home

Approvals for Salesforce

Adobe Sign ServicesAgreementsAiMeAdvantage Platform AdministrationApprovals for Advantage PlatformApprovals for SalesforceBilling for Advantage PlatformBilling for SalesforceCLM for Advantage PlatformCLM for SalesforceCollaborateComposer for Advantage PlatformComposer for SalesforceConga for Google DocsConga Upgrade ProgramContract Intelligence (Standalone)ContractsContracts for SalesforceContribution Management SystemCPQ for Advantage PlatformCPQ for SalesforceDeal MaximizerDigital Commerce for Advantage PlatformDigital Commerce for SalesforceDiscovery for Advantage PlatformDiscovery AI for SalesforceDocusign ServiceseSignature Integration with Advantage PlatformGridInvoice GenerationMix FormsOrchestrateOrder Management for Advantage PlatformOrder Management for SalesforcePartner Commerce for Advantage PlatformPartner Commerce for SalesforcePrice ManagementPrice OptimizationPricing Solution SuiteQuote GenerationReal Time Pricing EngineSign for Advantage PlatformSign for SalesforceSmart CPQSmart SearchSubscriptionsTest AuthorTransportation and LogisticsTurboEnginesX-Author for Contracts 1.0 (Classic)X-Author for ContractsX-Author for Contracts Advanced for Advantage PlatformX-Author for Contracts Advanced for SalesforceX-Author for Excel for SalesforceX-Author for Migration Manager for Advantage PlatformX-Author for Migration ManagerRelease NotesGeneralDocs by Release
Adobe Sign ServicesAgreementsAiMeAdvantage Platform AdministrationApprovals for Advantage PlatformApprovals for SalesforceBilling for Advantage PlatformBilling for SalesforceCLM for Advantage PlatformCLM for SalesforceCollaborateComposer for Advantage PlatformComposer for SalesforceConga for Google DocsConga Upgrade ProgramContract Intelligence (Standalone)ContractsContracts for SalesforceContribution Management SystemCPQ for Advantage PlatformCPQ for SalesforceDeal MaximizerDigital Commerce for Advantage PlatformDigital Commerce for SalesforceDiscovery for Advantage PlatformDiscovery AI for SalesforceDocusign ServiceseSignature Integration with Advantage PlatformGridInvoice GenerationMix FormsOrchestrateOrder Management for Advantage PlatformOrder Management for SalesforcePartner Commerce for Advantage PlatformPartner Commerce for SalesforcePrice ManagementPrice OptimizationPricing Solution SuiteQuote GenerationReal Time Pricing EngineSign for Advantage PlatformSign for SalesforceSmart CPQSmart SearchSubscriptionsTest AuthorTransportation and LogisticsTurboEnginesX-Author for Contracts 1.0 (Classic)X-Author for ContractsX-Author for Contracts Advanced for Advantage PlatformX-Author for Contracts Advanced for SalesforceX-Author for Excel for SalesforceX-Author for Migration Manager for Advantage PlatformX-Author for Migration ManagerRelease NotesGeneralDocs by Release

Conga Product Documentation

Welcome to the new doc site. Some of your old bookmarks will no longer work. Please use the search bar to find your desired topic.

Show Contents

Show Page Sections

Approvals for Salesforce

Approval Functional End User Workflow

Adding an Ad Hoc Approver

As an approver, you can add a new approval step in an active approval process. For example, the Deal Desk concludes that a quote requires additional approvals from the Legal team and the CFO. They create those approval steps for a quote, decide the sequence for approvals, and create a new approval step.



By adding ad hoc approvers, you can:
  • Fast track approvals for risk scenarios that do not have predefined automated controls and approval policies for risk mitigation.

  • Provide input to improve and optimize approval policies over time.

You can add ad hoc approvers from the My Approvals page in an approval process as follows:
  • After a selected approval step
  • Before a selected approval step
  • Parallel to a selected approval step


The overall document must be in the Pending Approval status and the selected approval step must be in Assigned or Not Submitted status. Add Approver cannot be started from a Not Submitted step but can be started from an active step to a Not Submitted step. Approvers cannot add additional approvers before, after, or parallel to already Approved, Rejected, On Hold, or Cancelled steps.

This capability is available for headers and child object approval items and additionally for Conga standard objects as well as any custom object.

Warning:

Ad hoc approval steps are available only in the current iteration of the approval. If the document is required to be resubmitted for approval, for any reason, the previously added ad hoc approver is not retained in the resubmitted approval. You can choose to add an ad hoc approver again. The behavior is the same even when the ad hoc approver rejects the approval request.

