Approval flows is where you and/or users with full access to approval flows can create the line of approval for actions taken in the system.

Create an approval flow

To do this, complete the following steps for each necessary approval flow.

1. Click the All Apps button in the top left corner of the header.
2. Click Settings in its drop-down menu. 
3. When the Settings page opens, click Approvals under the Automation section.
   • Note: Additional navigation explained here for users with full access to the Approvals page.
4. When the Approvals page opens, click Approval Flows in the left panel.
5. Select the preferred component for your approval flow: Jobs or Offers. 
   • Note: The components listed here will be based on the features that are enabled for your account.
6. From this page, click the + Create Flow button from either the middle of the section (for the first flow created) or the top right corner of the page (for all other flows created). 
7. Due to legal requirements, a logged in user must select the Approvals Agreement before approval flows can be created in the account. This determines the attributes that will be used for the targeting rules in each flow. 
   • Note: This can be edited as needed from the Approval Flows section by clicking the Approval Agreement icon next to the search bar above the list. Learn more here.

Overview section

8. When the new page opens, enter a name for the approval flow.
9. In the Targeting subsection, target the items for the selected action. IMPORTANT NOTE: The attributes displayed for the targeting rules are based on the selection made for the Approvals Agreement.
   • Post a Job – Select the jobs to target for approval. Options for targeting include:
     • Job Title
     • Job Attributes
     • Location Attributes
     • Employee Attributes
       • Note: Selecting an Employee Attribute will add an advanced matches option of Matches in the Matches selector. When selected, you can select from Standard or Custom Job Attributes.
         • Use Case: This will target employees based on a certain Employee Attribute matching a Job Attribute, allowing one approval flow to cover multiple needs. For example, I want employees with department ID’s that match the Job Department IDs on the targeted jobs to be an approver, so the configuration would be if the Employee Attribute "Department" matches Custom Job Attribute “Job Department.”
   • Send an Offer – Select the offers to target for approval. Options for targeting include:
     • Offer Name
     • Job Attributes
     • Location Attributes
     • Employee Attributes
       • Note: Selecting an Employee Attribute will add an advanced matches option of Matches in the Matches selector. When selected, you can select from Standard or Custom Job Attributes.
         • Use Case: This will target employees based on a certain Employee Attribute and Job Attribute, allowing one approval flow to cover multiple needs.
10. Once the Targeting Rules are selected, then select the preferred Matches option and enter in the corresponding Input Value.
    • Note: At least one job must match the targeting rules defined here.
11. The total number of matches will be displayed in a box to the right above all targeting rules. Select this box to review all of the jobs/offers targeted based on the current targeting rules selections.
    
    
     
12. To add more targeting rules for this flow, select the + AND or + OR button or an entirely new rule set and repeat steps #8-12.
13. Once all Targeting Rules are set, click the Approvers section from the left panel.

Approvers section

The Approvers section is where you set which users will receive this approval request and in what order. You will first need to set the Default Approver, which is the person who will receive approval requests whenever an approver is not targeted to anyone. Once configured, you can the guidelines for targeting certain approvers.

14. Select the Default Approver’s action menu, or ellipses.
15. Select Edit in its drop-down menu.
16. In the slide-out drawer that opens, set your targeting rules for the corresponding action. This can be based on one of the following:
    • Employee Name – When selected, the Matches and Input fields will be removed.
      • Note: A targeting rule with Employee Name won’t be based on permissions to the jobs targeted in the approval flow (i.e If the approval is for Job_A and I assign user John Smith, then he will still be an approver even if he doesn’t have access to Job_A).
    • Employee Attributes – Only displayed when Employee Communications is disabled.
      • Note: A targeting rule with Employee Attributes won’t be based on the jobs targeted in the approval flow (i.e If the approval is for Job_A and I assign users with Department Attribute = Product, then any users who match that will be an approver even if they don’t have access to Job_A).
    • Hiring Team Role – This will only display when Paradox Jobs is enabled for your account. When selected, the Matches and Input fields will be removed.
      • Note: A targeting rule with Hiring Team Role will be dependent on the jobs targeted in the approval flow (i.e If the approval is for Job_A and I target the hiring team role Recruiter, then only users in that HT Role assigned to Job_A will be targeted).
    • Employee Type on Job (ATS) – This will only display you have an external ATS integrated with your account and Requisition Based Permissions and Alerts is toggled off.
      • Note: A targeting rule with Employe Type on Job (ATS) will be dependent on the jobs targeted in the approval flow.
    • Employee Role – When selected, the Matches and Input fields will be removed.
      • Note: A targeting rule with Employee Role will be dependent on the jobs targeted in the approval flow (i.e If the approval is for Job_A and I target the user role Recruiter, then only users in that user role assigned to Job_A will be targeted).
17. Once the Targeting Rules are set, then select the preferred Matches option and enter in the corresponding Input Value, if applicable.
    • Note: At least one valid user in the assigned approver role must have permissions to the targeted job/location.
18. The total number of matches will be displayed in a box to the right above all targeting rules. Select this box to review all of the approvers targeted based on the current targeting rules selections.
    • Note: When targeting approvers by Employee Type on Job (ATS), then all employees that match the approver targeting will display, but only the users who are assigned to the targeted Journey Targeting requisitions will get the approval request.

