By following the steps below, you can ensure that escalation actions are triggered appropriately, enhancing the efficiency and responsiveness of the approval process. The process includes
Creating escalation policies,
Adding them to the approval steps
While you have the option to create new policies, EmpowerID offers a Default Escalation Policy for your convenience. This default policy includes predefined actions and escalation cutoff days. The default policy for escalation is discussed here in Business Request Escalations
To use these policies, you need to create and add them to the approval steps. However, you must make additional configurations if you plan to use the Notify escalation action type to send email re-notifications. More information about the additional configurations can be found in the section below, Additional Configuration for Notify Escalation.
Create and set up Notification Policies for Renotification for each participant type configured in escalation steps. These policies are used to configure important settings such as the email to be sent (Email Template), who will receive the email (Participant Type), and Business Request level for the policy that will be applied for the escalation.
Ensure that Notification Preferences are configured and stored in the database. It's important to note that these preferences are currently created from the database and not through a user interface (UI).
Step 1: Creating Policies
Creating an escalation policy is the first step in managing business requests that haven't been acted upon within a specified timeframe. This policy outlines the actions and timeframes for escalations. Once created, these policies can be applied to multiple approval steps with similar escalation situations. Follow the instructions below to create an escalation policy.
Please note that policies need to be published for them to work.
Navigate to Low Code / No Code Workflows and click on the Approval Policies.
Click on the Escalation Policies Tab.
Click on the Create New ➕ icon.
Provide a Name and Display Name for the escalation policy and click on Save.
Search for the recently saved policy and click the link to open the view one page.
In the View One Page, Find the accordion for Escalation Actions and click on the Add icon.
Provide the necessary values and click on Save.
Escalation after X Days: Number of days after which the escalation action should execute.
Escalation Actions: Actions to be performed as part of the escalation. Escalation actions can include notifications, adding assignees, auto-closing items or steps, etc. Each type of action has specific configurations:
Notify: Select the participant type (e.g., potential approver, potential approver's manager) who will receive the notification.
Add Assignee: Define the type of assignee (person, group, management role) to be added after specified days.
Auto-Close Item: Define the decision action (approve, revoke, certify, convert to JT) to auto-close the item after specified days.
Auto-Close Step: Close a specific step in the approval flow, allowing the process to move to the next step.
Name: Name of the escalation step.
Display Name: Provide a user-friendly label or "Display Name."
To add more steps, repeat the same steps.
Click on the Publish button on the display screen. Unpublished policies will not be available for mapping to approval steps.
Step 2: Adding Escalation Policies to Approval Steps
Approval steps are part for configuring approval and routing in the approval engine. This section focuses solely on linking escalation policies to approval steps. Note that the approval step must also be added to policies and published. Please refer to the full documentation for comprehensive instructions on configuring approval steps and policies.
After creating an escalation policy, the next step is to map this policy to specific approval steps within your workflow. This ensures that each approval process step triggers the defined escalation actions appropriately. Follow the instructions below to add escalation policies to approval steps,
Please note that approval steps must be published for the escalation policy to work once they are added to steps.
Navigate to Low Code / No Code Workflows and click on the No Code Flows.
Select the Approval Steps tab and click on the Add icon to create a new approval step.
Provide the necessary details and click on Save to save the approval step. Please ensure that you select the desired escalation policy from the Escalation Policy dropdown, which we created earlier.
After saving the approval step, we will need to publish it. Search the newly created record in the approval step tab and click on the link in the name column.
In the View One Page, click on Publish to complete adding the escalation policy to the approval step.
You have successfully created an approval step and published the escalation policy by following these steps.
Step 3: Verifying Escalations
When choosing a type of escalation action, the escalation process will vary based on the selected action, the timeframe, and the necessary steps. For instance, if you opt to add an assignee, the specific assignee should be added to the business request item after the configured escalation days. If you select the Notify action type, an email will be sent to the configured participant or participant type; please refer to the image below for reference.
Additional Configuration for Notify Escalation
If you are configuring the Notify escalation action type while creating the action, you will have to make sure that the following configurations are done properly.
Ensure Notification Policies are Configured for Renotification
Notification policies for business request escalations are typically included with the product and should already be configured for renotification.
Notification Policies in EmpowerID are essential configurations that define how notifications are sent within the system. These policies must also be configured for Renotification or the Notify Escalation items. Please make sure the following configurations are done correctly for the notification policy,
Supported Request Levels: Ensure that notification policy is created only for the “Business Request Approval Step” and “Business Request Item Step” request levels.
Global Business Request Event Type: Configure the Business Request Event (Global) type to "Renotification." for the Renotification Policies.
Email Template: Select the email template for the notification. Currently, the default email template for all notification policies is MyTasks_BusinessRequestItem_ApprovalStep_Approval_Renotification, which includes a general notification message. For detailed instructions on creating email templates, please refer to the Localizing Emails documentation.
Add notification policies for each Participant Type (e.g., potential approver, target person manager) to be configured in the escalation steps.
For detailed instructions on creating and managing notification policies, please refer to the Notifications and Emails documentation. This section provides step-by-step guidance, including a description of the abovementioned configurations.
Ensure Notification Preferences are Configured
Notification Preferences in EmpowerID allow users to customize how they receive notifications about various system events and actions. The notification preferences should also be configured for Renotification.
Notification preferences for business request escalations are shipped with the product and should already be configured for renotification. Note that these preferences are currently created from the database, not through a UI.
Please make sure the following configurations are done correctly for the notification policy,
Global Business Request Event Type: For the Renotification Preferences, configure the Business Request Event (Global) type to "Renotification."
Create notification preferences for each participant type to be configured in the escalation steps to ensure users receive email notifications.