Approval Process
The approval process is needed whenever someone has to accept or reject a contact, an account, or a document. This tool will automate your workflows and reduce emails exchanges.
The approval rule - will orchestrate your approval process
The approval chain - will orchestrate approval process in chain - series or parallel
Approvers - group of member authorised to vote during the approval process
All current approval processes can be found under the Approval Requests tab in the navigation menu.
To set the persons entitled to approve or disapprove a contact or a document, you have to follow My Account – Company – Approvers.
There, you should:
1) click on the top right "Actions" button
2) Select New Approver
Thereafter, you can name the approver or the approving team, e.g. the sales team, and choose the members belonging to that team who are entitled to approve or, once again, reject. You have now set your approving committees.
Travel Request: Approvers can also be used for travel requests, in order to allow a team of approvers to assess travel requests, do not forget to select Including Travel Request Approval in the approvers' settings.
Approval rules can be found under My Account – Company – Approval Rules.
You can create a New Approval Rule by:
1) Click on "Actions" on the top right
2) Select New Approval Rule
There are five stages in creating an approval rule:
The first stage consists of naming the rule, defining its target object, and the approvers. Additionally, you have the option to automate this rule if you want it to be recurrent in given situations. Furthermore, you have the occasion of creating an approval chain rule by picking a chain rule (see subpart on approval chains) and defining the step the rule represents in the chain as well as the submitter, who is the one able to activate a rule. You can restrict access to an approval rule using the members' role.
The second stage allows you to decide whether you want a condition to be fulfilled in order to automatically launch the approval process, e.g. you want to assess every contact from a certain country due to compliance rules. If not, you can also decide to skip the conditional logic.
The third stage allows you to choose the means of communication, by notifications, by emails, or by both. Communication by email would ask you to choose an email template. (exlained further below)
The fourth stage defines the conditions for approval or disapproval of the rule. The following conditions are possible:
All Approved
All Rejected
One Approved (which enables the button I'll do it* to inform other approvers in a team that you will answer the request)
Timeout for Approval (allows you to set a time limit), or
All Responded.
You also have the opportunity to implement:
1) Recall which would allow you to cancel the demand
2) Reassign to other members
Reassign: The reassignement option only enables reassigning the approval request to members of your team/group. To check, edit, and create groups, please follow My Account – Company – Members.
The fifth stage depicts the means to communicate the results. Similar to the third stage, you have to choose either by notification, by email, or by both.
You have the option to also inform:
1) the approvers
2) the record owner
3) the approval process trigger
4) the approval rule creator once the rule is finished.
Widget in Apps: You have the option of showcasing the evolution of the approval process on the App page by using the Approval widget (see setup the [Apps]
Approval chains can be found under My Account – Company – Approval Rules and then selecting the tab Approval Chains.
You can create a New Approval Chain by:
1) Click on"Actions" on the top right
2) New Approval Chain
When creating a New Approval Chain, you have to name the chain and chooses its target object (Contact, Account, or Document).
The newly produced approval chain is then used as mentioned in the approval rule process mentioned above.
Finally, email templates are needed as a means of communication in an approval rule. Follow My Account – Company – Communication and choose the tab named Email Templates. There you can modify and create email templates that could be used in the approval process.
When creating or modifying an email template, you have to name the template and select its type and subject. Additionally, you may add dynamic variables that create empty fields which need to be answered.
When an approval process is launched, a notification is created at each stage of the chain or once at the beginning of the rule. From the notification center or the bell on the top right corner, you have the opportunity to:
Accept
Reject
Recall (if selected)
Reassign (if selected), e.g. to another team of approvers.
I'll do it, i.e. taking the task for yourself (if the one approved* behavior was selected).
You can then access the history of one approval rule by checking the tab Approval Requests within the relevant object (contact, account, ...). To access the specific history log, click on the three dots button on the right of the corresponding approval request and select History.
The approval rule - will orchestrate your approval process
The approval chain - will orchestrate approval process in chain - series or parallel
Approvers - group of member authorised to vote during the approval process
All current approval processes can be found under the Approval Requests tab in the navigation menu.
Approvers
To set the persons entitled to approve or disapprove a contact or a document, you have to follow My Account – Company – Approvers.
There, you should:
1) click on the top right "Actions" button
2) Select New Approver
Thereafter, you can name the approver or the approving team, e.g. the sales team, and choose the members belonging to that team who are entitled to approve or, once again, reject. You have now set your approving committees.
Travel Request: Approvers can also be used for travel requests, in order to allow a team of approvers to assess travel requests, do not forget to select Including Travel Request Approval in the approvers' settings.
Approval Rules
Approval rules can be found under My Account – Company – Approval Rules.
You can create a New Approval Rule by:
1) Click on "Actions" on the top right
2) Select New Approval Rule
There are five stages in creating an approval rule:
The first stage consists of naming the rule, defining its target object, and the approvers. Additionally, you have the option to automate this rule if you want it to be recurrent in given situations. Furthermore, you have the occasion of creating an approval chain rule by picking a chain rule (see subpart on approval chains) and defining the step the rule represents in the chain as well as the submitter, who is the one able to activate a rule. You can restrict access to an approval rule using the members' role.
The second stage allows you to decide whether you want a condition to be fulfilled in order to automatically launch the approval process, e.g. you want to assess every contact from a certain country due to compliance rules. If not, you can also decide to skip the conditional logic.
The third stage allows you to choose the means of communication, by notifications, by emails, or by both. Communication by email would ask you to choose an email template. (exlained further below)
The fourth stage defines the conditions for approval or disapproval of the rule. The following conditions are possible:
All Approved
All Rejected
One Approved (which enables the button I'll do it* to inform other approvers in a team that you will answer the request)
Timeout for Approval (allows you to set a time limit), or
All Responded.
You also have the opportunity to implement:
1) Recall which would allow you to cancel the demand
2) Reassign to other members
Reassign: The reassignement option only enables reassigning the approval request to members of your team/group. To check, edit, and create groups, please follow My Account – Company – Members.
The fifth stage depicts the means to communicate the results. Similar to the third stage, you have to choose either by notification, by email, or by both.
You have the option to also inform:
1) the approvers
2) the record owner
3) the approval process trigger
4) the approval rule creator once the rule is finished.
Widget in Apps: You have the option of showcasing the evolution of the approval process on the App page by using the Approval widget (see setup the [Apps]
Approval Chains
Approval chains can be found under My Account – Company – Approval Rules and then selecting the tab Approval Chains.
You can create a New Approval Chain by:
1) Click on"Actions" on the top right
2) New Approval Chain
When creating a New Approval Chain, you have to name the chain and chooses its target object (Contact, Account, or Document).
The newly produced approval chain is then used as mentioned in the approval rule process mentioned above.
Email templates
Finally, email templates are needed as a means of communication in an approval rule. Follow My Account – Company – Communication and choose the tab named Email Templates. There you can modify and create email templates that could be used in the approval process.
When creating or modifying an email template, you have to name the template and select its type and subject. Additionally, you may add dynamic variables that create empty fields which need to be answered.
Approval Request
When an approval process is launched, a notification is created at each stage of the chain or once at the beginning of the rule. From the notification center or the bell on the top right corner, you have the opportunity to:
Accept
Reject
Recall (if selected)
Reassign (if selected), e.g. to another team of approvers.
I'll do it, i.e. taking the task for yourself (if the one approved* behavior was selected).
You can then access the history of one approval rule by checking the tab Approval Requests within the relevant object (contact, account, ...). To access the specific history log, click on the three dots button on the right of the corresponding approval request and select History.
Updated on: 30/07/2022