An Approval Process in Salesforce is a powerful automation feature that allows organizations to automate the approval of records based on specific criteria. This functionality streamlines business operations by routing records through a defined sequence of steps, ensuring proper authorization befor…An Approval Process in Salesforce is a powerful automation feature that allows organizations to automate the approval of records based on specific criteria. This functionality streamlines business operations by routing records through a defined sequence of steps, ensuring proper authorization before records are finalized or actions are taken.
Key Components of an Approval Process:
1. Entry Criteria: These are conditions that determine which records enter the approval process. Records must meet these specified criteria to be submitted for approval.
2. Initial Submission Actions: Actions that occur when a record is first submitted, such as field updates, email alerts, or task assignments.
3. Approval Steps: Sequential stages where designated approvers review and either approve or reject the record. Each step can have its own criteria and assigned approvers.
4. Approvers: Users responsible for reviewing submitted records. They can be assigned based on hierarchy, queue membership, or specific user selection.
5. Final Approval Actions: Automated actions executed when all approval steps are completed successfully, such as updating the record status or sending notification emails.
6. Final Rejection Actions: Actions triggered when a record is rejected at any point in the process.
7. Recall Actions: Actions that occur when a submitter withdraws their submission from the approval queue.
Best Practices:
- Define clear entry criteria to ensure only appropriate records enter the process
- Establish reasonable timelines for each approval step
- Configure email alerts to keep stakeholders informed
- Use field updates to track approval status
- Test thoroughly in a sandbox environment before deployment
Approval Processes integrate seamlessly with other Salesforce automation tools and can be monitored through reports and dashboards. Administrators can create multiple approval processes for a single object, each serving different business scenarios. This feature is essential for maintaining compliance, ensuring accountability, and creating audit trails for critical business decisions.
Approval Process Overview - Complete Guide for Salesforce Administrator Exam
Why Approval Process is Important
Approval processes are a critical component of business workflow automation in Salesforce. They ensure that records requiring managerial or departmental sign-off go through proper channels before being finalized. Organizations use approval processes to maintain compliance, enforce business policies, and create audit trails for important decisions such as discount approvals, expense reports, and contract modifications.
What is an Approval Process?
An approval process is an automated procedure in Salesforce that specifies the steps necessary for a record to be approved, including who must approve it at each step. When a user submits a record for approval, it moves through a predefined sequence of steps until it is either approved, rejected, or recalled.
Key components of an approval process include:
• Entry Criteria: Conditions that determine if a record qualifies to enter the approval process • Initial Submission Actions: Actions that occur when a record is first submitted • Approval Steps: The sequence of approvals required, including who approves at each step • Final Approval Actions: Actions that execute when the record receives all necessary approvals • Final Rejection Actions: Actions that execute when the record is rejected • Recall Actions: Actions that occur when a submitter recalls their request
How Approval Processes Work
1. Submission: A user clicks the Submit for Approval button on a record, or an automated process submits it
2. Entry Criteria Evaluation: Salesforce checks if the record meets the defined entry criteria. If multiple approval processes exist for an object, the system evaluates them in order until one matches
3. Initial Submission Actions Execute: These may include field updates, email alerts, tasks, or outbound messages
4. Approval Steps: The record moves through each step where designated approvers review and approve or reject. Steps can be configured for: - Unanimous approval (all must approve) - First response (one approver decides for the group)
5. Final Actions: Based on whether the record is approved or rejected, corresponding final actions execute
Approver Assignment Options
• Manager Field: Uses the manager field on the submitter's user record • User or Queue: Assigns to a specific user or queue • Related User Field: Uses a user lookup field on the record • Submitter Choice: Allows the submitter to manually select an approver
Important Considerations
• A record can only be in one approval process at a time • Records locked during approval cannot be edited (unless users have Modify All permission) • Approval processes support up to 30 steps • Delegated approvers can be assigned to approve on someone's behalf • Email templates can be customized for approval request notifications
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Approval Process Overview
Tip 1: Remember that approval processes are object-specific. Each approval process is built for one standard or custom object.
Tip 2: Know the order of evaluation. When multiple approval processes exist for an object, they are evaluated in the order listed in Setup until one's entry criteria is met.
Tip 3: Understand record locking. By default, records are locked when submitted for approval. Look for questions about who can still edit locked records (users with Modify All permission on the object or Modify All Data profile permission).
Tip 4: Distinguish between step rejection behavior options: reject the entire request, go to a previous step, or go to a specific step.
Tip 5: Remember that approval processes can be triggered manually via button click, via Process Builder, or via Flow.
Tip 6: Pay attention to questions about parallel approvals versus sequential approvals. Each step processes sequentially, but within a step, multiple approvers can review simultaneously.
Tip 7: Know that approval history is tracked and can be added to page layouts for visibility into who approved and when.
Tip 8: When questions mention delegated approvers, remember this is configured on the user record, not in the approval process itself.