You are here: Chapter 9: Advanced Features > Change Manager > Create Approval Processes

Create Approval Processes

To create an approval process:

  1. Select Administration | Workspace, then select Change Manager from the Automated Workflow section of the main frame.  The FootPrints Change Manager page is displayed.
  2. Click Add Approval Process.  The Configure Approval Process page is displayed.
  3. In The Issue Criteria tab, enter the criteria for initiating the approval process.  When an Issue is created, the data in the Issue is compared to the criteria specified here and on other tabs.  If the criteria match the data in the Issue, the Issue is put into the approval process.
  4. Title—Enter a word or phrase for which to search.
  5. Description—If a word or phrase is entered (or multiple words using Boolean Operators), only Issues containing that word/phrase in the Description are returned.
  6. Keyword—If a word or phrase is entered, any Issues containing that word/phrase in any field are returned, including Title, Description, Workspace fields, and Address Book fields, as long as the full text search conforms to full text keyword search behavior.
  7. Assigned to—Highlight one or more users to returns Issues assigned to the user(s) selected, holding down the CTRL key to select multiple users.  If you do not want to limit the search to any particular assignees, do not highlight any users. Advanced Controls are also available for this field.

Note on Permissions

Access to Issues is based on a user's RoleClosed.  Assignment options may be restricted based on your role. Please consult your FootPrints administrator for more information.

  1. Submitted by—If a user is selected, the search returns only Issues created by that user.
  2. Priority—Returns only Issues of the specified priority or priorities.  Highlight the priorities to be included; hold down the CTRL key to highlight multiple priorities.  To return all priorities, no priorities need to be selected (this has the same result as selecting all priorities).
  3. Status—Returns only Issues of the specified status(es).  By default, Open and any custom statuses are highlighted in the status dialog.  To select multiple statuses, hold down the CTRL key.
  4. Other Issue Information—The fields in this tab differ depending on the fields in the current Workspace.  Search on as many fields as desired. Search methods vary with the field data types:
  5. Character field—Displays a text box. Enter the word or phrase to search on (or multiple words using Boolean Operators).
  6. Number field—Displays a text box. Enter the number or part of a number for which to search.
  7. Drop-down and Multi-select field—Displays a multi-select dialog box. Highlight one or more values to search on.  To search for Issues that contain no data for the field, select No data.  If you do not want to restrict the search based on choices in a field, do not highlight any values.
  8. Date fields—Search on a date or date range. Date Field Search Options
  9. In The Contact Criteria tab, enter contact criteria to be matched against data in the Issue. The fields in this tab differ depending on the fields in current Address Book.  Search methods are the same as those for Issue Information fields (see above).
  10. In the Advanced Criteria tab, enter other criteria. These criteria are not matched to data in fields, but instead provide a filter for the Issues that are returned.
  11. Issue Types to Include—Specify whether Advanced Issue types, including Subtasks and Global Issues, are returned. Options include:
  12. All Issue Types—All Issue types are returned.
  13. Regular Issues—Regular (non-Global or Master/Subtask) Issues are returned.     
  14. Include Master IssuesMaster IssuesClosed that contain subtasks are returned.
  15. Include Subtasks—Subtasks of Master Issues are returned.            
  16. Include Global IssuesGlobal IssuesClosed are returned.
  17. Include GlobalLinks—All users' Issues linked to a Global Issue are returned.
  18. Group Master Issues with Subtasks/Global Issues with GlobalLinks—Available for Reports only. These options override the sort order selected in the report.
  19. Date—If dates are specified, the search returns only Issues from the time period specified. Date Field Search Options
  20. Age—Returns Issues created in the time specified.  Number of days and hours can be specified.  Modifiers are also provided, including “Greater Than”, “Less Than”, “Equal to”, “Greater than or Equal to”, “Less than or Equal to”, and “Not Equal to”.  As an example, to return Issues greater than 1 day old, choose “Greater than” and fill in “1” for “Days”.

Note

Age is always 24/7 and does not use the Workspace Work Schedule.

Note

Date/time fields can only be searched by date, not time.

  1. In the Name/Save tab, enter a name for the process (e.g., Capital Expenditure) and any comments or description you want to include for the process. Enter your password and click the SAVE button to save this process.

The next section of this document describes how you create the individual phases in the process you created.