The Approval - Group activity creates approval records for each member of a specified group.

Note: This activity is only available when the workflow runs on a table that extends Task.

The group approval is approved or rejected based on the user approvals, according to the logic specified in the Wait For field.

Results

The workflow designer can assign a result value using activity.result from within a script field of the activity. By default, the result value is the final approval disposition. This disposition depends on the approval actions take by the approvers and the approval conditions specified in the Wait for or When Anyone Rejects fields. Possible result values are:
  • Approved
  • Rejected
  • Deleted
  • Cancelled

Input variables

Input variables determine the initial behavior of the activity.

Table 1. Approval - Group activity input variables
Field Description
Approval - Group When

Specify when this activity generates a group approval record.
Condition Conditions which, if met, cause the group approval to be generated. If the conditions are not met, the approval is skipped.
Approval - Group Approvers

Specify the groups whose approval will be requested.
Groups The groups whose approval will be requested.

To edit this field, click the lock icon. To select specific groups by name, use the lookup list. To select groups from field values on the current record at runtime, click the tree icon.

Each member of the group will be assigned an individual approval record.

If no group is selected, the activity automatically sets the approval to Approved.
Approval - Group Condition

Specify how the activity decides to approve or reject the group approval, based on the responses from individual members of the group.
Wait for
A choice between different approval logics to determine which individual approvals or rejections result in approval or rejection of the activity's approval. Options are:
  • An approval from each group: Any user from each group can approve and the first approval from each group causes the activity to complete with a result of approved (see below for how a rejection is handled).
  • An approval from any group: Any user from any group can approve and the first approval from any group causes the activity to complete with a result of approved.
  • An approval from everyone from all groups: All users from all groups must approve to cause the activity to complete with a result of approved (see below for how a rejection is handled).
  • First response from each group: The first approval or rejection from any user in each group is used to indicate the state of the group approval (see below for how a rejection is handled).

    Indicate what happens when any user rejects their approval request. Options are:

  • Reject the approval: Immediately complete the activity with a result of rejected.
  • First response from any group: The first approval or rejection from any user in any group causes the activity to complete with a result of approved or rejected.
  • Condition based on script: Each time a user approves or rejects, the Approval script is called to determine if the activity should complete.
Approval script

Only appears when Wait for is set to Condition based on script.

If the Wait for variable is set to Condition based on script this script is called to determine how to handle an approval or rejection. The script needs to set the variable answer to approved or rejected to indicate the overall status for this approval.

This script is responsible for setting the approval state for each group that is part of this approval activity before returning the overall approval state for all of the groups.

When called, the following variables are available to the script for all the groups that are part of this approval activity:

counts.total = total number of groups that are part of this approval
                  counts.approved = # of groups that approved so far
                  counts.rejected = # of groups that rejected so far
                  counts.requested = # of groups that are pending approval
                  counts.not_requested = # of groups that are not pending approval
                  counts.not_required = # of groups that approval is not required
And for each group:
groups[group_id].total = total number of users that are part of this group's approval
                    groups[group_id].approved = # of users that approved so far
                    groups[group_id].rejected = # of users that rejected so far
                    groups[group_id].requested = # of users that are pending approval
                    groups[group_id].not_requested = # of users that are not pending approval
                    groups[group_id].not_required = # of users that approval is not required
                    groups[group_id].approvalIDs[state] = array of user ids that are at the specified approval state
Note: Iterate the groups using:
for (var id in groups) {
                    var group = groups[id];
                    ... group.total ...
                    }
Note: Get group object using the following code (to get things like the group name being iterated on):
var objGroup = fncGetGroupObj(id);
                    var strGroupName = objGroup.name;
                    
                    function fncGetGroupObj(sidGroupApproval)
                    {
                    var objGroupApproval = new GlideRecord('sysapproval_group');
                    objGroupApproval.get(sidGroupApproval);
                    
                    var objGroup = new GlideRecord('sys_user_group');
                    objGroup.get(objGroupApproval.assignment_group.sys_id);
                    
                    return objGroup;
                    }
Approval scripts also allow computations. For example, if only half of the approvals are required:
if (counts.approved/counts.total > .49) {
                    answer = 'approved';
                    }
                    else if (counts.rejected/counts.total > .50) {
                    answer = 'rejected';
                    }
When anyone rejects
A choice between different approval logics to determine which individual rejections result in rejection of the activity's approval. Options are:
  • Reject the approval: Immediately complete the activity with a result of rejected.
  • Wait for other responses before deciding: Wait until we get other responses before making an approval or rejection decision. This allows users to change their mind until a decision is made.
Note: If Wait for is set to Anyone to approve, then a single approval causes the activity to complete with a result of approved, even if one or more users reject.
Approval - Group Schedule

