The Power of Approval Workflows in FTE Tree

A position control tool provides information on your staffing levels, but it doesn't truly control anything unless changes to those positions go through a tightly controlled approval process. The dynamic and powerful approval workflows built into FTE Tree give your organization the ability to stay on top of changes to your position control, only allowing changes that your leadership approves of.

Your organization can create as many approval workflows as it needs and assign them to any part of your organization. You may create a unique one for each department in your entire organization. We don't limit how many you can create. Our software will track them all and ensure that each change to your approved position control goes through a tightly controlled workflow, automatically managing the paperless approval process for you. Every interaction and part of the approval process is automated and documented with timestamps, allowing you to keep track of exactly who signed off on what and when.

Adding optional file attachments lets you enhance the request process with custom files of your own. You can attach files that are just for information, optional, or required to be submitted with each request.

Types of Approval Workflows

Approval workflows are categorized based on the type of position request being made. A position request may include one or more positions as part of the request. All selected positions are routed as a group through the workflow.

The following types of workflows are available for your use:

• Position Change This type of request is made when a brand new position is created, or changes are made to a position's FTE amount, job code, pay differentials, or wage rate. Any change to the position's FTE or cost will require an associated 'Position Change' approval workflow to be assigned. If the department is part of the change request, it will be routed to the approval workflow associated with the new department.

• Replacement Position When a user wishes to replace a currently approved position without making any changes to that position's FTE, job code, or cost, they may request routing through the 'Replacement Position' workflow. This type of request is typically used for a replacement position requisition when someone leaves your organization or takes another position. Although it does not affect your position control, it helps create a seamless process for your team.

Approval Workflow Attachments

The approval workflow provides support for attaching files generated by your organization to the approval request. These files are mapped to the specific approval workflow being used and will appear when a user makes a new request with that workflow.

All services within FTE Tree are encrypted during transmission between our servers, and all data and files are kept encrypted at rest. A file will only be displayed for download when a user has the permission to make an approval request to which the file is attached. The download URLs are only valid for 15 minutes. Please see our documentation on file attachments for additional information, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Each approval workflow file attachment requires the following information:

• Attachment Title The title will be displayed instead of the actual file attachment. This provides a clear description of what the file is. For example, 'Additional Position Request Form' will be displayed instead of 'approval_form_requestfile-v31.xls'.

• Attachment Type The file may be attached as one of three different types for use by your users:

• Information Only This type of attachment is for informational use only. When a user makes a new approval request with this type of attachment, only the file download link, title, and instructions are shown to the user. There is no box for uploading the completed file.

• Required Attachment This type of attachment requires the user to attach the file to the approval request. When a user makes a new approval request with this type of attachment, the file download link, title, and instructions are shown to the user. There is a box immediately adjacent to the download link where the user is required to attach the completed file. We cannot verify they are returning the exact same file or that they filled it out to your specifications, but we do check that at least one file is attached.

• Optional Attachment This type of attachment is similar to the required attachment, but the form does not require a file to be attached. The submission of a file is optional.

File Instructions

These instructions will be displayed to the user, explaining how or what to do with the file. It is optional but provides a way to communicate simple instructions.

Attachment

You may attach one file here to be displayed via a download URL on the approval request form to be completed by the user. When the approval request form is rendered, we provide a file upload box that allows for multiple files to be attached to this matching file. However, we only display the single file. Please add a second workflow attachment for multiple files.

Associated Approval Workflows

You may map which approval workflows this file is assigned to. Conversely, you may also map this file attachment from the approval workflow's side. It is the same mapping of file to approval workflow, just from two different perspectives.

Display on New Request

Enabling this option will display the file attachment on new requests. Disabling it will not retroactively remove it from approval requests that were already submitted.