Approvals

Several FMX modules can require sign-off before a request proceeds: work requests, schedule requests, purchase orders, and transportation requests. They all share the same underlying idea — an approval line made of ordered tiers — configured by administrators in Admin Settings.

Lines and tiers

An approval line is a sequence of tiers, and each tier names who can satisfy it — usually a user type ("Maintenance Director"), and for purchase orders optionally a specific person. A tier can list alternatives ("Principal or Assistant Principal"); any one of them satisfies it. When every tier has approved, the request moves on; a decline stops it and marks it Declined.

Approvers don't need to watch a queue: the Needs my approval notification subscription tells them when a request reaches them, and the request shows who it's waiting on ("Pending my approval", "Pending Dana's approval"). Approvers act with the Approve and Decline buttons; work requests and schedule requests also support approving in bulk.

Module differences

• Work requests — the Approval order can be set on the module, overridden per request type, and overridden again per building. Whether a submission needs approval at all depends on the submitter: Requires approval is set per user type, per module, so a director's requests can skip the approval a teacher's requests go through.
• Schedule requests — two lines: a Standard approval order and an After hours approval order, applied based on when the event is scheduled. If your organization turns on Enforce approval order hierarchy, tiers must approve strictly in order — no skipping ahead — except for user types explicitly allowed to override the order.
• Purchase orders — an Approve by setting chooses User Type or Supervisor mode. In User Type mode each tier carries a grand-total cutoff amount (in increasing order), so small orders stop at the first tier and large ones climb the whole line. In Supervisor mode, the line is built from the requester's supervisor chain.
• Transportation requests — a single approval line, set for the organization or per building.

Building overrides

Where per-building configuration exists, the building's approval process overrides the organization's — useful when one campus needs an extra sign-off the others don't.

Skipping the line

If the person submitting a request has approve permission themselves, FMX approves it automatically on submission — approvers aren't asked to approve their own work.

A worked example

A district sets its schedule request approval line to two tiers: Building Secretary, then Athletic Director, with Enforce approval order hierarchy on. A coach books the gym for a Saturday tournament. The building secretary gets a "needs my approval" email, reviews the setup needs, and approves; only then does it reach the athletic director, who approves from the request itself. If the athletic director had tried to approve first, FMX would have held the request at tier one.