Approval

User Guide — Setting Up and Running Approvals in OnCoor

Module: Admin › Approval | Last updated: September 2026

1. Overview

Some changes in OnCoor are important enough that someone should sign off before they take effect. The Approval module is where you set up those sign-off steps and decide who does the signing off.

Think of it as a rule book for "who needs to say yes." You describe what needs approval, who the approvers are, and what email they receive when something is waiting for them. From then on, whenever a user submits one of those things, OnCoor automatically sends it to the right people, tracks whether they've approved it, and keeps a record of every decision.

A NOTE ON THE WORD "ITEM" — Throughout this guide, an item simply means the one thing a user has submitted for approval — for example, a map version, a data record, or a configuration change. Whenever you see "item," picture the specific thing sitting in an approver's queue, waiting for a yes or no.

What you can do here

Define approval steps for different parts of OnCoor.
Decide who approves — either a fixed list of people, or a rule that picks approvers automatically.
Set up the email that approvers receive, using ready-made placeholders that fill themselves in.
Let approvers review and act on their pending items from one place — their worklist.
Keep a full history of who submitted, approved, or denied each item.

WHERE TO FIND IT — The setup screens live under Admin → Approval, which has two tabs: Approval Definition and Generic Token. (The email and approver screens open from within a definition — more on that below.)

GOOD TO KNOW — Approvals in OnCoor today use a pool of approvers: the item goes to everyone on the approver list, and as soon as any one of them approves it, the item is approved. You don't need everyone to respond.

2. Key Concepts

A handful of ideas make up the whole module. Once these click, everything else is straightforward.

Concept	What it is	Think of it as
Item	The one thing a user submits for approval	The record or change waiting for a yes or no
Approval Definition	A named approval step attached to a particular OnCoor screen	The rule that says "this kind of thing needs approval"
Approver	A person allowed to approve items for a definition	The people who can say yes or no
Notification Template	The email approvers receive when something needs their attention	The message that goes out
Token	A placeholder in an email that fills itself in with real details	A fill-in-the-blank, like `#applDefnName`
Worklist	An approver's personal list of items waiting for a decision	An in-tray of things to approve

Rule of thumb: a definition decides what needs approval, approvers decide who signs off, and a notification template tells them about it. The worklist is where they act.

3. Finding Your Way Around

Go to Admin → Approval. You'll find two tabs.

3.1 Approval Definition

This is the main screen and your starting point. It lists every approval step you've set up. From here you create new definitions — and each definition in the list has row actions that open its Approvers and its Notification Template. In other words, approvers and emails aren't separate tabs; you reach them from the definition they belong to.

3.2 Generic Token

A shared library of reusable placeholders that any notification email can use.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER SCREENS? — Two important screens don't live on tabs of their own:

The Notification Template and Approvers screens open from a definition's row on the Approval Definition tab.

The Worklist — where approvers act on their pending items — opens from the worklist bell in the top bar of OnCoor, which appears whenever you have items waiting.

4. Approval Definitions

An approval definition is a single approval step tied to a specific place in OnCoor. When a user submits something on that screen, this definition decides that it needs approval and routes it to the approvers.

4.1 Creating a definition

Go to Admin → Approval → Approval Definition.
Click the add button (the round + button, bottom-right).
Fill in the form (see the field table below).
Click Save.

Your new definition appears in the list. You can edit most details later by clicking straight into a cell in the table.

4.2 What each field means

Here's every field on the definition form, in plain terms:

Field	What it means
Approval Type	How the approval is decided. Today this is Pool of Approvers — the item goes to everyone on the approver list and is approved as soon as one of them approves it.
Name	A short name for this approval step. Used to identify it everywhere else, so make it clear and unique (for example, "Transform Map Approval").
Description	A longer note explaining what this definition is for. Helpful for whoever manages approvals after you.
Fragment	The OnCoor screen this approval applies to — the place where users submit the thing that needs approving.
Approval Fragment	The screen where approvers go to review and act. Often the same as the Fragment.
Key Field 1 / 2 / 3	The pieces of information OnCoor uses to tell one submitted item apart from another (for example, a record's ID number). Usually only Key Field 1 is needed.
Info Field 1 / 2 / 3	Optional extra details you'd like carried along with the item, for reference.
Updated By / Updated Date	Filled in automatically — who last changed this definition, and when.