To add an ad hoc approver

One or more approval requests must be assigned to you before you can add an approver. The approval status of the object must be Approval Pending. The approval status of the step to which you want to assign an approver to must be Not Submitted.

  1. Navigate to the object to which you want to add an ad hoc approver.
  2. Click My Approvals. If you are a member of a queue or a role, you can add an approver only after taking ownership of the queue/role assignment.
  3. Select the step that you want to add an ad hoc approver before, after, or parallel to.
  4. Click the Add Approver icon.
    The Add Approver dialog opens.
  5. Select one of the sequences from the drop-down list. Enter a Step Label for the step.
    • Add approver before this approver: Enables you to add an ad hoc approver before the selected step approver.
    • Add approver after this approver: Enables you to add an ad hoc approver after the selected step approver.
    • Add approver parallel with this approver: Enables you to add an approver parallel with the selected step approver.
  6. Enter a Step Label for the step.
  7. Select an Approver using the lookup icon. The approver can be of type User, Queue, Role, or Related User.
  8. Add a comment. This comment is visible to the ad hoc approver in the email notification they receive and in the Approver comments.
  9. Click Save.
The ad hoc approver receives the email notification and can approve or reject a request using the Salesforce org credentials or from within an email. If the ad hoc approver is added before an assigned step, then the originally assigned approver will get an additional notification once the request becomes available again for assignment.

Adding an Ad Hoc Approver After an Assigned Approver

This section describes the scenario where you add an ad hoc approver after a currently assigned approver.

Your organization's approval workflow is designed such that, for any operational costs incurred, the first approval is assigned to the Deal desk, the second approval is routed to two assignees, the Billing Analyst and Payment Terms, in parallel. After the Billing Analyst approves the request, the next assignee is the Billing Manager. After the Billing Manager and Payment Terms approve the request, an approval request is forwarded to the CFO. From the My Approvals page, you can now add an ad hoc approver after a specific step in the process or after an existing approver. Suppose the bills for an operation, sale, or deal exceed a certain value, the Billing Manager might want the SVP of Sales to approve the request. From the My Approvals page (where all the steps are listed), select the step where the Billing Manager is assigned a request. Click the Add Approver icon next to that step and add the SVP of Sales as an approver after the Billing Manager. The following diagram shows the scenario where you add an ad hoc approver after an assignee.



The dependencies for a new ad hoc step are as follows:
  • Depends on steps: The new ad hoc approval is dependent on the selected step. For example, select the Billing Manager step, and add the SVP Sales as a step after the Billing Manager step. The SVP step is now dependent on the Billing Manager step.

  • Steps dependent on new step: Steps that were dependent on the selected step are now dependent on the new ad hoc step. After you add the SVP Sales step, all the steps dependent on the Billing Manager step, such as the CFO step, are now dependent on the SVP step.

The revised dependencies for an existing selected step are as follows:

  • Depends on: Does not change

  • Steps dependent on existing step: New ad hoc step

Adding an Ad Hoc Approver Before an Assigned Approver

This section describes the scenario where you add an ad hoc approver before a currently assigned approver.

While you are negotiating your agreement, the customer asks you to change a clause for an early termination of an agreement. In this case, you might require an approval from the Legal team before the request is forwarded to the CFO. Based on your approval process configuration, the request will be forwarded to the CFO after the VP of Sales has approved the request. If the CFO has not yet approved or rejected the request, you can add an ad hoc approver before the CFO from the My Approvals page. The CFO step must be in the Not Submitted state.
Note:

You cannot add an ad hoc approver before an assigned approver if the request is in Assigned, Reassigned, or On Hold state.

Similarly, you can choose to add an ad hoc approver before the current assignee. In the following process workflow, the current assignee of the approval request is the Deal Desk. As a Deal Desk owner, you can choose to add Legal as an approver before you. In the My Approvals page, each step of the approval process is listed separately. To add an ad hoc approver before a selected step, select the step you want to add the approver before and click the Add Approver icon.


Select a step with a Not Submitted status and add the step before the selected step.

The dependencies for a new ad hoc step are as follows:
  • Depends on steps: Existing dependencies for a selected step are transferred to the new ad hoc step. In other words, the new ad hoc step inherits the dependencies of the step it was added from. For example, if Legal is added as a new step before the Deal Desk step, the Legal step is now dependent on all of the steps the Deal Desk step was dependent on. All the step dependencies in the Deal Desk step are now transferred to the Legal step.
  • Steps dependent on new step: The selected step is dependent on the new ad hoc step. For example, if you select the Deal Desk step and add a Legal step before the Deal Desk step, the Deal Desk step is now dependent on the Legal step.
The revised dependencies for existing selected step are as follows:
  • Depends on: New ad hoc step
  • Steps dependent on existing step: Does not change
Note:

Ensure that you are done with your configuration process before you add an ad hoc approver.

