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Approvals in Vtiger CRM
Feature Availability and Limits
Vtiger Editions: One Pilot | One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI
Supported modules
- Inclusion: Leads, Contacts, Organizations, Opportunities, Cases, Projects, Project Tasks, Assets, Service Contracts, Inventory Modules (Quotes, SO, PO, Invoice, Subscriptions), Events, Payments, Campaigns.
- Exclusion: Comments, Inbox, Email Campaigns, Phone calls, Olark, Esign, Mail Manager, SMS Notifier, Tasks, Time Logs, Transactions, Marketing List, Email Sequences, Journey Templates
Introduction
Many business processes require approval from managers or designated stakeholders. Without structured approvals, decisions may be delayed, inconsistent, or untraceable.
Approvals in Vtiger CRM enable administrators and process owners to automate authorization workflows. This ensures consistency, accountability, and timely decision-making.
- You can use Approvals to:
- Control discounts applied to Quotes.
- Approve budgets allocated to Campaigns.
- Authorize new hires.
- Approve leave requests or expenses.
Approval Process in Vtiger CRM
Vtiger’s approval automation allows administrators to define approval processes aligned with business requirements. You can configure single-level or multi-level approval hierarchies.
An approver can be any CRM user or a reporting manager. When a record meets the entry criteria:
- Approval rules run sequentially.
- Requests are sent to approvers defined in the approval matrix.
- The record is locked until the approval process completes.
If any approver rejects the request, the rejection actions are executed immediately. If approved, the process continues to the next rule. When all rules are complete, the record is approved, and final approval actions are executed.
Use case
At TechNova, Asha, the CRM Administrator, wants to control high-value discounts. She configures an approval process in the Quotes module for discounts exceeding 15%.
Later, Priya, a Sales Executive, creates a quote with a 20% discount. Vtiger CRM detects the condition and prompts her to submit the quote for approval. Rahul, the Sales Manager, receives a notification and approves the request. After approval, the quote becomes editable and ready to share with the customer.
Key Features
The key features of Vtiger Approvals are:
- Automated Approval Processes
- Automatically trigger approvals when records meet defined entry criteria.
- Single-Level and Multi-Level Approvals
- Configure one or multiple approvers in a sequential approval hierarchy.
- Flexible Entry Criteria
- Define approval conditions using field values, Date, DateTime, and Time fields.
- Approval Rules and Matrices
- Route approvals dynamically based on Created By, Assigned To, or record values.
- Record Locking During Approval
- Prevent record edits while the approval is in progress.
- Approval Status Tracking
- Track approval progress using status fields in both Approval and related records.
- Email and In-App Notifications
- Notify approvers and submitters via CRM alerts and email.
- Approval via Email and CRM
- Approve or reject records directly from email or within the CRM.
- Notes and Attachments Support
- Allow submitters and approvers to add notes and attach supporting documents.
- Approval Watermark on Documents
- Display a Not Approved watermark on PDFs until final approval.
- Time-Based Approvals
- Trigger approvals based on specific time or DateTime conditions.
- Resubmission and Auto-Approval
- Support resubmission after rejection or cancellation and auto-approve when applicable.
- Mobile App Approvals
- Review, approve, or reject records using the Vtiger CRM mobile app.
Benefits of Using Approvals
The benefits of using Approvals are:
- Automating manual approval tasks and saving time.
- Ensuring records are reviewed before execution.
- Locking records during approval to prevent changes.
- Supporting multi-level approval hierarchies.
- Sending email and CRM notifications to approvers.
- Allowing notes and document attachments for context.
Approval Status Field in Approval Record
Each approval record contains a status field that updates based on approver actions.
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You can also view these statuses in the Approval widget of the related record.
Approval Status Field in Related Record
The Approval Status field appears when a module links to an active approval process.
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Note:
- Approvals auto-approve when the submitter is also the approver.
- You cannot create related records while a record waits for approval.
Approvals Watermark
When a record is awaiting approval, its PDF displays a Not Approved watermark. Users cannot print the documents during this state.
Once the approver approves the record, the watermark disappears, and the user can print the PDF document in the record.
The following table shows the application of the watermark based on the approval status of the record:
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Mapping Approval Status and Related Record Status
The status field in the Approval record also affects the status field in the related record.
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Actions Not Possible During Approval
A submitter cannot perform specific actions depending on the Approval status after the record is sent for approval.
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Time-Based Conditions in Approvals
Approvals support DateTime and Time fields in the Approval Entry Criteria with the following condition options:
- Less Than: Approval is submitted if the record is created between 12:00 AM and 7:59 AM.
- Less Than or Equal To: Triggers if the record is created between 12:00 AM and 8:00 AM.
- Greater Than: Triggers if the record is created between 9:01 AM and 11:59 PM.
- Greater Than or Equal To: Triggers if the record is created between 9:00 AM and 11:59 PM.
These options appear in both All and Any condition groups in the approval criteria.
Approval Behavior
- Approvals can be sent to all group members when a group is assigned.
- Multi-level approvals are fully supported.
- On final approval or rejection, the corresponding actions will be executed as configured.
- If a record is edited, duplicated, or resubmitted within a qualifying time range and meets the approval condition, it will be submitted again for approval.
- Approval resubmission after cancellation is supported.
- Works seamlessly for non-admin users.
- Fully compatible with custom DateTime and Time fields.
- When the via process option is enabled, the record must satisfy both the approval rule and the associated process condition.
- If a Date field (without time) is selected, the Less Than and Greater Than options will not be shown.
