A route is a sequence of users whose approval is required for users to perform a certain action. Routes are required for approval rules. For details about how approval rules are constructed, see Approval Rules.

Routes may have multiple stops, which define the order in which the approval is sent to each user whose approval is required. The members of a route may approve or reject the attempted operation, reassign it to another user, or even edit items in a workflow that are still pending approval. Note: Editing items pending approval in workflow is only available in TC 4.0.8 and later.

Members of a route may include:

•User groups

•Users who have a certain role in a project record

•Other users who are identified by association

If a route is associated with all objects, only the first choice (user groups) is available when creating stops. The choices for users with roles, or users identified by association, are available for routes that are linked to one specific object type.

If the sequence of approval is important, the stops must be separate. Otherwise, all members may be in the same stop.

For example, to create a route that requires approval from a transaction attorney and a supervisor before an invoice payment over $10,000 is posted, you would need an approval rule that checks whether an invoice being posted is for more than $10,000. If only one person must approve the posting, then the route would need only one stop with all members.

If, however, the invoice may only be posted after a transaction attorney and a supervisor both approve the posting, in that order, then the route would contain two stops. The first stop would send the approval to the transaction attorney. If the transaction attorney approves the posting, the approval would then be sent to the supervisor.

You may also define multiple branches (with the same rule) for the same operation when the levels of authority to approve differ depending on the qualifiers that trigger the approval rule. This is because it is impossible to have an approval finish part of the way through the route. It must finish the route before it is approved.

For example, for invoice posting approval:

•Up to $5,000: the Main Assignee's approval is sufficient.

•More than $5,000, but less than $20,000: the Main Assignee and the supervisor must approve the posting.

•More than $20,000: the first two individuals and the vice president must all approve the posting.