In this article we'll look in detail at what Authorisation Workflows are, how they can be used and what kind of preparation you'll need to make when it comes to amending existing workflows or creating new ones.
This is a rather meaty topic, so if you'd like to jump to a specific section in this article, please use the links below:
- Authorisation Workflows - What are they?
- What do I need to think about when planning?
- I'm still not sure what I need to do - are there any examples I can see?
Authorisation Workflows - What are they?
There are two types of Authorisation Workflows within your Eploy system: Vacancy and Placement Authorisation Workflows.
As the names suggest, Vacancy Authorisation Workflows apply to your Vacancy Requisition process and Placement Authorisation Workflows apply to the Offer Creation and approval process.
In general, Authorisation Workflows have three main purposes/uses:
- They give you the facility to put in place Vacancy and Placement (Offer) authorisation processes based on how Vacancies and Offers satisfy a predetermined set of criteria, with Eploy automatically routing the Vacancy or Offer to the correct nominated approver each time.
- They can be used to give your Hiring Managers the ability to transition a Vacancy or Offer from one Status to another. For example, if you wanted your managers to be able to put a Vacancy on hold, this would be achieved using the Vacancy Authorisation workflow; on the other hand, if they needed to be able to indicate whether a new employee attended on their first day or was a no-show, this would be achieved using the Placement Authorisation Workflow.
- They can be used to sent automated emails to any recipient (even outside of the Hiring Manager and Core User population) when a Vacancy or Offer reaches a specific status. For example, if you wanted to email the Hiring Manager once a Candidate has completed Onboarding, this can be achieved using the Placement Authorisation Workflow. You could also use the same status notification to let someone else know about the new starter e.g. the IT Team, so they know to set up a new user account and order various IT kit.
What do I need to think about when planning?
How many workflows do you need?
Eploy will build four Authorisation Workflows for you - two for Vacancies and another two for Placements.
Bearing this in mind, the first thing you need to consider is how many authorisation workflows do you need?
Although we can't answer that question for you (we don't know what your internal processes are like), we can certainly offer guidance if you're unsure how your current authorisation processes will map on to Eploy's Authorisation Workflows.
When will each Authorisation Workflow apply?
Within Eploy, Authorisation Workflows are applied to Vacancies and Placements automatically - it's not something you can do manually.
Eploy will decide which Authorisation Workflow to apply based on a series of conditions and filters set within each Authorisation Workflow.
Unless you tell us otherwise, your default Vacancy Authorisation Workflows will operate based on the Reason for Recruitment - Replacement or Increase to Headcount, with a different authorisation workflow triggered according to the response to that question. The default Placement Authorisation Workflows will be looking at whether the Salary being offered falls within the salary range set on the Vacancy or outside - again with a different Authorisation Workflow triggered based on the answer to that question.
If these conditions match your internal process, fantastic - there's nothing else to think about. If they don't, however, you'll need to start thinking about the specific conditions to be met in order to trigger the appropriate authorisation workflow.
As always, if you're stuck or need guidance, your Implementation Manager will be able to help out here.
Are there any variations to take in to account?
This one can be quite easy to miss - you have a handful of Authorisation Workflows built in to your system and they'll apply pretty much every time a Vacancy or Placement is raised....but there's that 0.01% of times when a slightly different process is needed.
If you're planning on capturing that 0.01% inside your Eploy system, you'll need to ensure that you have an Authorisation Workflow configured to capture those rare instances.
Another thing to consider is the "it'll never happen" scenario - we've seen instances in the past where a customer has told us that certain types of Vacancies would never get raised through Eploy, so there's no need to have a specific Authorisation Workflow to account for them. Despite our recommendation to capture them anyway, just in case, this was never done...and sure enough, not long after go-live, one of these instances "that'll never happen", happened, resulting in an error message as Eploy didn't know what to do with the Vacancy.
Although these situations only really apply where you have several very different processes built in to the system, if there's ever a chance that something could happen, it's always a safer bet to account for it in your Authorisation workflows than not - it's better to have one too many authorisation workflows than one too few!
Who will be the Authoriser, or the user in control, for each stage?
