Set Up the Approval Process

Before you begin:

Make sure that the prerequisites listed in  the Workflow-Based Approval Process Overview topic have been met.

To set up the Approval Process:

You set up the approval process when you create one of the types of documents listed in the Workflow-Based Approval Process Overview topic. To set up the process, open the appropriate document, go to the Review Status  tab, and do the following:

1. Mark the Use Approval Process checkbox to use the workflow-based approval process.

1. • This will display the fields for the new approval process, and will hide the fields that would be available for versions of Contract Management prior to version 12.0.

   • Once you enter all the information for the approval process and click the Save button, the Use Approval Process checkbox will no longer be visible.

   • After you save the document using the workflow-based approval process, you will not be able to go back and use the approval fields that were available in Contract Management 11.1 and older.

Note:  If you have reports that were built against approval data using the approval fields available in Contract Management versions 11.1 and older, use the approval fields that were available in Contract Management 11.1 and older to set up the approval structure. If you use this new approval process, the reports that you built against the approval data may not work.

2. Click next to the Document Owner field to open the Select Contact dialog box  and choose the contact responsible for this document. This contact is one that is already linked to a user account when adding a contact or editing an existing contact. This is a required field when using the new approval process.   

3. Click next to the Ball in Court field to open the Select Contact dialog box to choose a BIC.

4. The Status field lists the status code for the document. This field will change, depending on what action a reviewer designates for a document.

5. Use the drop-down list next to the Priority field to select the priority level for the document, which will appear in the BIC’s Action List. Priority can be High, Normal, or Low.

6. Use the Workflow drop-down list next to the Approval field to choose the method of approval. This can be one of the following:

1. • Approve in Sequence – Use this when the document must be approved in the order in which the reviewers are listed under the Review section.  

   • All must Approve – Use this when every contact listed under the Review section must approve the document before approval is final.

   • Any can Approve – Use this when any contact listed under the Review section can approve the document and make the approval final.

8. Click to create the list of reviewers. This displays the Select Contact dialog box that you use to choose the reviewers.

1. • You must already have added the contacts and linked them to a user account. You add contacts when you add companies.

   • You can also select reviewers from an approver list that you previously created.

9. Click the calendar icon to the right of the Required Start field to display a calendar that you can use to select the date on which the approval process must start.

1. • Use the arrows on either side of the name of the month to select a different month.

   • Use the arrows on either side of the year to select a different year.

10. Click the calendar icon to the right of the Required Finish field to display a calendar that you can use to select the date on which the approval process must end.

1. • Use the arrows on either side of the name of the month to select a different month.

   • Use the arrows on either side of the year to select a different year.

11. After setting up all the information and creating the list of reviewers, click the to start the approval process. Only one of the following can initiate  a document review:

1. • The project owner

   • The document owner

   • A Contract Management administrator

Caution:  If you click before all fields are complete, and all reviewers listed, you will not be able to make any changes in this cycle. Only after a new approval cycle is started can you make any additions or changes. The field to the right of the Initiate field lists the cycles. You can use the pull down list to pick a different cycle to review. This field will be blank until after the first cycle is initiated.

Once the document is set up to use the approval process, and the approval cycle is initiated, the Status column will list one of the following for each reviewer:

• Who is the BIC (ball in court).

• When a reviewer approved the document, the Status field  will show a green checkmark ( ).

• When a reviewer rejected the document, the status field will show a red box ( ).

Once the document review cycle is initiated, Contract Management sends e-mail notification to all relevant contacts designated as reviewers whose e-mail addresses were entered on the Contact dialog box when the were added to a company.  

What do you want to do?

• Approve a Document

• Create a Reviewer List

• Delete a Reviewer List

• Delete an Approved Document

• Delete a Rejected Document

• Reject a Document

• Revoke a Document Approval

• Stop the Approval Process

• View a Previous Document Review Cycle

• See the Approval Process Workflow Diagrams

• Read about the Workflow-Based Approval Process