Requisition Approval Process in PCRecruiter

The PCRecruiter Web Version includes an 'approval process' feature which allows newly entered positions to be reviewed by up to 20 people before becoming active in the system. The approval process works best in conjunction with the Employer/Manager Web Extensions, but can be used by internal users as well.

A typical approval process proceeds as follows (flow may differ by implementation):

1. A manager enters a new req via the web extensions and selects the appropriate pre-defined Approval Plan from a dropdown of options defined by the HR department.
2. The new Req appears in the database with a Status of "Pending"
3. An email is sent to the first approver in the selected Plan. This email includes details about the req and any additional notes added by the submitter at the time of the request.
4. The approver accepts or rejects the position and enters comments if necessary.
5. If the approver has accepted the req, it moves to the next person in the Plan. This continues until the final approver in the chain is reached. Usually, the final person in the Plan is someone in the HR department, or a PCRecruiter administrator.
6. The final person in the Plan logs into the database, reviews the req and makes any final adjustments or changes necessary before switching the Status field to "Available/Open" or "Internal".

Configuring Approval Forms and Plans

The setup utilites for the Approval process are only accessible from a Pending position, so to begin we must have at least one Pending req in the database. You may either create a 'fake' req to work with, or use an existing one. You'll need to change the Status field on the job to the "Pending" option, and then re-save the record.

In your Pending req, click the "Request Approval" button which appears just below the Status field. Four options will appear:

• Select Approval Plan - would be used to choose a Plan if you were about to request approval for the current Req
• Approval Forms - used to edit the emails and forms in the process
• Approval Plans - used to edit the approver chains in the process
• Begin Approval Process - used to launch the plan selected above

If the approval for this job is already in process, clicking "Request Approval" will display the current status of the approval and allow for management of the chain.

Approval Forms

Clicking the "Add/Edit Approval Forms" link will present the following options:

• Approval Request Form - this form is completed by the person requesting the approval. The form can contain up to 100 questions, although most users opt for a single question called "Comments" with a small text box for the answer. The answer content of this request form is included with the email that's viewed by the approvers and is stored in the 'Attachments' area of the req.
• Approval Feedback Form - this form is completed by the person approving or declining the req. The form can contain up to 100 questions, although most users opt for a single question called "Comments" with a small text box for the answer. The answer content of this request form is visible to the manager via the web extensions and is stored in the 'Attachments' area of the req.
• Approval Request Email - this area is for configuring the email that is sent to the approvers. It works much like the "Form Letters" area of PCRecruiter, and you will use the "Insert Fields" button to place data from the requisition into the body of the email. PCRecruiter will automatically include the links for approving the job and including feedback at the top of the mail - there is no need to add them by hand. As with all HTML editing areas of PCRecruiter, we very strongly recommend against copying and pasting anything directl from Microsoft Word, as it will cause unpredictable formatting both in PCRecruiter and in the resulting email. We recommend using the HTML editing tools in PCRecruiter or a dedicated HTML editor (MS FrontPage or similar) to create formatted emails.

Approval Plans

Clicking the "Manage Approval Plans" link will present a list of existing plans, if any. Click the "ADD" button to create a new plan.

• Plan Name - give this plan a descriptive name. This is the title by which managers will need to recognize it when entering positions.
• Default User Name - select who may use this plan. In most cases the 'All Internal & Web Users' plan will suffice, meaning that any manager or PCRecruiter user may launch this process.
• Default User Plan - if selected, this plan will be the pre-selected option for you when clicking "Request Approval" inside of the database
• Approval Heirarchy - you may choose to send the approval request to all approvers simultaneously, or to send the emails in chain fashion as listed on this setup screen. Most users opt to send emails in a chain.
• Approver List - enter the name of up to 20 approvers with their email addresses. These approvers do not need to be in the database to use the approval system, but you may use the icon at the right to look up people in the database if you wish.
  • The 'Allow Approve' checkbox means that the approver on that line may actually change the status of the req from 'Pending' to 'Available' or 'Internal' directly from the approval request email, without logging into PCRecruiter to do so. In most cases, administrators choose to leave these boxes un-checked for all approvers, placing a PCRecruiter user from the HR department in the final slot on every chain. This user would then log into PCRecruiter to check over and change the status of the req by hand. This is particularly useful in cases where salary and other items are not filled in until after the req has been approved.

Activating The Approval Process

To start an Approval Process internally:

1. Locate or enter a req and save it with the Status field set to "Pending"
2. Click the "Request Approval" button.
3. Select an Approval Plan from the dropdown.
4. Click "Begin Approval Process"
5. Click "Complete Approval Request Form Now" to fill out the form and launch the first email in the Approval Plan.

To use the Approval Process in the manager web extensions:

1. Go to SYSTEM >> Console >> Customize Web Extensions >> Employer Screen Options
2. Select "Position Entry Fields" and click the "Advanced Setup" link in the upper right corner of the screen to pop up the customization window.
3. In the window that appears, configure the fields that you want Managers to complete when entering a req.
• Use the "Field Name" column to select the desired req field. If you want to add a custom field, you must create it from SYSTEM >> Custom Fields Positions before it will appear as an option here.
• Use "Label Replace" to display a different title for the field on the record entry screen. i.e. 'Manager Name' instead of 'Contact Name'
• Use "Show Field" to select the editing requirements for the field.
• Use the "Comments" box to enter additional notes about this field, which will appear to the right of the field on the entry screen.
• If you have any Req Templates entered in the database, you will see a "Predefined.Use Templates" option in the Field Name list - adding this option into the screen allows managers to pre-fill data from your templates, helping to maintain consistency.
4. When filling out the Position Entry Fields configuration, you will need to include the "Predefined.Approval Processes" option as one of your fields (perhaps as the last). This will present a dropdown list of the Approval Plans defined in the database so that the manager may select one.
5. When you are done, click "Save" at the bottom of the screen.
6. Go to SYSTEM >> Console >> Edit Database Names and Locations. Click "Go".
7. Scroll the left side of the screen down until you find "Approval". Select it.
8. Change the "Require Approval for New Positions" option to "Yes"
9. Click "Save"

Once you have completed your setup and configuration, you will want to run through a series of tests on the system with dummy reqs and sample email addresses to make sure that the process is working as expected and to allow for adjustments to be made.

If you have any questions, you may contact training@mainsequence.net or visit our S.O.S. HelpDesk .

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