Using CA Service Catalog for Administrators › Approval and Rejection of Multiple Items Simultaneously

Approval and Rejection of Multiple Items Simultaneously

Multi-item approval lets request managers process requests quickly and efficiently, especially when they are already familiar with the requests. Catalog administrators can optionally implement multi-item approval so that request managers can approve and reject multiple items in a request simultaneously, as follows:

• Multi-item approval lets request managers approve or reject multiple services in a request simultaneously, as follows: Request managers access their requests pending action, select the services that they want to act on (or select All), and click Approve or Reject. (Multi-item approval provides this ability regardless of whether discrete approval is implemented.)

  Without multi-item approval, request managers must approve or reject every service individually by updating its status in the Status drop-down list.

• If discrete approval is implemented, multi-item approval lets request managers approve or reject multiple service options in a service simultaneously, as follows: Request managers access their requests pending action and open the services. In each service, they select the service options that they want to act on (or select All), and click Approve or Reject.

  Multi-item approval enhances discrete approval by letting request managers approve or reject all or many service options with a single click. If discrete approval is implemented without multi-item approval, request managers can approve or reject each service option individually by updating its status in the Status drop-down list.

The benefits of multi-item approval are more pronounced as the number of services or service options in a request increases. Multi-item approval is especially helpful for mobile users, who have limited space and typically have limited time.

How to Implement Approval and Rejection of Multiple Items Simultaneously

To implement multi-item approval, follow this process:

1. Click Catalog, Configuration, Request Management, and verify that the following option is enabled: Allow Multi Service/Service Option Approval.
2. Verify whether you have implemented discrete approval.
3. Inform request managers of the new approval option for your implementation:
   • Multi-item approval only
   • Multi-item approval and discrete approval
4. Test the approval process to verify that multi-item approval functions as you intended.

Requests with Multiple Approval or Rejection Statuses

The default statuses of the request life cycle include these statuses: Approved and Rejected. When request managers approve or reject a service option or service as described earlier in this topic, the status of the item changes accordingly. The changed status is displayed to request managers before they confirm their approval or rejection of services or service options. If an approval or rejection results in a change to one of these default statuses, the Catalog system highlights the service or option in green.

Catalog administrators can optionally create custom approval and rejection statuses, such as Approved - Manager, Approved - Finance, Rejected - No Budget, and so forth.

Note: To define custom statuses, edit the requeststatus.xml file. For details, see the Implementation Guide.

If one or more custom statuses exist for this service or service option, the Catalog system performs the following actions:

• Displays an informational message that multiple statuses exist.
• Selects the first custom status defined in requeststatus.xml file.
• Highlights the service or option in orange.

For all status changes (custom or default), before confirming the approval or rejection, request managers can choose one of these options:

• Accept the status changes
• Update one or more statuses, for example, from a custom status to a default status

Services or options that are not selected are not highlighted and do not change status. They remain as pending items in the request until they are either approved or rejected.