Note: This feature requires a Material Request & Approval module license available to your site.
Some default data elements are supplied by the Material Request & Approval (MRAP) module when it is licensed at a site, but additional configuration is required for establishing a fully functional and customized MRAP process. Follow the procedure below to perform all necessary configuration steps. This procedure assumes the site has none of the required configuration, and transforms it into a site ready for processing new material requests.
Note: Unlike most procedures in the Comply Plus Help, this procedure is not a step-by-step series of specific actions (like clicking, selecting, and so on). This is a sequence of broader operations requiring you to access a variety of Comply Plus interfaces, and operating these interfaces may require you to consult other topics in the Comply Plus Help. Therefore, each step provides links to all relevant topics to help you complete the step.
To configure Material Request & Approval at a site:
1. Create/configure contacts. Using the Contacts administrative page, ensure a contact exists for each person who will perform any MRAP operations at this site: all potential requesters, approvers, and MRAP administrators. Also ensure each of these contacts has:
● A contact type of Contact or Employee, as appropriate;
● A valid email address entered.
For details on creating and editing contacts, see Administration: Contacts.
2. Create/configure users. Using the Users administrative page, ensure a user account exists for each person who will perform any MRAP operations at this site: all potential requesters, approvers, and MRAP administrators. Also ensure each of these users:
● Is linked to the appropriate contact (using the Use Contact Name option available when you create or edit a user account).
● Belongs to a user group with access points granting permissions appropriate to this user's MRAP role;
For details on creating and editing user accounts, see Administration: Users.
3. Grant module to site and configure site settings. Using the Sites administrative page, grant a Material Request & Approval module license to the site (if the site does not have one already). Then configure the site's MRAP settings as desired. All site-specific MRAP settings have their uses, but the following are especially important or recommended:
● Redirect All MRAP Emails to this Address: All MRAP-related emails automatically sent by Comply Plus are sent only to the address you enter here. Entering your own address can be useful during this initial configuration phase, as you can test your MRAP process and receive every automatic email to learn how they work and what details they contain. Just remember: When the site is ready to begin processing real requests, save this field as blank to ensure automatic emails reach their intended recipients.
● Include Corporate Values: This option makes Corporate-defined MRAP items (such as tasks, templates, request types, and more) available for the site's local use. If some or all of these Corporate items meet the site's needs, adopting them locally can save you some work in the steps below. If you do not select this option, the site can use only locally-defined MRAP items.
● Request Number Mask: The ID number of every new material request is generated according to the mask entered here.
● Administrator Groups / Administrators: The users you select as the site's MRAP administrators:
● Receive automatic emails when a request is submitted but has no approver tasks. This ensures the request is not ignored and signals them to make adjustments to prevent this happening in future, if appropriate.
● Can perform any approver task—regardless of which (if any) users are assigned to be responsible for it—thus acting as a "skeleton key" user who can perform tasks to move requests along when necessary.
For details on granting module licenses to sites and configuring these and other site-specific module settings, see Administration: Sites.
Note: After making changes to the site's configuration, it is recommended that you re-login at the site to ensure the updated settings are in effect.
4. Create/configure tasks. Using the Tasks administrative page, define a task for each area of material information that will be useful in deciding to approve or reject a material request. Each task you define can be later made a requester task, an approver task, or both (with a few exceptions).
Note: If the site's configuration has the "Include Corporate Values" option selected (see previous step), the site can use Corporate-defined tasks. In this case, create a task only when a Corporate task doesn't already meet the requirement.
For details on all MRAP task types, see MRAP Task Types. Of these task types, the types listed below require supporting data, either before you define the task or before the task gets used in a request. Before you create each task, consult the table below to check if the task's type requires any supporting data.
See Administration: MRAP Tasks for details on creating and editing tasks; see the links in the Task Type column below for details on each task type requiring supporting data.
