What's new in Version 6.3.1
Request Approval Participant Module
Performio is releasing a new participant module in the commision tracker named Request Approval. This module will be used to list and manage approval requests on custom table modules.
The Request Approval module configuration can be done as explained below
Navigate to Participant Modules section and scroll down to bottom of the page. Request Approval module button is displayed on the first row.
Clicking on request approval will display the standard participant module configuration screen.
Section 1
EID: EID name for identifying participant module
Title: Name to be displayed on participant site
Parent: If the module has a parent participant module, select an existing participant module name from the drop-down displayed in this field.
Table: Select the custom table for which the Request approval module is configured
Note: Custom table selected here should have a custom table module with approvals configured to display the requests.
Section - 2
Approval Request Related fields - When an approval request is raised in a custom table module, the system generates certain parameters related to that request.
This section displays custom table columns and approval request related fields. In the above screenshot, the red highlighted fields are approval request related fields.
Display and search options can be set here by checking the boxes. Approval request related fields don't have search option except for request id.
Filter section gives the option to admin to filter the details to be displayed to participants.
Custom table columns can be filtered using the below values.
Period,Participant EID,Participant Username,Team,Territory
Eg: In the above example, custom table module has a column named Participant EID. If this column is set to filter Participant EID, request approval module will display approval requests that are created on the records logged in the participant.
Approval request related fields has their own filters as listed below
Action: Add, Update, Delete
Request ID: Filters should not be applied
Status: Pending, Approved, Rejected
Requesters: Participant EID
Approvers: Participant EID
Next Approvers: Participant EID
Section - 3
Job titles - To restrict the view of participant module to job titles
Period Statuses - To restrict the view of participant module based on period statuses
Period range - To restrict the view of participant module for period range
Published - To publish the participant module to users
Example Scenario
Request Approval module configured with Participant EID filter on 'participant eid' column and 'Next Approvers' field
Custom Table module with 3 sales transactions. Jack is having 2 sales records with one record under approval for a request raised by him(as indicated by green thumb -TR3).
When Jack views the Request Approval module, he should be able to see the only TR3 record which has an approval. Below is the screenshot of request approval module.
The highlighted request is the Pending request. Other record displayed are the older approvals which were Approved/Rejected. In this case, it is an approved request (status column with value Approved). In this example, Next Approvers column is displaying Alexander Mahone. When Alexander logs in his view.
Alexander can click on the check box and approve the request using Approve Selected button. This will take him to the alert page followed by Approval Summary page with header Bulk Approval output.
Clicking on back button at the bottom of the summary page would take the participant back to the Request Approval module. The module will not display any more requests as there are no records which satisfy the filter criteria (Participant EID on participant eid column or Next Approvers column).
When approval is successful, the approval moves to the next participant according to levels configured for approval. After the final approver does the action, the status of Request Approval module is updated with the latest status and other approval request related fields.
The above approval request used in the example would look like below when the requester logs in after the final approvers' action.
Approval Requests With Name Of Approvers
When an approval request is raised on a custom table module record, the name of a participant who has to approve the request will be displayed on the approval request form.
Eg: When a record is updated by a participant on a custom table module where approvals are enabled, the participant will be presented with the below screen when the update button is clicked.
The screenshot tells that Approvers are Alexander Mahone, Abel George, and Aria Montgomery.
This information will be present in the request right from the creation time. After the approval request is created, the names will be displayed on the approval request when participant access it from Item section.
Other areas which will display this information:
- request viewed via request approval screen
- request viewed via request approval screen when custom table module is not visible
Approval Digest Messages
When there are plenty of approvals pending on a participant, he might lose track of what needs to be done. This new feature from Performio enables the administrator to configure a reminder message to be sent to the participants when there are pending approvals on a module.
This message will be sent to those participants who are assigned as approvers in custom table module configuration.
The message will look like below and it will be displayed in participant mailbox.
The feature takes the below business rule for generating the message content
- If there is a request approval module associated with custom table where approvals are enabled, message will display the name of Request approval module
- If there are no request approval modules, custom table module name is printed on the message
- If the custom table module associated with the approval request is not visible to participant, the message will be displayed as "<count of approval requests> other pending requests "
To make sure this message is relevant to the participant, an administrator can check the module configurations. In the above example, Alexander Mahone receives the message as he has the job title 'Exec' and this job title is selected as an approver in Custom Table Module configuration.
Approval Configuration
Mailbox Enhancements
Administrators can now configure types of contents to be displayed in the participants' mailbox.
Current enhancement optimizes content the of mailbox. Mailbox would display Queries and messages as is. When it comes to approval requests, if digest is configured, individual approval requests wont be displayed in mailbox of approvers. Requesters will have all approval requests in mailbox. There will only be the digest message in your mailbox indicating how many pending approvals are present for the logged in participant.
An approval request will be displayed on the mailbox when there is a user generated post on the approval request. A user generated post is a communication done on the approval request other than the system generated approval posts
Eg: Approval request
- Requester - Jack
- Approver - Alexander
- Approval ID 1136 requested by Jack is displayed in his mailbox and not in Alexander's mailbox.
- Alexander's mailbox has a digest message indicating the module which has pending request
Jack's Mailbox
Alexander's Mailbox
When Jack creates a post asking a question about the approval request, this would be displayed in Alexanders mailbox as he may have to answer that.
Posted by Jack
Alexander's Mailbox
Administrator Access Control
Performio is introducing a new feature to restrict the access levels of administrator users inside the product.
Currently, Administrators can access all sections of the application to perform various actions. This new feature would enable an administrator user to restrict activities of other administrators.
Major application areas covered in this feature are:
- Participant Console
- Manager Plans
- Run Calculations
- User Accounts
Administrators with the feature enabled could control the access using the section in User accounts page.
Enabled: Provides access to all sections as is
Disabled: Will remove access to the sections
Read Only: removes the edit capability in the sections
Eg: Administrator and participants - People option set as Read only cannot add a new job title via participant console screen, as the Add button wont be displayed.
