As an optional feature a Late Exception Approval can be forced on a contributor when they try to initiate an approval for an item where the Meeting Submission Date has already passed as shown below. There are 3 options to determine how reports are handled when a meeting deadline has passed, these settings are configured in the Report Settings (see Document Manager - Document Settings for further reference). These setting options are: to allow late reports, only allow late reports with late exception workflow, and to not allow late reports at all.

Note: If Run Late Exception Workflow for Late Items in Settings has been selected by the administrator, then the contributor will be able to start the Exception Workflow instead of the standard workflow for that item. If it has been set to Not Allowed, then they will be unable to start the workflow and will have to select a future date where the submission deadline has not passed.

To run the late exception workflow, go to Approval Request  in the Document drop down menu, in the Start Approval Process screen select the required Late Exception Group and required Approval Group and click Start Approval. A processing screen appears showing the workflow has started.

The Status of the report in the Item History changes to Approval Started (in the case of User as Approver) 

Note: Once the Submission Deadline has passed and the late exception workflow has started, approvals for the late exception workflow complete as normal. Once the late exception workflow has completed, then the regular approval workflow continues. The workflow is completed only when the last approver approves the their step in the approval queue.

Once the late exception approval group has been selected, the user must also select the Approval Group for routing based on the Department. The Late Exception Approval group will action to accept or decline the late item, however editing and commenting will only be available in the second Approval Group.

The final step is to click Start Approval where the users in the Exception Approval Group receive the first task assigned and it will then be routed to the Approval Group as selected. Upon starting the approval process, the following user(s) will receive an email:

• Author
• Sponsor
• Approver and Assistant
• Delegates only receive email notification once triggered by the Approver Assistant,