How to use approval workflows

When a record, such as a purchase document or a customer card, needs to be approved by someone in your organization, you send an approval request as part of a workflow. Based on how the workflow is set up, the appropriate approver is then notified that the record requires their approval.

You set up approval workflows on the Workflow page. You must also set up approval users, including any relevant amount limits, on the Approval User Setup page. Learn more at Set Up Approval Workflows.

In addition to the approval workflows described in this article, you can perform various other workflow tasks. Learn more at Use Approval Workflows.

Core approval workflows for purchases documents, sales documents, payment journals, customer cards, and item cards are ready to start as guides. Learn more at Getting Ready for Doing Business.

Request a record approval

The following task is performed by an approval user.

1. On the page that presents the record, choose the Send Approval Request action.
2. To see all your approval requests, choose the icon, enter Approval Request Entries, then choose the related link.

The status of the approval entry is updated from Created to Open. The status of the record, such as a purchase invoice, is updated from Open to Pending Approval and remains locked for processing until all approvers have approved the record.

When all required approvers have approved the record, the status changes to Released. You can then continue working with the record.

Cancel approval requests

The following task is performed by an approval user with approver rights.

A customer may want to change an order after it's been submitted for approval. In this case, you can cancel the approval process, make the necessary changes to the order, then request approval again.

• On the page displaying the record, choose the Cancel Approval Request action.

When the approval request has been canceled, the status of the related approval entry is changed to Canceled. The status of the record is updated from Pending Approval to Open. At this point, the approval process can start again.

Approve or reject approval requests

The following task is performed by an approval user with approver rights.

You can process approval requests on the Requests to Approve page, including approving multiple requests at a time. Alternatively, you can approve individual records by choosing the link in the notification that you receive.

1. Choose the icon, enter Requests to Approve, and then choose the related link.
2. Select one or more lines of the record(s) you want to approve or reject.
3. Choose the Approve, Reject, or Delegate actions.

When a record has been approved or rejected, the approval status in the Status field changes to Approved or Rejected, respectively.

If an approver hierarchy is set up, the record status is Pending Approval until all requested approvers have approved the record. Then the record status changes to Released.

At the same time, the approval status changes from Created to Open as soon as an approval request for the record is created. If the request is rejected, the approval status changes to Rejected. The status remains Open or Rejected until all approvers have approved the request.

Delegate approval requests

The following task is performed by an approval user with approver rights.

To prevent records from piling up or otherwise blocking the workflow, the approver and the approval administrator can delegate an approval request to a substitute approver. The substitute can either be a designated substitute, the direct approver, or the approval administrator, in that order of priority. You typically use this feature if an approver is unavailable or unable to approve requests before the due date.

1. Choose the icon, enter Requests to Approve, then choose the related link.
2. Select one or more lines of approval requests you want to delegate to a substitute approver, then choose the Delegate action.

A notification to approve the request is sent to the substitute approver.

Manage overdue approval requests

The following task is performed by an approval user with approver rights.

At regular intervals you'll need to remind approval workflow users of overdue approval requests; you'll use the Send Overdue Approval Notifications function to do so.

The Send Overdue Approval Notifications function checks for all open approval requests currently overdue. Each approver with at least one overdue approval entry receives a notification with the list of all their overdue approval requests. The notification is also sent to their approver and all the requesters of the overdue approvals. This last step helps if the overdue approval entry must be delegated to a substitute.

1. Choose the icon, enter Overdue Approval Requests, and then choose the related link.
2. On the Overdue Approval Requests page, choose the Send Overdue Approval Notifications action.

See also

Use Approval Workflows
Workflow
Set Up Approval Users
Sales
Incoming Documents
Purchasing
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