Identifying approval tasks

Many workflows include task nodes that are used to require an individual to approve or disapprove the requested work.

When you create a task node for an approval task, begin the title of the task node with the @ symbol. This convention enables the node to be recognized as an approval task. If the workflow is applied to a service request, identifying the approval tasks enables the requester to view the current pending approval for the service request, as well as the approvals that have been completed.

Some workflows include automatic approvals which are not recorded in the database, and therefore do not appear in the list of approvals for the service request. If you are designing a workflow and it contains automatic approvals, and you want the automatic approvals to appear in the list of approvals for the service request, you must create an action group that includes the automatic approval task as well as insert a new action type named 'AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT' after the automatic approval. Otherwise, the approval is not recorded, but the workflow proceeds. After you add this action type, the approval task will appear as being performed by the Maximo administrative user in the Self Service Center.

For an example of an action group that includes the 'AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT' action type, view the PMSC_SR3A workflow.

While the product currently displays approvals only in the Self Service Center. You can use the 'AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT' action type in any type of workflow that includes automatic approvals if you want to record them in the database so the approval can be viewed in reports or by modifying the user interface.