Managing the approval of documents by multiple users can be a difficult task. JobOrder offers a powerful business process to handle document approvals. Here is an outline of the steps to do this.
1. Set email preferences
Go to System Preferences - Email Sending & Receiving.
a. In order to send and receive emails in JobOrder, you need to check the boxes “Start Email Sending Services” and “Start Email Receiving Services”, as shown in figure 1.
b. Next, click the “Edit Email Account Settings” button to display the Email Account settings dialog so you can define the email accounts to be used for sending and receiving (see figure 2)
Figure 2
c. The top section, Outbound email settings, is for filling out the information for your SMTP server, used for sending emails out of JobOrder.
i. From Address – this is the email address JobOrder will use to send its emails
ii. Account ID – this is the account name JobOrder will use to log onto the SMTP server, generally matching the first part of the ‘From Address’
iii. Server – this is the address of your SMTP server. It can be in DNS format (ie ‘mail.myhost.com’) or in TCP/IP address format (ie 192.168.1.200)
iv. Password – this is the password for the SMTP server account
v. Email attachment limit – many email servers impose a limit on how large an email can be. This size limit includes both the body of the email, all headers, and any attachments included with the email. This needs to be set in order to help reduce the number of failed emails that JobOrder attempts to send because the attachments are too large.
vi. SMTP Server requires authentication – this is a special setting that may or may not be required by your mail server. Ask your email administrator if you’re unsure.
vii. Send Test Email - use this button to test the settings you’ve entered by sending an email to someone (generally yourself so you can check it immediately)
d. The bottom section, Inbound email settings, is for the email address used by JobOrder to receive emails for automatic processes. This should be an email dedicated to this purpose so that email replies don’t get lost.
i. Reply-to Address – this is the address to which email replies will be sent. This can sometimes be different from the actual account id used for retrieving your email.
ii. Account ID – this is the account name used to log onto the specified POP or IMAP server for downloading emails.
iii. Server – this is the DNS name or TCP/IP address of the POP or IMAP server being used to receive messages.
iv. Password – this is the password for the account.
v. Protocol – this is the email receiving protocol to be used for downloading messages. POP, or Post Office Protocol, is designed to dowload messages and delete them after downloading. IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol, is designed to leave the messages on the server to allow access from multiple locations.
1. See http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/tips/protocol.html for a good description of the differences between IMAP and POP.
vi. TCP Port – this is the port used to communicate with the IMAP or POP server. When choosing the Protocol above, the default port for that protocol will be set here. In exceptional cases, non-standard TCP ports are used by mail servers as an extra security measure.
vii. Test Login – click this button to try logging into the email account specified by the above settings. JobOrder will simply attempt to connect to the server and log out without actually downloading any messages.
2. Set Documentation handling preferences
Figure 3
Go to System Preferences - Documentation (see figure 3)
a. If multiple people need to approve a particular piece of Documentation in order for it to be considered approved, select “Approvals are by Workgroup”.
1. If selected, the Approvals tab in Documentation will have a list of the approvers with appropriate controls for adding them from Vendor Contacts, Organization Contacts, and Staff Resources for Internal Approval.
2. If not selected, the Approvals tab in Documentation will have sections for choosing a single Vendor Contact, a single Organization Contact, or a single Staff Resource for Internal approval.
b. Choose the path to the folder where all Attachments are to be stored.
i. When running in a Client/Server environment, you will be navigating the disk drive(s) attached to the SERVER, not the CLIENT machine on which you are currently operating.
1. The SERVER handles the storage and all future access to the Attachments.
2. If a network volume is to be used, it needs to be accessible to the SERVER, not all the individual CLIENT machines connecting to the server.
ii. Keep in mind that these Attachments are also used in other areas such as Contracts, Emails, Email Requests, Invoices, Requisitions, Resources, Priorities, and Estimates. JobOrder organizes each of the types of Attachments based on the area name, and then the internal sequence number within that area.
1. In other words, all Attachments for Estimate #7392 will be stored in a folder hierarchy as follows
a. Attachments - Estimates - 7392
b. In order to avoid potential file name conflicts, all files are stored in the folder using a date/time stamp. JobOrder handles the translation automatically.
c. Set the Letters to be used for the emails being sent out
i. Approval Request Letter – this is the letter in the Letters area which is used as the body of the email sent to the approver (or list of Approvers when using Workgroups)
1. In order to be used as an Approval Request Letter to which a reply can be sent to JobOrder and properly processed, the body of the Letter must contain one or more of the following lines
a. [ ] Approved
i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Approve” the files attached to the email.
ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the word “Approved” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved” are ignored.
iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.
b. [ ] Approved with changes
i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Approve with Changes” the files attached to the email.
1. This item is intended to specify that changes have been made to any files returned with the reply.
ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the phrase “Approved with Changes” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved with Changes” are ignored.
iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.
c. [ ] Rejected
i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Reject” the files attached to the email.
ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the phrase “Approved with Changes” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved with Changes” are ignored.
iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.
2. Text just before comments – this is a specific phrase contained in the Approval Request Letter which is used to show where freeform comments may be entered in the reply to the email.
a. Comments may also be simply entered at the beginning of the email reply. Specific phrases automatically inserted by common email applications (Outlook, Outlook Express, Mail.app, Eudora, Entourage) are used to find the end of the comments at the top of the email reply
3. Text just after end of comments – this is a specific phrase in the Approval Request Letter which is used to mark the end of the freeform comments area.
a. It should be located AFTER the ‘Text just before comments”. If not found after the ‘Text just before comments”, the comments will end up being ignored.
ii. Confirmation Letter – this is a Letter sent in response to a received Approval Request email to let the approver/rejecter know that the email was received.
1. Leave this blank if you do not want to send out these confirmations. Depending on the amount of emails going in and out of JobOrder, sending this email can become an annoyance to the Approvers.
iii. CC: Recipient Letter – this is a Letter that gets sent to any people included in the CC: list of a Documentation letter.
1. This Letter should not contain the lines for approving or rejecting the Documentation. The CC: recipients are meant to be people who receive the attachments as an FYI type of courtesy.
3. Check Security Access for Jobs
a. Check your Security Access records to be sure that the Documentation page in Jobs (see figure 4) allows the Documentation page to be seen either in the list of Related Areas or, preferably, as a tab on the Jobs page.
Figure 4
4. Add desired Notification Rules
a. The following Notification Rules are available for assisting in the Documentation workflow
i. Job Documentation has been approved or rejected for…
1. This rule creates a message for the JobOrder Message Center to let specified Resources know when an Approval or Rejection email reply has been received and processed by JobOrder.
2. Messages created by this rule are also emailed to the specified Resources whose Personal Preferences specify to send Notifications as email.
ii. Documentation Approval Reply Received after Completion…
1. This rule creates a message for the JobOrder Message Center to let specified Resources know when an Approver has emailed a reply AFTER the Documentation record itself has been marked with a Completion Date
2. Messages created by this rule are also emailed to the specified Resources whose Personal Preferences specify to send Notifications as email.
5. Add Documentation Records to Jobs
a. Modify a Job and switch to the Documentation tab (or Related Areas tab with Documentation selected). See Figure 5.
i. The list in Figure 5 shows
1. Documentation records sent out to the Approver(s) in black text.
2. Documentation Approval Requests returned by Approvers in Magenta text if the reply contained attachments.
a. The name of the Documentation Item is the root of the original that was emailed out with the name of the Approver appended for easy grouping.
b. These records differ from the originals in that they do not allow for approval requests. They are there for storage and historical trail.
3. Create Next Revision
a. Use this button to duplicate the Documentation record currently selected in the list, adding an appropriate revision number to show that it’s based on the record being duplicated.
4. Create a Document for each Activity
a. Use this button to automatically create a Documentation record for each Activity in the Job Overview. Revision number 1.00 is automatically added to signify it’s the first revision of the Documentation associated with the Activity.
5. Clear all
a. Deletes all the Documentation records, their Attachments, and Documentation Approvals
ii. Add a Documentation Record
Figure 6
1. In Figure 6, we see that the General Information for a Documentation Record
a. Item
i. the descriptive name of the Documentation
b. Job Name
i. the name of the Job to which the Document is associated. This is for information only here.
c. Description and Location
i. notes on where the physical Document is located, if it is not in the list of Attachments.
d. Comments
i. Freeform comments regarding the Document.
e. Activity to complete automatically after Approval
i. If this Document is associated with an Activity, this field specifies the next Activity which is marked as complete if this Documentation is approved.
ii. If this Activity has a Simple Dependency, the Dependent Activity will be automatically set to start on the same date as the Activity being marked as Completed. The entire Dependency chain will be traversed and updated accordingly.
f. Activity to start automatically after Approval
i. If this Document is Approved, you can specify an Activity whose Scheduled Start date will be set to the date of the Approval.
