During the Approval process, Operate sends automatic emails to all of your selected approvers. You can read more about the process here.
To notify the Licence record owners (your staff members) of their respective approvals or rejections, we need to use workflows.
Set Up Your Workflow
To get started, please make sure you are familiar with the general workflow creation steps, explained here.
For the purpose of this guide, we will be creating one workflow that updates the owner for any Licence Approval Status. You can also create separate workflows for each status (Approved or Unapproved), the difference being that you will need to customize filters and email templates accordingly. We'll be making notes below where this is needed.
To configure this specific workflow, please follow these steps:
Name your Workflow and select a folder where you'll find it later on.
Select 'Licence' under Step 2 - Select the module this workflow is based upon.
Tick 'Created' and 'Edited' under Step 3 - Build the criteria and filters for this workflow.
Set the following filters: 'Status Filter equals Approved' and 'Status Filter equals Unapproved.'
Click Add Logic and enter '1 OR 2' (if you choose to add additional filters, please adjust the numbering accordingly). Just keep in mind that you will need the workflow to trigger either when the status is Approved or Unapproved, therefore your filters need to be adjusted accordingly, if you want to create a more complex workflow.
The basic filter setup should look like the one below:
If you would like to create separate workflows for Approved/Unapproved Licences, you would only need to set up one of these filters per workflow and you wouldn't need to add logic (unless you choose to add more filters). So, you would only set the Status Filter once per workflow, with a different status for each.
Please make sure to enable the workflow under Step 4 below, by ticking Make workflow active.
Click Save when you are ready. Your overall workflow setup should be similar to the one below:
Configure the Owner Email Notification
Configuring Your Workflow's Email Template
Before setting up your workflow email action, you will need an email template to use with it. You can create one by following the steps explained here.
If you create separate workflows, please customize your email template accordingly.
The basic merge fields you would need your template to include are:
[CURRENTUSER-FIRSTNAME] - For the Licence Owner's Name.
LICENCE-ACCOUNTNAME] - To mention the customer whose Licence has been updated.
[LICENCE-APPROVEDBY] - To mention the Approver's name, so that the Licence Owner knows who has updated their record.
[LICENCE-LICENCESTATUSID] - This is the Licence > Status Filter merge field which inserts the Licence Status - either Approved or Unapproved respectively.
[LICENCE-UNAPPROVEDREASON] - To provide feedback in case the Licence is rejected.
Here is what an example template may look like when you use one workflow for both statuses (meaning the template needs to be more general and account for any possible status (either Approved or Unapproved):
Applying Your Template
If you have your template ready, go back to your newly created workflow - simply find it in the list and click on its name to view it.
Next, create a new Workflow Action, by clicking New, within the Actions section.
On the next screen, select Email Alert.
Next, name your Workflow Action, then scroll down to Step 3, where you can configure your email notification details:
Enter the Sender's Name and Email Address. These will appear in the "From" field when emails generated by this action will be received.
Select 'Record Owner\, under the Email To field.
Add additional email addresses if you want others to receive these notifications as well.
Next, select the Email Template you created for this workflow. Once selected, this template will be used for every notification this workflow will be sending out.
Tick Make action active below, to ensure that your action takes place when the workflow is triggered.
Save the Workflow Action when you are ready.
As soon as your workflow and action are active and set up as demonstrated within this guide, your staff members will be notified via email of their Licence Records' Approval Status.