chain
     step, select the role-based security group that the approval chain follows. Workday notifies everyone in the role specified in that security group that they have a task to approve.
    You can enable the
    Enable Enhanced Position-Based Approval Chain Routing
     check box on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
     task to consistently evaluate all approvers in each level of an
    Approval Chain
     business process step when a person reports to 1 or more managers in their position. Workday recommends that you consider enabling this enhanced position-based approval chain routing functionality even if people in your organization might not have multiple managers. When you configure an
    Approval Chain
     step on your business process definition, select a constrained role-based security group for the step.
  • Organization hierarchy. Workday routes the step to the manager of the person's organization, and then to the manager of the second-level organization. Workday then routes the step to the manager of the third-level organization, and so on, up the organization hierarchy.
    To configure organization-based routing, access the
    Maintain Advanced Routing
     task from the related actions menu of the business process step. On the task, select the
    Organization-Based Routing
     check box. On the
    Approval Chain
     step, you can only select constrained role-based security groups. Workday recommends that you select a security group with access rights configured for the current organization and unassigned subordinates.
When an approver selects:
  • Deny
    , Workday terminates the business process and doesn't save any changed data.
  • Send Back
     for an
    Approval Chain
     step, Workday sends the step back to a specific person in the approval chain. You can send the step back to any step that preceeds the
    Approval Chain
     step.
When you use an
Approval Chain
 step, you typically select
Manager
 in the security group for that step. When you create a custom business process notification for the
Approval Chain
 step, select
Awaiting Persons
 from the
Recipients
 prompt. When you select
Manager
 as the recipient, Workday sends a notification to the employee's manager for every approval chain level. By selecting
Awaiting Persons
 instead of
Manager
, you force the notification to move up the approval chain.
Workday marks the approval chain step as
Not Required
 when:
  • You enable organization-based routing.
  • An approver approves an
    Approval Chain
     or
    Consolidated Approval Chain
     step in a previous level.
  • The assignee is also an approver in a later level.
Workday doesn't generate a custom business process notification for the
Not Required
 step.
When you need a series of approvals not included in the same approval chain, use separate, sequential
Approval
 steps.
When the management chain changes after you initiate an event, Workday routes the approval to the next person in the updated management chain.

Approval Chain for Multiple Managers

Workday routes the
Approval Chain
 step up the management chain of all of the person's managers, regardless of which manager initially approves the step, when:
  • You don't enable organization-based routing on the step.
  • The person has multiple managers for a single position.
  • You select
    Manager
     in the security group for the step.
Workday recommends that you don't configure a While-Running condition when an approval chain includes multiple managers.
Example: Albert has a position that reports to 2 managers, Bob and Brenda. Bob reports to Carla, and Brenda reports to Donald.
  • When Bob initially approves the step, Workday routes the approval chain to both Carla and Donald.
  • When Brenda initially approves the step, Workday routes the approval chain to both Carla and Donald.
If a person has multiple positions, and you select
Manager
 in the security group for the
Approval Chain
 step, for position-based routing:
  • Without a routing modifier configuration, Workday routes the
    Approval Chain
     step up the management chain of the primary position, additional positions, or all positions. Workday routes the step depending on the position-based routing configuration. If you don't enable position-based routing, Workday routes the
    Approval Chain
     step up the management chain of all positions.
  • With a routing modifier configuration, Workday routes the
    Approval Chain
     step up the management chain of that position.
When a person has multiple positions and you enable organization-based routing, Workday routes the
Approval Chain
 step to all managers for the organization unless you configure a routing modifier on the step.

Approval Chain for Managers with Multiple Positions

Workday routes the
Approval Chain
 step to the manager of the person's position, then to the manager of the manager's position that manages the person, and so on when:
  • You don't enable organization-based routing on the step.
  • The person's direct manager has multiple positions. Example: The manager is on an international assignment.
  • You select
    Manager
     in the security group for the step.
Workday bases all event routings on the person's position.
Workday routes the approval chain based on the position of the manager assigned to the person's organization's manager role. Example: The manager is on an international assignment and manages a person in their host country. If the manager's home country position has been assigned to their host country person's organization, Workday routes the person's
Approval Chain
 step to the manager's home country but not to their host country.
Workday applies the approval chain routing to all security groups with
Approve
 permission on the business process security policy of the event.
When a person has a manager with multiple positions and you enable organization-based routing on the step, Workday routes the
Approval Chain
 step to the person's manager in the organization. Then, it goes to the manager in the next level of the organization, and so on.