Required properties for Alerts and Approvals

Introduction

To use the Alerts and Approvals tool on the Triaster Server 2011 you will need to add a number of properties to your Node shapes before publication. This article will take you through this process.

Updating your properties.xml

In the Node section of your properties.xml please add the following text and save the file:

<group groupName="MapChanges" groupCaption="Map Changes">

<row rowName="ChangeDate" rowCaption="Date of Creation/Change" rowType="5" rowVisioDataType="5"/>

<row rowName="ChangeDescription" rowCaption="Change Description" rowType="0" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

<!-- authors will be added dynamically by Approvals tool. Do NOT add them here -->

<row rowName="Author" rowCaption="Author" rowType="3" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

</group>

<group groupName="Approval" groupCaption="Approval">

<row rowName="tr_approvalstatus" rowCaption="Approval Status" rowType="3" rowVisioDataType="0">

<!-- edit these content approver status as required -->

<rowValue>New</rowValue>

<rowValue>Modified</rowValue>

<rowValue>Approved</rowValue>

<rowValue>Rework</rowValue>

<rowValue>Approval Not Needed</rowValue>

</row>

<!-- approvers will be added dynamically by Approvals tool. Do NOT add them here -->

<row rowName="contentapprover" rowCaption="Content Approver" rowType="3" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

<row rowName="contentapprovaldate" rowCaption="Content Approval Date" rowType="5" rowVisioDataType="5"/>

<row rowName="tr_approvalstatus_reason" rowCaption="Reason for rework" rowType="0" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

<!-- add additional approval types here if required; the 4 rows above should be copied for each approval type-->

<!--

<row rowName="tr_complianceapprovalstatus" rowCaption="Compliance Approval Status" rowType="3" rowVisioDataType="0">

<rowValue>New</rowValue>

<rowValue>Modified</rowValue>

<rowValue>Approved</rowValue>

<rowValue>Rework</rowValue>

<rowValue>Approval Not Needed</rowValue>

</row>

<row rowName="complianceapprover" rowCaption="Compliance Approver" rowType="3" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

<row rowName="complianceapprovaldate" rowCaption="Compliance Approval Date" rowType="5" rowVisioDataType="5"/>

<row rowName="tr_complianceapprovalstatus_reason" rowCaption="Compliance reason for rework" rowType="0" rowVisioDataType="0"/>

-->

<row rowName="ApprovalAlertFreq" rowCaption="Frequency (days) of approval overdue alerts" rowType="0" rowVisioDataType="2" />

</group>

Using the Alerts and Approvals properties

In order to use the Alerts and Approvals functionality the following properties need to be populated:

  • Approval Status - must be set to "New" or "Modified"

    • Content Approver - must be set to the person who will need to approve the process map

    Content Approval Date - DO NOT POPULATE THIS FIELD - this will be filled in by the system once the map has been approved

  • Reason for Rework - DO NOT POPULATE THIS FIELD - this will be filled in by the system once the map has been selected for rework
  • Date of Change - must be set by the change author for new maps and modified maps
  • Change Description - the change author should give a brief description of the changes made (this text is included in the e-mail alerts and change history report).
  • Change Author - This is typically the Author's name or the person who has made the change
  • Business Function - This needs to be set to identify to which area of the business this change is relevant. The Functional area will have an e-mail distribution group associated with it to which a 'What's Changed' alert will be sent once the map has published to Live.
  • Frequency (days) of approval overdue alerts - List the frequency of days you would like an approval overdue -email alert to be sent to the approver(s).

Updating Settings XML file

If you have more than one approver, you will need to ensure that your settings.xml file has been updated accordingly. For example, if you have added a compliance approver, then you will need to add the following within <ApprovalTypes>

<ApproverType>

<Caption>Compliance Approver</Caption>

<Value>complianceapprover</Value>

<ApprovalStatusProperty>tr_complianceapprovalstatus

<ApprovalDateProperty>complianceapprovaldate

<ReworkReasonProperty>tr_complianceapprovalstatus_reason

</ApproverType>

Typically, your settings.xml file is located on your server in the following location:

C:\Triaster\TriasterServer2011\Settings

Settings Configuration Interface

You will also need to ensure that the Triaster Server 2011 Configuration Utility has been set to meet your Alerts and Approvals requirements. This utility be found: C:\Triaster\TriasterServer2011\Services\PubServerConfig.exe

Please note that you can select each library/site to behave differently.

Online Approvals Interface

You will also need to set your authors and approvers in the Approvals area of the process library. To make things easier, it may be worthwhile to create a drop-down list of both approvers/authors in your properties.xml file that match the online list(s) to eliminate the authors making typos. Please note: e-mail addresses need to be in lower case.

Last Reviewed: 23/1/2019