Adding an Ad Hoc Approver Parallel to an Assigned Approver

This section describes the scenario where you add an ad hoc approver parallel to a currently assigned approver.

Your organization's approval workflow is designed such that for any operational costs incurred, the first approval step is assigned to the Deal Desk, and the second approval is routed to assignees, the Billing Analyst and Payment Terms, in parallel. After the Billing Analyst approves the request, the next assignee is the Billing Manager. After the Billing Manager and Payment Terms approve the request, an approval request is forwarded to the CFO. From the My Approvals page you can now add an ad hoc approver parallel to a specific step in the process or parallel to an existing approver. Suppose the bills for an operation, sale, or deal exceed a certain value, the Payment Terms team might want the SVP of Sales to approve the request. From the My Approvals page (where all the steps are listed), select the step where the Payment Terms is assigned a request. Select the add approver icon next to that step and add SVP of Sales as an approver parallel to the Payment Terms step. The following diagram shows the scenarios where you add an ad hoc approver parallel to an assignee.



The new dependencies for new ad hoc step are as follows:
  • Depends on steps : The new ad hoc approval step is dependent on the same steps the selected step is dependent on. For example, add the SVP Sales step parallel to the Payment Terms step. The SVP Sales step is dependent on all the steps the Payment terms step is dependent on. i.e. Deal Desk.
  • Steps dependent on new step: Steps dependent on the selected step are dependent on the new ad hoc step as well as the existing step. For example, add the SVP Sales step parallel to the Payment Terms step. All the steps dependent on the Payment terms step is dependent on the SVP Sales step as well. In other words, the CFO Step is also dependent on the SVP Sales step.
The revised dependencies for an existing selected step.
  • Depends on: Does not change
  • Steps dependent on existing step: Remain dependent on the existing step as well as the new ad hoc step.
Note:

Ensure that you are done with your configuration process before you add an ad hoc approver.

Use Case: Ad Hoc Approver for Agreement Approval Requests

Business Context

Standard rule-based approval processes, like the one built in Use Case: Submission Comments and Attachments for Agreement Approvals, work well for repeatable scenarios. Some situations, however, need one extra reviewer that the standard process did not anticipate. Conga Approvals provides an Ad Hoc Approver capability for this: while a record is already Pending Approval under a standard rule-based process, an approver who currently owns a step can insert one additional approver before, after, or parallel to that step, without rebuilding or replacing the rest of the chain.

Overview

This use case shows how to configure and use the Ad Hoc Approver capability.

Important: This use case assumes that a standard rule-based approval process already exists and is active for the Agreement object, as built in Use Case: Submission Comments and Attachments for Agreement Approvals. The Ad Hoc Approver capability extends a request already running under that process; it does not build a new one. The steps below assume the following configuration already exists and is active:
  • Approval process: High-Value Agreement Approval (Rule Driven, Agreement, Entry Criteria Total Agreement Value > 200000), Activated.
  • Approval steps: Finance Review, Legal Review (depends on Finance Review), and Executive Approval (depends on Legal Review).

Persona (Administrator)

FieldDetails
NameAnita Bhatt
RoleAgreement Administrator, TechNova Solutions
GoalEnable the Ad Hoc Approver capability for the Agreement object, so approvers can insert an extra reviewer into a request that is already Pending Approval.

Persona (Approver)

FieldDetails
NamePriya Nair
RoleAgreement Review Committee Member (Legal), TechNova Solutions
GoalLoop in specialist reviewers mid-approval when the standard Legal Review step surfaces an issue outside its own scope, without restarting or reconfiguring the whole approval process.

Scenario

Agreement MSA-Meridian-Starlink-2025 is Pending Approval under the High-Value Agreement Approval process (Finance Review → Legal Review → Executive Approval). While completing Legal Review, the Agreement Review Committee identifies two issues outside the standard process's scope: new data-processing clauses that need a simultaneous Data Privacy review, and encryption technology subject to U.S. export control regulations that needs a dedicated compliance check. Priya Nair, a committee member, adds both as ad hoc approvers without waiting for an administrator to reconfigure the process.

Adding an approver parallel to an assigned step is the flagship illustration of this capability: it lets a reviewer catch something the sequential process was never built to check for, without slowing down the step that is already running. Adding an approver after a step applies the same Add Approver mechanism to insert a reviewer downstream instead — the pattern most approvers reach for day to day, since it adds a checkpoint without disturbing anything already in progress.

