WC365 Approver Guide

# Review and respond to an approval

Use this guide when you receive a WorkCycle365 approval. Approve to authorize the described lifecycle action, or reject to stop it. WorkCycle365 then carries out approved work at its scheduled time.

## Where approvals appear

Approvals go to the configured WorkCycle365 approvers through the assigned Microsoft approval experience. **Include Manager** controls participation in applicable communications and events; it does not select the approver.

An Approver role alone does not grant portal access. Use the details in the approval, and contact HR or an administrator if information is missing. Portal access requires an Admin, Submitter, or Reviewer role.

## Review before responding

1. Check the lifecycle type, employee name and identity, and WorkCycle365 reference.
2. Review the requested or generated sign-in identity, manager or organizational changes, and reason.
3. Check the effective date and time in the organization's configured time zone. An explicit time can differ from normal business hours.
4. Confirm that the decision is within your authority and that any security or HR checks are complete.
5. Approve only when the details and intended action are correct. Reject when the request should not proceed. Ask the requester or administrator to correct inaccurate details through the supported change path before you approve.

A blank optional time uses the lifecycle's business-hour default. For Hire, Transfer, Return, Extension and planned Departure, including Leave, a calendar start that has passed or is no more than ten minutes away when the event is created moves to ten minutes after creation. This also applies to a supplied time.

Approval must be completed before the scheduled action. Immediate Access Removal uses its urgent approval path; Extension processes immediately. See [timing and scheduling](https://docs.workcycle365.com/guides/requester/user-timing-and-scheduling/) for the defaults and a same-day example.

If the approval shows **UNAUTHORIZED SUBMISSION**, WorkCycle365 did not recognize the submitter as an authorized Submitter. Confirm the request with HR or the submitter's manager before deciding. You do not need portal access to perform that confirmation.

## Approval patterns by lifecycle

| Lifecycle                              | What your decision allows                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Hire                                   | The first approval allows username review and pre-provisioning to continue. A later **Activate New Hire** approval is a separate start decision. With the initial-account setting enabled, a new account is enabled during preparation. The activation approval still controls the later start steps. |
| Transfer                               | Allows the manager or organizational change at the request's effective time. Transfer processing also enables the account; check this consequence before approving.                                                                                                                                   |
| Leave                                  | Allows access removal at the Leave's effective time. An optional linked Return needs its own approval.                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| Return                                 | Allows return re-enablement at the Return's effective time, including when the request was generated from a Leave.                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Extension                              | No approval is required. Extension processes immediately and has a separate repeated-submission procedure.                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| Departure, Resignation or Contract End | Authorizes planned access removal at the recorded cutoff. The approval is issued either on submission or when the scheduled request is prepared.                                                                                                                                                      |
| Immediate Access Removal               | Allows urgent account disablement after approval. A delayed decision delays the automated action. An authorized administrator must separately revoke active Microsoft 365 sessions.                                                                                                                   |

WorkCycle365 requires an approved decision before the protected action. After approval, future-dated work waits for its effective time.

Entering an end date on Hire or Transfer, or a Return Date on Leave, creates a separate follow-up request. Approval of the original does not approve the follow-up. Review the follow-up's own person, destination details, time and approval when it arrives. See the [lifecycle guides](https://docs.workcycle365.com/guides/lifecycle-reference/lifecycle-index/).

### Initial Hire approval

Review the requested sign-in identity before authorizing account preparation. This is the first Hire decision; activation has a separate approval.

Initial Hire approval for account preparation. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-hire-initial.png)

### Final Hire activation approval

Check the employee and **Automation Scheduled For** time before approving activation. Password delivery remains an IT responsibility.

Final Hire approval for activation. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-hire-activation.png)

### Immediate Access Removal approval

Review the urgent removal and required manual actions before responding. An authorized administrator must separately revoke active Microsoft 365 sessions.

Immediate Access Removal approval. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-immediate-access-removal.png)

### Leave approval

Check the Leave start and access-removal time, and arrange the manual Leave tasks. A linked Return has its own approval.

Leave approval for scheduled access removal. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-leave.png)

### Scheduled Departure approval

Review the employee, recorded cutoff and manual offboarding tasks before approving the scheduled removal.

Scheduled Departure approval. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-scheduled-departure.png)

### Transfer approval

Compare the **Current** and **New** assignment details and check the effective time. Arrange any role-specific access changes with IT.

Transfer approval with current and new assignments. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-transfer.png)

### Return approval

Check the returning employee, role, manager and scheduled time before authorizing re-enablement.

Return approval for re-enablement. (Image: https\://docs.workcycle365.com/images/approval-return.png)

## If the request changes or is cancelled

Use **Edit Existing** to change or cancel an eligible request. Review any replacement approval issued for the updated request. Extension uses a new Extension submission instead of **Modify**.

If you see multiple approvals with the same reference, ask an administrator which one belongs to the current request. Respond only to the approval for the current request. If an approval says it is no longer active, check with the administrator before responding elsewhere.

Rejection or cancellation stops later work on that request; it does not undo changes already made. Report an outdated card or calendar event to your administrator. Follow-up requests have their own approvals and must be handled separately.

## Notifications and operational outputs

| Surface                     | What it tells you                                                                                                                                                                     |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Lifecycle email             | Communicates the applicable employee change to the configured recipients. Hire and Return email follow account-readiness checks.                                                      |
| Microsoft Teams card        | Shows request details and status when Teams cards are enabled for that lifecycle. A Transfer with an Assignment End has a separate follow-up request; its card is shown when enabled. |
| Outlook calendar event      | Shows the intended lifecycle timing and shared information on the configured calendar.                                                                                                |
| Administrator failure email | Notifies administrators of a processing problem.                                                                                                                                      |

Your organization selects the email, Teams and calendar communications for each lifecycle. Approvals authorize work; lifecycle messages report progress and provide employee information. For Hire, the event is **Free** and **Private** and does not request an attendee response. Calendar permissions still control who can read it.

When **Include Manager** is enabled, applicable calendar participation and employee-email copies include the resolved manager. Transfer and Transfer Revert invite both relevant managers when they resolve, but copy only that request's **New Manager** on lifecycle email. If New Manager does not resolve, the other manager is not substituted. Revert preserves the original Include Manager choice. Other configured notification recipients still receive their applicable messages.

## If something is missing or unclear

Do not ask the requester to submit a duplicate because an approval, message or event is missing. Give the administrator the WorkCycle365 reference, employee, lifecycle, expected time and missing item.

Your administrator investigates the existing request and arranges the correction. **Modify** is for eligible requests still in progress; it cannot replay a failed request. If only an email is missing, describe that problem separately from an account change that succeeded.

Related: [Timing and scheduling](https://docs.workcycle365.com/guides/requester/user-timing-and-scheduling/) · [Follow your request](https://docs.workcycle365.com/guides/requester/requester-quickstart/#follow-the-same-request)