Approval Process in Salesforce

Several declarative (point-and-click) solutions in Salesforce automate enterprise business processes. The tool for deploying the business process automation must be determined.

Automation can be applied to a wide range of business scenarios, including automatically creating invoices, allocating records to users based on specific profiles, sending records for managers’ approval, and sending letters to customers.

Approval processes in Salesforce are one such tool that streamlines sign-off for various business decisions and actions within the platform. They automate the flow of records through defined steps, ensuring proper review and authorization before finalization. Here’s a breakdown:

What is Approval Process in Salesforce? 

The Approval Process is an automated process that an organization uses to approve records in Salesforce. For example,  there are fields of priority and salary. If you wish to set a record that whenever an employee’s salary exceeds 100,000, the approval process should run.

This will trigger the manager, and the record’s priority should be set to high. Users can take advantage of this approval process in Salesforce whenever needed.

Records submitted for approval are approved by the user(s) in the organization. These users are called Approvers. A single Approval process is bound to a single object because, when a rule is defined, that object determines which fields will be available to set the criteria.

An approval process consists of three steps: finalizing the basic properties of the approval process, approval steps, and actions to be executed at each stage.

There are 2 options to set the criteria:

1. As a condition (Criteria are met).
2. As a formula which evaluates to true.

Criteria can be left blank if all the records that are submitted for approval are eligible to enter the approval process, regardless of the field values.

Approval Process Steps in Salesforce

The approval process steps in Salesforce consist of one or more steps. Every approval step contains its criteria and Approvers. Approval Steps are given step numbers to identify the hierarchy in which the approval steps should be executed.

Every step includes a criterion that determines whether the record should proceed to this step for approval. If the record does not meet the criteria for approval at any step except the first, it is automatically approved and executes Final Approval actions afterward.

Who Can Be the Approvers in the Approval Process? 

The following can be the approvers in any approval process in Salesforce 

1. Manager Field of user record or any other hierarchical field.
2. Submitters can also choose manually the approver of that step.
3. Records can automatically be assigned to a queue for approval.
4. Or we can set a particular user(s) or a queue for a particular approval step. In this option, 2 options decide how the approver(s) will decide whether the record is approved or not.
   1. Approve or reject based on the FIRST response. If any of the approvers approve the record it is considered to be approved.
   2. Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers. If any of the approvers rejects the record it is considered to be rejected.

Delegated approvers can also approve the record if they are explicitly allowed to do so in the approval step definition. Approvers can also reassign the approval request to another user. 

Every approval step contains its own approval and rejection actions. These actions can be any amongst Email Alerts, Tasks, Field Updates, and Outbound messages. To activate an approval process, there should be at least one approval step.

We can decide whether the record should be approved or rejected if it does not meet the criteria. It can also be determined whether the process should return to the previous approval step or whether final rejection actions should be executed in case of rejection at any approval step (except step 1).

What are the Approval Process Steps in Salesforce?

Salesforce Approval Processes guide records through a defined series of steps for review and authorization. Each step involves an “approver” who reviews and takes action on the record. 

Here’s a breakdown of the typical steps involved:

1. Initiation

A record triggers the approval process based on predefined criteria (e.g., exceeding a certain amount or meeting specific field values). The submitter enters relevant information and submits the record for approval.

2. Routing

The system routes the record to the first approver based on the defined criteria (e.g., by role, department, or hierarchy). The approver receives a notification with details of the record and the required action.

3. Review and Action

The approver reviews the record and its details.

They can then:

• Approve – Move the record to the next step or mark it as approved.
• Reject – Send the record back to the submitter with feedback and reasons for rejection.
• Reassign – Transfer the approval request to another user.

4. Iterations

If changes are requested, the submitter makes the necessary modifications and resubmits the record. The revised record follows the same routing and review process until approval is granted.

5. Finalization

Once all required approvals are granted, the record is finalized, and the corresponding action takes place (e.g., discount applied, budget approved, expense reimbursed). The submitter and relevant stakeholders receive notification of the final decision.

Actions in Salesforce Approval Process

There are 4 actions present except the approval steps which complete an approval process.

1. Initial Submission Actions

Initial submission actions are the actions that occur when a user first submits a record for approval. By default, an action to lock the record runs automatically on initial submission. Initial submission actions can include any approval actions such as email alerts, field updates, tasks, or outbound messages.

2. Final Approval Actions

Final approval actions Salesforce are the actions that occur when a record is approved from all the approval steps. It also locks or unlocks the record, as specified. It can include any approval actions such as email alerts, field updates, tasks, or outbound messages.

3. Final Rejection Actions

Final Rejection actions Salesforce are the actions that occur when a record is rejected from any of the approval steps. It also locks or unlocks the record, as specified. It can include any approval actions such as email alerts, field updates, tasks, or outbound messages.

4. Recall Actions

Recall actions are the actions that occur when a record is recalled after submission for approval. It can include approval actions such as email alerts, field updates, tasks, or outbound messages.

Things to keep in mind about Approval Process in Salesforce

1. Automated Approval routing routes the approval request automatically to the user specified in the Manager Field or any hierarchical relationship field in the submitter’s user record. 
2. If the “Use Approver field of [Object] owner” is checked, then in the Approval steps, the Manager Field or any hierarchical field, whichever may be selected, will be of the record owner instead of the submitter.
3. Records submitted for approval are automatically locked, meaning they cannot be edited. However, administrators can edit records during the approval process, and when defining the approval process, they can select whether the approver is allowed to edit the record. 
   We can also assign a notification email template that will send an email notification to approvers whenever a record is submitted for approval.
4. Similar to Action Layouts in Actions, approval processes also have Approval Page Layouts that specify which fields will be visible to the approver. Approval History Salesforce information can be displayed as a related list on a record. Users who can submit the records for approval are called submitters. We can specify the submitters in the approval process definition.
5. If we do not select the Manager Field or any hierarchical relationship field for the user record during the approval process definition, automated approval routing for any approval step in this process will not be enabled.
6. The standard Name field and Owner field cannot be removed from Approval Page layouts.
7. Initial submission default actions lock the record. Unlike final approval & rejection, default actions have limited editability.
8. Once an approval process is activated, no more steps can be added to it without deactivating it. You can clone the approval process to create a modified version.