How requests and approvals work
Requests give anything that needs sign-off, such as approval to hire a new role or a pay rise, one place to be asked for, approved and followed through, instead of a form passed around by email.
Before you get started
Anyone can make a request, as long as your account owner has set up a request template that allows it. Approvers are the people the template names. Account owners set up the templates.
What you can use requests for
These are the requests organisations most often set up, grouped by who starts them.
Started by a manager
Approval to hire a new or replacement role. The manager asks, finance, a GM or the CEO approves, and the request goes to whoever recruits. Set the template up as a request about No one.
A change to someone's employment, such as their hours, employment type, role, department or a promotion. Set it up as a request about Their reports.
A new starter, so HR knows who is coming and when. Once it's approved, the request can add them to your onboarding workflow.
A probation outcome, confirmed by the manager so HR knows what to do next.
Started by an employee
A change to my hours, up or down, or a move to part-time or casual. Set it up as a request about Themself.
A resignation, which can add them to your offboarding workflow once it's approved.
Working from home or another flexible arrangement.
A reimbursement or a uniform.
A request records the approval. It doesn't change the employee's record or produce a letter, so whoever completes the request makes those changes once it's approved. If an approval needs to go above the manager, add those people to the step as named approvers.
The parts of a request
Request template. Built by an account owner in Settings. It sets who can make the request, who it can be about, the questions on the form, the approval steps and what happens once it's approved.
Request. One request, made from a template. The answers are locked once it's sent.
Requested for. The person the request is about, such as the employee getting a pay rise. Some requests are about no one, such as approval to hire a role that hasn't been filled yet.
Requester. The person who made the request.
Owner. The person who completes the request once it's approved, when the template hands it to someone.
How approval works
A request moves through its approval steps in order. Each step starts only when the one before it is approved.
Each step is one of two kinds:
Any of the following approvers. The first approval approves the step. The step is only rejected if every approver rejects it.
All of the following approvers. Every approver must approve. The first rejection rejects the step.
An approver can be a named person, the Manager or Any admin:
Manager means the manager of the person the request is for, worked out when that step starts rather than when the request was made. If the request is about no one, it means the requester's manager.
Any admin can be approved by any account owner.
If any step is rejected, the whole request is rejected and stops there. A rejected request can't be edited and sent again, so the requester makes a new one.
Nobody can approve a request about themselves. If an approver turns out to be the person the request is for, that approver is skipped and an account owner can step in.
What happens once it's approved
When the last step is approved, the request shows as Approved while Worknice carries out what the template says should happen next. That is one of three things:
Mark as completed. The request is done.
Assign to an owner. The request moves to In progress and goes to the owner to complete.
Add to a workflow. The person the request is for is added to a workflow you choose, such as onboarding, and the request is completed.
Worknice does this itself, so the last approver doesn't need permission to start a workflow or assign work.
Request statuses
Status | What it means |
|---|---|
Draft | Saved but not sent. Only the requester and account owners can see it |
Requested | Sent and waiting on its approval steps |
Approved | Every step is approved. Usually only for a moment, while the next action runs |
In progress | Approved and with its owner to complete |
Completed | Done |
Rejected | An approver rejected it |
Cancelled | The requester or an account owner cancelled it |
Action failed | Approved, but what should have happened next couldn't run. An account owner can try again |
Who can see a request
A request is visible to the people involved in it:
The requester.
Each approver, from the moment their step starts. They keep access after they've decided.
The owner, while they're the owner.
Account owners, who can see every request.
The person a request is for can't see it just because it's about them. A pay rise request for someone stays between the requester, the approvers, the owner and account owners, unless that person made the request themselves.
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You're All Done!
You now know how a request moves from asked to approved to done, and who can see it along the way.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our support team at help@worknice.com or through the help section in Worknice.