Articles in this section
Automation - Approvals
Feature Availability
Vtiger Editions: One Pilot | One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI
Introduction
Administrators or process owners can set up approvals in Vtiger to automate their workflows. Most businesses have processes that require a manager or other team member's approval.
To know more about how to submit approval or how approvals work in Vtiger, you must look at the Approvals article.
In this article, you will learn about:
- Configuring an approval process based on your business requirements
- Setting up single-level or multi-level approval hierarchies
- Assigning approvers, such as reporting managers or specific users
Setting up an Approval
Any user with Administrator privileges can set up an approval process.
Before you get started, analyze the entry criteria for the module approval process. Entry criteria and sequence affect the process executed for a record.
For example, if there are two approval processes with entry criteria as “Expense location is the USA,” Expense location is India,” the process whose entry criteria match the submitted record is run. If two approval processes are defined for India, the first that matches the record is run.
- Log in to your CRM account.
- Go to the main Menu.
- Click Settings.
- Select Approvals under the Automation section. The Approvals settings page opens.
- Click +New Approval.
- Enter the Basic Information.
- Module: Select the module from the drop-down.
- Approval Name: Provide a unique name for approval.
- Status: Set the approval as Active or Inactive.
- Description: Give a short description that explains the approval.
- Set up the Entry Criteria.
- Add entry criteria for the approvals process.
- Set unique field criteria that the record must meet to proceed with the approval process. Only when the entry criteria are met does the Approval process run when a record is saved. For example, if the Expense location is India, execute India process rules. If the Expense location is the US, execute the US process rules.
- Configure the Rules. Set the rules for the approval process to execute. The rules are executed sequentially only if the entry criteria are met.
- Rule Name: Provide a unique name for the rule and set its criteria. If the mentioned criteria are met, the rule is executed.
- Owner profiles: Select profiles from the drop-down. A rule is executed if the record owner's profile matches the configured rules.
- Approval matrix: Choose the approvers for the rule. It can be your reporting managers or any other user.
- Configure Final Approval and Rejection Actions.
- Select the action to be executed on Final Approval and Rejection of the record.
- You can add up to 8 actions for a single approval.
- The actions can include adding an event or task, creating a record, updating fields, sending email alerts and push notifications, calling webhooks, or calling custom functions.
- Activate all actions, then click Save.
Inserting Payment Links
- You can include a payment link in your emails when creating an Approval.
- For example, you can attach a payment link directly to each invoice email sent to customers, allowing them to pay the specific invoice. This streamlines the payment process, enabling quick decision-making, reducing confusion, and minimizing follow-up communication.
- Once the Payment Link field is added, the Default Gateway Payment link will automatically appear in the email body when the Workflow is triggered.
The payment link can be accessed in the email Activity section of the email record and the recipient’s email.
To learn more about configuring payment gateways in Vtiger, click here.
Deleting an approval
A user with Administrator privileges can delete the approval process. This does not affect any record already submitted for approval.
Approvers in a record
You can configure up to three approvers for a single approval rule.
An approver of the rule can be:
- Level 1 manager (Direct Reporting Manager)
- Level 2 manager
- Level 3 manager
- Any specific user, such as Bill - Accounts manager, Mary - HR Manager
Note:
- The Reports to field in the user record is used to determine the reporting manager of the record owner submitting for approval.
- You can set up Wait Time for each approver, after which a record is sent to the next level approver, even if not approved.
- Groups cannot be added as an approver.
- Any user in the group can approve the request. This id done under:
- Settings > Approvals > Add Rule section:
- Approver equals Groups
List View in Approvals
By default, the List view is the screen that is visible when you click the Approvals tab. This view lists all approvals created by the administrator.
Columns in List view
The columns that are visible by default in the List View are :
- Module - Displays the module icon for the module to which the approval was created. If you hover over the icon, you can see the module name.
- Name - Displays the name of the approval.
- Entry Criteria - Displays the All and Any conditions set by the admin as the entry criteria.
- # of rules - Displays the number of rules configured in the approval.
- View Rules - If you click the down arrow button, you can see the rules, final approval, and rejection actions set up in that particular approval.
List View Actions
You can perform the following quick actions on Approvals:
- Edit an approval by clicking on the approval record in the List View.
- Changing the status by clicking the toggle button on the approval record. You can make an approval active or inactive.
- Delete an approval by clicking the Delete icon on the approval record.
Note: A user with Administrator privileges can delete the approval process. This does not affect any record already submitted for approval.
References
Approvals in Vtiger CRM
Approval Process for Quote Discounts
Using Custom Server Scripts in Processes, Workflows, and Approvals