Approval rules and dimensions enable you to package approval routing criteria together and use them for handling the Assigned Approvers step in the Approval Steps of your Approval Process.

Typically if you choose to assign approval responsibilities to a specific user or role, there is no further logic or criteria that can be put into that assignment. The only real criteria available for the approval step is the Step Entry Criteria. By associating rules at the assignee step, via approval rules, you can dynamically assign approvers based on the same object records information used for the entry criteria.

  • Dimensions
    Dimensions enable you to map fields from a variety of business objects including, but not limited to, Opportunity, Quote/Proposal, and Agreement Term Exception.
  • Approval Rules
    Approval rules are used to associate Salesforce business objects, approval rule dimensions, and entry criteria for deciding which assignees are required during the approval workflow.

Dimensions

Dimensions enable you to map fields from a variety of business objects including, but not limited to, Opportunity, Quote/Proposal, and Agreement Term Exception.

Once a dimension has been created, you can create an approval rule and associate it with the dimension.

To create approval rule dimensions

  1. Click the Approval Rule Dimensions tab or click  and then select Approval Rule Dimensions.

  2. Click New and then enter the dimension information:

    OptionDescription
    Dimension NameEnter a meaningful name, which will make it easy to identify and select in the approval process.
    Business ObjectThis should match the object in the approval process, that you plan to use the approval rule with. The objects you can select from are dependent on the packages you have installed.
    Dimension TypeField is a field associated with the business object. Formula is a type which can be extended through the associated business object.
    FieldThe fields associated with the business object are available if the Dimension Type is Field. If the Dimension Type is Formula, then enter a formula with a reference field syntax (nnn__r.area__c), such as Approval_Submitter__r.Area__c.
    DescriptionDescription for the approval rule dimension.



  3. Click Save to go to the Approval Rule Dimensions details page - or - Click Save & New to add another dimension.

The dimension is added to the list on the Approval Rule Dimensions page.

You can now create approval rules and associate them with the dimension. Either from the dimension details page or from the Approval Rules tab.


Approval Rules

Approval rules are used to associate Salesforce business objects, approval rule dimensions, and entry criteria for deciding which assignees are required during the approval workflow.

To create approval rules

Dimensions must exist, so that the approval rule can be associated with one.

  1. From the Approval Rule Dimension page, click New Approval Rule in one of the Approval Rules (Dimension) sections. - or - Click and then select Approval Rules and click New.
  2. Select the Business Object that is the same as the one associated with the approval process this rule will be used with and click Next.

  3. In the Configure Rule section, enter the minimum required settings for the rule:

    OptionDescription
    Business ObjectThis is the value selected in Step 2 and cannot be edited here.
    Rule NameMandatory name for the rule.
    SequenceMandatory number indicating in which sequence the rule will be evaluated.
    Rule TypeSelect Dimension or Condition for this mandatory setting.
    DescriptionDescription of the rule.
    DimensionsSelect the dimensions you want the rule to be used with. The available dimensions are based on the business object selected in Step 2. There can be a maximum of six dimensions.
    Dimension TypesSelect Discrete or Range. Discrete must be a specific value, such as a number or a value for a category. The value Rejected in the category Approval Status would be discrete. Range is continuous data, where a value can be measured to multiple degrees. For example the number of units for a product could fall into a range of 1-99, 100-199, 200-499 and 500 or more.

    Note

    You should not use the Rule Criteria section, as this kind of logic is typically handled by Approval Step logic.

  4. Select Active so the rule can be used with approval processes.
  5. Click Save to go to the Approval Rule details page - or - Click Save & New to add another rule.


The rule is added to the list on the Approval Rules page.

From the Approval Rules detail page, you should add assignees, using the Manage Entries option.


Approval Rule Assignees

The Manage Entries section of an Approval Rule designates assignees who will receive approval requests, based on the associated dimension and where they are called within an approval step.

You can have a user, role, queue, custom version of those, related user, or auto approval as an assignee. Like configuring assignees in the approval step, you can indicate whether they should only be notified or sent an email informing them they must decide on the approval.

