You can define a new item approval request for all items created in a particular item catalog category. Defining a new item approval request enables an enterprise to enforce standard business processes during item creation, thereby avoiding costly mishaps, such as duplicate parts. New item approval requests enable your enterprise to have different people from various lines of business help define the many item attributes required during item creation.

You can set up a new item request for an item catalog category to request approval from several people in sequence or parallel. Each person may also be required to enter certain item attributes during the approval process.

To associate a specific new item request type with a category, you need to navigate to the item catalog category and specify the new item request type in the New Item Request page.

In the Workflow/Approval section, you can specify which attributes the people associated with a workflow step are required to enter. For example, when the new item request has a workflow status of Open, one person in the workflow may be responsible for some technical specifications associated with the new item being created; another might need to provide details about the new item's safety standards. In this case, associate the attribute groups related to technical specifications and safety standards so that the appropriate people can add the information necessary to define all aspects of the new item.

Since a NIR is a change, it has a status type. Only certain workflow types are allowed for a given NIR status type as tabulated below.

Prerequisites

• Defining Workflow Templates

• Defining New Item Request Workflows

• Setting Up New Item Request Types

   To associate new item requests with an item catalog category:

1. Navigate to the Setup Workbench Item Catalog Categories tab. Find and select the item catalog category to which to associate a new item request type.

2. Click the New Item Request link. In the New Item Request page, click Update.

   The Update New Item Request page opens.

3. In the New Item Request Required field, specify one of the following:

   • None - no new item request is required for items created within this item catalog category.

   • Specify for Category - if you select this option, you can select a value in the Item Request Type field.

   • Inherit from Parent - use the same new item request type as the parent item catalog category.

   You can change the value of the New Item Request Required field at any time. For example, if you no longer want to inherit the NIR type from the parent ICC, you can specify a new NIR type or no longer require new item requests.

   Click Apply. The New Item Request page appears.

4. If the item catalog category is associated with an item request type, either through inheritance or directly, then the Workflow/Approval section appears in the New Item Request page.

   If there is more than one workflow associated with an item request type, select each workflow for each status using the pull down lists in the Workflow and Workflow Status fields. For each workflow, you can choose to associate attribute groups to each workflow step only if the ICC is associated with an item request type directly. Otherwise, the attribute group definitions are inherited from the parent ICC or nonexistent.

   To update the attribute groups for a workflow step, click the Associate Attribute Groups icon for the workflow step.

   Example of When to Associate Attribute Groups

   When the new item request is in the Open workflow phase, one person in the workflow may be responsible for some technical specifications associated with the new item being created; another might need to provide details about the new item's safety standards. In this case, associate the attribute groups related to technical specifications and safety standards so that the appropriate people can add the information necessary to define all aspects of the new item.

   You can set up the collection of user-defined attributes during the new item request process for any attribute group associated with the item catalog category.

   Note: People associated with the workflow must also have sufficient privileges on the item for which you are creating a request. To ensure the appropriate people have sufficient privileges to view and update the attributes on the item for which they are responsible, you should confirm that they have the appropriate role at the organization or item catalog category level.

5. In the Associate Attribute Groups page, search for and select the user-defined attribute groups associated with the ICC for which you want the workflow assignees to add attribute values.

   Click Apply.