I. Overview

● For super admins and sub-admins, log in to the Admin Console, choose “App Management” -> “Approvals”, click a template to enter its details page, and then configure its approval process in “Rule Settings”.
● However, sub-admins can only edit the templates within their admin scope.

● App owners and assistance admins of templates can enter the template management page by logging in to WeCom on PC and clicking “Workspace” -> “Approvals” -> “Approval Management” or the button in the upper right corner to go to Admin Console, and set approval processes for templates in “Rule Settings” -> “Approval Process Settings” under selected templates.
● Before saving the template settings, you can tap the “Simulate Submission” button to the left of the “Save” button and scan the QR code with the WeCom app to simulate a submission on your mobile phone as any applicant and check the approval process under different conditions.
● After setting, condition judgment, approval notification flow, and CC notification will be proceeded for the approval process according to the workflow.
If there are many approval processes, you can scroll or zoom the page to view the complete workflow.

II. Conditional approval

1. Functions of conditional approval

Different approval processes can be applied to the same application when different conditions are met.
For example:
An applicant from the sales department with a leave duration of more than 3 days can use the approval process A.
An applicant from the sales department with a leave duration of less than 3 days can use the approval process B.

2. Add a conditional approval process

In the Admin Console, choose “App Management” -> “Approvals”, and then click a template to enter its details page. On the “Rule Settings” tab, click “setting” of “Approval process” to enter the process settings page, and then click the plus sign (+) to add a conditional approval process.

3. Configure a conditional approval process

(1) Condition name
A condition name is used to identify a conditional approval process, which contains no more than 20 characters.

(2) Condition
Applicant or number, amount, radio button, checkbox, duration, Members, and formula controls other than details can be used as conditions. Detail widgets, department widgets, and widgets within details are not supported as approval conditions.

When more than one condition is set, all these conditions should be met to use the corresponding approval process. Moreover, only one condition can be set for one control in the same conditional approval process.
Applicant:
When the applicant belongs to the designated department or is the designated member, the condition is met.
Number:
When the value in the number control filled by the applicant is greater than/greater than or equal to/equal to/less than/less than or equal to/between the specified value(s), the condition is met. (Between: Greater than or equal to a value and less than or equal to another value)
Amount: When the value in the amount control filled by the applicant is greater than/greater than or equal to/equal to/less than/less than or equal to/between the specified value(s), the condition is met. (Between: Greater than or equal to a value and less than or equal to another value)
Radio Button:
When the option in the radio button control selected by the applicant belongs to one of the settings, the condition is met.
Checkbox:
When the options in the checkbox control selected by the applicant cover all the settings, the condition is met.
Duration:
When the value in the duration control filled by the applicant is greater than/greater than or equal to/equal to/less than/less than or equal to/between the specified value(s), the condition is met. (Between: Greater than or equal to a value and less than or equal to another value)
Formula:
When the calculated value in the formula control is greater than/greater than or equal to/equal to/less than/less than or equal to/between the specified value(s), the condition is met. (Between: Greater than or equal to a value and less than or equal to another value)

(3) Approval process
When all the above conditions are met, the corresponding approval process will be used.

4. How does an approval process take effect

In case of an approval template with multiple conditional approval processes, the processes will be arranged according to the “priority” (ascending) of the conditional approval process. You can click the conditional process and select the priority in the upper right corner to adjust the priority.
For example:
The first conditional approval process is “Use the approval process A when the number is greater than or equal to 8”; and the second is “Use the approval process B when the number is less than or equal to 8”.
When the value filled by the applicant is 8, which meets both these two conditions, the approval process A will be applied according to the “priority”.

III. Copy process from existing template

On the “Rule Settings” tab of a template’s details page, enter the process settings page, click “Copy Process from Existing Template”, select a target template, and you can then copy the approval process of the target template to the currently configured approval process.
Copying an approval process will reserve the original approver node and CC node settings as well as structure of condition branches, but permission settings of approver nodes and settings of condition branches will be reset to default values.

IV. Configure permissions to view and edit an approval form

On the “Rule Settings” tab of a template’s details page, enter the process settings page, click any approver node, and then go to the “Permission Settings” page, where you can configure the permissions to edit or view any field in an approval form.
● Hide: This field is invisible to approvers.
● View Only: This field is visible but not editable to approvers.
● Allow Edit: This field is visible and editable to approvers.
After setting, approvers can view fields with “View Only” or “Allow Edit” permissions, and can edit fields with the “Allow Edit” permission when they approve an application.

V. FAQ

1. When setting up an approval workflow, I receive the error message “The flowchart width exceeds the limit”.
Currently, when setting up an approval process, the number of paths from the starting point to the endpoint does not support exceeding 300. The total width is calculated by multiplying the number of branches under different conditional widgets. If a conditional branch contains another branch condition, multiplication is also applied.

2.The number of approval process nodes exceeds the limit.
The approval process supports up to 1000 nodes.