If you want to automatically progress an item, you can select Auto Approval as an assignee and associate the rule with a Subprocess in an Approval Step. In instances where approval routing is based on thresholds, an Auto Approval assignee can ensure the process is handled correctly.

In instances where approval routing is based on thresholds, an Auto Approval assignee can ensure the process is handled correctly. For instance, if approval routing is based on discount percentages and no approval is required for the 0-20% range, the approval step for that range could go to an Auto Approval assignee.

Note

You must ensure valid values are entered or the expected assignees may not get notified as expected. While you can enter someone's name, username, or email address, it is recommended that you either use the username (that they login to the system with) or the email address associated with their account. As these should be unique, you can best ensure you have selected the correct user.


To set the assignees

There must be an Approval Rule.

  1. From the Approval Rule Detail page, click Manage Entries.
  2. Select the criteria, based on the previously selected dimensions.



  3. Enter the assignee details:

    OptionDescription
    SequenceIf you are going to use this rule with a Subprocess in an Approval Step, you can select to add another assignee, otherwise do not add more.
    Type

    Choose from User, Role, Queue, Related User, Custom User, Custom Role, or Custom Queue. or Auto Approval.

    Type Auto Approval is deprecated. Conga recommends that you use the Auto-Complete checkbox instead. 



    ValueYou need to enter a valid Salesforce value for the assignee, based on the Type selection.
    LabelEnter a label to associate with the Value.
    Depends OnIf you have multiple assignees for the rule entry, enter the number corresponding to the assignee who you want to make the current assignee dependent on.
    Notify OnlyAn email is sent to the assignee, without any action items.
    Send EmailAn email is sent to the assignee, informing them they must make an approval decision.
    Auto Complete

    The approval request is auto-approved on submit action. 

    Skip Unresolved Assignee

    Select to optionally skip an unresolved approver from the list of sequential approvers.

    Escalate ToIf the assignee does not approve or reject a request within a stipulated frame of time, the request is escalated to the specific assignee.
    DescriptionDescription for the assignee.



  4. Click  to add another rule entry - or - Click Save to go to the Approval Rule Detail page.


The rule entries are now in use by the approval rule.

Now that the approval rule has assignees, you can create an approval process and reference the approval rule and it will use values entered here to route the approval.

Setting up Auto-escalation for Rule Assignees


Important

Auto Escalation should be set-up on approval rules that will be used as sub-process (context header object) ONLY. Auto escalation should not be setup on child process (child records or line items).


To setup auto-escalation for assignees, there must be an Approval Rule.

  1. From the Approval Rule Detail page, click Manage Entries.
  2. Select the criteria, based on the previously selected dimensions.



  3. Enter the assignee details.

  4. Click Escalate To. The Auto Escalation Setup dialog appears.



  5.  Enter the escalation details:

    OptionDescription
    Assignee Auto EscalateSelect this check box to enable auto escalation for the specific assignee. If the Assignee does not approve or reject the request within the specified days or hours, the request is escalated.
    Assignee Expected Days/Hours To CompleteSpecify the days or hours within which the assignee should approve or reject the request. If no action is taken on the request, it is escalated to the assignee specified in the Assignee Escalate To Type field.
    Assignee Escalate To TypeSpecify the assignee you want to escalate the request to. The Assignee type can be user, role, queue, backup admin, user manager, delegated user, related user, User Approval Matrix Next Approver



Approval Policies

Approval policies enable you to set the number of approved requests required for a process to be considered approved, based on unanimity, majority, or percentage. This is done by selecting a policy type for an approval rule and associating it with an approval process through a subprocess assignee.

When there are multiple approvers for a sub-process, as the approvers complete their requests the system uses the policy to determine when the approval process is finished. When an approval process reaches the approval or rejection threshold, any remaining approval requests do not need to be completed.

For example, if you have a majority policy with five approvers and the first three approvers approve the approval request, there is no need for the remaining two approvers to answer the request. 3 out of 5 have approved it to reach a majority and the Approval Status for the object is set to Approved. Even if a single approver rejects the request, the approval status for the object is set as Rejected.

