[Nicky1596 's Blog] How does the Approval workflow work?
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How does the Approval workflow work?
The Approval workflow supports business processes that involve sending a document or item to colleagues or managers for approval. The Approval workflow makes an approval business process more efficient by managing and tracking all of the human tasks involved with the process and by providing a record of the process after it is completed.
If workflows are available, you can start an Approval workflow directly from a document or item in a list or library. To start a workflow, you select the workflow that you want to use, and then you fill out a workflow initiation form that specifies the workflow participants (approvers), a due date, and any relevant task instructions. After a workflow starts, the server assigns tasks to all participants. If e-mail alerts are enabled for the server, the server also sends e-mail alerts to all participants. Participants can click a link in the e-mail task alert to open the document or item to be approved. Participants can choose to approve, reject, or reassign their approval tasks. They can also request a change to the document or item to be approved. Participants have the option of completing their workflow tasks from either the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web site or from directly within certain programs that are part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. While the workflow is in progress, the workflow owner or the workflow participants can view the Workflow Status page to see which participants have completed their workflow tasks. When the workflow participants complete their workflow tasks, the workflow ends, and the workflow owner is automatically notified that the workflow is complete.
By default, the Approval workflow is associated with the Document content type and it is thus automatically available in document libraries. The default Approval workflow for document libraries is a serial workflow, in which tasks are assigned to participants one at a time. A version of the Approval workflow is also associated by default with Pages libraries in a publishing site, and the workflow can be used to manage the approval process for the publication of Web pages. You can customize these preassociated versions of the Approval workflow to meet the needs of your organization, or you can add a completely new version of the Approval workflow to a list, library, or content type.
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Posted By nicky1596 to Nicky1596 's Blog on 10/12/2011 10:40:00 AM