Configuring the Approval Process

Align enables administrators to add or remove steps to the Territory Feedback approval process, as well as control which roles have access to which actions at each step. The Territory Feedback approval process consists of the following components:

  • Lifecycle States
  • User Actions
  • The Approval Process Matrix
  • Approval Rules

Lifecycle States

Administrators can create and manage lifecycle states for the Territory Feedback process, enabling greater control over the steps needed to plan and execute the process. The following lifecycle states are available out-of-the-box:

  • Draft
  • Feedback
  • Manager Review
  • Territory Feedback Complete
  • Approved
  • Published

To manage lifecycle states or create new lifecycle states:

  1. Navigate to the Admin tab.
  2. Select the Configuration page.
  3. Select Object Lifecycles.
  4. Select Territory Model Lifecycle.
  5. Create all appropriate lifecycle states by selecting the Create button in the States section.
  6. Add all appropriate application roles by selecting the + button in the Roles section. This allows administrators to control which actions are available to an application role during each lifecycle state.

User Actions

User actions in a lifecycle state controls what actions are available to various application roles. The following user actions are available out-of-the-box:

  • View – The associated role can view the Territory Feedback
  • Challenge – The associated role can log challenges in Territory Feedback
  • Review – The associated role can approve or reject challenges. Veeva recommends only granting manager roles access to this action.
  • Change State to Manager Review – Reps can submit their feedback to their manager. It is available to Field Reps by default during the Feedback lifecycle state.
  • Change State to Territory Feedback – Managers can send a territory model to the Feedback lifecycle state. It is available to managers by default during the Manager Review lifecycle state.
  • Change State to Territory Feedback Complete – Managers can send a territory model to the Territory Feedback Complete state. It is available to managers by default during the Manager Review lifecycle state.

These actions are available in the Feedback and Manager Review lifecycle states by default.

To create and assign a user action that alters the project’s lifecycle:

  1. Select the appropriate lifecycle state from the list of states.
  2. Select Edit in the User Actions section.
  3. Select the Add Action button.
  4. Select Change State to from the drop-down menu.
  5. Select the appropriate state from the drop-down menu.
  6. Enter the Action Label.
  7. Repeat steps 3-6 to create all desired actions in the lifecycle state.
  8. Select Save.
  9. Select Edit in the Atomic Security: Actions section.
  10. Select the Role Override button.
  11. Add all appropriate application roles by selecting the + button.

    Only roles added to the Object Lifecycle display in this menu.

  12. Populate the drop-down menu for each action and grant the appropriate access to each role.
  13. Select Save.

See Creating User Actions for more information.

The Approval Process Matrix

The approval matrix enables administrators to assign application roles to different levels of the territory hierarchy. This determines what actions are available to each user during the feedback lifecycle.

For example, if the District territory hierarchy level is assigned to the Manager application role, all district managers have the permissions granted to that application role. If the Manager application role has access to the View user action during the Feedback state, and the Review user action during the Manager Review state, then all managers can view territory models undergoing rep feedback, and then approve or reject changes once the territory model is ready for manager review.

  1. Navigate to the Modeling tab.
  2. Select the appropriate project.
  3. Select the appropriate field force model.
  4. Select the Gear icon.
  5. Select Manage Approval Process.

In the Manage Approval Process section, users can add additional layers of approval:

  1. Select the Add Row button to add a blank row to the Mass Add table.
  2. Populate the Hierarchy Level and Application Role fields. See Application Roles for more information.

The Actions per Role and Lifecycle State section displays the complete approval process as a matrix in the following format:

Application Role Lifecycle State 1 Lifecycle State 2
Role 1 List of actions Role 1 can take while in Lifecycle State 1 List of actions Role 1 can take while in Lifecycle State 2
Role 2 List of actions Role 2 can take while in Lifecycle State 1 List of actions Role 2 can take while in Lifecycle State 2

Approval Rules

Approval Rules can be configured to automatically reject or accept challenges meeting certain criteria to streamline the Territory Feedback process.

For example, managers may want to automatically approve any interaction goal change for Segment A doctors between 4 and 8 face-to-face visits, but automatically reject setting the goal to 0. Any goal between 0 and 3 is not automatically approved or rejected, and must be reviewed by the manager approval.

To create a new Approval Rule:

  1. Navigate to the Modeling tab.
  2. Select the appropriate project.
  3. Select the Model Field Force.
  4. Select Create from the Approval Rules related list.
  5. Enter the following information:
  • Name
  • Rule Type – Select one of two rule types:
  • Approval – A challenge meeting this rule’s criteria is approved
  • Rejected – A challenge meeting this rule’s criteria is rejected
  • Assignment Type – Defines the type of challenge the rule checks:
  • Request to Keep
  • Request to Remove
  • Add Account
  • Add Target
  • Remove Target
  • Edit Goals

    Only one Approval Rule can be created for each Rule Type and Assignment Type combination.

  1. Enter the criteria that cause a match on the rule:

  • Object – Supported objects are:
  • account__aln
  • product_metric__aln
  • mc_cycle_plan_target__aln
  • mc_cycle_plan_channel__aln
  • mc_cycle_plan_product__aln
  • territory_model__aln
  • mc_cycle_plan__aln
  • Field
  • Operator
  • Value
  • Field Logic Filter
  1. Enter the Message to display to users when this rule matches. This is only recommended for Rejected type rules.
  2. Select Save.

Example: Adding Regional Manager Reviews

Territory Feedback features default Lifecycle States and User Actions out-of-the-box. Additional steps in the feedback process can be added as needed. For example, the out-of-the-box workflow supports rep feedback, followed by first-line manager review.

To create an additional step for the Regional Manager Review after the first-line manager review:

Create a new application role for regional managers:

  1. Navigate to the Admin tab.
  2. Select the Users & Groups page.
  3. Select the Application Roles tab.
  4. Selecting the Create button.
  5. Populate all required fields.
  6. Select Save.
  7. Navigate to the Admin tab.
  8. Select the Configuration page.
  9. Select Object Lifecycles.
  10. Select Territory Model Lifecycle.
  11. Navigate to the Roles section.
  12. Select the + icon and add the Regional Manager application role to the lifecycle.
  13. Navigate to the Territory Model Lifecycle.
  14. Select Create in the States section to create a new state for Regional Manager Review.

Create the appropriate user actions:

  1. Navigate to the Territory Model Lifecycle.
  2. Select the Manager Review lifecycle state.
  3. Select Edit In the User Actions section.
  4. Select Add Action.
  5. Create a new user action to change the state to Regional Manager Review.
  6. Select Save.
  7. Select Edit In the Atomic Security: Actions section.
  8. Select + Role Override to add the Regional Manager role
  9. Grant the Manager Hide access to the Change State to Territory Feedback Complete action.
  10. Grant the Manager Execute access to the Change State to Regional Manager Review action.
  11. Navigate to the Territory Model Lifecycle.
  12. Select the Regional Manager Review lifecycle state.
  13. Repeat steps 3-10 to create and assign an action allowing the Regional Manager role to change the lifecycle state from Regional Manager Review to Territory Feedback Complete.