Administrators can create workflows to define which changes to employee information need manual approval and which can be automatically approved. When creating an approval workflow, add conditions to specify which changes to employee information need manual approval based on the section of the employee profile being updated. Then, add rules to specify who the workflow applies to.

The system checks new changes to employee data against all active workflows. If a submission meets a workflow's conditions, it sends an approval task to the assigned approvers. Approvers can find and review these requests in their Inbox, where they can action multiple tasks at once.

If a submission doesn't match any workflow conditions, it's automatically approved.

Permissions

Before you start, make sure the relevant users have the correct permissions:

• You need Administrator permissions to set up, edit, or monitor data change approval workflows.
• To receive and action data change requests, approvers must have View permissions for the relevant employee data.
• Only users with Propose permissions for a time off type trigger an approval process. Users with Edit permissions can adjust employee data without approval.

Before you start

Before you start, keep the following in mind:

• When you activate an approval workflow, it immediately applies to any new submissions that match the criteria. New approvers get notified.
• Workflows only trigger when someone with Propose permissions submits changes to employee data. Employees with Edit permissions don't trigger approval workflows. 
• If an employee with Propose permissions does not match any of a workflows criteria, their changes are approved automatically.
• If an employee's submission matches multiple employee data approval workflows, the system applies the workflow with the highest priority. For this reason, assign the most general workflow the lowest priority and the highest priority to the most specific workflow. See how to change the priority of workflows.
• If you assign an employee role as the approver, all members of that role get the approval task. Once one of them approves it, the task disappears for all others.
• Approvers must have View permissions to the employee profile sections they need to review. 
• Approval rules in the automations area do not automatically send approvers reminders or emails about the approval task. You must add an email step to the workflow. 
• If an approver’s employee status is Inactive or On leave, requests for them do not go to their delegate. Instead, they go directly to the last editor of the approval. If the approval process automatically migrated from our legacy system, this may be the longest serving employee with Administrator permissions. 

Set up an employee data change approval workflow

To create an approval workflow for employee data change submissions, follow these steps:

1. Go to Automations > Create workflow > Approvals.
2. Select the Employee data change approval rule template.
3. Click the trigger box to add conditions to the workflow. Without conditions, all employee data change submissions will trigger an approval.
4. Optionally, add rules to define which employees are affected by this workflow.
5. Click Update to save the edits.
6. Click the approval step to assign the approver.
7. Optional: Ensure requests aren't delayed by activating the Enable delegation option. Set how many days to wait before delegating and who should get the request. If that user is also unavailable, the workflow creator receives the task. 
8. Optional: Add steps for approved or denied requests.
9. Save and activate the workflow.

Add conditions to an approval workflow

1. In the trigger box, click Add condition > Profile section
2. Select one or more relevant profile sections that require approval if edited. 

Add rules to an approval workflow

1. In the trigger box, click Add rule.
2. Select an available preset attribute or custom attribute and define the criteria employees must meet.
3. Optionally, add more rules to refine the filter.

Assign an approver to an approval workflow

1. Click the dropdown and select an approver. Choose up to four approvers in the same step.
2. Optionally, create an approval chain by adding multiple steps. Approval tasks trigger in the order they're defined. As soon as one of the approvers in a step actions the request, the workflow moves to the next step.
3. If your organization has additional Supervisor capabilities, include them if required. 

Conditions

Use conditions to select which profile sections require approval once edited. You can also assign approvers depending on the section. Any changes to these sections will trigger an approval task.

To assign section-specific approvers, create separate workflows. For example:

• Payroll information changes: approval required by members of the Finance Department role.
• HR Information and Emergency Contact changes: approval required by HR Managers.

Note:
In organizations with active payroll integrations, certain payroll-related attributes are not available to select when creating conditions.

Add additional supervisors to an approval

If your organization uses additional supervisors, you can include them in approval workflows. Follow these steps:

1. Create a data change approval workflow as outlined above.
2. In the trigger box, add a rule. 
3. Choose the relevant additional supervisor attribute, and whether the workflow applies to employees with or without this attribute. Update your changes. 
4. In the approval box, add an approval step. 
5. Click From this workflow and select the relevant additional Supervisor attribute. Update your changes.
6. Complete the setup and save or activate the workflow as necessary. 

Next steps

To check pending approvals, Administrators can go to the Automations > Activity tab. Find more details in the Monitor and manage workflows article.