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Approval task

How-to9 minPractitioner

Before you start

An Approval task creates a task for a person or a role and stops the workflow until it is decided. Use it when a purchase order, a leave request or an RFx needs someone’s yes before work goes on.

When should I use an Approval task?

Section titled “When should I use an Approval task?”

Use it for any decision a person must make. The step has two paths, Approved and Rejected. Put a Record manager on each to change the record, or a Send email to tell someone. For the full picture of tasks in App space, read Approvals and tasks.

Add an Approval task

Section titled “Add an Approval task”
  1. Click + and choose Approval task. It sits in the Records group.
  2. Under The task, write the Title people will see and a Description.
  3. Choose a Priority: High, Medium or Low.
  4. Type the number of days in Overdue after.
  5. Under Who decides?, choose People, A role, A field on the record or Smart Script, and name who.
  6. Click + on Approved and on Rejected to add the steps that follow.
An Approval task selected in the RFx Process workflow, showing the title, a High priority, an Overdue after setting of 2 days and one person who decides, with Approved and Rejected leading to two Record manager steps.
    The Title people will see and a Description appear in the task.
    Priority and Overdue after, counted from when the task is created.
    Who decides? offers four ways to pick.
    Rejected and Approved are the two paths out.

What do the settings do?

Section titled “What do the settings do?”
SettingWhat it does
Title people will seeThe task’s title. Plain text, or text with inserted data
DescriptionShown under the title
PriorityHigh, Medium or Low
Overdue afterWhole days from when the task is created. After that the task is marked overdue
Who decides?People, A role, A field on the record, Smart Script
Write back to the recordOptional: Set a stage on the record, Add the rejection reason to the record, Add the assigned user to the record
AdvancedLet the approver return it to the sender, Check the data with another workflow first, Open the record’s Smart view by default, Approve a different record than this workflow’s

Who can decide?

Section titled “Who can decide?”
  • People: everyone listed sees the task. The first person to decide completes it for all.
  • A role: anyone with that role can decide. The first decision counts.
  • A field on the record: goes to whoever is in a User field when the task is created. Add a User field to the module first.
  • Smart Script: returns one or more email addresses, separated by commas. Each must belong to a user.

Worked example: approve a new RFx

Section titled “Worked example: approve a new RFx”

Omar’s RFx workflow starts when a record is created. An Approval task titled New RFx is set to High with Overdue after 2. One person decides. On Approved, a Record manager updates the RFx event. On Rejected, another one does.

  1. RFx created
  2. Approval task
  3. Approved: update status
  4. Rejected: update status

What should I watch for?

Section titled “What should I watch for?”
  • Overdue after marks the task overdue when its days pass.
  • The stage and the assigned user are written when the task is created, so a stage works as “waiting for approval”. To set a stage on approval or rejection, add a Record manager on that path.
  • Every write-back goes to the record that started the workflow, even when the task is about a different record.
  • The rejection reason is written to the chosen field when the task is rejected.

Check yourself

Layla adds an Approval task and sets the status on the Approved path. Which step changes the record's status?
Show the answer

A Record manager on the Approved path. The Approval task only pauses the workflow. A Record manager on each path changes the record.

An Approval task is set to Overdue after 2 days. What does Overdue after do on day 3?
Show the answer

It marks the task as overdue. Overdue after counts whole days from when the task is created and marks the task overdue.

What's next

Record managerCreate, update or delete records from a workflow, one at a time or in a batch from a list.Send emailSend a designed email from a workflow, with data from the record, tables that repeat over a list, buttons and attachments.

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