Approval Processes

Approval processes are a type of automation that allows users to submit Salesforce records so that they can be approved in order to continue a specific business process. The approval process has the option of sending the record to one or multiple approvers (in a round-robin fashion), as well as the ability to add submission, approval, rejection, and recall actions. Having these checks and balances on business processes allows for a more streamlined and efficient workflow. Creating and maintaining approvals is a vital part of a Salesforce admin’s day-to-day work.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics in detail:

• Creating an approval process
• Adding entry criteria and approver selection
• Adding actions and viewing the approval steps
• Enabling email approvals
• Business use case

With the help of these topics, you will understand when and how to create an approval process. You will understand how to create...

Technical requirements

For this chapter, log into your development organization and follow along as we create an approval process from start to finish.

Creating an approval process

An approval process is a great tool that’s used to execute business logic automatically based on a Salesforce record being submitted for approval, and then approved or rejected by another user. Knowing the capabilities of approval processes will help you come up with efficient workflows that lead to fewer clicks and cleaner data. Let’s see how this is done.

Business use case

You are the Salesforce Admin for XYZ Widgets. The sales manager has a use case where all closed sales that are $200,000 or higher and are in the negotiation/review stage need to be submitted to them for final approval. Once the deal is approved, the opportunity stage should automatically update to Closed Won. Let’s build this approval!

Approval process in action

To create the approval process, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Setup page | the Home tab (1) | Approval Processes (2):

Figure 17.1: Navigating to Approval...

17 Approval Processes

Approval processes are a type of automation that allows users to submit Salesforce records so that they can be approved in order to continue a specific business process. The approval process has the option of sending the record to one or multiple approvers, as well as the ability to add submission, approval, rejection, and recall actions. Having these checks and balances on business processes allows for a more streamlined and efficient workflow. Creating and maintaining approvals is a vital part of a Salesforce admin's day-to-day work.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics in detail:

• Creating an approval process
• Adding entry criteria and approver selection
• Adding actions and viewing the approval steps
• Enabling email approvals
• The business use case in action

With the help of these topics, you will be able to understand the business use case for creating an approval process. You will understand how to create an approval process, how to add entry...

Adding actions and viewing the approval steps

Now that we have created the approval process, let’s look at how to add actions and view the approval steps based on our business use case. The following screenshot shows where we land after clicking on View Approval Process Detail Page:

Figure 17.5: Highlighted areas of the Approval Process Detail Page

As shown in the preceding screenshot, there are multiple sections to consider:

1. Initial Submission Actions: The default action when a user submits a record for approval is to lock the record from being edited. In addition to this, you can add one of the four additional actions, that is, create a task, create an email alert, update a field, or send an outbound message. For our business use case, there are no additional actions to create upon submitting an approval.
2. Approval Steps: This section shows the steps needed to complete this approval. Had we added multiple approvers and the need for unanimous approval...

Enabling email approvals

Although the approver(s) will get a notification and can approve the record right from inside Salesforce, we want to add an extra option to make it a little easier for our executives on the move. This option is to allow the approver to approve a record by replying to the approval request email with APPROVE or REJECT.

In the following screenshot, I navigated to Process Automation Settings to enable this feature:

Figure 17.10: Navigating to Process Automation Settings from the Home tab

As you can see, I ticked the Enable email approval response checkbox. This will now give our approver(s) another option to approve the record:

Figure 17.11: Example of an approval response email

Now that we have set up the approval process and enabled the option for an approver to approve via email, let’s test it out!

Business use case

Now that we have built the approval process, let’s test it out to see if it meets our business requirements. As a recap, the sales manager wants all closed sales that are $200,000 or higher and are in the negotiation/review stage to be submitted to them for final approval. Once the deal has been approved, the opportunity stage should automatically update to Closed Won. Let’s see how this works:

1. Navigate to the Burlington Textiles Weaving Plant Generator opportunity:

   

   Figure 17.12: Opportunity with the amount and stage sections highlighted

   Here, we can see that this opportunity has an amount that is greater than $200,000 and is in the Negotiation/Review stage, so it meets the criteria for being submitted for approval.

2. From the dropdown arrow in the upper-right corner, we can access and click on the Submit for Approval button. The following popup will appear:

Figure 17.13: Popup when submitting...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned what approval processes are and the use cases for building approvals into our business processes. We learned how to create an approval process and define the entry criteria and select an approver. We also learned how to view approval steps, as well as add various actions based on submitting, approving, rejecting, and recalling the record.

With the use of these skills, you should be able to come up with checks and balances that control various aspects of the business process flow, as well as apply technical solutions for the approval-related requirements that come from your users. In the next chapter, we will look at a different automation tool available in Salesforce, assignment rules.

Questions

1. What is the difference between the Jump Start Wizard and the Standard Setup Wizard?
2. Are you able to have more than one approver on an approval process?
3. Why does the record lock for editing when a user submits it for approval?
4. How are the approval process and workflow rule actions similar?
5. What happens to the editability of a record if a user recalls it from an approval?
6. What is the last step needed for an approval process to be live and working?
7. Where can an approver see all items needing approval that have been assigned to them?

Further reading

• Setting up an Approval Process:https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=approvals_getting_started.htm&type=5
• Submitting a Record for Approval from a Process: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=process_action_submit.htm&type=5

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