Walkthrough: Set Up and Use an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow
This walkthrough demonstrates how you can set up JustFood so that JustFood will block new item records until the record is approved.
About This Walkthrough
This walkthrough demonstrates the following tasks:
Set up an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow, including how to:
Set Up Approval Users
Set Up New Items to be Blocked
Create an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow
Send an Approval Request
Approve an Item Approval Request
Prerequisites
SMTP email is set up. For more information, see Set Up Email Manually or Using the Assisted Setup.
Story
The JF company wants all new items to be reviewed and approved. Paul is being set up as a user who will be requesting approvals for new items. Alison is being set up as a user who will be approving the requests. After Paul requests approval, Alison will receive an email message from which she can then go and approve the record. After the request is approved, the item record is unblocked.
Set Up an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow
To set up an item approval with the unblock workflow, the following procedures must be performed:
Set Up Approval Users. The user who will be permitted to approve, reject or delegate approval requests must be added.
Set Up New Items to be Blocked. To block new items until the items are approved, on the Inventory Setup page, the Block Item on Insert option must be turned on. When the Block Item on Insert option is turned on, and the Item Approval with Unblock Workflow is enabled, on the Item Card page, until the approval request is approved, Blocked cannot be changed. If users try to unblock an item before the item has been approved, the following error message is displayed:
This record can only be unblocked when the approval process is complete.
Create an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow. For users to be able to request approval for an item, an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow must be created.
To set up approval users
Choose
, enter approval user setup, and then choose the related link.The Approval User Setup page opens.
On the action bar, choose New.
In the User ID field, select the user ID of the user who will be receiving notifications, in this case, Alison.
In the Approver ID field, select the user ID of the person who will receive any delegated approval requests from Alison.
Important
On the Approval User Setup page, the delegated approver must also be added.
In the E-Mail field, enter the email address of the approver.
Select the Approval Administrator check box.
When the Approval Administrator check box is selected, the approver can delegate and delete approval requests.
To define how and when the approver receives notifications, perform the following steps:
Select the Alison line, and then, on the action bar, choose Notification Setup.
The Notification Setup page opens.
In the Notification Type field, select Approval.
In the Notification Method field, select Email.
In the Schedule field, select Instantly.
In the Display Target field, select Web.
When Web is selected, the link within the email notification will direct the user to the Web client.
Note
The user requesting the approval will not receive notifications.
To set up new items to be blocked
Choose
, enter inventory setup, and then choose the related link.The Inventory Setup page opens.
On the Approvals FastTab, turn on Block Item on Insert.
To create an Item Approval with Unblock Workflow
Choose
, enter items, and then choose the related link.The Items page opens.
On the action bar, choose Actions > Workflow > Create Approval Workflow.
The Item Approval Workflow Setup page opens.
Choose Next.
In the Approver field, select Alison.
In the The workflow starts when field, select The user sends an approval request manually.
Choose Next.
Choose Finish.
Send an Approval Request
Paul is signed in to JustFood, and is creating an item. The new item is blocked, and he must manually request approval so that an approver can approve the item, which will unblock the item record.
To send an approval request
Choose
, enter items, and then choose the related link.The Items page opens.
On the action bar, choose New.
The Item Card page opens and on the Item FastTab, Blocked is turned on. The Blocked field cannot be turned off.
Populate the Item Card page with any required information.
On the action bar, choose Request Approval > Send Approval Request. An approval request is sent to Alison who was set up as the approver for the Item Approval with Unblock Workflow.
Approve an Item Approval Request
Alison is signed in to JustFood, and has received an email notification from Paul that requests that a new item be approved.
To approve an item approval request
Choose
, enter requests to approve, and then choose the related link.The Requests to Approve page opens.
Select the item record that is to be approved.
On the action bar, choose Approve.
For the item that was just approved, on the Item Card, Blocked is now turned off.