ii. If Simple Dependencies are specified for the Activities, DO NOT USE THIS FIELD. Simply setting the “Activity to complete automatically after Approval” will take care of this
g. Scheduled Creation
i. This is the date you expect the Documentation record to be created
ii. Mostly important when the Documentation records are tied to actual Activities in the Job Overview (the Item name matches the Activity name)
h. Scheduled Completion
i. Used to show the expected completion date on calendars and timelines so that the workflow can be more easily managed.
ii. Matches the Activity Scheduled Completion date where applicable.
i. Actual Creation
i. Used when Routings are involved. Currently inactive.
j. Actual Completion
i. The date the Document is completed and no longer used.
k. Attachments
i. Add Folder
1. Used to add all the files in a selected folder on your hard drive (or any mounted network volumes)
ii. Launch selected Attachment
1. Downloads the attachment from the server and tells your computer to open it. This requires the computer to recognize the file creator or extension automatically.
a. When attached from a MacOS computer, the file creator and file type are stored in fields of the Attachment record in order to aid in this.
b. When attached from a Windows computer, the extension of the file name is used. The Windows registry of the computer launching the file would need to know how to handle the document based on its extension.
c. If a MacOS computer is opening a file attached by a Windows computer, the extension may or may not be recognized and handled automatically. Likewise when opening a file Windows that was attached by a MacOS computer.
2. Documentation Approvals by Workgroup. See Figure 7.
a. Select a Letter for ‘Approval Request’
i. Allows you to choose a Letter to be used for this Documentation Approval Request.
ii. The selected Letter overrides any Letter currently set in System Preferences - Documentation.
iii. Leave this blank to use the one in System Preferences
b. Approvals
i. This is a list of people who will be sent emails requesting their Approval or Rejection
1. Mail merges the Letter specified above or the one in System Preferences
ii. Add Approvers using controls along the right of the list
c. Add Approvers
i. Use the controls to add whole workgroups of Contacts, or individual Staff members or Contacts.
1. Only those Staff Resources and Contacts with email addresses can be added.
ii. Choose Staff
1. Choose a Resource of type Staff to be added to the list of Approvers
iii. Add Workgroup Members
1. Presents a dialog of all Keywords used in the Contacts area which begin with the word “Workgroup”
a. Choose a Workgroup from this list to get a list of all Contacts (from both Vendors and Organizations) which use the selected Keyword
b. Accept the list of Contacts to have them added to the list of Approvers
c. Cancel the list of Contacts to return to the list of Workgroup keywords and select a different Workgroup.
i. This loop can be repeated as many times as necessary to get to the correct Workgroup
2. Choose by Organization
a. Select an Organization (by name or id depending on System Preferences) to get a list of Contacts at that Organization
b. Then select the Contact at that Organization to add him/her to the list of Approvers
3. Choose by Vendor
a. Select a Vendor (by name or id depending on System Preferences) to get a list of Contacts at that Vendor
b. Then select the Contact at that Vendor to add him/her to the list of Approvers
d. Email Request
i. Sends the approval request emails to the list of Approvers
ii. Marks the “Request Sent” date of each record
1. As each Approver replies to the email sent, the appropriate fields for “Request Returned” and “Approved On” or “Rejected On” will be marked.
a. If attachments are returned with the reply, a new Documentation record is created to store the returned attachments. The name of this Documentation item will be that of the current Documentation record + the Approver’s name.
i. These Documentation records will not have an Approvals page
e. Send to Submitter
i. Send Selected Approval
1. Select an Approval in this list and an email will be sent to the submitter indicated in the Job Record to show the submitter the status of that Approver’s reply
ii. Send All Approvals
1. The submitter gets a list of the Approvers showing the dates the request was sent, returned, approved, rejected, etc, as well as any attachments returned and any comments from the email.
Figure 7
3. Documentation Approvals (by an Individual)
a. To be documented in the future.
4. Archival Information
Figure 8
a. Storage Archive ID
i. The storage identifying information used to locate the hard copy
b. Storage Location
i. Where the hard copy is located
c. Storage Medium
i. The type of medium on which the hard copy is stored
d. Date to retain until
i. Date when the hard copy can be destroyed
e. Date destroyed
i. Date the hard copy of the Documentation was destroyed
f. Approval page displayed
i. The type of Approval being used
1. Workgroup
2. Individual
g. Created by
i. The Resource who created the Documentation record
h. Sequence #
i. The JobOrder internal sequence number of the record
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