Prerequisites

An active rule-based approval process for the Agreement object already exists in your org, as built in Use Case: Submission Comments and Attachments for Agreement Approvals.
Note: Keep the following behavior in mind when adding an ad hoc approver:
  • The overall record must be in Pending Approval status, and the step you add relative to must be in Assigned or Not Submitted status. You cannot start Add Approver from a step that is itself Not Submitted, but a Not Submitted step can be the target position — for example, adding before a future step that has not started yet.
  • You cannot add an approver before, after, or parallel to a step that is already Approved, Rejected, On Hold, or Cancelled.
  • Ad hoc approvers apply only to the current iteration of the approval. If the record is resubmitted for approval for any reason, any ad hoc approvers added previously are not retained — including one who rejected the request. You can add them again if needed.
  • This capability is available for header and child-object approval items, and for both Conga standard objects and custom objects.
  1. Enable ad hoc approvers for the Agreement object.
    1. In Salesforce, go to Setup > Custom Settings > Approvals Custom Config.
    2. Click Manage, then open the configuration record for the Agreement object.
    3. Click Edit.
    4. Select Enable Ad hoc Approval.
    5. Click Save.
    Note: This flag is required in addition to the base configuration already in place for the Agreement object. Without it, the Add Approver icon does not appear on My Approvals for Agreement records.
  2. Add an ad hoc approver parallel to an assigned step.
    1. Navigate to the Agreement record MSA-Meridian-Starlink-2025.
    2. Click My Approvals, then take ownership of the Legal Review assignment if it is owned by a queue or role.
    3. Select the Legal Review step.
    4. Click the Add Approver icon. The Add Approver dialog opens.
    5. Complete the dialog using the sample data below, then click Save:
      FieldValue
      SequenceAdd approver parallel with this approver
      Step LabelData Privacy Review
      Approver TypeUser: Data Privacy Officer
      CommentPlease review the data-processing clauses for GDPR alignment in parallel with Legal's Agreement review.

    A committee member notices new data-processing clauses that need a simultaneous Data Privacy review — not a sequential one, which would only slow the Agreement down further. They add the Data Privacy Officer as an ad hoc approver parallel to Legal Review.

    Result: A new Data Privacy Review step runs alongside Legal Review. Both must be approved before the process moves on to Executive Approval.

    Note: Dependencies after adding a parallel ad hoc step: the new step (Data Privacy Review) depends on the same step Legal Review depends on — Finance Review. Any step that depended on Legal Review, such as Executive Approval, now depends on both Legal Review and the new Data Privacy Review step. Legal Review's own dependency does not change.
  3. Add an ad hoc approver after an assigned step.
    1. Navigate to the Agreement record MSA-Meridian-Starlink-2025.
    2. Click My Approvals. If you are a member of a queue or role, take ownership of the assignment before continuing.
    3. Select the Legal Review step (the step must be Assigned to you).
    4. Click the Add Approver icon. The Add Approver dialog opens.
    5. Complete the dialog using the sample data below, then click Save:
      FieldValue
      SequenceAdd approver after this approver
      Step LabelExport Compliance Review
      ApproverUser: Export Compliance Officer
      CommentThis agreement includes encryption technology subject to U.S. export control regulations. Please confirm compliance before executive sign-off.

    While completing Legal Review on the same Agreement, the Agreement Review Committee discovers the agreement includes encryption technology subject to U.S. export control regulations — something Legal's own review does not cover. Priya Nair, a committee member, adds a dedicated Export Compliance review after Legal Review, so it is resolved before Sophia Grant sees the request for Executive Approval.

    Result: A new Export Compliance Review step is inserted between Legal Review and Executive Approval. The Export Compliance Officer receives an email notification and can approve or reject from Salesforce or directly from the email.

    Note: Dependencies after adding an ad hoc step: the new step (Export Compliance Review) now depends on the selected step (Legal Review). Any step that previously depended on Legal Review — in this case, Executive Approval — now depends on the new step instead. The selected step's own dependency (on Finance Review) does not change.
  • An Agreement already Pending Approval under the standard process can pick up additional, unplanned reviewers — before, after, or parallel to an existing step — without an administrator having to reconfigure the process.
  • Ad hoc approvers added receive the same email notification and My Approvals experience as any other approver, and their action is captured in the Approval Request History for that record.
  • Because ad hoc approvers apply only to the current iteration, the standard High-Value Agreement Approval process defined in Use Case: Submission Comments and Attachments for Agreement Approvals is never permanently altered by a one-time exception.

Dependency Reference

Add PositionNew Step Depends OnSteps That Depended on the Selected Step
Parallel to the selected stepWhatever the selected step depends onNow depend on both the selected step and the new step
After the selected stepThe selected stepNow depend on the new step instead of the selected step
User Guide
Approvals

November 2, 2026