Overview
Once a policy is published and associated with a sign-in flow, every invite processed through that flow follows the defined approval workflow. This article covers what that looks like in practice for people on all sides of the approval.
For approvers, it covers the email notification, how to approve or deny an invite, the approval and denial reasons field, and how to complete approver-only fields through a Data Collection step.
For hosts and employees creating invites, it covers how policy fields appear on the invite form, how to track an invite's progress through the workflow, and what the confirmation looks like once an invite is approved.
For visitors, it covers pre-registration, which is how visitors complete the details a policy requires before they arrive, and how that fits into the approval workflow.
Approving an invite
The designated approver will receive an email notifying them of a new approval. They can click the link in the email to open the invite, or view it in their invite log and approvals log.
The approval step will be listed on the right-hand side of the invite. From here, admins can approve or deny as needed.
Approval/denial reasons
When completing this step, a text box will open for an additional note for the approval/denial reason. This is separate from the Private notes field and cannot be edited or deleted.
Approver-only fields
If the policy includes a Data Collection step assigned to the approver, a prompt appears to complete those fields before the workflow continues.
Users can view the step the invitation is in by clicking into the Advanced Approval Process column.
Invitation process
Employees will be able to follow the same process for standard invites, but any newly added policy fields are marked as required.
After sending their invite, employees can check its progress in the invite log.
Once an invite is approved, the employee will receive an email confirmation of the visit, and the invitation will be sent (if selected).
The visitor pre-registration experience
When a policy includes a field assigned to the visitor, invited visitors are asked to complete pre-registration before their visit. The visitor receives a pre-registration link, fills in the required fields, and submits. This process is, for the most part, the same as the standard Envoy pre-registration.
Once submitted, the pre-registration form is locked. The visitor can't reopen the link to make changes, and the submission time is recorded for your records. If a detail needs updating after submission, an admin can edit it on the invite record.
How pre-registration interacts with approvals
Depending on how the policy is designed, pre-registration changes the visit state within the workflow. You'll see two new states alongside the existing approval steps:
Waiting for Pre-Registration: The approval is fully blocked. The workflow won't advance to the approval step until the visitor completes pre-registration. Use this when an approver needs the visitor's information before making a decision.
Pending Pre-Registration: The approval runs concurrently. The approval workflow proceeds while pre-registration is still outstanding, so reviewers can work in parallel and the visit isn't held up waiting on the visitor.
You can track which state a visit is in from the Advanced Approval Process column on the invite, the same place you monitor approval steps.