The timekeeper approval workflow can easily be modified according to your business needs. The default Timekeeper Rates App approval workflow has four phases:

1. New
2. Pending
3. Approved
4. Rejected

All new Records will move immediately into the “Pending” phase. The Record will stay in the “Pending” phase until all approvals have been granted; then, it will advance to the “Approved” phase. If an approver rejects the Record, the Record will be moved to the “Rejected” phase until the vendor resubmits the Record in BillingPoint.

Custom phases may be added between the “Pending” and “Approved” phases. The “Approved” and “Rejected” phases should not be modified, as they are tied to BillingPoint logic. Customizing a Timekeeper Rates workflow is the same as customizing any other workflow in Onit. Let’s break down how one custom solution was implemented.

This client chose to add two additional phases between “New” and “Approved.”

These custom phases, “Pending IP Admin Approval” and “Pending GC Approval,” conditionally add approves from Liquid list lookups. The “Pending IP Admin Approval” phase is only activated when the timekeeper’s vendor is marked as an Intellectual Property (IP) vendor. The workflow of this Timekeeper Rates App is as follows:

1. A new IP vendor’s timekeeper rate request is received from BillingPoint and a Record is created in the Timekeeper Rates App.
2. A Transaction Initiated Business Rule named If IP Vendor, Add IP Administrative Assistant as approver fires.
3. The IP Administrator is added as an approver on the Record via the Add IP Administrative Assistant as Participant Action.
4. A second Transaction Initiated Business Rule named Add GC as Approver fires, and the GC is added as an approver.
5. The Record enters the “Pending IP Admin Approval” phase.
6. The IP Admin approves the Record, and the Record moves into the “Pending GC Approval” phase.
7. The GC approves the Record, and the Record moves into the “Approved” phase.
8. The new timekeeper rate becomes active.

Let’s examine how this workflow is accomplished using Onit Actions and Business Rules. The Transaction Initiated Business Rule named If IP Vendor, Add IP Administrative Assistant as Approver fires an Action to add the IP Approver only if the new rate request is from an IP vendor.

This Business Rule’s condition checks the timekeeper’s Vendor’s Record via list lookup to see if the vendor is an IP vendor.

If the vendor is an IP vendor, the Add Participant Action will fire. This Action will perform a list lookup and add the IP Administrative Assistant to the Record.

Another Transaction Initiated Business Rule named Add GC as Approver will fire on Record creation. Since the GC Approver always gets added to the Record, this Business Rule does not need a condition.

This Business Rule will fire the Add Participant Action named Add GC as Approver.

Once the Transaction Initiated Business Rules have fired Onit, it waits for the approver(s) to act on the Record. If an approver rejects the Record, three Participant Rejected Business Rules, and one Transaction Phase Change Business Rule fire:

• Participant Rejected - Reject on Rejected: Fires a Change Phase Action to change the phase to “Rejected.”

• Participant Rejected - When disputed – send bulling contact notification: Fires a Send Notification Action to notify the vendor of timekeeper rate request dispute.

• Participant Rejected - Add BP Comment: Fires a PSB Comment Create Action to create a new comment in BillingPoint on rate dispute. If no rejection reason was given, the Action will note no comment was provided.  

• Transaction Phase Change – Reject TK Rate: Fires a PSB State Transition Action to reject the proposed timekeeper rate in BillingPoint.

If the Record is approved, a Transaction Phase Change Business Rule and Participant Approved Business Rule fire:

• Transaction Phase Change – Approve TK Rate: Fires a Conditional Compound Action that will approve the timekeeper rate in BillingPoint and set the timekeeper’s current rate.

• Participant Approved – When Approved – send billing contact approved notification: Fires a Send Notification Action to notify the vendor of the new rate approval.

The workflow for the Timekeeper Rates App can be customized to fit any specific business needs, or the default workflow can be used.