Task Type |
Before You Define a Task of this Type: |
Before a Task of this Type Gets Used in a Request: |
No action required. |
Ensure your system includes all Approved and Rejected request statuses that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Request Statuses.) Note: This can be addressed in step 6 below. |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes all general attachments that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Attachments.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes a contact of the Contractor type representing each contractor that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Contacts.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes all Approved and Rejected request statuses that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Request Statuses.) Note: This can be addressed in step 6 below. |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes all handling methods that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Handling Methods.) |
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Ensure your system includes the hazard classification category to be used for this task. (See Administration: Hazard Classifications and Ratings.) |
Ensure the task's hazard classification category includes all classification items that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Hazard Classifications and Ratings.) |
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Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure the chemical list referenced by each of the task's hazardous lists is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: Chemical Lists.) |
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Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure the chemical list referenced by each of the task's hazardous lists is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: Chemical Lists.) |
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Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure the chemical list referenced by each of the task's hazardous lists is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: Chemical Lists.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes a contact of the Contact or Employee type representing each import/export-involved person or entity that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Contacts.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes all units of measure that might describe ingredient contributions entered by performers of this task. (See Administration: Units of Measure.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure the site's location tree is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: Locations.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes a contact of the Manufacturer/Supplier type representing each manufacturer/supplier that might be selected by performers of this task. (See Administration: Contacts.) |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
Note: The site can define its own local storage pressures, temperatures, and types only if it has a Tier II Regulatory Reporting module license. Sites without this module license must rely on Corporate-defined storage pressures, temperatures, and types. |
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No action required. |
Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure your system includes all user-defined records (of the Material Request type) to be filled in by users performing this task. (See Administration: User-Defined Data.) |
No action required. |
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Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure the chemical list referenced by each of the task's use restrictions is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: List Matching.) |
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Ensure your system includes:
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Ensure the chemical list referenced by each of the task's use restrictions is complete and up-to-date. (See Administration: List Matching.) |
5. Create/configure templates. Using the Templates administrative page, assemble the available tasks into both of the following:
● Requester templates: A requester template is a list of requester tasks to be performed by a requester as part of creating and submitting a new request. Decide which requester tasks are appropriate to which types of request, and define one requester template for each case.
● Approver templates: An approver template is a default list of approver tasks automatically adopted by a request after it is submitted. (Approver templates can also be added to any open request's approver task list.) Decide which approver tasks are appropriate to which types of request, and define one approver template for each case. Note that each approver task can have:
● Assigned responsible users, who are automatically emailed when this task is ready to be performed in a request;
● "Key task" status, which requires the task to be completed before any following approver tasks can be performed.
Both of these are default settings only, and can be changed for any open request by any approver editing its approver task list (see Assembling/Editing an Approver Task List).
Certain tasks have rules and dependencies regarding their placement in task lists. When defining a template, remember the following:
● Approve/Reject Request and Final Approval/Rejection tasks can be placed in approver templates only.
● Each approval template must have an Approve/Reject Request or Final Approval/Rejection task as its final task.
● Any Final Approval/Rejection task in an approval template must be the final task in the list.
● An IHS Hold task should only be placed after an SDS Abbreviated task.
● The following task types require material ingredients to be previously supplied in the request. Therefore, they should be placed only at a position where material ingredients have been supplied by an earlier Ingredients, SDS, or SDS Abbreviated task (either earlier in the same template or, for an approver template, in the requester template completed previously):
● Hazardous Lists
● Hazardous Lists (Hits)
● Hazardous Lists (Misses)
● Use Restrictions
● Use Restrictions (Misses)
For more details on creating and editing templates, see Administration: MRAP Task Templates.
6. Define request statuses. Using the Request Statuses administrative page, define all request statuses that may be reached by requests at this site. (If the site has the "Include Corporate Values" site option selected—see step 3 above—you can define local request statuses in addition to the available Corporate-defined ones.) To provide for possible variations of each stage of the process, you can define one or more request statuses for each status group: New Request, Open, Approved, Rejected, and Closed.
For details on creating and editing request statuses, see Administration: Request Statuses.
7. Define request types. Using the Request Types administrative page, define the types of request to be submitted at this site. (If the site has the "Include Corporate Values" site option selected—see step 3 above—you can define local request types in addition to the available Corporate-defined ones.) Each request's type determines the following:
● Which requester template becomes the request's requester task list;
● Which approver template becomes the request's default approver task list;
● Which Open request status is automatically adopted after the request is submitted (applies only when the request type has a default approver template; see previous);
● Which users are automatically emailed when the request is submitted (in addition to any users responsible for performing available approver tasks);
● Which users are automatically emailed when the request is approved (in addition to the requester);
● Which users are automatically emailed when the request is rejected (in addition to the requester).
For details on creating and editing request statuses, see Administration: Request Types.
8. Define request priorities. Using the Request Priorities administrative page, define the possible priority levels of requests to be submitted at this site. This enables the site to distinguish high-priority requests from low-priority requests. (If the site has the "Include Corporate Values" site option selected—see step 3 above—you can define local request priorities in addition to the available Corporate-defined ones.) For details on creating and editing request statuses, see Administration: Request Priorities.
The site is now ready to begin processing new requests. For details on beginning this process, see Creating Requests.
● Administration: MRAP Task Templates
● Administration: Request Statuses
● Administration: Request Types
● Administration: Request Priorities