As we've seen already, the Authorisation Workflow is used for more things than just authorisation - so one of the things you'll want to consider is which type of user will be in control of the Vacancy or Placement at each stage in the workflow.
While a Vacancy or Placement is at a Draft status, you'll likely want this to be the main Hiring Manager on the Vacancy - the Contact. While it's with the Recruitment or Onboarding teams, you'll want to set this to the Backend User. In the case of Authorisation Stages, the record will be controlled by the Authoriser.
In addition to deciding which stage an Authoriser should be in control of, you'll also need to identify the Position Type of the Hiring Manager who can be selected as an Authoriser.
You'll have already told us which Position Types you want to use, and which one to assign to each Hiring Manager, as part of the Contact Import completed during Phase 1.
For each Authorisation Stage within the Authorisation Workflow, you'll need to identify the Position Types to associate with that stage. Any manager who has that position type can then, in theory, be selected as an Authoriser for that stage.
I say In theory, because there's a bit more to it than that. Not only will you need to indicate the Position Type, but you'll also need to take in to account where that manager sits within the Hierarchy. There are 6 hierarchy positions to choose from:
- The Same Company
- The entire group (all)
- The company and all divisions under and directly above
- The company and all divisions under it
- The company and all divisions above
- Any Company
We'll explore these options in more detail as part of Phase 3, but your Implementation Manager can explain them to you, using your actual company structure as an example, if you're struggling.
Authoriser Self-Selection and Fast Tracking
If a manager is raising a Vacancy or Offer and they are also an Authoriser, and would typically authorise a Vacancy or Offer of this type, having Self-Selection selected within the workflow would allow that manager to select themselves as the authoriser for the relevant stage, but the Vacancy or Offer would first have to go through all earlier stages of authorisation before they'll be able to carry out their authorisation step.
If you'd like the authoriser to be able to skip all earlier authorisation stages, you'll need to select fast-tracking within the workflow. This setting also allows the manager to select themselves as the authoriser for the appropriate stage.
The best way to illustrate these two options is with an example.
Let's assume an authorisation workflow is made up of 3 stages - Area Manager, Finance Manager and Director. If any of those managers are raising a vacancy or offer and you haven't selected Self-Selection on the workflow, they will not be able to authorise it - they'll need to select someone different, which could prove challenging if there is only one Finance Manager in the organisation. If the person raising the Vacancy or Offer is the Director, with self-selection ticked, they will need to wait for the Area and Finance managers to approve the requisition before they can provide their own approval. However, if you have ticked Fast-Tracking, as soon as the Director has raised the Vacancy or Offer, not only will they be able to select themselves as the Authoriser, but they will also be able to authorise it straight away, skipping the Area and Finance manager approval stages.
What emails do you want to send and when?
Each step (status) in your Authorisation Workflow brings with it the opportunity to send an automated email to someone - that could be the main Hiring Manager (the Contact), any Hiring Manager associated with the Vacancy, the Authoriser, a Core System User, even someone outside of the system.
So as part of your planning process you'll need to decide when an automated email should be sent and to whom, but also you'll need to consider the content of the email.
In the case of an email to the Authoriser, you'll want to make sure the email contains enough information for them to do what they need to do - that might be a couple of bits of high-level information, such as the Hiring Manager's details, vacancy title and salary information; or you might want to include must more information about the vacancy in the email, including things like the reason for hire and full job description.
If the email is going outside of the system, to the IT Team, for example, you'll need to consider where the details you'll be sending them will be coming from. Have you added questions to the Vacancy Requisition form relating to whether the job comes with a Laptop and Mobile Phone? If so, that detail can be automatically included within the email using Merge Fields.
I'm still not sure what I need to do - are there any examples I can see?
Most certainly.
You'll be able to find examples of the four authorisation workflows described above in your Demo system.
If you'd like to see how they're constructed, log in to the Core system and look to the blue bar - navigate to Admin > Authorisation Workflows, then click on the name of the workflow itself.
Tip Authorisation Workflows is the second topic of the Customer Configuration Part 1 webinar and we'll be looking in detail at how they work, discussing how to make changes to them, and we'll show them in action via the Hiring Manager Portal.