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Navigating to Approval Definitions

FOUNDATION > WORKFLOWS > SET UP AND MANAGE APPROVALS > SET UP APPROVAL DEFINITIONS

What are Approval Definitions?

Approvals are a mechanism used to control the creation and update of entries in the System by requesting Approval from specific Users before granting access for further editing. Approval Definitions are used to define Approval business rules such as which Groups, Units or Users are authorised to grant Approval, the number of Approvals required for each record, and the entity related to the Approval. Approval Requests can be created for Activities, Jobs, Service Requests Subscriptions and (as from CRM.COM R11.0.0) Reward Offers.

Approval Definitions must be added in Workflow Rules, from where they are triggered and create Approval Requests.

Approval Definitions can be edited, deleted and have their Life Cycle State changed.

Navigate to Approval Definitions and explore existing entries via the Summary page.
Click on the link (Name or Number) of the entry of your interest to access the Data Entry page and see more detail.
Use the Actions Menu to create a NEW Definition, modify (EDIT), or DELETE an existing one.
Use BACK to return to the Summary page and CANCEL to revert any unwanted changes made to the Definition.

Check the Validations & Restrictions Table below for a list of available Actions when working with Approval, including each Action's related validations and additional information. View the Attributes Table for a comprehensive description of the Approval Definition fields.

Validations & Restrictions

Action	Validations	Additional Information
General	Not Applicable	Both 'Effective' or 'Not Effective' Approval Definitions can be selected andaddedonaWorkflow Rule, but only 'Effective' definitions are triggered to create Approval Requests
Create	Name and Alternative Code must be unique. Mandatory Fields must be defined.	Not Applicable
Edit	Name and Alternative Code must be unique. Mandatory Fields must be defined.	Not Applicable
Delete	Definition can be deleted only if it is not added to a Workflow Rule	Not Applicable
Setting Life Cycle State to Not Effective	Not Applicable	If the Approval Definition is used in one or more 'Effective' Workflow Rule, then the System displays a warning that the Definition is used by Workflow Rules and confirmation is required before setting the Definition to 'Not Effective.'

Attributes

An * indicates a field is mandatory

Name	Description
Main Information
Name *	The name of the Approval Definition.
Alternative Code*	The alternative code of the Approval Definition. It is mandatory and unique and unless otherwise specified, the Alternative Codes for new entries default to the Name initials in capital letters.
Description	The description of the Approval Definition.
Life Cycle State *	The Life Cycle State of the Approval Definition, which can be: Not Effective Effective On creating a new Approval Definition the Life Cycle State is automatically set to 'Not Effective'. Only 'Effective' Approval Definitions can be triggered through Workflow Rules, although 'Not Effective' ones can be defined in a Workflow Rule.
Settings
Entity *	The entity that will be communicated through the Approval. The available options are: Activities Jobs Service Requests Subscriptions Reward Offers AVAILABLE FROM CRM.COM R11.0.0 More than one Approval Definition can be defined for each entity
Subject *	The subject of the Approval.
Requested Number of Approvals*	Defines the necessary number of approved, rejected or cancelled Approvals in order to unblock the information which is pending Approval. This value is set to 1 and can be edited by the User. Each User is allowed to approve a Request only once. Therefore, if in the Authorised Users tab you select • Assigned to User (1 User) • Define specific Users (x number of Users) then make sure that Number of Specific Users + 1 (Assigned To User Selected) = Requested Number of Approvals
Recipients Authorised Users
Authorised Users *	Defines a list of Users that are authorised to approve, reject or cancel the entity entry. The Users can be defined in the following way: Assigned to User (only if the entity is assignable, i.e., Activities, Jobs, Service Requests) Users belonging to the Assigned to Unit (provided the entity is assignable i.e. Activities, Jobs, Service Requests) Specific Users Users belonging to specific Units Users assigned to specific Security Profiles
Workflow Rules
Workflow Rules	Displays a list of all the Workflow Rules that include the specific Approval Definition as one of their Actions. This information is Read-only.
Log Information
Log Details	The standard set of Log Details information available in all entities.

View Understanding Workflows for business examples related to Approval Definitions.

Related Areas

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Working with Status Transitions
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Managing Activities Approval Requests
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Managing Jobs Approval Requests
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Managing Approval Requests from the Entity Page
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Managing Subscriptions Approval Requests
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Configuring Approval Definitions
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Configuring Workflow Rules
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Configuring Webhook Definitions
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Understanding Workflows
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Using Alert Tags
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Configuring Alert Definitions

Helpful Links

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CRM.COM Quickstart Manual
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Working with Summary Pages - R18
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Working with Summary Pages
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Working with Summary Pages - R15
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Extracting a Printout from a Data Entry page