OKR Punch-in Approval Process (Advanced Edition)

The Punch-in Approval Process is an advanced feature available in the UpRaise Employee Success app (Cloud). It introduces an approval workflow for punch-ins added to Key Results (KRs) associated with team-level objectives. This workflow is also applicable for manual punch-ins made directly on the team objective when there are no KRs added.

This workflow is developed to ensure that only approved punch-ins impact the progress and confidence status of objectives, providing greater control and auditability for organizations with complex team structures.

This feature is available only for the Advanced edition of the app. Reach out to us via Service desk if you wish to enable this feature with the advanced edition of the app.

Currently, only the parent team’s team leads can approve or reject punch-ins. In upcoming versions, we plan to introduce a permission so Super admins can select who should be the approver of the punch-in. For eg, Team lead, any team member, Parent team lead, etc.

• KR shows “Punch-in pending approval” status on KR details page

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• When a team member adds a punch-in that requires approval, the approver will receive an email notification (currently only if @ mentioned in the comment).

• Click the link in your email(assuming @ mention was added for parent team lead), or log in to UpRaise and go to the relevant Objective or Key Result.

• On the KR details page, you will see an information message indicating that a punch-in is pending your approval.

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• Look for the “Approve punch-in” button or action on the Objective or Key Result details page.

• Click this button to open the punch-in approval dialog.

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In the approval dialog, you will see:

• The name of the person who submitted the punch-in and the date it was created.

• The current and new values for the Key Result or Objective.

• Any comments or attachments added by the punch-in creator.

• (If enabled) Confidence status or other relevant details.

Take a moment to review all the information before making your decision.

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• Select Approve if the punch-in is correct and should be included in progress calculations.

• Select Reject if the punch-in is incorrect or should not be included.

• Enter a comment explaining your decision. This is required for both approval and rejection.

• Your comment will be visible to the punch-in creator and other relevant users.

• Click Confirm to submit your approval or rejection.

• If you approve the punch-in:

  • The progress and status of the Objective or Key Result will be updated.

  • The punch-in will appear as “Approved” in the history tab.

  • Email notifications will be sent to the relevant team members.

• If you reject the punch-in:

  • The progress and status will remain unchanged.

  • The punch-in will appear as “Rejected” in the history tab.

  • Email notifications will be sent to the relevant team members.

• The system will not allow below actions on an objective when there is an unapproved punch-in against them

  • Close

  • Abandon

  • Convert

  • Move

• If one or more punch-ins are pending for approval, “Receives contribution from” option will be blocked (alignment section of the objective details page), while Contributes to will be working as it is.

• The above condition applies to the hierarchy view as well

• While creating a new objective, it is not allowed to add an objective that has pending punch-in approval/s.

• Punch-in will only be seen in the progress chart once the punch-in is approved.

• You cad add Jira issues as action to Metric and To do KRs, even if there is punch-in pending for approval.

• A new KR cannot be added to an objective if any punch-ins are pending approval.

• Tracking behavior of the KR with punch-in in pending approval status cannot be edited.

• When there is no team lead for the parent team (not assigned, inactive), then the system will not allow users to add a new punch-in on such a KR. And the following message will be displayed-

  • You cannot add a new punch to this objective/KR because no active punch-in approver is present. Please get in touch with your administrator.

• Changing the status of an objective cycle will not affect pending punching approvals.

• Even while closing or archiving an objective cycle, there would be no impact on pending punch-in approvals.

• Similar to a punch-in comment, a punch-in approval comment shall always be visible, irrespective of whether the punch-in was approved or rejected.

• Similar to a punch-in comment, a punch-in approval comment cannot be deleted.

• Email notifications for the punch-in approval workflow

• REST APIs

  • Currently, APIs will not return any punch-in approval-related information through REST APIs. We will consider it down the line in future enhancements.

  • However, currently we have not added validation to prevent a new punch-in through REST APIs if the previous punch-in is yet pending for approval.

• Slack

  • Validation to prevent a new punch-in through Slack if the previous punch-in is yet pending for approval

• Excel export

  • We will return punch-in approval-related information through Excel export down the line in upcoming enhancements.

Q: What if I don’t see the “Approve punch-in” button?
A: You may not have the required permissions, or there may be no punch-ins pending approval for this Objective or Key Result.

Q: Can I edit a punch-in before approving?
A: Not in the current version. Only “Approve” or “Reject” actions are available.

Q: Can I edit the Punch-in once submitted for approval?

A: No, this will be available in one of the upcoming versions

Q: What happens if the punch-in is pending and the due date is reached?

A: The objective status workflow will not be affected; it will work as expected. If the user tries to close/carry forward the objective, relevant messaging to address pending approvals will be displayed.

Q O/KR can be deleted if pending approval?

A: Yes.

Q: For what type of KRs is the punch-in approval workflow implemented?

A: Metrics or To Do?

Q: Can I edit KRs if there is a KR punch-in is pending for approval

A: Yes, you can edit all KR details. However, progress calculation will happen manually. Other progress calculation methods (like Jira issue-based updates or other linked KR updates) stay disabled until the pending punch-in is approved.