Salesforce Useful Approval Processes
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SAMPLE APPROVAL PROCESSES
Summary
Review samples of common
approval processes to help
you get started creating your
own
Review samples of common approval processes to help you get started creating your own
Sample Approval Process PTO Requests
Most companies require employees to file a PTO Paid Time Off request and have their manager approve
it In three phases heres how to automate a simple onestep PTO request process using Salesforce
Prep Your Organization
Before creating the approval process
If you dont yet have a custom object to track your PTO requests create a custom object and tab called
PTO Requests Add the appropriate fields for your PTO Requests such as Start Date End Date
and Employee Name
Create an email template to notify approvers about a pending approval request To direct users to
the approval page in Salesforce include approval process merge fields
Create the Approval Process
Use the jump start wizard to create an approval process for the PTO Request custom object and specify
the following
Select the email template you created for this approval process
Dont specify filter criteria That way PTO requests are included in this approval process regardless of
their attributes
Select the Automatically assign an approver using a standard or custom
hierarchy field option then choose Manager
The jump start wizard automatically chooses the record owner as the only person who can submit
PTO requests
Tip To let the submitter withdraw a submitted PTO request
Click Edit and choose Initial Submitters
Select Allow submitters to recall approval requests
Wrap Things Up
After you created the approval process add the Approval History related list to the PTO Request object
page layout
Consider adding the Items To Approved related list to your custom home page layouts The related
list shows users all approval requests that are waiting for their response
If you have a sandbox test the approval process then activate it
Last updated February
Sample Approval Processes
Sample Approval Process Expense Reports
Sample Approval Process Expense Reports
If your company requires that employees file expense reports for managers to approve you can automate
this process in Salesforce
Use this example to create a twostep expense report approval process for all employees in your
headquarters office It specifies that expenses less than are automatically approved expenses
and over require manager approval and expenses over require additional approval from two VPs
This example highlights a parallel approval process and the else option
Prep Your Organization
Before creating the approval process
If you do not yet have a custom object to track your expenses create a custom object and tab called
Expense Reports Add the appropriate fields such as Amount Description Status Start
Date and End Date
Create a custom field on the user object called Office Location Assign the HQ value to users
in the headquarters office location
Create the Approval Process
Create an approval process using the Expense Report custom object and specify the following
The filter criteria for this approval process is Current User Office Location equals
HQ Records must meet this criteria before they can be submitted to this approval process
Choose the Manager field as the next automated approver
Create an email template to notify approvers that their approval is requested To direct users to the
approval page in Salesforce include approval process merge fields
Choose the record owner or any other user who you want to be able to submit expense reports
Create two approval steps
Create a step named Step Manager Approval with the following specifications
Name this step Step Manager Approval
Select Enter this step if the following and choose criteria are met Also
choose approve record for the else option
Set the filter criteria to Expense Amount greater or equal
In the Automatically assign to approvers option select the manager of
the user submitting the request
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve
requests
Create a second approval step named Step Multiple VP Approval and specify
the following
Use the filter criteria Expense Amount greater or equal
Choose Automatically assign to approvers and select two users with a
VP role
Sample Approval Processes
Sample Approval Process Discounting Opportunities
Select the Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers
option The request isnt approved unless both designated users approve
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve
requests
Choose Perform ONLY the rejection actions for this step so
that the request returns to the manager for changes if one of the VPs rejects the request
Tip Consider creating the following final approval actions
Define a field update to automatically change the Status field to Approved
Send an approval notification to the user who submitted the expense report
To print a reimbursement check send an outbound message to your backoffice financial system
Wrap Things Up
After you created the approval process add the Approval History related list to the Expense Report
object page layout
Consider adding the Items To Approved related list to your custom home page layouts The related
list shows users all approval requests that are waiting for their response
If you have a sandbox test the approval process then activate it
Sample Approval Process Discounting Opportunities
Opportunities that are discounted more than require a CEO approval Use this example to create a
onestep approval process
Prep Your Organization
Before creating the approval process
Create an email template to notify approvers about a pending approval request To direct users to
the approval page in Salesforce include approval process merge fields
Create the following custom fields for opportunities
A percent field called Discount Percent so that users can enter a percentage discount
A checkbox field called Discount Approved to indicate whether the CEO approved the
discount
Create the Approval Process
Create an approval process on the Opportunity object and specify the following
The filter criteria for this approval process is Discount Percent greater or equal
Records must meet this criteria before they can be submitted to this approval process
You dont need to choose a custom field as the next automated approver because you specify later
that the CEO must approve all requests
Select the email template you created for this approval process
Sample Approval Processes
Sample Approval Process Job Candidates
Choose the record owner as the only user who can submit a discount request for approval
Create one approval step with no filter criteria since all records submitted need to be approved or
rejected
Choose Automatically assign to approvers and select the name of your CEO
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve requests
Consider creating the following final approval actions
Email alert to notify the user who submitted the discount request
Field update to automatically select the opportunity Discount Approved checkbox
Wrap Things Up
After you created the approval process add the Approval History related list to the appropriate
opportunity page layouts
Consider adding the Items To Approved related list to your custom home page layouts The related
list shows users all approval requests that are waiting for their response
If you have a sandbox test the approval process then activate it
Sample Approval Process Job Candidates
When your company interviews candidates for a position you may have several levels of approval before
you can send an offer letter Use this example to create a threestep approval process that requires approval
from multiple management levels
Prep Your Organization
Before creating the approval process
If you dont yet have a custom object to track candidates create a custom object and tab called
Candidates Add the appropriate fields such as Salary Offer Extended checkbox and
Date of Hire
Create an email template to notify approvers about a pending approval request To direct users to
the approval page in Salesforce include approval process merge fields
Create the Approval Process
Create an approval process on the Candidate custom object using the following specifications
Dont enter filter criteria because you want all submitted offers to be approved
Choose the Manager field as the next automated approver
Select the email template you created for this approval process
Choose the record owner or any other user that you want to be able to submit offer letters
Create three approval steps
Create a step named Step Manager Approval
No filter is necessary as you want all records to advance to this step
Sample Approval Processes
Sample Approval Process Job Candidates
In the Automatically assign to approvers option select the manager of
the user submitting the request
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve
requests
Create a second step named Step VP Approval
No filter is necessary as you want all records to advance to this step
Choose Let the user choose the approver to allow the manager to select
the appropriate VP to approve the request
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve
requests
Choose Perform ONLY the rejection actions for this step so
that the request returns to the manager for changes if the VP rejects the request
Create a third step named Step CFO Approval
No filter is necessary as you want all records to advance to this step
Choose Automatically assign to approvers and select the name of your
CFO
If appropriate choose The approvers delegate may also approve this
request if you want to allow the user in the Delegated Approver field to approve
requests
Choose Perform all rejection actions for this step AND all
final rejection actions Final Rejection so that offer letters rejected
by your CFO are completely rejected
Tip
Consider creating the following final approval actions
Email alert to notify the user who submitted the offer letter request
Field update to select the Offer Extended checkbox
Consider creating the following final rejection actions
Email alert to notify the manager that the offer wont be extended
Wrap Things Up
After you created the approval process add the Approval History related list to the Candidates object
page layout
Consider adding the Items To Approved related list to your custom home page layouts The related
list shows users all approval requests that are waiting for their response
If you have a sandbox test the approval process then activate it