Access Request Workflow Template
Use Case Overview
This workflow allows an individual to request access to a secured space and receive approval from the appropriate approver.
Cardholders requesting access must already be registered in the Command Centre.
Prerequisites Configuration
Before configuring this template, ensure the required system entities, such as lists or approver groups, are already set up. This includes pre-configuring the following elements:
Command Centre Access Group List
Import the Access Group list from the Command Centre and configure it with the desired areas available for requests.
Command Centre PDF List
Import the Personal Data Fields list from Command Centre. This lets AccessNow use cardholder details in the workflow. For example, it can look up the requester cardholder and display relevant details to the requester or approvers.
You only need to import the Command Centre PDF List once. If you already imported it for another workflow, you can skip this step.
Approver Groups
Approver Groups are collections of individuals who review requests and make approval or denial decisions. They must be preconfigured for use in a workflow. Different Approver Groups can be assigned to each Access Group. It is advisable to establish a Default Approver Group to act as a fallback when no Approver Group is assigned to an access group.
Access Groups & Approver Groups linking
Each Command Centre Access Group has an assigned approver group. This ensures that each area is approved by the responsible individuals. Configure the assignment of approver groups to the access groups accordingly.
Notification Email Templates
The workflow automatically sends notification emails at configured points, such as notifying approvers when an approval task is created or informing a requester when a request is completed. Email templates for these notifications should be predefined. Some templates are workflow-specific, while others are reusable. The emails use variables to personalise the content and ensure tailored messages.
Create a New Workflow
To create a workflow from a template, first manually create an empty workflow.
Import a Template
Download the template you want to customize and import it into the empty workflow created earlier. After that, you can start customizing your template.
Once the workflow is imported, steps and fields needing configuration are highlighted in red and are also mentioned in the validation messages. Follow the instructions below to configure these steps.
Step configuration: Data Initialisation
Open the workflow in edit mode and find the Data Initialisation step. This step configures all necessary fields and values required for the workflow before the process runs.
The Data Initialisation step is where you link the workflow template to the prerequisite elements you configured in the previous steps. Learn more about Data Initialisation step configuration.
Data Setup tab
Click on the step. It displays the step's configuration in the side panel.
Find the step's Data Setup tab. Steps and fields that need configuration are highlighted in red and are also mentioned in the validation message. Follow the instructions in the table below to configure the required fields. Remember to always Save your changes.
To learn how to reference the Command Centre PDF IDs in AccessNow, follow these instructions: Command Centre PDF IDs
AreaAccessList
List
Select the list containing the imported Command Centre Access Groups.
DefaultApproverGroups
Group
Choose the default approver groups for this type of request.
UniqueUserPdf
Select Command Centre PDF List
Select the PDF that uniquely identifies the cardholder in AccessNow and Command Centre, such as e.g. Email.
ReadPDFsFromCC
Select Command Centre PDF List
Select the PDF that references the cardholder information visible to the approvers, such as Department, Phone, Role, etc.
NotifyApproverEmail
Email Template
Select the notification email template to send to an Approver Group when a request for approval is created.
RequestCompletedEmail
Email Template
Choose the notification email template to send to the requester when a request is completed.
RequestFailedEmail
Email Template
Select the email template for notifying users when a request fails due to a system error.
RequestRejectedEmail
Email Template
Choose the notification email template to send to the requester when a request is rejected by the approvers.
Remember to Save your changes.
Step configuration: New Access Request
The purpose of this step is to gather request details from the requester using a preconfigured input form. While the form is already preconfigured, the data source for the AccessGroup list still needs to be configured.
Learn more about the Input Step configuration.
Form Fields tab > Areas you require access to > Data Source
Click on the step. It displays the step's configuration in the side panel.
Locate the step's Form Fields tab.
Find the field named Areas you require access to.
Select the Data Source section. Open the List Reference drop-down. Choose the list of the Access Groups imported from the Command Centre.
Remember to Save your changes.
Step configuration: Find Cardholder record
This step locates the requester cardholder record in Command Center using the unique ID (UniqueUserPdfForRequester) provided during the Data Initialization step. It can also be used to retrieve additional cardholder information, such as Department, Phone, Role, Date of Birth, etc., if available in the Command Center. The template allows for use of up to four PDFs. This information is then displayed to the approver.
Learn more about the Process Step configuration.
Process tab > Output Map parameters
Click on the step. It displays the step's configuration in the side panel.
Locate the step's Process tab > Output Map
In the Data Initialisation step, while setting the value of ReadPDFsFromCC, you identified the Personal Data fields (PDFs) for lookup in the Command Centre and to be displayed in AccessNow. This process step facilitates that task.
However, it is essential to configure the labels of the Command Centre PDFs. These are the expected Command Centre label names and should be specified in the Process tab under the Output Map as parameters (see the below screen-shot).
Output Map fields before configuration:
Output Map fields after configuration. Note in this example, we choose to delete two fields that were not used. Save your changes.
Step configuration: Approval for Access Request
This step creates an approval task for the relevant approver group.
You can learn more about this type of step in the Process Task Step section
Input Fields tab > Requester Details
It is recommended to update the labels on the displayed Command Centre PDF information, even though configuring the Input Fields tab does not trigger a validation error. The Requester details form field uses the UserCard that displays the user information as shown in the example below.
Go to Input Fields > Requester Details > UserCard Details
The UserCard is an interface element designed to display user details. Its configuration includes definitions for the data to be displayed, such as First Name and Last Name, which are selected and configured by default.
You can configure additional fields labeled as Pdf_1, Pdf_2, and Pdf_3 as shown in the screenshot below.
These fields need to be configured based on how many you want to display and what information you wish to extract from Command Centre as declared in the Data Initialisation and than in Find Requester in Command Centre and Find OnBehalf User in Command Centre.
In our example, we've chosen to retrieve Role and Department details from the Command Centre for both the Requester and Recipient.
To ensure that the labels in the UserCard align with the Command Centre information, untick the fields you are not using and update the field labels as shown in the screenshot below. Save your changes.
Input Fields tab > Recipient Details
Repeat the same steps for the Input Fields tab > Recipient Details > UserCard Details form field. Remember to Save your changes.
Email tab > Contact Email Template
Requesters can contact the approver group by clicking the Contact our team link (highlighted in the screenshot). It allows users to type a custom message and send it to the approval team.The additional custom configuration required for that step involves an email template used for sending emails to the approvers.
To configure the email template, navigate to the Email tab. From the Contact Email Template dropdown, select the desired email template to be used when a requester contacts.
Remember to Save your changes.
Test the Workflow
It is recommended to test the workflow before publishing it for use by the system's end users.
Publish the Workflow
After testing and being satisfied with the results, publish the workflow to make it available for system users to make requests.
Parent Complete Workflow Branch
When a user requests access to multiple areas, the system creates a parent request and separate child requests for each area. The parent request is not shown in the user interface, but the child requests are visible as individual items.
The Parent Complete branch ensures that once all child requests are completed, the parent request is also marked as complete in the backend. The Parent Complete action is configured in the Approval step. When the child requests reach completion, the parent complete action triggers the parent request to move to the end process step, marking the entire grouped request as finished.
Last updated
Was this helpful?