Adding Section Chief Initiation Start Point to Item Purchase Request Process

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A dedicated route for section managers skips self-approval, reducing delays and speeding up approvals.

1. Issue: The Burden of Self-Approval When a Section Manager Initiates a Request

For equipment purchase approvals, a hierarchical workflow was used consisting of Request → Section Manager Approval → Division Manager Approval. Under this workflow, even when the section manager was the requester, the same approval route was applied uniformly, resulting in situations where the section manager effectively approved their own request.

This created unnecessary administrative work for section managers, as the approval step provided no practical value in such cases.

2. Solution: Add a Separate Submission Start Point for Section Managers

The process owner added a dedicated submission start point to the workflow for section managers.

In the process model, a new swimlane called “Any Section Manager” was created, and a human task named “Section Manager Request” was placed within that lane. When a section manager initiates a request, the process starts from this task.

Requests started through “Section Manager Request” bypass the section manager approval step and proceed directly to division manager approval.

Skipping self-approval eliminates unnecessary waiting time and shortens the overall approval lead time.

Before

View details of the workflow

1. Apply

The employee submits a request for equipment purchase.

AI Assessment

AI assesses the application details and presents possible deficiencies or errors, along with draft approval and return-for-revision comments for the section manager.

2. Section Manager Approval

The section manager reviews the application details. If the request is returned for revision, the applicant revises and resubmits it. If approved, it proceeds to division manager approval.

3. Division Manager Approval

The division manager makes the final decision. The approval or rejection result is then sent to the applicant by email.

After