How to create and approve a request

To ask for approval, go to Approval ‣ Overview, click Create Request on the approval type you need, fill in the request and click Submit. The approvers receive a scheduled activity and approve or refuse in turn; once enough of them approve, the request becomes Approved. This page uses the General type; other types work the same way.

Who	Any internal user creates requests. Approvers are set by the approval type; they need the Approvals access right of Team Approver or higher. Forcing an approval needs Approvals ‣ Administrator.
App	Approval

Before you start

• Install the OmniApproval™ app and give users their access rights: Approval Overview.

• Check who approves each type: Manage Approval Types.

• The employee needs a direct manager who has a user account when the type requires the manager’s approval.

How do I create an approval request?

1. Go to Approval ‣ Overview and click Create Request on the card of the approval type.

   Note

   A card whose button reads … Without Approval (for example Timesheets Without Approval) cannot create a request on its own. Start from the record to approve with Actions ‣ Get Approved, as in Guideline to timesheet in the project.

2. Fill in the request, then click Save.

3. Click Submit. The request moves from Draft to To Approve.

Which fields do I fill in?

Field	What it does	If it is wrong
Title	Name of the request, for example Buy 5 printers for the office.	A vague title makes the request hard to find.
Approval Request Type	Decides the approvers, their order and the number of approvals. Filled in from the card you clicked.	Another type means other approvers.
Employee	The person the request is for. It is filled with you; the manager of this employee is the first approver when the type asks for the manager.	An employee without a direct manager cannot be submitted when the manager is required.
Deadline	Date by which the approvers should act. Computed from Days to Approve of the type.	Approvers see the activity as late after this date.
Minimum Approvals	Number of approvals needed. Read only, copied from the type.
Description	Details for the approvers.
Request Lines tab	The items of the request (a label per line). Some types ask for more columns. A requester reads and edits every line of their own request, whatever employee a line names; on the requests of others, a user reads only their own lines.	A type with Lines Required cannot be submitted without a line.

When the type shows the Disc.% column, the discount is applied to the unit price before the quantity is multiplied, and the line and request totals use the discounted amounts. The footer of the request lines shows the Subtotal and Total sums only: there is no sum under Unit Price.

If no manager of the employee has the Team Approver access right, a banner on the request says that the default approver of the company approves instead. See Approval Overview.

Who approves, and in which order?

After Submit, open the Approvers tab. It lists every approver, whether the approval is Required, the status and the date. Next Approver(s) shows who must act now.

With Sequential Approvals, each approver gets the activity and the Approve button only after the previous one has acted. Without it, all approvers can act at the same time. The request becomes Approved when the Minimum Approvals is reached and every Required approver has approved. If a required approver refuses, the request becomes Refused.

How do approvers approve a request?

1. The approver sees an Approval Request activity in the clock menu of the top bar. Open it, or go to Approval ‣ Approval Request.

2. Open the request and click Approve.

3. The next approver does the same. The Approval Progress goes up and Last Approver shows who approved last.

4. When the last approval arrives the request moves to Approved. The employee who sent it, the employee’s direct manager (as an approver) or an Approvals ‣ Administrator can then click Mark as Done to close it.

How do I refuse a request?

Click Refuse, write the reason and click Process.

The request moves to Refused and the reason is shown on the request. A user who is not an approver of the request cannot refuse it, except an Approvals ‣ Administrator, who can refuse any request waiting for approval; the reason is recorded.

How do I cancel a request and edit it again?

Only a request in Draft can be edited. To change a request that was already submitted, cancel it and reset it to draft:

1. Click Cancel. The employee and the employee’s direct manager can cancel a request that is To Approve or Refused; an Approvals ‣ Administrator can cancel in any status.

2. Click Reset to Draft, edit the request and submit it again.

Cancelling, refusing or resetting a request to Draft reverts the records that the request generated, for example a draft purchase order. Records that existed before the request, such as the quotation the request was made from, are left as they are. When a generated record has gone past the point where it can be reverted, the action stops with a message that names the document: handle that document in its own app, then try again.

How do I force the approval?

An Approvals ‣ Administrator can approve a request without waiting for the other approvers, even when it was refused: click Force Approval and confirm. The action is logged on the request.

The request moves to Approved and Forcing Approver shows who forced it.

An Approvals ‣ Administrator can also refuse a request they are not an approver of, with Refuse. In both cases the request records who forced the decision and the chatter states it.

What does the chatter tell me?

The chatter of a request keeps the story of the request. Two notes tell the approvers that the source document moved:

• The document … has been modified after approval submission: a mapped field of the source document, for example a quotation line, was edited after the request was submitted. The note lists each difference, and the request shows a warning. Nothing is blocked and nobody has to approve again. A field set to Exclude from Snapshot is never listed, and a Watch only field is listed only while the request is waiting for approval.

• Linked document(s) were deleted: the source document was deleted. The request stays.

Moving the source document to its normal next business step after approval, for example confirming the approved quotation, leaves no note.

Does approval block my business documents?

No. Approval never blocks an action on a business document by itself: an approved or pending quotation can still be confirmed, edited or cancelled. A company that wants a block adds it in one of two ways:

• In a pre hook of the approval type, by raising an error. See Manage Approval Types.

• With an automation rule that raises an error. See Automated actions (automations).

See also

Related articles:

• Approval Overview

• How to approve a procurement request

Optional modules:

• Overtime Approvals

• Maintenance Approvals

• Employee Advance Management

• Timesheet Approvals