The Approvals feature grants you the option to quickly and easily link your approval processes to a ticket. Whilst creating these templates, you can also set triggers that are specific to each stage of the Approval, to add in some automation. This guide will show how as an Admin you can create these Approvals for future and repeat use.

To turn this feature on you will need to enable in Admin > Tickets > Settings, and scroll to the bottom of the page to the Ticket Approvals section, where you will find a simple tick box. Once this is ticked, and the feature is enabled you can start creating, following the steps below.

Approval Types

Your first step should be creating at least one Approval Type. Approval Types consist of a Name & Description, for example, an approval type could be named 'Expenditure' or 'HR', and the description can provide more detail if needed. Types are used to categorize the approval templates.

It is important you create an Approval Type before making any Approval Templates as each approval template has a mandatory Approval Type field.

To create an Approval Type:

1. In the Admin interface go to Tickets > Approvals > Approval Types

2. Click '+ Add Approval Type'

3. Name the Approval Type

4. Add a description if you wish

5. Click 'Save'

Once you have created an Approval Type you will be able to edit & delete it.

Approval Templates

The Template settings decide how the Approval will be applied to the ticket. You can create as many Approval Templates as needed for your different Approval processes.

The create an Approval Template in the Admin Interface go to Tickets > Approvals > Approval Templates and click '+ Add Approval Template'. You will then need to define the following:

• Template Name

• Approval Type

• Description - Optional, if you set a description on the Template agents will not be able to overwrite it manually when submitting an approval, and leaving this blank will allow the agent to add in their own description.

• Approvers

• To approve - The number of positive responses required to pass an Approval.

• To reject - The number of negative responses required to fail an Approval.

• Allow approvers to view the ticket - Optional, when enabled it allows approvers to view tickets that they would not be able to view. If this is not enabled the approver will only have the Approval description for context.

Setting Approvers on a Template

There are two options for this field, you can either define the Specific Approver/s for this Template OR select a list of possible Approvers that the agent can choose from while setting applying the Approval to the ticket. It is important to note that you can only use Approvals in Triggers & Macros if you have set Specific Approvers.

While making your selection of Approvers, you can select the pre-defined groups (Ticket User, Organization Manager & All Agents), or search to find specific approvers, who can be agents or CRM users. Both methods can be used in unison, and any users who have already been selected will not appear in the search field to prevent duplicate selection. For example, if you select the 'All Agents' option you will not be able to see any agents name in the search field.

::: info If Organization manager is selected, and the user's organization has multiple managers all are able to respond and approve/reject the Approval. We strongly recommend you assume there is only one organization manager when defining the To approve & To reject criteria. This is to avoid a Template that requires more motions to approve than there are users who are able to perform this action. :::

If you are letting the agent choose the approvers, there is one extra step. Which is setting the Number of approvers the agent must select before submitting the Approval. This must be carefully set, with the 'To Approve' and 'To Reject' fields below taken into account. The purpose of this field is to only allow the agent to choose so many Approvers, from the list you have provided, and ensure only the relevant people are involved. However, it is possible to set the Number of Approvers below the amount of Approvals needed to pass the process, or Rejections needed to fail, in the 'To Approve' and 'To Reject' fields below.

If the Number of Approvers is too low then the Agent will not be able to select enough Approvers to complete the approval process.

Approval Template Triggers

On the Action Triggers tab, you can determine what actions should run at each stage of the Approval process. The default action at each stage is to send an email notification to the approvers, you can disable this function if you wish. You can customize the email notifications by using the template editor.

Stages

• Request Created

• Partial Approval Response - when approved by one approver on an Approval with multiple approvers.

• Partial Rejection Response - when rejected by one approver on an Approval with multiple approvers.

• Request Approved

• Request Rejected

• Request Cancelled - when Approval cancelled by an agent.

Deleting a Template

As the admin, you can delete a Template at any time, but before doing so we advise you check to see if the Template is being by used any automations. When a Template is deleted it does not affect the Templates that are applied to tickets and still pending. These Approvals will be able to run to completion.

Approvals Agent Permissions

You can control which agents can add an Approval to tickets & cancel them, through using the permission system. In Admin > Agents > Permission Groups, you can update or remove this permission in any of the expandable 'Can modify tickets' permissions.

How do Approvers Respond

Approvers can respond using the Helpcentre, either by logging in to review their pending approvals. Or by clicking on the vote link contained in the Approval notification email to take them directly to the Approval in the Helpcentre.

If the approver is an agent then they can respond directly on the ticket. In both cases, the approver is able to approve or reject & send a message to explain their position.

In both cases, the Approvers will be able to leave a comment about why they have Approved or Rejected.