approval workflow - release notesforpartners.spica.com/docs/releases/aw/3.30/approval workflow -...

Approval Workflow - Release Notes

Document: Approval Workflow - Release Notes.pdfVersion: 3.30.APrinted: 14.1.2020© 2020 Spica International

Approval Workflow - Release Notes

Spica International

Pot k sejmiscu 331231 LjubljanaSlovenia

Tel: +386 1 568 08 00Fax: +386 1 568 08 88

E-mail: [email protected]

IContents

© 2020 Spica International

Table of Contents

Approval Workflow - Release Notes 11

................................................................................................................................... 1Version 3.301.1

.......................................................................................................................................................... 2What's New in Version 3.30.a 1.1.1

................................................................................................................................... 5Version 3.201.2


......................................................................................................................................................... 11Service Release 3.20.a SB11.2.1.1

.......................................................................................................................................................... 12Service Release 3.20.b 1.2.2

................................................................................................................................... 13Version 3.101.3



......................................................................................................................................................... 21Service Release 3.10.b SB21.3.2.1

.......................................................................................................................................................... 22Service Release 3.10.c 1.3.3

................................................................................................................................... 24Version 3.001.4



.......................................................................................................................................................... 30Service Release 3.00.c 1.4.3

......................................................................................................................................................... 31Service Release 3.00.c SB11.4.3.1

......................................................................................................................................................... 32Service Release 3.00.c SB21.4.3.2

Approval Workflow - Release Notes1


1 Approval Workflow - Release Notes

1.1 Version 3.30

What's New in Version 3.30.a



1.1.1 What's New in Version 3.30.a

New view - Approval Overview

The system administrator can now easy overview the system settings by going to ApprovalOverview view. All settings are grouped by users. There are several filters available:

Employees - Search for a specific user.Managers - Search for a specific manager.Employee Groups -Search for a specific employee group.

Approvals Overview view



Note icon on Received Requests view

Note icon is now shown on Received Requests view if the note is present on the request. Themanager can quickly check the note details by selecting the note icon on the grid.

Note details in the modal dialogue



Term Applier has been renamed to Employee and Approver has been renamed to Manageracross the application.Approval Workflow API - The create user request was extended with the parameter for theadditional manager.Approval Workflow API - A new request has been added to return a list of additionalmanagers for the specific employee.Added option to enable detailed (debug) application log has been added to the application.

Approval Workflow administrators who were limited by the specific organizational unit inTime&Spacesystem could face issues when creating user groups in the application.It could happen that special characters in email messages generated by Approval Workflowwere shown incorrectly.Approval Workflow API - The request which returns a list of users for the specific managerdid not work properly in case of a temporary manager.Approval Workflow API - If the user had some special character in the name (e.g. Alden,)then the name was not properly shown in API responses.



1.2 Version 3.20

What's New in Version 3.20.aService Release 3.20.a SB1Service Release 3.20.b




Request assignment

Request assignment functionality is now available in the application what means that nowthe operator with role assignment can create a request for their employees (e.g. Over timework). Assignment request can be created for a single or multiple employees in the singlestep only through web client.

Request assignment



Assign request to multiple employees

When creating requests for other employees (On behalf of or Assignments), an operator cannow select multiple addressees in the single step. In the previous version, the operator couldcreate only one request per employee at time.

Multiple addressees



Calculation counters on add request view

Employee can now see various calculation counters (e.g. balance, vacation balance,overtimes and custom counters) when adding a new request. This way the employee hasmore information before submitting a new request. The list of counters is customizable in theconfiguration file.

Calculation counters on add request view

Customizable request links in email templates

If the application is accessible from the Intranet and Internet, it can happen that a differentcommunication PORTS are used. Such situation can cause issues when managing requests viaemail links. To solve this issue, we have introduced a new system parameter, calledExternalServerURL which represents application's address visible from the Internet. Theexternal URL address can be added to email templates by using the HTML variables.



Password change option

Users can now change account's password in the application by going to User Profile view.Off course this option does not apply when Active Directory authentication is used in thesystem.

Password change option

List of users that set you for delegate

Approver can now easy check who add him as a delegate in the system by going to Userprofile view and selecting Set Delegate action.

List of users that set you for delegate



View renames

My Requests view has been renamed to Sent Requests.Appliers Requests view has been renamed to Received Requests.Employees Requests view has been renamed to Requests Sent On Behalf Of Others.

