DMS Utility Apps are purpose-built workflow applications designed for document management approval processes. They provide a fully provisioned, ready-to-use multi-level approval workflow that integrates with Leena AI's Document Management System (DMS). Out of the box, a DMS Utility App includes configurable approval stages, permission-controlled forms, automated notifications, and a direct status sync back to the DMS — all generated automatically from a single template.

This utility accelerates the deployment of document approval processes by eliminating the need to build approval chains, forms, and permissions from scratch.

When to Use a DMS Utility App

DMS Utility Apps are ideal when you need to:

Establish a multi-level document approval process where documents pass through one or more approvers before being finalized.
Enforce permission-controlled visibility so that approvers can review but not modify document details.
Automatically notify approvers via bot messages and email when a document is pending their review.
Sync approval status back to the DMS so that document records reflect the latest workflow outcome (approved or rejected).
Support both dedicated approver assignments and admin-based fallback routing for maximum flexibility.

Example: An HR team needs a policy document approval workflow. When a new policy is uploaded to the DMS, the DMS Utility App routes it first to the Department Head for review, then to Legal for compliance sign-off, and finally to the CHRO for final approval. At each stage, the approver receives a notification, reviews the document in a read-only form, and either approves or rejects. The final decision is automatically synced back to the DMS.

How It Works

Overview of the Execution Flow

The DMS Utility App follows a structured, sequential approval lifecycle:

Trigger — The workflow is initiated either manually by a user or automatically via a webhook from the DMS when a document requires approval.
Document Submission — The initiator fills out (or the system pre-fills) the document details form, which captures metadata such as folder location, document attributes, employee ID, and the document file itself.
Sequential Approval — The workflow moves through N configurable approval stages. At each stage:
- The designated approver receives a notification (bot and/or email).
- The approver reviews the document details in a read-only view (permissions are pre-configured to prevent editing).
- The approver either approves (advancing to the next stage) or rejects (terminating the workflow).
Status Sync — Upon final approval or rejection, the system calls the DMS proxy to update the document's workflow task status in the Document Management System.
End — The workflow concludes and the execution is recorded for reporting.

Workflow Structure

The DMS Utility App is provisioned from the DMS Utility Template, which dynamically generates a workflow based on the number of approval levels you specify during creation.

For a 2-level approval, the generated workflow looks like:

Node	Type	Purpose
Manual Trigger	`TRIGGER`	System entry point for the workflow.
Document Submission	`TRIGGER_INPUT`	Collects document metadata and configuration. Linked to both the Configuration and Document Details forms.
1st Approval	`APPROVAL`	First approval stage — assigned to the configured first-level approver or admin.
2nd Approval	`APPROVAL`	Second approval stage — assigned to the configured second-level approver or admin.
End Node	`END`	Concludes the workflow and triggers the DMS status sync.

Note: The number of approval nodes is dynamic. If you specify 3 levels of approval during app creation, the template generates 3 sequential approval nodes.

Creating a DMS Utility App

Step 1: Create a New Application

Navigate to Workflows Studio > App Listing and click Create App. In the creation dialog:

Set the Utility Type to DMS.
Provide a descriptive Name (e.g., "Policy Document Approval").
Specify the Number of Approval Levels in the utility metadata (e.g., 2 for a two-stage approval).

The system automatically provisions the entire workflow, both forms, all approval nodes, edges, and field-level permissions.

Step 2: Review the Configuration Form

The template generates a Configuration form with the following pre-built fields:

Field	Type	Purpose
`admins`	Multiple Select (User)	Defines the system administrators who serve as fallback approvers. Uses a dynamic user lookup against the bot's audience.
`approverWithoutAdmin1`	Multiple Select (User)	The designated approver(s) for the 1st approval stage.
`approverWithoutAdmin2`	Multiple Select (User)	The designated approver(s) for the 2nd approval stage.
(Additional approver fields)	Multiple Select (User)	One field per approval level, dynamically generated based on the number of levels specified.

