Approval rule grouping and sequencing
Summarize
Summary of Approval rule grouping and sequencing
As a Procurement Administrator in ServiceNow, you can organize approval rules into approval groups and define the sequence in which these groups and their rules are triggered. This feature ensures that approval rules within a group are evaluated one after another in a defined order rather than all at once, allowing more controlled and logical approval workflows.
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Key Features
- Approval Rule Grouping: Multiple approval rules can be associated with an approval group, which is stored in the Approval Group table.
- Sequential Evaluation: Rules within an approval group are triggered sequentially—each rule is evaluated only if the previous rules in the group are satisfied.
- Simultaneous Group Evaluation: Multiple approval groups are evaluated simultaneously, but rules inside each group follow the defined sequence.
- Independent Rule Evaluation: Approval rules not assigned to any group continue to be evaluated independently and simultaneously with grouped rules.
- Prevention of Duplicate Evaluations: Once an approval group is satisfied, individual rules within that group do not require separate evaluation, avoiding redundant approvals.
- Approval Rule Composition: The order of rule evaluation within each group is managed via an approval rule composition related list.
- Impact on Resend Approval for Reassessment Property: The “resend approval for reassessment” property applies only if the same rules within an approval group are triggered due to a revision or merge. For rules evaluated independently, the property behaves as usual.
Practical Examples
- In purchasing scenarios, such as IT-related products, a manager’s approval can be required first before the IT department’s approval is triggered sequentially.
- Without grouping and sequencing, multiple approval rules trigger simultaneously, potentially causing unnecessary parallel approvals.
- With grouping and sequencing, approvals occur in logical order, improving clarity and control over approvals.
- For instance, in a purchase requisition of $8,000, approval rule A can trigger first, followed by rule B only after A is complete.
- In more complex cases involving multiple rules and product categories, groups allow triggering some rules first and deferring others until prerequisites are fulfilled.
Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Streamlined Approval Process: Enables structured and sequential approval flows that reflect business logic and hierarchy.
- Reduced Approval Conflicts: Avoids simultaneous and potentially conflicting approvals by sequencing rule evaluations.
- Improved Efficiency: Prevents redundant approvals by recognizing when grouped rules have already satisfied approval criteria.
- Clear Control Over Reassessment: Provides precise behavior of approvals on requisition revisions, ensuring only relevant approvals are resent.
As a Procurement Administrator, you can associate approval rules with approval groups and define the sequence to determine when these rules should be triggered. With this association, a set of approval rules within a rule group is triggered in sequence, instead of all of them being evaluated simultaneously.
For example, when purchasing an IT-related product, a manager can first approve the purchase before sending it to the IT department for approval.
Rules within an approval group are evaluated only if all the rules within it are satisfied. If there are multiple approval groups, all groups are evaluated simultaneously. For approval rules that do not have an associated approval group, evaluation is done as-is at the same time with rules that are associated to approval groups. By default, all rules in an approval group are also evaluated independently. If a rule group is satisfied, then the individual rules do not need to be evaluated. This prevents a Procurement Administrator from creating duplicate rules that need to be evaluated independently and also within the context of an approval group.
Consider the following scenarios:
Scenario 1
- Purchase requisition amount is $8,000
- Business owner’s job code is IC3, cost center is Engineering
- Business owner’s managerial job code hierarchy is IC3 => M3 => M4 => CFO
- Without rule group and group sequencing, approval rules A and B are triggered simultaneously.
- With rule group and group sequencing, approval rule A is triggered first, followed by approval rule B when A is complete.
Scenario 2
- Purchase requisition amount is $8,000, supplier product belongs to the XYZ product category
- Business owner’s job code is IC3, cost center is Engineering
- Business owner’s managerial job code hierarchy is IC3 => M3 => M4 => CFO
- Without rule group and group sequencing, approval rules A, B, and C are triggered simultaneously.
- With rule group and group sequencing, approval rules A and C are triggered first, followed by approval rule B when A is complete.
Scenario 3
- One purchase made for $120k
- Another purchase made for $95k
- Without rule group and group sequencing, approval rules A, B, C, and D are triggered simultaneously.
- With rule group and group sequencing, approval rules A and D are triggered first, followed by approval rules B and C when A is complete.
Approval group details are stored in the Approval Group table. Within each approval group, there is an approval rule composition related list to define the order of approval rule evaluation within that specific group.
Impact of rule groups and sequencing on the resend approval for reassessment property
If approval rules that belong to a rule group are triggered, the resend approval for reassessment property is only applicable if the same rules within that rule group are satisfied as a result of a merge or revision.
In the scenario where there are rules that belong to a group, and are also evaluated independently, the resend approval for reassessment property is only applicable if the same rules within the group are triggered. For rules that do not belong to a group, the property behaves as-is.
- If the resend approval for reassessment property is set to No, and as a result of a revision, approval rule A is satisfied, rule B is not satisfied, and rule C is satisfied, then approvals are resent to the approver for rule A.
- If the property is set to No, and rules A, B, and C are satisfied as a result of a revision, then the approvals are not resent.
- If the property is set to Yes, and rules A, B, and C are satisfied as a result of a revision, then all approvals are resent.
- If the property is set to Yes, and rules A, C, and a new rule D are satisfied as a result of a revision, then approvals A and C are resent, and a new approval D is sent.