Multi-Step and Parallel Approvals

Why Multi-Step and Parallel Approvals Matter

Approval processes are one of the most heavily tested topics in the Process Automation section of the Salesforce Advanced Administrator exam, which typically represents around 20% of the total exam. While a basic single-step approval is straightforward, real businesses rarely work that way. A large discount might need a sales manager, then a finance director, then the VP to sign off. A capital expenditure might need two regional directors to both agree before it moves forward. The exam tests whether you can translate these business requirements into the correct configuration of steps, approvers, step criteria, and rejection behavior. Understanding multi-step and parallel approvals also demonstrates that you know the limits of declarative automation and when to reach for alternatives such as Flow Orchestration. If you can read a scenario and immediately identify whether it describes sequential steps, parallel approvers, or a skip condition, you will pick up easy points on exam day.

What Is an Approval Process?

An approval process is a declarative automation tool that defines how a record is routed for approval, who must approve it at each stage, and what happens when it is approved, rejected, or recalled. Every approval process is built on one object and includes:

• Entry criteria: the conditions a record must meet to be submitted (formula or field criteria). If a record does not meet these, the user cannot submit it.
• Initial submitters: who is allowed to submit (record owner, specific users, roles, public groups).
• Approval steps: one or more stages, each with its own criteria and approvers.
• Approval actions: Initial Submission, Approval (per step), Rejection (per step), Final Approval, Final Rejection, and Recall actions. Each can contain Field Updates, Email Alerts, Tasks, and Outbound Messages.
• Record locking: by default the record is locked during approval so only approvers and administrators can edit it.

Multi-Step Approvals (Sequential)

A multi-step approval contains two or more approval steps executed in sequence. The record cannot move to Step 2 until Step 1 is approved. Key facts:

• You can define up to 30 steps per approval process.
• Each step has step entry criteria that determine whether the record enters that step. If the record does not meet the criteria, you choose what happens: approve the record automatically, reject the record, or (for steps after the first) go to the next step. This is how you build conditional or skipped steps; for example, a discount under 20% skips the VP step.
• Each step defines who approves: a specific user or users, a queue (if the object supports queues), the user in a related user field (such as Manager or a custom hierarchical lookup like Regional Director), a user chosen manually by the submitter, or the approver automatically assigned using a standard or custom user hierarchy field.
• Each step (other than the first) defines rejection behavior: perform all rejection actions and reject the record (final rejection), or perform only the step rejection actions and send the record back to the previous approver. The first step always results in final rejection because there is no previous step.
• Each step has its own approval actions and rejection actions, allowing a field update such as Status = Pending Finance after Step 1 approval.
• The Final Approval actions run only when the last applicable step is approved; Final Rejection actions run when a rejection ends the process.

Parallel Approvals (Multiple Approvers in One Step)

A parallel approval occurs when a single step is assigned to multiple approvers at the same time. You can select up to 25 approvers per step. When you choose multiple approvers, you must decide how their responses are evaluated:

• Approve or reject based on the FIRST response: the step is decided by whichever approver responds first. If the first response is approve, the step is approved and other pending requests are removed. If the first response is reject, the step is rejected.
• Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers: every approver must approve for the step to pass. If any one approver rejects, the entire step is rejected immediately, and the remaining approval requests are cancelled.

Important nuances: parallel approvers all receive the request simultaneously and each sees a separate approval request in their Items to Approve. If the approver is a queue, any queue member can respond, and one response from the queue satisfies that single approver slot. Delegated approvers can respond if the step allows delegated approvers. Approval comments from each approver are captured in the Approval History related list.

How It Works End to End

1. A user clicks Submit for Approval (or a Flow or Apex submits the record). Salesforce evaluates active approval processes in order and uses the first one whose entry criteria match. If none match, the user gets an error.
2. Initial Submission actions run (for example, lock the record and set Status = Submitted).
3. The record is evaluated against Step 1 criteria. If it qualifies, approval requests go to the Step 1 approver(s). If not, the configured skip behavior applies.
4. Approvers respond via the Approval History related list, Items to Approve on the Home page, email (if email approval response is enabled), Chatter approval posts, Salesforce Mobile, or Slack.
5. On approval, step approval actions run and the record moves to the next step whose criteria are met. On rejection, either the previous approver receives it again or Final Rejection actions run.
6. After the final step is approved, Final Approval actions run and the record remains locked unless you configure the Final Approval action to unlock it.
7. The submitter (or an admin) may Recall the request if recall is enabled, which triggers Recall actions and unlocks the record.