Step 3: Review the Document Details Form

The Document Details form captures all document-related metadata:

Field	Type	Purpose
`parentFolderId`	Text	The ID of the parent folder in the DMS.
`parentFolderName`	Text	The display name of the parent folder.
`rootFolder`	Text	The root folder name.
`rootFolderId`	Text	The root folder ID.
`attributes`	Field Array	A repeatable group containing `id`, `value`, and `Label` — used for flexible document tagging and metadata.
`employeeId`	Text	The ID of the employee associated with the document.
`expiry`	Date	The document's expiration date.
`document`	File Upload	The actual document file.
`createdByName`	Text	Name of the document creator.
`createdByEmail`	Text	Email of the document creator.

Step 4: Customize Approval Routing (Optional)

Each approval node is pre-configured with a hybrid assignment model:

Primary Approver — The specific user(s) assigned in the approverWithoutAdmin{N} field.
Admin Fallback — If no specific approver is set, the approval falls back to the admins defined in the Configuration form.

The rejection behavior is set to Terminate by default — meaning any rejection at any stage immediately ends the workflow.

Step 5: Publish

Review the workflow, forms, and permissions. When ready, Publish the app to activate it.

Pre-configured Permissions

One of the key advantages of the DMS Utility template is that field-level permissions are automatically configured during provisioning:

Stage	Document Details Fields	Behavior
Document Submission (Trigger Input)	All fields	Editable — The initiator can fill in all document metadata.
Approval Stages (1st, 2nd, etc.)	All fields	Read-Only — Approvers can view the document details but cannot modify them.

This ensures data integrity throughout the approval chain — approvers review exactly what was submitted without the risk of accidental edits.

Notifications

The DMS Utility template includes automated notifications at each approval stage using the Default Approval Notification Template:

Bot Notification — The approver receives an in-app message through the Leena AI assistant prompting them to review and act on the pending document.
Email Notification — An email is sent to the approver with document summary details and a direct link to the approval task.

Notifications are triggered automatically whenever the workflow transitions to a new approval stage.

DMS Status Sync

A critical integration point is the automatic status synchronization between the workflow and the Document Management System. When the workflow reaches its conclusion (either through final approval or a rejection at any stage), the system calls DmsProxy.updateWorkflowTaskStatus to push the outcome back to the DMS.

This ensures that:

The document record in the DMS reflects the most current approval status.
Downstream DMS processes (e.g., document publication, archival, or notification to the document owner) can be triggered based on the workflow result.
There is no manual step required to update the DMS after the approval process completes.

Curated Builder Experience

To maintain the integrity of the pre-configured template, the DMS Utility App provides a curated builder experience:

The Form Builder is disabled — the pre-configured forms cannot be modified through the form builder UI. This prevents accidental removal of fields that the approval logic depends on.
Specific approval node properties remain editable — you can still customize the approval assignment rules, notification templates, and approval behavior through the node configuration panel.
The Flow Builder allows adding additional nodes (such as Decision, Action, or Function nodes) between the existing structure for custom business logic.
The Permissions Builder is available for fine-tuning field visibility if the defaults need adjustment.

Key Considerations

Dynamic Approval Levels: The number of approval stages is set at creation time via the levelOfApprovals metadata. To add or remove approval levels after creation, you would need to create a new DMS Utility App with the desired number of levels.
Visibility: Like other utility apps, DMS Utility Apps are classified separately and can be filtered in the App Listing dashboard using the utility app filter.
Reject Behavior: By default, rejection at any stage terminates the entire workflow. This behavior is configured in the approval node settings and can be reviewed in the workflow builder.
Template Publishing: DMS Utility Apps cannot be published as global templates (the ASYNC_UTILITY restriction applies to template publishing). They are designed to be created fresh from the utility template each time.
Auto-Documentation: The platform supports AI-assisted documentation generation for DMS Utility Apps, using a specialized strategy that covers Summary, Integrations, Forms, Workflow Steps, Success Output, and Edge Cases.
Versioning: The standard versioning system applies — all changes are made on a draft version and published as an immutable snapshot, with full version history and the ability to restore previous versions.