Removed port 80 from email links

Action links in the request emails no longer have port number when the application port is setto 80.

Default value of period filter

The default value of period filter has been changed from 3 months (From: Today - 1 month;To: Today + 2 months) to a longer period (From: Today - 1 month; To: End of next year).

Inactive users are visible in the application

Inactive employees are not available when setting up groups, but must remain visible ifthey are already part of the selected group.Requests (regardless of status) for such an employees are not visible by an approver.Inactive users are removed from dropdown selectors/comboboxes.If an approver is inactive this person is still available in AW because there is a dedicatedenable/disable checkbox for approvers.Inactive employee is removed from the "on behalf of" list of employees.

Type filter not working properly on Received requests view

If an approver was not positioned on the default period page then the request filter was notworking properly on the Received requests view.



Service Release 3.20.a SB11.2.1.1

AW API - Request view in Spica Mobile Time

Request view was not working properly in Spica Mobile Time for Operators withoutAssignment role.

Memory leak on Add request view

There was a memory leak on Add request view if the Current Balances option was enabled inthe system.



1.2.2 Service Release 3.20.b

Application audit log support

Management of user groups is now tracked by Application audit log.Data viewed on the main views is now tracked by Application audit log if the extendedauditing is enabled in the system.

Operators assigned to a user group

User group details view showed only the first 20 assigned operators.

Incorrect email template for multi-level approval

Approved request email was incorrect for all levels except the first one.

Double confirmation deleted request event from the system

It could happen that double confirmation of the same request resulted in deletion of therelated event from the system.

Last year vacation information not working

Last year vacation information was not properly shown if set to be shown under CurrentBalances when adding a new request.



1.3 Version 3.10

What's New in Version 3.10.aService Release 3.10.bService Release 3.10.b SB1 (Internal release)Service Release 3.10.b SB2Service Release 3.10.c




Support for requests history log

Each request now has a history log which is accessible on request details view. The log givesinformation about status history for the related request (who, what, when).



Applier's name available on request details

With this version, applier's name is always available on request details view. Till now, theinformation was visible only if request details view was accessed from Appliers request tab.



Information about assigned approver for pending requests

Pending requests now have information about currently assigned approver, additionalapprover or a delegate . This way an applier or approver can easily check where the requestis being held.



Requests definitions can be focused to the specific user group

Request list on add request dialogue can be narrowed down by using user group restrictionson the request definition. If a request is limited by user group, only users who are part of thisgroup will be able to select it.



Info operator has more permissions

Permissions for info role have been expanded. The info operator can now see requests inread only mode on Appliers Request view.

Approver can define group of delegates

List of available delegates is now defined by delegate groups. An approver is able to selectonly between delegates who belong to the assigned delegate group. Previously the approvercould choose between all delegates in the system.

Changed email notification service

For sending email notifications, a new service called Notification Service must be used. Thisservice is available in Time&Space 10.00 or higher.



Operator mail for pending request in multi-level workflow

Invalid email template was used for a pending request in case of multi-level workflow.




History log support in Approval Workflow API

Request's history log can now be access via Approval Workflow API.

Removal of assigned user groups

Removal of assigned user group did not work properly if the group was not located on thefirst page.

History data for requests limited by user group

When a request definition was limited by specific user group, a user could not see previousrequest logs for this request if he was not part of assigned group. Now the user seesprevious logs on My Request view, but the request is not available in filters section and onadd request dialogue.

History data for deleted request definitions

When a request definition was deleted from the system, a user could not see previousrequest logs for the deleted request. Now the user sees previous logs on My Request view,but the request is not available in filters section and on add request dialogue.

System date with spaces

If having Windows 10, default date format comes with spaces (e.g. 5. 7. 2016). When a userlogged into Approval Worklfow, an error 'Invalid period' was shown. Now there is no need ofchanging this format.



Service Release 3.10.b SB21.3.2.1

Request edit with additional approver

Edit of a request with additional approver in web application did not work properly becausethe approver got ready only view instead of edit.

Updated SL email templates

Email template, called Template for ApprovedMultilevelRequestTemplate.html was nottranslated to Slovenian language.



1.3.3 Service Release 3.10.c

Updated email template for approved/rejected request

A link to the application was added to email template for approved/rejected request.

Additional TimeBox version warning

An additional message was added to the process when adding new request if the applicationand TimeBox version does not match.

