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To create an approval workflow, complete the following:

1. If you have not already done so, set up admin groups that you can configure as submitter groups and approver groups in an approval workflow, as described in About Admin Groups.

2. Create an approval workflow and configure email notifications and other options, as described in Creating Approval Workflows below.

You can do the following after you have created approval workflows:

• View a list of approval workflows, as described in Viewing Approval Workflows below.

• Modify approval workflows, as described in Modifying Approval Workflows below.

• Delete approval workflows, as described in Deleting Approval Workflows below.

• View a list of approval tasks, as described in Viewing Approval Tasks below.

• View approval notifications, as described in Viewing Workflow Notifications below.

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SupTaskfDAGroup SupTaskfDAGroup

Supported Tasks for Different Admin Groups

Depending on your admin permissions, you may or may not be able to perform certain tasks that are subject to approvals. Supported Tasks for Different Admin Groups lists specific tasks and indicates which admin group can perform the tasks.
Supported Tasks for Admin Groups

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CreatApprovalWorkflows CreatApprovalWorkflows

Creating Approval Workflows

Before you create an approval workflow, ensure that you have admin groups that you can define as submitters and approvers. Note that a submitter group can be added to only one approval workflow, and approver groups can be added to multiple workflows. An approver can choose to approve a task and either keep or change the date and time when the task is executed. For information about scheduling and rescheduling tasks, see Scheduling Tasks. An approver can also reject a submitted task.
All submitted tasks are executed based on submitter permissions. When an admin submits a task, the appliance logs the task in the audit log and associates it with a task ID. You can view your tasks in Task Manager, as described in Viewing Tasks. Depending on your configuration, you can control when and to whom email notifications are sent. For example, you can configure the appliance to send notifications to only the approver each time when a task requires approval, or send notifications to both the submitter and approver group each time when a task is disapproved.

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• Approver Notification Address(es): Select one of the following to specify to which approver email addresses the appliance sends workflow notifications. The default is Group Email Address(es).

  • Group Email Address(es): Select this if you want the appliance to send notifications to the list of email addresses configured for the admin group. For information about how to configure this list, see About Admin Groups.

  • User Email Address(es): Select this if you want the appliance to send notifications to individual email addresses of the admin group.

• Notifications sent on: Select the operations that can trigger email notifications. When you select an operation, the appliance sends a notification each time that operation occurs. By default, all operations are selected.

  • Approval Required: The appliance sends an email notification each time an approval is required.

  • Task Approved: The appliance sends an email notification each time a task is approved.

  • Task Rejected: The appliance sends an email notification each time a task is rejected.

  • Task Succeeded: The appliance sends an email notification each time a task is completed successfully.

  • Task Failed: The appliance sends an email notification each time the execution of a task fails.

  • Task Rescheduled: The appliance sends an email notification each time a task is being rescheduled.

• Notifications sent to: For each operation, select whether the Approver, Submitter, or Both are notified when the operation occurs. The default value is Both for all operations. For information about email notifications, see Viewing Approval Tasks below.

4. Optionally, click Next to add extensible attributes to the approval workflow. For information, see About Extensible Attributes.
5. Save the configuration.

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ViewApprovalWorkflows ViewApprovalWorkflows

Viewing Approval Workflows

Grid Manager lists all approval workflows in the Approval Workflows tab. Only superusers can view approval workflows defined for the Grid. Limited-access users cannot view approval workflows.
To view approval workflows:

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• Modify some of the data in the table. Double click a row, and either modify the data in the field or select an item from a drop-down list. Click Save to save the changes. Note that some fields are read-only.

• Sort the data in ascending or descending order by column.

• Select an approval workflow and click the Edit icon to modify data, or click the Delete icon to delete it.

• Use filters and the GoTo function to narrow down the list. With the autocomplete feature, you can just enter the first few characters of an object name in the Go to field and select the object from the possible matches.

• Create a quick filter to save frequently used filter criteria. For information about using quick filters, seeFinding and Restoring Data.

• Print and export the data in this tab.

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ModApprovalWorkflows ModApprovalWorkflows

Modifying Approval Workflows

You can modify information in an approval workflow, except for the submitter group. To modify approval workflow configuration:

1. From the Administration tab, select the Workflow tab -> Approval Workflows tab.

2. Select an approval workflow and click the Edit icon.

3. Grid Manager provides the following tabs from which you can modify information:

   • General tab: You can modify the approver group and decide whether the ticket number, submitter comment, and approver comment are required, but you cannot change the submitter group. 

   • Approval Notifications tab: You can modify when and to whom email notifications are sent. 

   • Extensible Attributes tab: You can add or modify values of extensible attributes. For information, see About Extensible Attributes.

4. Save the configuration.

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DelApprovalWorkflows DelApprovalWorkflows

Deleting Approval Workflows

You can delete an approval workflow any time after you have created it. Note that when you delete a workflow that has associated tasks that are pending approvals, the tasks will be rejected after you delete the workflow.
To delete an approval workflow:

1. From the Administration tab, select the Workflow tab -> Approval Workflows tab.

2. Select an approval workflow and click the Delete icon.

3. Click Yes in the Delete Confirmation dialog.

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ViewApprovalTasks ViewApprovalTasks

Viewing Approval Tasks

If you belong to an approver admin group, you can view, approve, or reject tasks that are pending your approval in the Task Manager tab. For information, see Viewing Tasks. Submitter's can view all pending and completed tasks they have submitted.

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ViewWorkflowNotifications ViewWorkflowNotifications

Viewing Workflow Notifications

When a submitter and approver receives an email notification about their tasks, the appliance lists the approval status and workflow related information such as task ID, submitter name, execution time, object type and action in the email notification.
Following is a sample email notification:

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UnsupportedOperationsfSubmitter UnsupportedOperationsfSubmitter

Unsupported Operations for Submitters

When admins are part of a submitter group in an approval workflow, there are certain operations they cannot perform even though they may have the permissions to do so. Following is the list of operations that submitters cannot perform:

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