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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

Businesses have processes that require approvals by managers or other team members. Process owners can set up approval processes using Vtiger’s approvals to automate their business processes. 
You can use the Approval process to:

• Streamline discounts allowed on a Quote.
• Budget utilized in a Campaign.
• Approval for a new hire.
• Approval of the leave by a user and so on.

Approval Process in Vtiger CRM

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Vtiger approval process automation allows administrators or process owners to set up an approval process adhering to their business processes. There is also an option to set up a multi-level approval hierarchy.  The Approver can be any user or a reporting manager. If the approval process’s entry criteria are met, rules are processed sequentially, with approval requests sent to each approver defined in the rule’s approval matrix. When the record is waiting for approval, the record is locked and cannot be edited until the process is completed. The process stops if an approver rejects the request for approval, and final rejection actions are run. Otherwise, the next rule is processed for approvals. When there are no more rules to execute, the record is approved, and final approval actions are run.​

Use case 

At TechNova, Asha, the CRM Administrator, wants to control large discounts. She sets up an approval process for the Quotes module so that the Sales Manager must approve any discount above 15%.

Later, Priya (Sales Executive) creates a quote with a 20% discount. The CRM detects this and prompts her to submit it for approval. She adds a note and clicks submit. Rahul, the Sales Manager, receives a notification and approves.. Once approved, the quote becomes editable again and can be shared with the customer.

Benefits of Using Approvals

The following are the benefits of Approvals CRM:

• Automates manual approval tasks and saves time.
• Ensures records are reviewed before execution.
• Locks records during approval to avoid changes.
• Supports multi-level approval chains.
• Sends email and CRM notifications to approvers.
• Allows adding notes and attachments to the record.

Approval Status Field in Approval Record

Each approval record has its own status field, which will change according to the approver’s actions.
 

The above statuses are also viewable in the Approval widget of the related record.​

 Approval Status Field in Related Record

The approval status field is added to a record when a module is linked to at least one active approval process. When a record is submitted for approval, the approval status field can be one of the values listed below.
 

N​ote: 

• Any approval record is auto-approved when the approver is the record submitter.
• You cannot create any related records to a record that is waiting for approval. For example, when a quote is waiting for approval, you cannot create a sales order.

Approvals Watermark

When a record is pending approval, the PDF document in the record displays a watermark stating Not Approved. 
The user is not allowed to print the pending approval PDF. 

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:

  

Mapping Approval Status and Related Record Status

The status field in the Approval record affects the status field in the related record as well.
 

Actions Not Possible

A submitter cannot perform specific actions depending on the Approval status after the record is sent for approval.

 

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 users in a group 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 criteria - Created By User.
  • Create new Approvals and set the user profile applied on = Created By. Create a record with a set of data that matches the rules given in the 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 a set of data that matches the rules given 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 that your admins have set up an approval process before you submit an approval. To know more about setting up Approvals, click here.
Follow these steps to send a record for Approval:

1. Create a record in any module that matches the entry criteria of an approval process.
2. Enter the necessary details
3. Click Save.
4. You can add a note for the approvers in the Needs Approval window.
5. Click Submit for Approvals.

Note: The record sent for approval is locked.

You can also attach related documents while sending a record for Approval. This will provide the approver with all the details they need to see to approve without having to log in to the CRM. For example, while sending a quote for approval, you can add cost sheets and other receipts as attachments.

• You can attach up to three documents per approval.
• The file size of each document must not exceed 25MB.
• This enhancement is available in Sales Enterprise and All-in-one Enterprise editions.

Note: 

Automation - Workflow Scheduler Automation - Approvals Module Management - Module Layouts & Fields Automation - Assignment Rules May 2021