19. To add more Targeting Rules for this flow, click the + AND or + OR button or an entirely new rule set and repeat steps #16-19.
20. When finished, select Save in the bottom right corner of the drawer.
21. Once the default approver is set, then you can set the level of approvers who will receive requests submitted for the set targeting rules. One “approver” can contain any number of users. When a request comes in, all users will be notified of the request but only one of them needs to complete the request. To begin, click the + Add Approver button in the top right corner of the section.

22. Repeat steps #16-18.
23. Repeat steps #21-22 for each level/group of approvers. The approvers added to this one approval flow will reflect the different levels of approvals that must be completed before the action is finally taken. Approval levels/groups will follow the order in which they are listed on this page.
    • DUPLICATION NOTE: If beneficial, you can duplicate an existing approver’s targeting rules by clicking its action menu, or ellipses, and then Duplicate from the menu that opens. 
24. When all approvers are added, you then have the option of reorganizing the order in which the approvers will receive requests. The order set here will determine the order in which approvals are processed (lower level to higher level; e.g. Approver 1 to Approver 3) in the approval flow. Skip to Step #27 if you do not want to reorganize approver levels. To reorder approver levels, click any approvers action menu, or ellipses, and then the Reorder option from its drop-down menu.
25. In the slide-out drawer that opens, select, drag, and then drop the rearrange icon of the necessary approver(s) in the preferred order.
    
    
     
26. Select Save in the bottom right corner of the drawer. The drawer will save and close.
27. Select Messaging in the left panel.

Messaging section

28. From the Messaging section, you can select how users will enter their reasoning when requesting an action or denying an action. Both the Request Reason and the Denial Reason will be defaulted to No Response. To edit each, first click the Edit button next to the preferred reason.
29. In the slide-out drawer that opens, select one of the available responses, which include:
    1. No Response – No reasoning will be requested.
    2. Free-Text – An open-text field to enter a reason will be requested.
       • Note: You have the option to mark this response as required. To do so, toggle on Response Required.
    3. Custom List – A drop-down list to select from will be requested.
       • Note: You have the option to mark this response as required. To do so, toggle on Response Required. This response will also include a language selector, if Multilingual is enabled for your account.
30. If you selected Custom List, then you will need to enter in all of the options within this list for the employee to select. Enter in the first response and then click + Add Message to add any number of responses to the list. If the Multilingual feature is enabled for your account, then you can configure custom messages by individual language. Click here to learn more.
    • Note: Once more than one response is entered, all options will display trash can icons that, when clicked, will remove the response as needed. At least one response is required for this selection.

36. Select Save to close the slide-out drawer.
37. Select Publish in the bottom left corner of the page to finalize the approval flow.

When completed, then users are able to submit their approvals!

Configure messaging in multiple languages

You can configure translations for request and denial reasons when Custom List is selected as the reply type. To do this, follow the steps below.

1. Select Edit for the preferred reason.
2. Update the Reply Type to Custom List.
3. Add all custom list messages.
4. Select the language selector in the top right corner of the drawer and then the preferred language.
5. You will then be able to enter in the custom list messages for the selected language.
6. Select Save to save the changes made.

Reorder approval flows

It is extremely important that you reorder approval flows into the proper approval flow hierarchy. Items can be targeted in multiple approvals so order matters. When the targeted rule for that item is met and applies to multiple approvals, the order in which approval flows are listed will determine which approval flow is initiated.

For example, we have 2 approval flows:

• Approval #1 Targeting = Job Title contains “Product”
• Approval #2 Targeting = Job Title contains “Manager”
  • Result: When turning on a “Product Manager” job, it will go through Approval #1 because it is higher than #2 in the approval flow ordering.

Because of this, the order of approval flows may need to be adjusted to account for this scenario. To do this, select the action menu of any flow and then Reorder in its drop-down menu.

A modal will open where you can click the preferred flows’ rearrange icon and drag and drop individual flows in the preferred order. Then, select Save to finalize the order of approval flows.

Manage approval flows

Approval flows can be edited, deactivated, or removed altogether from the Approval Flows section. To learn about this functionality, review these approval flow list actions.

View job / offers targeting

By selecting into an approval flow and then the box containing the total number of jobs/offers targeted (Paradox Jobs enabled) or the View Targeted Offers button (external ATS enabled), a slide-out drawer of all targeted items will then open.

View targeted jobs

When you click the box containing the total number of jobs targeted, then a slide-out drawer will open with all targeted jobs, depending on the approval flow.

View targeted offers

Targeting rules

In this drawer, you can hover over any targeted item and then click the View Targeting icon at the end of its row. This will display the item’s targeting rules within a tooltip.

Targeting locations

If more than one location is listed for a targeted item, you can hover over the item’s value in the Location column to view a listing of all targeted locations.

Approver permissions

Ensure that all approvers have access to both the Approval Requests section of the Approvals page AND access to the corresponding product (Jobs/Offers).

Permission errors

If a user is targeted as an approver who has No Access to that product's approval requests, then there will be a red dot notification on the # Approvers button in the Approval Flows Builder. 

Clicking on this will highlight the user(s) who don’t have access in red with a warning icon.