Workflows: Approval node

This article explains the Approval node that can be configured as part of Workflows. Learn more about using workflows here. Approval node can be used to get the approvals of multiple stakeholders in the organization.

Used For

1. Expense approval: An employee needs to get their expenses approved by their manager before submitting them to the finance department for reimbursement.
2. Purchase approval: When a department or an employee needs to buy something, they need to get approval from their manager before making the purchase.
3. Time off request approval: Employees may need to request approval for things like sick leave, bereavement leave, or personal leave.
4. Project approval: When a team wants to start a new project, they need to get approval from their manager to ensure that the project aligns with the organization's goals.
5. Hiring approval: When a department wants to hire a new employee, they need to get approval from HR and their manager to ensure that the new hire is needed and the budget is available.
6. Access approval: When an employee needs access to confidential or sensitive information or tools, they need to get approval from their manager to ensure that they have a legitimate reason to access such information.

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Configuring the Approval Flow (For App Admins)

Click on the block and start editing on the panel that appears on the right side.

Step name

This is the name that appears in the Workflow on the left side. If there are multiple Approval nodes in the workflow, set different step names like L1 Approval, L2 Approval etc.

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Approvers

Comma-separated list of email addresses who will be set as approvers of a submission. We can enter static email addresses or use @ to use any email variable defined in the app. Learn more about using variables in workflows here.

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Allowed Approval Statuses

A list of status values from which the Approver can choose a status. For this to work, you need to configure the Status List for the App by going to Design App -> Configuration -> Status

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Parent Step

Parent step refers to the function which is just above the Approval node. Here, it is the Start function.

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Enable this Step

This step is enabled by default. You can disable this step to prevent this step and the steps below this one from executing.

Performing the Approval (For the Approvers)

Once the Approval flow starts, all the Approvers will receive an Email Notification with the link to the submission that needs to be approved.

The Approver can click on this link or can directly go to the Clappia App and search for this submission. Then the approver can click on the Current Status of the submission and do the approval along with some comments.

Updates planned for the next release

1. Allow submissions to be reviewed from the Mobile Apps as well.
2. Allow submissions to be reviewed by directly clicking the links sent over email.
3. Allow App Admins to customize the Email notification that goes to the Approvers.
4. Notify the Approvers on other channels like WhatsApp, SMS, Mobile push notifications.
5. Support approvals of type - All Approvers should approve.
6. Customize the number of days after which the Approval Step will expire.
7. Send reminders to the Approvers if the submission hasn't beed reviewed after X days.
8. Let App Admins decide whether submission should be locked during the approval flow.

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Let us know at support@clappia.com if we should include any other improvements to the Approval flow.