Approval Rules
You can use the Created By or Assigned criteria in Approval Rules to initiate an Approval.
Consider the scenarios below.
- Trigger Approvals based on the Created By User criteria.
- Create new Approvals and set the user profile applied on = Created By. Create a record with data that matches the rules in Approvals. Assign the record to the CRM user and save it.
- The Approval is triggered based on the Created By User rule. The Approval pop-up displays the list of approvers and matching rules.
- Trigger Approvals based on the criteria Created By User when the Assigned To is a Group.
- Create new Approvals and set the user profile applied on = Created By. Create a record with data that matches the rules in the approvals. Assign the record to any group and save it.
- The Approval triggers based on the criteria Created By user, even after the Assigned To is a group/other user. The Approvals pop-up displays a list of approvers and matching rules.
Submitting a Record for Approval
When a sales or marketing representative creates a record that matches at least one approval rule, they are prompted to send the record for approval to the approvers configured during setup.
Note: Make sure your admins have set up an approval process before you submit an approval request. To know more about setting up Approvals, click here.
Follow these steps to send a record for Approval:
- Create a record in any module that matches the entry criteria of an approval process.
- Enter the necessary details
- Click Save.
- You can add a note for the approvers in the Needs Approval window.
- Click Submit for Approvals.
Note: The record sent for approval is locked.
You can attach related documents while sending a record for approval. This helps the approver review all required information without logging in to the CRM. For example, when sending a quote for approval, you can attach cost sheets and other receipts.
- You can attach up to three documents per approval.
- The file size of each document must not exceed 25MB.
The approval request supports attaching document types such as PDFs, images, videos, documents, plain text files, sheets, and MP4 files. All attached files are stored under the Related Documents tab of the corresponding approval record.
When the approval email is sent to the approver, the related documents are included if the Insert Related Documents option is enabled in the Approval settings. This enables approvers to review supporting documents directly from the email.
Note:
- When the destination fields are updated with the source field values via approvals, the CRM account owner’s preferences are applied. The preferences are set up under My Preferences and Calendar Settings.
- Consider this example: If a Deal’s Description field (destination) is updated with the Deal’s Expected Close Date (source) via an Approval, then the date format in the Description field takes the CRM account owner’s format.
Approving or Rejecting a Record
An approver can approve any record in the following ways:
- From Email: When an approval record is sent, you (as an approver) will receive a notification by email. You can directly approve or reject the record from the email notification.
- From Actions: You will also receive a notification when a record is submitted for approval in the CRM under the Actions module.
- From the Related record: You can also approve or reject the record by clicking the Approve or Reject buttons.
- From the Approval record:
- List View: You can approve or reject a record in the List View of Approvals module. To approve or reject a record, hover over it and click the corresponding icons.
- Summary View: You can also approve a record in the Summary View. You can find the Approve and Reject buttons when you open a submitted approval record.
Note:
- If there are multiple approvers, the date and time when each approver approved the record will be displayed.
- You can send WhatsApp message notifications to the submitters, indicating whether the record was approved or rejected.
- You can create a link between Approvals and Workflows if you set the same condition on the same field in both.
- If the user who created the record has admin access and uses the Log in as option in User settings to access the approver’s account, the Approve/Reject buttons will not be displayed for that record. Instead, the record will show Waiting for approval.
- The Approve/Reject options will appear only when the assigned approver logs in with their own username and password.
Approvals in Vtiger CRM Mobile App
Vtiger CRM mobile app enables you to approve or reject records that are waiting for approval. Records created in the mobile app are evaluated for any matching approval process and, if applicable, submitted for approval.
To know more about the features of the Vtiger CRM app, click here.
To download the Vtiger CRM mobile app, click here.
Viewing Approvals
List View
By default, the List view is the screen that appears when you click the Approvals module. This view sorts and lists all Approvals by the last-modified approval record.
Follow these steps to view the Approvals in List View:
- Log in to the CRM.
- Click the main Menu.
- Click Essentials.
- Go to Collaborations > Approvals. The List View opens.
- View the following columns in the List View:
- Approval Name – Name of the Approval.
- Status – Current status of the Approval record.
- Related To – Module associated with the Approval.
- Assigned Approver – Name of the approver assigned to the record.
- Approval ID – Unique ID of the Approval.
- Approval Level – Current Approval level of the record.
- Use the Search bar to search for specific records or filter by field names, especially useful if you have many approval records
To learn more about List View in Vtiger CRM, click here.
Summary View
Follow these steps to view the Approvals in Summary View:
- Log in to the CRM.
- Click the main Menu.
- Click Essentials.
- Go to Collaborations > Approvals. The List View opens.
- Click on any approval record. The Summary View opens.
- View the following details in the Summary View:
- Assigned Approver – The person to whom the Approval is currently assigned.
- Status – The current status of the Approval record (e.g., Submitted, Pending, Approved, Rejected).
- Actual Approver – The person who actually approved or rejected the record.
- Approval Level – The current level of Approval in the approval hierarchy.
- Modified Time – The date and time of the last update to the Approval record.
- Requester Note – The message or note provided by the submitter of the Approval request.
- Approver Note – Any notes or comments added by the approver during the Approval process.
- Activity – A log of all actions and updates performed on the approval record.
To learn more about the Summary View in Vtiger CRM, click here.
Limitations
- Workflows and Webhooks adhere to the edition limits.
- Imported records that match the existing approval process are set to the Not Submitted status. Actions are restricted on a record in this status.
- Comments on records waiting for approval are not available in the customer self-service portal.