Key Rules and Limits You Must Know

• Once an approval process is activated, you cannot add, delete, or reorder steps, and you cannot change step criteria rejection and skip behavior. To change these, deactivate the process or clone it and edit the clone. You can still edit approvers and add actions to existing steps.
• A record can be in only one approval process at a time.
• Field updates in approval actions can trigger workflow rules and flows if the re-evaluate option is selected on the field update.
• The Process Visualizer gives a read-only flowchart of steps, criteria, and approvers; it is useful for documentation and troubleshooting.
• Administrators can always edit locked records; you can also allow the currently assigned approver to edit during approval via a process setting.
• The user who submits cannot be required to approve their own record unless configured, and the Manager field on the User record must be populated for Manager-based routing to work.
• Email templates for approval requests can include the approval link; Email Approval Response must be enabled in Process Automation Settings for users to reply APPROVE or REJECT.
• Approval requests cannot be assigned to a person account, contact, or role directly; use a queue, user, related user field, or hierarchy field.

Multi-Step and Parallel Combined

Complex business processes often combine both patterns. Example: Step 1 goes to the Account Owner's Manager (related user field). Step 2 is a parallel step to the Finance Director and Legal Counsel requiring unanimous approval. Step 3 goes to the CEO only if Amount is greater than 1,000,000 (otherwise approve the record). If Step 2 is rejected, the record returns to Step 1. This single scenario tests sequential steps, parallel unanimous approval, step entry criteria with skip behavior, and rejection behavior all at once, which is exactly how exam questions are written.

When Approval Processes Are Not Enough

Approval processes work on a single object and have a fixed structure. If a scenario requires approvals across multiple objects, approvals that depend on work completed in other steps, interactive screens for approvers, or dynamic assignment that cannot be expressed with hierarchy fields, the answer is likely Flow Orchestration or a Flow that uses the Submit for Approval action to route records dynamically. The exam may offer these as distractors or as the correct answer depending on complexity, so read the requirement carefully.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Multi-Step and Parallel Approvals

1. Decode the language. Words such as then, after, next, and once approved by signal sequential multi-step. Words such as both, all of, any of, simultaneously, and at the same time signal parallel approvers within one step.

2. Unanimous versus first response. If the scenario says all three directors must approve, choose unanimous. If it says any one of the directors can approve or the first available approver, choose first response. Remember that under unanimous, a single rejection rejects the step.

3. Skipping steps is done with step entry criteria, not with separate approval processes. If a question asks how to bypass the VP for small deals, the answer is step criteria with the go to next step or approve record option, not a second approval process.

4. Rejection routing. If the requirement says a rejection at a later step should return to the earlier approver for revision, select the step rejection behavior perform only rejection actions for this step and send back to previous approver. If it says a rejection ends the process, choose final rejection.

5. Know what cannot be changed after activation. Questions often describe an admin trying to add a step to an active process and failing. The correct response is to deactivate the process or clone it, not to add the step directly.

6. Order matters. When multiple approval processes exist on the same object, Salesforce uses the first active one in the list whose entry criteria are met. If a record is entering the wrong process, check the order and the entry criteria.

7. Hierarchy routing. For route to the submitter's manager, use the standard Manager field on User. For route to the Regional Director, create a custom hierarchical relationship field on User and select it as the approver assignment. Eliminate answers that mention roles or profiles as approvers.

8. Locking behavior. If users complain they cannot edit records in approval, that is expected. Admins can edit, and you can allow the current approver to edit via the process settings. Unlocking happens through Final Approval or Final Rejection field actions or recall.

9. Approval responses from email, mobile, or Slack are configuration or feature enablement questions, not step design. Email Approval Response must be enabled in setup.

10. Watch for Flow Orchestration distractors. If the requirement involves multiple objects or approvers completing screens, approval processes are likely the wrong tool. If the requirement is a standard sequence of approvers on one object, a classic approval process is the correct and simplest answer.

11. Limits: 30 steps per process, 25 approvers per step, one approval process per record at a time. Memorize these; they appear as quick recall questions.

12. Eliminate systematically. In scenario questions, first identify the object and the number of steps, then the approver type for each step, then the parallel setting, then the rejection and skip behavior. An answer choice that gets any of these wrong can be eliminated even if the rest sounds plausible.

Summary

Multi-step approvals move a record through a sequence of approvers, each with their own criteria, actions, and rejection behavior. Parallel approvals assign multiple approvers within one step and resolve the step by either the first response or unanimous agreement. Mastering step entry criteria, rejection routing, approver assignment options, activation restrictions, and process limits will allow you to confidently answer both conceptual and scenario-based questions on the Advanced Administrator exam.