KEY FIELDS, SIMPLY PUT — When two people submit two different records for the same kind of approval, OnCoor needs a way to tell those two submissions apart. The key fields are what it uses — usually a record's ID. In most cases the defaults set up during installation are already correct, and you won't need to change them.

4.3 Row actions

Each definition in the list has a few quick actions on its row:

Action	What it does
Approvers	Opens the list of people who approve for this definition (see the next section).
Notification Template	Opens the email approvers receive for this definition (see Notification Templates).
Delete	Removes the definition. Do this only if the approval step is no longer needed.

5. Choosing Who Approves

Every definition needs at least one approver, or there's no one to send items to.

WHERE TO FIND IT — Approvers are managed per definition. On the Approval Definition tab, find your definition in the list and click its Approvers action to open the approver screen. There is no separate "Approvers" tab.

You have two ways to decide who approves: a fixed list you pick by hand, or a dynamic rule that chooses approvers automatically. You can use either, and the fixed list also acts as a safety net for the dynamic rule.

5.1 A fixed list of approvers

This is the simplest approach — you name the people directly.

Open the definition's Approvers.
Choose the Organization and Data Domain the approvers belong to. This narrows the list to the right people.
Click the add button, pick a person from the dropdown, and click Add.
Repeat for each approver you want.

Everyone you add will receive items for this definition. To remove someone, use the delete action on their row.

WHY ORGANIZATION AND DATA DOMAIN? — Approvers are set per data domain, so the same definition can have different approvers for different areas of your data. You pick the organization and domain first, then choose from the people who belong to it.

5.2 A dynamic list (chosen automatically)

Sometimes the right approver depends on the submission itself — for example, the manager responsible for a particular record. For that, switch on Dynamic List.

When Dynamic List is on, OnCoor works out the approvers at the moment an item is submitted, using a rule your administrator provides (written as a database query behind the Dynamic Logic link). This is an advanced option, usually set up once during configuration.

THERE'S ALWAYS A FALLBACK — If the dynamic rule doesn't find anyone, OnCoor uses the fixed list of approvers instead. That's why it's worth keeping a few names on the fixed list even when you use a dynamic rule — so an item never gets stuck with no one to approve it.

5.3 Pool of Approvers, explained

With today's Pool of Approvers type, an item is sent to all the approvers at once, but it only takes one of them to approve it. As soon as one person approves, the item is approved and disappears from the others' worklists. This keeps things moving — no one is held up waiting for a specific individual.

6. Notification Templates

A notification template is the email an approver receives when an item is waiting for them. You set one up per definition, per data domain, so the wording can differ by area if you need it to.

WHERE TO FIND IT — Notification templates are managed per definition. On the Approval Definition tab, find your definition and click its Notification Template action to open the email screen. There is no separate "Notification Template" tab.

6.1 Setting up a template

Open the Approval Definition tab, find your definition, and click its Notification Template action.
Choose the Organization and Data Domain. The Name and Approval Definition fields fill in to show which definition you're editing.
Fill in the email details (see the table below). Your changes save automatically as you type.

Here's what each field means:

Field	What it means
From Email ID	The email address the notification is sent from.
Description	A short note about this template, for your own reference.
Subject	The email's subject line. You can include tokens here.
Body	The main message of the email. You can include tokens here too.

6.2 Using tokens in the email

A token is a placeholder you drop into the subject or body, and OnCoor swaps it for the real value when the email is sent. Tokens are written with a # in front of them — for example, #applDefnName.

On the template screen you'll see a Generic Tokens panel listing the placeholders available to you. Type the token exactly as shown (including the #) wherever you want that detail to appear. When the email goes out, #applDefnName becomes the actual definition name, and so on.

EXAMPLE — A body of "An item for #applDefnName is waiting for your approval." arrives in the approver's inbox with the real name filled in, such as "An item for Transform Map Approval is waiting for your approval."

Each template can also have its own Tokens list at the bottom of the screen, for placeholders specific to that one email. Add, edit, or remove them the same way.

7. Generic Tokens

Generic tokens are the reusable placeholders that appear in the Generic Tokens panel on every notification template. Set one up once, and it's available to all your templates.

To add a generic token

Go to Admin → Approval → Generic Token.
Click the add button.
Enter a Name — this becomes the placeholder, used with a # in front (a name of applDefnName is written #applDefnName in an email).
Enter a Description so others know what it's for.
Click Save.