Approval Workflow API

Several updates related with AW API have been made:

A new request has been added to the API, called getdaystypes. The request returns alist of defined days types and information which is selected as a default one.Request for adding user's requests, called createrequest has been expanded with daystype parameter. With the parameter, you can define on which days the request will beinserted.

Delegation of approver permissions

In the previous version, the application did not check the status of an approver whendelegating his permissions what could lead to a miss configuration. Now the following checksare performed:

The approver cannot delegate his permissions to an approver who has alreadydelegated its permissions to someone else.The approver cannot delegate his permissions if he/she is already a delegate forsomeone else.

New email template RejectedRequestInfoTemplate.html

A new email template has been added to the collection for notifying approvers about rejectedrequest status.



Performance optimization

Several actions across the application have been optimised to perform better in the case of alarge-scale organisation.

Delegate could approve its own requests

A delegate could approve its own requests if he was in the same user group for which anapprover had the permissions.

Show reference number

Show reference number parameter was not properly validated on all views if disabled in theconfiguration file.

Approval Workflow API

Several issues related to AW API have been solved:

Operator with a role of approver or delegate could approve its request.A request comment was not properly saved into the database when contained ŠÐCCŽcharacters.Request for returning all request definitions (API/listrequestdefinitions) was not workingif request definition, type intervention with no event was defined in the system.If the primary approver is not defined, create request action now returns an error.



1.4 Version 3.00

What's New in Version 3.00.aService Release 3.00.bService Release 3.00.cService Release 3.00.c SB1Service Release 3.00.c SB2




Multi-level approval process

Single level approval process can now be expanded to a multi-level without level limitation.Since the functionality is request based, you would be able to create a mixture of simple andcomplex workflows to cover approval needs in the organization.

Workflow example for 3 levels approval

Temporary operator

In case of temporary or long time absence from work, a module operator can delegate hispermissions to the other co-worker in no time. Although the operator delegated hispermissions, he can still manage requests for his user group if needed.



Approval workflow in case of temporary operator

Requests on behalf of other user

In case that users cannot access the application and add requests for some reason, anoperator with the applicant role can now create requests on behalf of them. The followingworkflow process stays the same as in the normal case of request creation. Further on, autoapproval functionality can be enabled on the system level for on behalf of requests if operatoralso has approval permissions for the same user group.



On behalf of request creation

Application is more intuitive

On the main application views user can decide to hide or show filter sections, making themost important actions like “Add Request” easily accessible all the time.

Collapsed request filter



Application performance on big databases

Performance and memory usage of the application has been improved especially on bigdatabase environments. Actions needed for setting up the Approval Workflow application arenow much faster. Furthermore day to day actions are optimized making the application moreuser friendly.




Discontinued support for Internet Explorer 9

In Approval Workflow version 3.00 interactive support for Internet Explorer 9 has beendiscontinued. This means that Spica will no longer provide compatibility of the product withthis version of the browser.

Edit request link in email notification

If operator entered edit request dialogue via Edit link in the notification email, than Approve/Deny request action on this view did not work properly.

Encoding of Russian email templates

In case that Russian language was set in the application, data in the email notifications wasnot properly presented because of incorrect encoding.

Checking of existing requests

Is some situations, the functionality for checking of existing requests did not work well whatresulted in deletion of events from the database.



1.4.3 Service Release 3.00.c

Switched names of operator roles

Names for Info and Additional role were switched when the module was upgraded from theprevious versions. This fix requires manual database update, see the database script formore information.

Email notifications for Info operator

Operator with an Info role did not receive email notifications.

List of Additional operators

List of Additional operators was not correct if the parameter(EnableAdditionalApproverSelection) was set to 1 when adding a new request.



Service Release 3.00.c SB11.4.3.1

Approval Worklow API

The function for retrieving a list of users for a selected operator worked only if the operatorhad a primary role. Now all other roles are supported.

Updated translations for Slovenian email notifications

Some templates in with slo-Windows-1250 encoding we not fully translated.

First level approver in case of multi-level approval workflow

In the previous version, a first level approver in case of a multi-level approval workflow wasfixed to the operator with a primary role. Now this setting can be manually changed by thesystem administrator.



Service Release 3.00.c SB21.4.3.2

Updated subject encoding for email notifications

Subject in email notifications is now encoded as UTF-8 for all supported languages. This isrequired by Email Notification service 8.50 or higher.

approval workflow - release notesforpartners.spica.com/docs/releases/aw/3.30/approval workflow -...

Documents