Configure Business Rules

Abstract

Product: Custom Approval Workflow.

Configuring Business Rules

• Custom Approval Workflow includes fully configurable business rules that govern workflows. Criteria for the approval path are based on a number of fields in a requisition or form.

• Business rules are built by using expressions that examine data from a req or a form field and evaluate whether a condition you specify is true. If the condition is true, the rule takes a specific action. The condition can consist of a single expression or multiple expressions logically by using AND or OR to connect them. For example, you can create the following rule: If a requisition is created for a job where travel costs are greater than $10,000 and the referral bonus is greater than $5,000, then the req must be approved by all roles up to Senior Vice President.

• Adding a business rule to a workflow involves three steps:

  1. Creating an expression.

  2. Adding an expression group.

  3. Specifying possible actions the workflow can take.

Process

To create an expression:

1. Access Custom Approval Workflow by selecting Menu → Reqs → Custom Approval Workflow and select the Admin tab.

2. Select Workflow → Add/ Edit/ Delete business rules.

3. Select a Workflow type by using the pull-down menu.

4. Select the Add business rule icon.

5. Select whether the business rule is for a req or form by using the pull-down menu and select Next.

6. Enter a descriptive name for the business rule.

7. Select a form field or req field for the rule to process.

   • The field selected acts as the criteria for the rule. If a form is selected in step 5, a field can be selected from either the form or the requisition. Fields can be compared across forms. For example, a check can be completed that verifies whether the Base Salary on the Offer form is greater than the Base Salary on the req.

8. Select an Operator.

   • The available operators depend on the field selected. For example, if a text field was selected, such as Work Location, the only choice in the Operator list is Equals. If a numeric field is selected, such as No. of Positions, the choices in the Operator list include Equals, Less than, Greater than, and so on.

9. Depending on the field selected in step 7, specify a value for the expression to evaluate to or select another field to compare.

   • If a Select an option pull-down menu displays, select an option from the list and select Add Expression. For example, if the field Work Location is selected in step 7, the Select an option list contains all of your organization's geographic locations.

   • If an empty Value box displays, enter a value or select another field to compare with the field selected in step 7. A mathematical function can be added to apply to the value to reach a specified value in the To field, or select an Option. Options are answers to Form field questions. For example, to specify that Advertising Costs equal no more than $500 more than Relocation Costs, the field Advertising Costs is already selected in step 7 and the operator Equals in step 8, select Relocation Costs from the Value pull-down menu, select Add from the Function to Apply list, and type 500 in the To box. Select Is this a currency field? and select United States of America, Dollar from the currency types pull-down menu.

10. Select Add expression.

Adding an Expression Group

1. Select Add expression group.

2. Drag the expression to an expression group.

3. Create as many additional expressions as the rule requires.

4. Arrange the expressions by groups and select the appropriate logical operator, And or Or, to link them together. When viewing expression group hierarchy trees, select the plus sign to expand an expression group.

5. To delete an expression group, drag it to the Delete expression group icon.

6. Select Next.

Specifying Workflow Actions Resulting from a Rule

1. In the Possible Actions pull-down menu, select the action that occurs if the rule evaluates to TRUE.

2. If the action selected in the previous step requires additional details, an Action Details pull-down menu displays. Select an action detail from the list. For example, if the action Add all roles up to... is selected, select the appropriate role from a hierarchical list of approvers. However, if the action Insert next role in the chain is selected, no Action Details list appears because no further clarification is required.

   • Add all roles up to… adds to the approval list all roles up to the role selectes. Custom Approval Workflow moves up the organizational tree by comparing the current approver’s functional title against the Role Ranking. For example, if the role Manager is selected and there are several levels of Manager roles, the system moves through the organization until it reaches the next level of functional role (Director), then inserts approvers with the highest-ranking Manager being the highest-ranking approver in the list.

   • Insert next role in chain automatically chooses the role that is the next level up from the Hiring Manager.

   • Insert second next role in chain automatically chooses the role that is two levels up from the Hiring Manager.

   • Insert a user inserts the BrassRing user selected.

   • Insert the manager inserts the manager from the requisition's STANDARD Manager field.

   • Insert the recruiter inserts the recruiter from the requisition's STANDARD Recruiter field.

   • Disable mapped roles. Mapped roles might be disabled, and hierarchical roles used if, for example, approval for offers with salaries of less than $50,000 do not require the approval of any financial functional roles. A Role Mapping identifies several financial functional roles for the organizational unit combination Company = Acme, Business Units = ALL, and Departments = ALL. If an offer has a salary of $45,000, these functional roles are not required; approval by the organizational hierarchy is sufficient.

   • Disable hierarchical roles. Hierarchical roles might be disabled and mapped roles used if, for example, the custom requisition field requisition Type = Executive

   • Insert first match of a role inserts the first match of the role specifies, searching up your organizational tree, when routing approvals. This action excludes the req creator (prevents users from being asked to approve their own requisitions). In the case of candidate forms, it also skips the creator of the req (to which the form is attached) if the creator is the first match found.

3. Select Next.

Editing Business Rules

1. Access Custom Approval Workflow and select the Admin tab.

2. Select a Workflow type that contains the business rule to edit.

3. Select Edit for the business rule to edit.

4. Make changes to expressions, expression groups, and possible actions as needed.

Deleting Business Rules

Deleting a business rule permanently removes it from the system. This action cannot be undone.

1. Access Custom Approval Workflow and select the Admin tab.

2. Select Workflow → Add/Edit/Delete business rules.

3. Select a Workflow type from which to delete business rules.

4. In the Business rules list, find the rule to delete and select Delete.

5. A confirmation window opens. Select OK to delete the rule or Cancel to leave the rule unchanged.