There are four policy types:


UnanimousAll approvers must approve their requests for it to be approved. This is the same as the default Approvals behavior.
MajorityMajority of approvers must approve the request for it to be approved. To ensure this policy evaluates as expected, you should ensure you have an odd number of approvers. If you have an even number of approvers and you end up with the same number of approvals and rejections, the request is rejected.
PercentThe designated percentage must be met or exceeded for the request to be approved.

Quorum

The designated number must be met or exceeded for the request to be approved in the Approval Count field. For example, if you set up Approval Count as 2, and you have 4 approval requests, out of which 2 of your approval requests are approved, then the Approval Status is set to Approved. If any 2 of your approval requests are rejected, the system waits for the next 2 approvers to take the decision. If the remaining 2 approvers approve the request, the Approval Status is set to Approved.

Note

The above system behaviour is functional when you have selected the Continue Policy Approval on a Reject check box.



Note

You cannot use approval policies and consolidated approvals together. You can only use one or the other in an approval process.


From the May Patch 1 release onwards, once an assignee rejects an approval request, you can choose to proceed to send approval requests to the rest of the assignees in the policy despite a rejection. In the earlier releases, the policy status would be set to Rejected even if a single assignee in the rule rejected a request.

The Approval policy (supported for Sub Process or Child Process steps) supports a new feature to Continue Policy Approval on a Reject when a policy is enabled.

  • When checked, this feature allows the user to approve their assigned approval requests, as long as the policy criteria can still be met, even though one or more approval requests within the Sub process or Child process are already rejected.
  • When unchecked, all the approval requests with status other than Approved, within the Sub Process or Child Process will be cancelled, whenever any request is rejected. Policy approval for that approval Sub Process or Child Process will stop immediately.

The Continue Approval Policy After Rejection check box takes precedence over the Continue Pending Approvals on a Reject check box, which is set at the process level.

The table highlights the behavior for the Continue Approval Policy After Rejection check box.


Policy Type

Behavior

Unanimous

All the assignees must approve the request for the status to be approved. Even if a single approver rejects the request, the Approval Status is Rejected.

Majority

Continue Approval Policy after Reject (selected): All the assignees are routed the approval request, the approval request cycle continues even after a rejection. If the majority of the approvers have approved the request, the status is Approved.

Continue Approval Policy after Reject (de-selected): The approval request cycle stops after a rejection. The Policy status is set to Rejected.

Quorum

Continue Approval Policy after Reject (selected): All the assignees are routed the approval request, the approval request cycle continues even after a rejection. If the specified quorum of the approvers have approved the request, the status is Approved.

Continue Approval Policy after Reject (de-selected): The approval request cycle stops after a rejection. The Policy status is set to Rejected.

Percent

Continue Approval Policy after Reject (selected): All the assignees are routed the approval request, the approval request cycle continues even after a rejection. If the specified percentage of the approvers have approved the request, the status is Approved.

The approval request cycle stops after a rejection. The Policy status is set to Rejected.


To create an approval policy

  1. Go to the Approval Rule Dimensions tab and create a dimension.

  2. Go to the Approval Rules tab and create a rule. Create a rule per usual, but from the Approval Policy list, select from Unanimous, Majority, Quorum or Percent.

    If you select Percent, an additional field is displayed for entering the percentage threshold for requests, to have the Approval Status reach Approved.
    If you select Quorum, 2 additional fields are displayed.

    Approval Count for entering the designated number of approval requests to set the Approval Status to Approved. Continue Policy Approval on a Reject check box enables you to let the approvers decide even when the designated number of approvers have approved or rejected an approval request.


  3. Go to the Approval Process tab and create a process. When you create an Approval Step, in Step 4: Select Assigned Approvers, from Assignee Type select Subprocess and from Assignee Value, select the approval rule created earlier.

The approval process is in place to make use of the policy the next time an approval request for an object meets the entry criteria is initiated.

If you select Percent, an additional field is displayed for entering the percentage threshold for requests, to have the Approval Status reach Approved.If you select Quorum, 2 additional fields are displayed. Approval Count for entering the designated number of approval requests to set the Approval Status to Approved. Continue Policy Approval on a Reject enables you to let the approvers decide even when the designated number of approvers have approved or rejected an approval request.