• SMTP e-mail is set up

You need to set up the users who will be requesting approvals, and those who will be approving, rejecting or delegating approvals. You also need to define when approvers receive notifications.

1. In the Search box, enter Approval User Setup, and then choose the related link.

2. Add the users who will be requesting approvals.

   1. In the Approval User Setup window, on the Home tab, in the New group, choose New.

   2. In the User ID field, select the user ID of the user who will be requesting approval.

   3. In the E-Mail field, enter the e-mail address of the user who will be requesting approvals.

   4. Repeat steps 2a. to 2c. for any other users who will be requesting approvals.

3. Add the users who will be permitted to approve, reject or delegate approval requests.

   1. In the Approval User Setup window, on the Home tab, in the New group, choose New.

   2. In the User ID field, select the user ID of the user who will be approving requests.

   3. In the E-Mail field, enter the e-mail address of the approver.

   4. Repeat steps 3a. to 3c. for any other users who will be acting as an approver.

4. Define how and when the approver receive notifications. The user requesting the approval will NOT receive notifications so you do not need to set up notifications for the requester.

   1. Select the line for the approver, and then, on the Home tab, in the Process group, choose Notification Setup.

   2. In the Notification Setup window, enter the following values:

      Field	Value
      Notification Type	Approval
      Notification Method	Email
      Display Target	Select if the link within the email notification goes to the web client or the Windows client.

      You have now specified how the user receives notifications. Proceed to specify when the user receives notifications.

   3. In the Notification Setup window, on the Home tab, in the Process group, choose Notification Schedule.

   4. In the Notification Schedule window, fill the fields as described in the following table.

      Field	Description
      Recurrence	Specify the recurrence pattern in which the user receives notifications.
      Time	Specify what time of the day the user receives notifications when the value in the Recurrence field is different from Instantly.
      Daily Frequency	Specify on which type of days the user receives notifications when the value in the Recurrence field is Daily. Select Weekday to receive notifications every workday of the week. Select Daily to receive notifications every day of the week, including weekends.
      Monday through Sunday	Specify on which days the user receives notifications when the value in the Recurrence field is Weekly.
      Date of Month	Specify if the user receives notifications on the first, last, or a specific date of the month.
      Monthly Notification Date	Specify the date of the month on which the user receives notifications when the value in the Date of Month field is Custom.

      The e-mail notification will contain a link that gives the user the option of changing when they receive notifications.

   5. Repeat steps 4a. to 4d. for the remaining approvers.

For some types of records where an approval workflow is enabled, you can block records until they are approved.

If a record is blocked and a workflow is enabled, a user must request approval before it can be unblocked. If users try to unblock a record before it has been approved, they will receive the following error message: "This record can only be unblocked when the approval process is complete." 

The following types of records can be blocked until approved:

• Customer
• Item
• Vendor

To Set up Customers to be Blocked

To Set up Items to be Blocked

To Set up Vendors to be Blocked

You can set up Approval workflows from the following windows:

• Customers List and Customer Card

• Items List and Item Card

• Job List and Job Card

• Production BOM List and Production BOM Card

• Production BOM Version List and Card

• Vendors List and Vendor Card

1. Open the window for the type of Approval workflow that you want to create.

2. On the Actions tab, choose the Create Approval Workflow action.

3. In the Approval Workflow Setup window, choose Next. The fields that need to be entered depend on the type of Approval workflow

4. In the Approver field, choose the person who will give approval.

5. If displayed, in the The workflow starts when field, select when the approval workflow will start.

6. If The user changes a specific field was selected for the The workflow starts when field, you need to define the criteria for when the process starts.

   1. Choose Next.

   2. In the first field, select the field that you want to start the workflow when its value is changed.

   3. In the second field, select if the workflow is started when the field value is Increased, Decreased or Changed.

   4. Enter the message that will be displayed to the user when the workflow starts.

   5. Choose Next.

7. Choose Finish.

   The workflow is enabled and the Create Approval Workflow action is disabled for the record types that the workflow applies to.

   In some cases, the workflow that is enabled is determined by whether or not a record is blocked.

   • If the Block Customer on Insert field on the Sales & Receivables Setup window has a value, then the Customer Approval with Unblock workflow is enabled. If the Block Customer on Insert field is blank, then the Customer Approval workflow is enabled.

   • If the Block Item on Insert check box is selected on the Inventory Setup window, then the Item Approval with Unblock workflow is enabled. If the Block Item on Insert check box is not selected and the workflow starts when approval is requested, then the Item Approval workflow is enabled. If the Block Item on Insert check box is not selected and the workflow starts when a field on the item changes, then the Item Change Approval workflow is enabled.

   • If the Block Vendor on Insert field on the Purchases & Payables Setup window has a value, then the Vendor Approval with Unblock workflow is enabled. If the Block Vendor on Insert field is blank, then the Vendor Approval workflow is enabled.