How to Manage Ideas › The Idea Approval Process

The Idea Approval Process

The Idea Approval process is an out-of-the-box CA Clarity PPM idea management process. As a process administrator or manager, the idea approval process helps you to manage the submission, review, approval, and rejection of ideas. By default, this process is not active. The CA Clarity PPM process administrator activates it before the idea approval process can be started. You can customize a process using additional business rules.

Note: You can only have access to one Idea Approval process at any given time. The process administrator cannot grant access to more than one Idea Approval process. Otherwise, an error occurs when you click Submit for Approval.

Automated idea processes move the idea through a workflow. The following steps summarize the process:

1. An instance of Idea Approval process is created automatically each time a user creates an idea. A new idea has an Unapproved status.
2. The approval process sends notifications for each action item or step to designated recipients. The process locks the idea status for the duration of the approval process and does not allow anyone to change the idea status manually.
3. When a user submits a proposed idea for approval, and all required information is complete, the idea status changes to Submitted for Approval.
4. An action item is sent to each reviewer that has the right to approve the idea. The action item requests that the approver review and approve the idea.
5. The reviewer examines the idea. The idea can be approved, rejected, or set to incomplete to request additional information from the original person making the request.
6. Incomplete ideas can be resubmitted. When a user resubmits an idea, its status is set to Submitted and it returns to the start of the process.
7. When an idea is approved, you can convert it into any project, service, or investment to which you have the rights to create.
8. Another action item notification is sent to the original author of the idea when it is approved or rejected.
9. The process terminates only when you approve, reject, or delete the idea.

Note: As multiple users can have the right to approve the idea, contradictory responses could get recorded. For example, one reviewer approves the idea and another rejects it before the background process engine cycles. In this case, the outstanding action items are closed, if any, and new copies of the same action item are sent. The new action item states that contradictory responses are received.