Set up approval users

Before you can create workflows that involve approval steps, you must set up the users who are involved in approval processes on the Approval User Setup page. You can also set amount limits for different types of requests, define substitute approvers, and set up notifications.

After you set up approval users, you can create workflow responses for approval workflows. Learn more at Create Approval Workflows.

Tip

Tip:
You can require that multiple approvers react to an approval request by creating a group of approvers on the Workflow User Group page. Learn more at Set Up Workflow User Groups.

To set up an approval user

When you set up users for approval workflows, it's important that the same user isn't both a requestor and an approver in a workflow user group. When a user is both a requestor and an approver, approvals work for them as follows:

  • Their requests are always approved automatically.
  • If there are multiple approvers, only the approvers with a higher sequence number in the workflow user group can change the status of a request to Approved. Approvers with a lower sequence number can approve requests, however, their approvals won't affect the status of a request.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Approval User Setup, then choose the related link.

  2. Create a new line on the Approval User Setup page, and then fill the fields as described in the following table.

    Field Description
    User ID Select the user ID of the person involved in the approval process.
    Salespers./Purch. Code Specify the salesperson or purchaser code that applies to the user.

    You typically fill in the Salespers./Purch. Code field if the salesperson or purchaser responsible for the customer or vendor is also the person who must approve a sales or purchase request.
    Approver ID Select the user ID of the person who must approve requests made by the person you specified in the User ID field.
    Sales Amount Approval Limit Specify the maximum sales amount in local currency (LCY) that the person selected in the User ID field can approve.
    Unlimited Sales Approval Specify that the person identified in the User ID field can approve all sales requests regardless of the amount.

    If you select this checkbox, you can't fill in the Sales Amount Approval Limit field.
    Purchase Amount Approval Limit Specify the maximum purchase amount in LCY that the person identified in the User ID field can approve.
    Unlimited Purchase Approval Specify that the person identified in the User ID field can approve all purchase requests regardless of the amount.

    If you select this checkbox, you can't fill in the Purchase Amount Approval Limit field.
    Request Amount Approval Limit Specify the maximum amount in LCY that the person identified in the User ID field can approve for purchase quotes.

    To use this field, you must select the Approver Chain option in the Approver Limit Type field on the Workflow Response page.
    Unlimited Request Approval Specify that the person identified in the User ID field can approve all purchase quotes regardless of the amount.

    If you select this checkbox, you can't fill in the Request Amount Approval Limit field.
    Substitute Select the user ID of the person who will approve requests made by the person identified in the User ID field if the user in the Approver ID isn't available.

    Note: The substitute can either be the user in the Substitute field, the direct approver, or the approval administrator, in that order of priority. Learn more at Use Approval Workflows.
    Email Specify the email address of the person in the User ID field.
    Approval Administrator Specify the user who has permission to unblock approval workflow, such as by delegating approval requests to new substitute approvers or deleting overdue approval requests.

    Note Only one person can be the approval administrator.

  3. To test the approval user setup, choose the Approval User Setup Test action.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for every person you want to set up as an approval user.

The next step is to specify how you want Business Central to notify people that a request is pending their attention. Learn more at Setting Up Workflow Notifications.

See also

Set Up Workflow Users
Setting Up Workflow Notifications
Create Approval Workflows
Setting Up Approval Workflows
Walkthrough: Setting Up and Using a Purchase Approval Workflow
Workflow

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