What these modules do
This section covers two modules:
Request: Employees send written requests to HR, administration or another unit (e.g. equipment, business cards, access). A request goes through the approval process defined for its type and is answered by the request type's responsible employee.
E-Document Approval: HR sends employees documents that must be read and approved (e.g. a contract annex, a privacy notice, an internal regulation). The employee reads and approves the document or, if allowed, rejects it. For documents with Timestamp turned on, approval is confirmed with an SMS code and the approved document is stored with a timestamp.
Note: The old Documents menu (Document Templates, Documentation Applications, My Document Applications) is no longer shown. To send documents to employees and collect their approval, use the E-Document Approval module.
Roles and permissions
Permissions are assigned on each module's Manage Permissions screen; see Managing permissions for details.
Role | Permission | What they can do |
Admin (Request) | Add / Update / Delete Request Type List | Adds, edits, deactivates and deletes request types on Configuration > Requests > Request types and assigns responsible employees to each type. |
Admin (Request) | Request Module Permission Management | Defines approval steps per request type on Configuration > Requests > Approval process. |
Admin (Request) | Approve Request List | Together with one of the request management permissions (e.g. Delete Request List, Add Request Type List), sees the requests of all employees in the branches they are responsible for on Comms and docs > Requests. On its own this permission shows only their own requests, the ones waiting for their approval step and the requests of the types they are responsible for. |
Manager / approver | (a step in the approval process) | Approves, or rejects with a reason, the requests waiting at their step from Comms and docs > Requests, Mine > My approvals or the inbox on the home page. |
Responsible employee | (the person chosen as Responsible Employee on the request type) | Writes a Request Response to a request that has completed its approval process and approves or rejects it. |
Employee | Add Request List, View Request List | Creates requests and sees the status and response of their own requests. |
Admin (E-Document) | Add / Delete / View E-Document Type | Creates, edits and archives (with the add permission) and deletes document types and document groups on Configuration > E-document > E-document types. |
Admin (E-Document) | Add E-Document Approval | Sends e-documents to employees and tracks and deletes the documents sent to employees in the branches they are responsible for on Comms and docs > E-document archive, where they also send reminders and send rejected documents again. |
Employee | View E-Document Approval | Sees the documents sent to them on Mine > My e-documents and approves or rejects them. |
Before you start
To choose responsible employees on request types, employees' branch, department and position must be defined (Organization).
If you will use manager approval, employees' managers must be defined.
To send timestamped e-documents, the company needs enough Digital Credit and employees' phone numbers must be registered in the system.
Initial setup
On Configuration > Requests > Request types, create your request types and assign at least one Responsible Employee to each (Creating request types).
If a request should first be approved by one or more people, define the approval steps for the request type on Configuration > Requests > Approval process (Approval process).
On Configuration > E-document > E-document types, upload the documents you will send as PDF and create document groups if needed (Creating e-document types).
Daily flows
Employee:
Creates a request and follows its status: Creating and tracking a request.
Reads and approves e-documents sent to them: Approving an e-document.
Manager / approver and responsible employee:
Approves, rejects and answers the requests assigned to them: Approving and answering requests.
Admin:
Manages request types and their responsible employees: Creating request types.
Prepares e-document types: Creating e-document types and groups.
Sends e-documents: Sending and tracking e-documents.
Follows sent e-documents, reminds employees and sends rejected documents again: E-Document Archive.
Statuses and what they mean
Request statuses (Requests screen):
Status | Meaning |
In Approval Process | The request is waiting at one of the approval steps defined for its type. Hover over the label to see which step. |
In Responsible Approval | The approval process is complete (or not defined); the request is waiting for the responsible employee's answer. |
Approved | The responsible employee approved the request. |
Rejected | The request was rejected at an approval step or by the responsible employee. |
E-document statuses (My E-Documents and E-Document Archive screens):
Status | Meaning |
Waiting for approval | The document was sent to the employee and has not been approved yet. |
Approved | The employee approved the document. For timestamped documents a timestamped copy is also created. |
Declined | The employee rejected the document (only for documents sent with rejection enabled). |
Overdue (7+ days) | Only on E-Document Archive: the document has waited for approval longer than Overdue after in the follow-up settings (default 7 days). |
Notifications
Event | Recipient | Channel |
Request created | Request owner | Email and in-app notification |
Request reached an approval step | The approver at that step (if no step is defined, the request type's responsible employees) | Email and in-app notification |
Request moved to the next approval step | Request owner | Email and in-app notification |
Approval process completed | The request type's responsible employees | Email and in-app notification |
Request approved / rejected | Request owner | Email and in-app notification |
E-document sent | The employee the document was sent to | |
E-document waiting for approval (automatic reminder, by default 5 days after sending, then every 7 days, at most 3 times) | The employee the document was sent to | Email and in-app notification (09:00 in the morning) |
HR chooses Remind for a pending e-document or sends a rejected one again | The employee the document was sent to | Email and in-app notification |
Every Monday at 09:30 when the overdue documents report is on | Users who can send e-documents, optionally managers and extra addresses (E-Document Archive) | |
Once a week to managers with requests waiting for their approval (when Approval reminder is on) | Managers (Approval reminder) |
On mobile
The Teamso mobile app opens the same Request and E-Document Approval screens; creating and answering requests and approving e-documents also work on mobile. See Mobile app.
Common mistakes and FAQ
When adding a request, I see "There is no existing claim type".
The company has no active request type. If you can add request types, use the Add button in the warning; otherwise contact your HR administrator.
I can't delete a request type.
A type that has at least one request cannot be deleted. Use Deactivate to close it to new requests.
How does an approver find the request on the Requests screen?
On Requests everyone sees their own requests, the requests waiting for their approval step and the requests of the types they are responsible for; users with Approve Request List together with a request management permission (e.g. Delete Request List) see all requests of the company. Being chosen as Responsible Employee on a request type gives no extra permission: a responsible employee sees only the requests of the types they are responsible for. Waiting requests also appear in the inbox on the home page and on Mine > My approvals.
I get a credit warning when approving a timestamped document.
The company's Digital Credit balance is insufficient. Your company administrator needs to top up credits.