Approval Flows
Configure multi-level approval processes for absence, expense, hours, and schedule change requests.
An approval flow defines who must approve a request before it's confirmed, and in what order. It can be applied to absence requests, expense requests, hours requests, schedule change requests, and time record change requests (see Time Record Policy).
Go to /panel/approval-flows to manage them.
Absence request approval
Approval flows for absence requests are configured here too, just like expense or hours requests. The flow is assigned at the Absence Policy level: every employee with that policy follows the flow you select in it.
Creating an approval flow
Name the flow and choose what it applies to
Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description. Under Applies to, choose the model this flow applies to: Absence request, Expense, Hours request, or Schedule change request. Leave it blank to apply the flow to any supported model.
To assign this flow to absence requests, select it in the corresponding absence policy.
To assign this flow to hour requests, you still need to link it to the corresponding hour type by enabling Requires employee request on it.
Activate it
The Active switch determines whether the flow is currently in use. You can disable it temporarily without deleting it.
Add one or more approval steps
Click Add a step for each approval level you need. Steps run in the order they appear — drag the handle on the left to reorder them.
Configuring each step
Every step has the following fields:
- Step name — An identifying name, e.g. "Manager approval".
- Type — How the approval is resolved when there are multiple possible approvers: Single approver, Sequential, or Parallel.
- Approver type — Who can approve this step:
- Specific users — Directly select one or more users.
- Users by role — Any user assigned a specific role.
- Group managers — The managers of the employee group the requesting employee belongs to.
- Users — The specific users or roles, depending on the chosen Approver type.
- Response deadline (hours) — Hours available to approve this step before escalation activates. Leave blank if you don't want any time limit.
Example: two-level approval
A flow with two sequential steps — for example, "manager approval" followed by "finance approval" — requires both to approve, in that order, before the request moves to Approved. If the first step rejects the request, it doesn't move on to the second.
Where approvers see pending requests
Requests waiting on the logged-in user's approval appear in the Requests block on the Panel. See Expenses to see how approval flows apply to expense requests.