Following on from the Authorisation Details and filters, the next step is to add the Authorisation Stages. Each stage is where you specify:
The status used to indicate when at that stage.
The approvers and their permissions whilst at each stage.
The notifications sent as the approval is provided / rejected.
The transitions available between each stage.
To add a new stage to the workflow, click Add Stage at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can edit any existing stages by clicking into the status.
🤓 Hint - To preview the current settings, you can use the three options on the stage interface - Stage Details, Notifications and Transitions. This will give you a quick look at how the stage is configured, before deciding to edit.
Stage Settings
The first option is to specify the status used within the stage, which are drawn from either the vacancy statuses or the hire statuses, depending on the type of workflow you are configuring.
Each status can only be used once in each workflow, so if the option doesn't appear in the list as expected, it means that status has already been used.
Once you have picked your status, the next option is to control how the vacancy is advertised at this stage, using Set Vacancy Live. There are three options available here:
Set Live on Website - This will tick the box for Display on Website within the vacancy record. However, if the status selected is not an active status, the vacancy will not be advertised until it reaches an active one.
Take off Website - This setting will untick the Display on website tickbox, removing it from the website in all circumstances.
🤓 Hint - These options should ONLY be used if the requisition form in the Hiring Manager portal does NOT include advertising details or controls. If the Hiring Manager will be providing advertising dates, then these settings would override this information so we would recommend that you use Do not change current display settings.
Do not change current display settings - This will maintain the options provided either by the template or the Hiring Manager during the requisition process. This option should only be used if the advertising information is coming from the hiring manager.
Allow Hiring Managers to post to Job Boards will allow the hiring manager to use Eploy's Multi-poster functionality, if you are set up to do so. This will give them the ability to post jobs out to third party platforms, whilst at this status.
The Stage Users setting dictates who the owner of the stage is and what functionality is available to them. You can use this to give control over the role, including the ability to close it down or make changes to the requisition form, whilst at this status.
The options for this include:
Contact for this Vacancy - This will be the requester of the vacancy or the main contact allocated.
Any Hiring Manager assigned to the Vacancy - This will be any of the hiring team allocated to the vacancy, including the contact and associated Hiring Managers
Authorisers - This will mean that the allocated approver for this stage will be in ownership of the role during that time.
Backend Users - By selecting this option, the hiring manager community will not be able to edit or approve the role, as core system intervention is required. This is typically used at Recruitment Team approval stages or once the vacancy has been set to No Longer Required.
Once you have set who is responsible for the requisition at that stage, you can determine what they are able to do:
Allow Vacancy modification - If active, this setting allows the stage owner to make changes to the details supplied on the requisition. Please note that changes are not audited, so modification should only be allowed at the initial stages or if being resubmitted following rejection.
Allow Authoriser Selection - This will allow the stage owner to reallocate any other approvers for other stages in the workflow. This can be particularly useful if the wrong approver has been selected or if they are aware of the absence of a selected approver.
Allocating Authorisers
If you have selected the stage owner as Authorisers, you will need to specify how the authorisers are allocated to the role, including from where in the structure, the available position types and the number of approvers to select:
Minimum / Total Authorisers Allowed - these fields are used to control how many authorisers can be selected at each stage of the process. If you want your Hiring Managers to only select one specific person to approver the role, set both of these options to 1. However, if your process allows for anyone of a position type to approve the role, you can change the total value as required. The benefit of this is that by selecting multiple people, they will all be prompted to approve the role, but only one needs to actually approve it. This can be effective if a quick approval is needed, as you are able to engage with a wider community of approvers.
Who can authorise at this stage - This is where you pick your company structure settings, within Select Authorisers from, as well as the position type of the approvers allowed for this stage. The structure settings allow you to look up or down your company structure, whilst the position type will identify the correct people.
Notifications
Notifications support your authorisation workflows by alerting approvers, the requester and the core team of the progression through the process, prompting any action required.
When selecting Yes to Notify Stage Users, you can select the email template used, as well as the frequency of any reminder emails to be sent.
As well as notifying stage users, you can also chose to Notify Other Users. This allows you to trigger additional notifications as the requisition progresses through the approval process. This can include:
Other User Types - Where you can specify groups of different users, such as those allocated to the vacancy, hiring managers or even vendors on the role.
Specific Email Addresses - Free type any email addresses that you would like to have included in the notification
Email Template - This is the email you wish to use for the additional notification.
Reminders - If using reminders for additional emails, you can populate this option. Leaving this blank will mean that no reminder is sent.
Once you have fully configured your stage, click Save to confirm.
Transitions
During an authorisation workflow, moving from one status to the next is called a Transition. You can manage which transitions are available from any status to any other stage within the workflow, including the ability to reject the approval or close the vacancy by adding additional non-linear transitions.
Managing Transitions
Within each stage, there is a section specifically for any transitions from this stage, where you can view, edit or add new transitions.
Within each transition, you can specify the following settings:
Move to Stage - Once the transition is complete, this will be the resulting stage / status.
Button Text - This option allows you to customise the label on the button the approver will click to trigger the transition. You can use this as a prompt, to make it absolutely clear the outcome of the transition. If left blank, the status selected above will be used.
Confirmation Message - This box can be used to communicate with the approver once the transition is complete. This can be useful to let them know what happens next in the process.
Force Comments - If active, approvers will need to provide feedback as they complete the transition. This can be particularly useful for rejection transitions (moving the vacancy or placement to an Authorisation Rejected status) as the approver will need to provide the reason for rejection.
Click Save to confirm the transition for that stage. Repeat this process for as many transitions as you require for each stage.
Hints & Tips
If the link icon appears red for a stage, it means that there are no transitions available. This may be correct if it is an end status, such as No Longer Required, whilst you can correct it by adding a transition. Once a transition has been added, the link will turn grey.
Consider transitions from each stage, including whether you need a positive and negative transition. This can allow you to progress the requisition or terminate it. For example, from the current stage, do you need the option to reject the approval?
Forcing Feedback may seem like a good idea, but if its not useful information, it's just another hurdle for the approver. Consider only using forced feedback on terminated or rejected statuses.
Don't forget to add Live Requirement as a stage in the workflow. By doing so, you can allow the Hiring Manager to transition from this stage into No longer Required, which would allow them to close their own jobs.
Only the stage owner can complete the transition, so keep this in mind when setting them up. The stage owners will be responsible for any transitions from their stage.