An approval flow serves as the framework for your approval request, providing options for setting up key objects like entry criteria.

To create an approval flow

Fields marked with * are mandatory.

  1. Click the App Launcher icon ().

  2. Select Approvals from Shared Apps.

  3. On the Approval Flows tab, select Contract from the Business Object drop-down menu 

  4. Click Create New to create a new approval request. The New Approval window appears.

  5. Enter the following details:

    Field

    Description

    Process Name*

    Enter the process name

    Object*

    Select an object from the Object drop-down menu

    Description

    Enter the description

  6. Click Create. A new approval flow is created and is in Draft status. The Approval Flows page appears.
  7. You can view the following three tabs on the Approvals Flows page.
    • Setup
    • Settings
    • Details
  8. On the Setup tab, follow these steps:
    1. Click Step Name. The UPDATE STEP window appears.

    2. Enter the following details:

      Field

      Description

      Step Name *

      Specify the step name

      Step Description

      Enter the description

      Step Type *

      Select one of the following types. Depending on the type selected, different fields are displayed.

      • Standard: Enter the following details to create parent objects:
        • Assignee Type*: Select the assignee type from the drop-down menu.
        • Assignee*: Search and select the assignee.
        • Assignee Description: Enter a description of the assignee. 
        • Step Auto Complete: Enter values for the user when the authorization or review is presented to them. 
        • Send Email: Check this box to send the approver an email.
        • Notify Only: Notify the recipient of the approval step with no call to action.
        • Skip Unresolved Assignee: Check this box to allow the approval flow to continue when an assignee cannot be reached.
      • Child Process: Use this to select approval rules that are associated with child objects. This displays the following fields. 
        • Context Object*
        • Approver Rule* 
      • Sub Process: This displays the following field.
        • Approver Rule*

      Step Level Comments

      Flip the Step Level Comments toggle to enable reviewers to make comments when they interact with this step in the approval flow.

      Carbon Copy

      You can find user names in the Carbon Copy (cc) field to nominate notification recipients. 

      Step Dependencies

      You can shape the flow using the Step Dependencies field to select a dependency that must be fulfilled before a given step can occur. A step dependency is a step that must be completed before the present (dependent) step becomes active. If a flow is established without dependencies, all flow steps occur simultaneously. Using this logic, you can give two different steps a common dependency to make them occur at the same stage (parallel processes) in a flow.

      Click Save. The popup “A Standard step has been created” is displayed.

    3. Click the More icon () and select Add Condition. This applies conditional logic to a step.
    4. Select a field to be used in the filter criteria.
    5. Select an operator from the drop-down menu. The operator defines the relationship between the field and the value. The list of available operators varies depending on the data type of the chosen field.
    6. Enter the value of the field. The type of value field depends on the field selected.
    7. To add additional conditions, click Add Criteria and repeat the steps 7(d), 7(e), and 7(f).
    8. Click Save.
  9. Follow these steps on the Settings > Entry Criteria tab to specify minimum approval conditions. Entry criteria are used to define the conditions that must be met before an object record is routed through the approval flow. For example, you may want to specify that a certain approval flow for contracts is only used when there is a contract value greater than $ 100,000. 
    1. Select a field to be used in the filter criteria.
    2. Select an operator from the drop-down menu. The operator defines the relationship between the field and the value. The list of available operators varies depending on the data type of the chosen field.
    3. Enter the value of the field. The type of value field depends on the field selected.
    4. Click Activate. This activates the approval criteria. The process is now Active.
  10. On the Details tab, you can view the details you entered.

You can now submit the approval request. For more information, see Submitting an Approval Process.