Approval Process is the way to automate Salesforce records approved in the org.
When we create an approval process we should
-
- Specify the criteria for a record to be approved and who should approve it.
- Specify the actions once a record is approved or rejected. For eg. Update fields on a record detail page if approved or send a notification in case the approval process is failed.
- Approval steps assign approval requests to various users and define the chain of approval for a particular approval process.
-
- Approval steps assign approval requests to various users and define the chain of approval for a particular approval process.
- The approver request can be assigned
- Manually by the submitter
- Automatically to any standard/ custom user
-
- Automatically to multiple approvers- This can be done in two ways, the first in a sequential manner such that the record will be approved or rejected based on the FIRST response. In the second way, UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers is required.
-
- To make the Approval process more functional, several additional actions can be performed based at different stages of the approval process.
- The actions can be field updates, email alerts, firing tasks etc.
- Let us see some examples.
- When a record is submitted- A field update action can be performed on the Status field to update it to ‘Pending’, until the record has received all the necessary approvals.
- When the record is Approved- A field update action to set the Status field to Approved. An Email alert to the record owner to notify that the record is approved can be another action.
-
- When a record is Rejected- The Status field can be updated to ‘Rejected’. An email alert action to the record owner notifying that the record is Rejected.
- In the Process Detail page, in addition to the default actions, we can add,
- Initial submission actions- By default, records are locked when submitted for approval. This action ensures that other users (except for approvers and admins) can’t change the record while it’s pending approval. Other possible submission actions include sending an email alert, updating a field on a record, creating a task, and sending an outbound message.
- Approval steps- For multiple approvers, new approval steps can be added. Approval steps assign approval requests to various users and define the chain of approval for a particular approval process.
- Final Approval Actions and Final Rejection actions- These are the actions that occur when a record is approved or rejected from all the approval steps. It also locks or unlocks the record, as specified. It includes any approval actions such as email alerts, field updates, tasks, or outbound messages.
-
- Recall actions- For doing some update on the record after the approval request is submitted, then we can recall the approval.
Read more about Approval Processes here Approval Processes (salesforce.com)
Take Five Consulting is a technology company, based in Virginia U.S., that specializes in the Mortgage Banking vertical especially LOS implementation and application development. Take Five Consulting creates and implement mortgage technology and software specifically for Mortgage Industry.