The token now shows up in the Generic Tokens panel whenever anyone edits a notification template. To change a name or description later, click into the cell in the table; to remove one, use the delete action on its row.

NAMING TIP — Use short, meaningful names with no spaces. The name is what people type into their emails, so #submittedBy is easier to work with than a long phrase.

8. How Approvals Work Day to Day

Once a definition, its approvers, and its email are in place, approvals run on their own. Here's the journey a submission takes.

8.1 The lifecycle

Submit — A user submits something on the screen your definition covers. OnCoor finds the approvers, adds the item to each of their worklists, and sends the notification email.
Review — Approvers see the item in their worklist and open it to review.
Decide — An approver approves or denies the item. Because it's a pool, the first decision settles it.
Done — The item is marked approved or denied, and it clears from everyone's worklist.

If a submitted item is later changed and sent again, OnCoor treats it as a resubmission — the approvers get it again for a fresh decision.

8.2 The worklist

Every approver has a worklist — their personal in-tray of items waiting for a decision.

WHERE TO FIND IT — A worklist bell appears in the top bar of OnCoor whenever you have items waiting for your decision. Click the bell to open your worklist. (If the bell isn't showing, you have nothing waiting.)

The Worklist screen lists each pending item with its Domain, a link to the item itself, who submitted it, and the date it was created. Click the link to open the item and review it.

8.3 Approving, denying, and reopening

From the item, an approver can:

Action	What happens
Approve	The item is approved. In a pool, one approval is enough — it's done.
Deny	The item is turned down and cleared from the worklist.
Reopen	An already-approved item is put back into a pending state, in case it needs another look.

8.4 What the statuses mean

As an item moves along, it carries a status. You may see these:

Status	Meaning
Pending Approval	Waiting for an approver to act.
Approved	An approver has approved the item.
Denied	An approver has turned the item down.
System Approved	Closed out automatically once the item was approved by someone in the pool — you may see this on the other approvers' copies.
System Cancelled	Closed out automatically because the decision was settled elsewhere.

WHY "SYSTEM" STATUSES? — Because an item is sent to several approvers but needs only one decision, OnCoor tidies up the leftover copies for you. Those get a "System" status so it's clear the person didn't act on them individually — the item was already settled.

8.5 The approval history

Every submit, resubmit, approve, deny, and reopen is recorded against the item. This gives you a complete trail of who did what and when — useful for auditing and for answering "who approved this?" long after the fact.

9. Quick Reference

A fast lookup for the most common actions.

I want to…	Do this
Set up a new approval step	Admin → Approval → Approval Definition → + → fill in the form → Save
Add people who can approve	Approval Definition tab → your definition's Approvers action → choose Organization and Data Domain → + → pick a person → Add
Have approvers chosen automatically	Your definition's Approvers action → switch on Dynamic List (keep a few names on the fixed list as a fallback)
Write the email approvers receive	Approval Definition tab → your definition's Notification Template action → choose Organization and Data Domain → fill in Subject and Body
Insert a detail that fills itself in	Type a token such as `#applDefnName` into the subject or body
Create a reusable placeholder	Admin → Approval → Generic Token → + → enter Name and Description → Save
See what's waiting for my approval	Click the worklist bell in the top bar to open your worklist
Approve or deny an item	Open it from your worklist → Approve or Deny
Find out who approved something	Check the item's approval history

Source: OnCoor product documentation, written for end users. For the latest screens and options, always refer to the in-app interface.

Approval

User Guide — Setting Up and Running Approvals in OnCoor​

Contents​

1. Overview​

2. Key Concepts​

3. Finding Your Way Around​

3.1 Approval Definition​

3.2 Generic Token​

4. Approval Definitions​

4.1 Creating a definition​

4.2 What each field means​

4.3 Row actions​

5. Choosing Who Approves​

5.1 A fixed list of approvers​

5.2 A dynamic list (chosen automatically)​

5.3 Pool of Approvers, explained​

6. Notification Templates​

6.1 Setting up a template​

6.2 Using tokens in the email​

7. Generic Tokens​

8. How Approvals Work Day to Day​

8.1 The lifecycle​

8.2 The worklist​

8.3 Approving, denying, and reopening​

8.4 What the statuses mean​

8.5 The approval history​

9. Quick Reference​