Typically the service plan is submitted for approval by the case worker once the details of the plan have been defined. Service plans which are submitted by users with approval privileges will be automatically approved; otherwise, the service plan will require manual approval by a user with the appropriate privileges. A task is assigned to a user with the required approval privileges. This task includes a link to the service plan.
When the service plan is submitted and subsequently approved or rejected, approval request information is recorded. The approval request details include the name of the user submitting the plan, the date of submission, the name of the user who approves or rejects the plan, and the date of approval or rejection.
A baseline can be created in order to capture a snapshot of the plan at the time of submission. If the plan is automatically approved, this baseline is a snapshot of the plan at the time of approval. If the plan requires manual approval, two baselines will be created, one for submission and one for approval.
The service plan approval process automatically approves all unapproved plan items on service plan approval. Plan items with a status of submitted will not be approved as part of the service plan approval process. This ensures that any plan items already being reviewed for approval can be completed without duplication of effort.