Organize Approver Reviews with Approval Chains
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Configure an approval chain that passes an approval down a sequential series of approvers.
Use Approval Chains to Organize Approval Requests in a Sequence
An approval chain represents a series of approvals that must happen in a specific sequence. Each part of the chain represents an approval rule with a shared Approval Chain field value and an increasing Approval Step field value.
Let’s take a look at that Preview Approval page again from the first module. The top-to-bottom series of approvals titled “Discount Approval” represents an approval chain. Let’s say our quote had a partner discount of 35%.
The chain itself is an object with a chain name and target object. After you create the chain record, you can reference it on multiple approval rules to link them together. The Target Object field is optional, and used only if you want to quickly reference the object that the parent approval rule targets.
For example, you can set up a chain that sends approvals through each management level of your finance team. When the accountant approves an approval, the finance manager receives an approval email. When the finance manager approves, the VP of finance receives an approval email. The request isn't fully approved until the VP of Finance provides their approval.
Tip: Use approval groups and the approval’s Unanimous field to customize the group approval process in a chain. This is helpful if you want all the equal-ranking members on a team to provide approval before the chain moves to a management position.
In this example, we want an approval chain that moves through all members of the finance team. Each rule in the chain is linked together by the shared Approval Chain reference.
Approval Rule 1
- Approval Chain: Finance Chain
- Approval Step: 1
- Approver: Finance Team
Approval Rule 2
- Approval Chain: Finance Chain
- Approval Step: 2
- Approver: Finance Manager
Approval Rule 3
- Approval Chain: Finance Chain
- Approval Step: 3
- Approver: VP of Finance
You can also run several approval chains simultaneously. When a record is submitted for approval, Advanced Approvals initiates all chains for the record, even if they begin on different steps. After initiation, a chain moves through its steps independent of other chains. This way, higher levels of the approval process don’t get stuck if one approver takes a long time to respond. After all chains complete their final approval steps, the approval process is completed and the record is approved.
Let’s look at a complex approval process with several chains.
If a quote has a net total greater than $1,000,000, the sales rep must receive approval from all five of your company’s managed service teams.
We’ve outlined this approval path in the following diagram. As soon as the approval is requested, the first approver in each chain receives the approval request. After they approve, the approval request moves to the next approver in the chain. Each box represents a unique approval rule, where the text inside matches the rule’s approver. The columns represent each rule’s Approval Chain field, while the rows represent each rule’s Approval Step. Since the professional services team only has one approver, it doesn’t require a chain.
Approval chains help you speed up the approval process by automating when different approvers in a series can get an approval request. In the next unit, we explore how to configure the email templates that your approvers and requesters receive following an approval action.
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