Specify how workflow calculates the approval record's expected start date and due date. Once you've made a selection for 'Due date based on', and 'Schedule based on', the appropriate fields will display.
Due date based on Select how workflow determines the task's duration, due date, and schedule.
  • A user specified duration: The duration is based on a user specified value.
  • A relative duration: The duration is calculated from a relative duration (such as End of Next Business Day).
  • A date/time or duration field: The duration is based on the value of a field on the current record.
  • Script: The duration is returned by a script.
Duration

Only appears when Due date based on is set to A user specified duration

 The specific number of days and hours.
Relative duration

Only appears when Due date based on is set to A relative duration

 The general number and length of business days.
Due date field

Only appears when Due date based on is set to A date/time or duration field

 The date/time or duration field.
Due date script

Only appears when Due date based on is set to Script

 The script that sets 'answer' to the number of seconds for the duration.
Schedule based on The basic schedule the timer uses to count working hours. If a schedule is specified, the duration will only be considered for times that are specified on the schedule. For example, if the duration is 2 hours and the workflow begins at 4:00pm on a schedule that is 8am - 5pm, then it ends at 9:00am the next day. The options are:
  • This workflow's schedule: The schedule uses workflow context date, time, and an optional Time zone based on value.
  • A specific schedule: The schedule uses a pre-defined Schedule and an optional Time zone based on value.
  • A schedule field: The schedule uses a value from a table and an optional Time zone based on value.
Schedule

Only appears when Schedule based on is set to A specific schedule

 The predefined Schedule from a list.
Schedule field

Only appears when Schedule based on is set to A schedule field.

 A date and time or duration field for the schedule, that is associated with the table. Valid fields appear in blue on the Select the element from a tree dialog.
Time zone based on The time zone for calculating the duration. The time zone may be based on:
  • No time zone: Default. Workflow uses the GMT time zone.
  • A specific time zone: A specific Time zone that you choose from a choice list.
  • A time zone field: A Time zone field to track time duration from a field on the form.
Time zone

Only appears when Time zone based on is set to A specific time zone

.		 Select the time zone you want from the choice list.
Time zone field

Only appears when Time zone based on is set to A time zone field.

 A date and time or duration field for the schedule, that is associated with the table. Valid fields appear in blue on the Select the element from a tree dialog.
Approval - Advanced

If desired, write a script for determining additional users to request approvals from.
Advanced Select this check box to write a script for determining additional users to request approvals from. Use the Additional groups script to customize group approvals.
Additional groups script
If the Advanced check box is selected, this script is called to determine any additional group approvals to be created. The script needs to set the variable answer to a comma-separated list of group ids or an array of group ids to add as approver groups. For example:
answer = [];
       answer.push('id1');
       answer.push('id2');

Conditions

The following conditions determine which transition runs after this activity.
Note: Approval activities run as the user whose actions match the approve or reject conditions the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.
Table 2. Approval - Group activity conditions
ConditionDescription
Approved The users from the groups have approved the request based on the Wait for rules.
Rejected The users from the groups have rejected the request based on the Wait for rules.
Error The event or condition that generates an error.
Skipped The event or condition that allows a skipped approval.

States

The activity state tells the workflow engine what to do with the activity.
Table 3. Approval - Group activity states
StateDescription
Executing The workflow engine starts the execute function of the activity.
Waiting The workflow engine ignores the activity until a specific event to restart the activity is fired.
Finished The activity finished running. See the result value for the outcome of the activity.
Cancelled This activity, or the workflow that contains this activity, was canceled.
Error A JavaScript error occurred. Review the logs for error details.