Configure Workflow Phase Approvals

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  Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

Sections in this article:

• What is an Approval?
  • Types of Approval
• Configure a Single Approval
  • Allow Approval via Email
• Configure Parallel Approvals
  • Simple
  • Conditional
• FAQs

What is an Approval?

An approval phase requires a decision using either Approve or Reject before the card can progress to the next phase.

Each decision is recorded in the card’s history, along with any comments provided at the time.

Transitions can be configured to route cards to different phases of the workflow depending on the outcome selected.

Approval Types

There are two types of approval:

• Single: only one approval is required from a phase owner to progress the card. If multiple users are assigned as phase owners, approval from any one of them is sufficient to progress the card.
• Parallel: approval is required from all assigned approval groups before the card can progress. They can review the card simultaneously, but all must approve for it to move to the next phase. Approvers can be defined using workflow groups, specific users, or values entered in form fields.

Conditional rules can be applied to both approval types, so that Gatekeeper can automatically determine who needs to approve a card based on the data entered in the form. For example, the IT team could be assigned to approve a card only when the contract category is Software.

Configure a Single Approval

To enable a single approval for a phase, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the workflow and click on the name of a phase to edit it.
2. From Approval, select the Enabled radio button. The approval type will be selected as Single by default.
   
3. Assign the reviewer from Form Access. See Configure Workflow Phase Access and Ownership for further details on assigning phase owners.

Allow Approval via Email

You can enable email approvals for a phase by selecting the Allow Approval via email checkbox.

When this option is enabled, assigned approvers can approve or reject directly from the approval notification email, without opening the workflow card in Gatekeeper.

Configure Parallel Approvals

To configure parallel approvals, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the workflow and click on the name of a phase to edit it.
2. Click the Approval section.
3. Select the Enabled radio button, then select the Parallel radio button.
4. Select from the dropdown lists to define who will be required to approve workflow cards.
   1. Users: Select one or more specific users.
   2. Teams: Select one or more teams.
   3. Workflow Groups: Select one or more predefined workflow groups.
   4. Fields: Select from any Workflow Group, User, or Internal Owner field (Dropdown or Multi-Select Dropdown) present in the workflow form.
5. Select Simple or Conditional depending on whether approvers should always be the same or vary based on form responses. See below for guidance on each option.
6. Once finished, click Save.

Simple

Select Simple when all assigned approvers should always be required to approve, regardless of the form content. You can add as many approvers as needed. No conditional logic will apply, and the ruleset will be marked as Always Active.

Conditional

Select Conditional to assign approvers dynamically based on form responses. Only the relevant approvers will be included depending on the values that have been submitted. For example, you may only require the IT team to approve a card if the contract category is Software Licensing. 

After selecting Conditional, click Add to define the conditions for this ruleset. Any combination of the workflow form fields can be used to build the conditional logic.

You can then click Add New Parallel Approval at the bottom of the rulesets to create another ruleset to include additional approval groups.

FAQs