Overview

Having an approval process within your organization becomes essential to approve certain documents, applications, invoices, budgets, purchase orders, discounts, vacation time, etc. To streamline the manual approval processes that you already have and make them more efficient, and easier to manage, you can automate the repetitive approval processes by building appropriate forms and setting up an approval process. You can configure multiple levels of approval and add designated approvers from your organization, who will get notified when new form entries are received for review and approval. You can trigger email notifications for each stage of the approval process, and choose to process integrations set up for your form only on the approval of the form entries. This automation can ensure a systematic approach that will prevent delays and establish uniformity across team members.

How do Form Approvals work?

For example, consider a job application form for candidates that requires multi-level approval:

1. Candidate submits a job application form.

2. Team Lead gets notified for candidate screening.

3. Team Lead approves the candidate.

4. Technical Lead gets notified to review the candidate for Round 2.

5. Technical Lead approves the candidate.

6. HR get notified to review the candidate.

7. HR approves the candidate.

8. Final Approval status - Approved

9. Employee gets notified on final decision.

Once the approval process is configured in Web application, you can also use our mobile app to approve or deny the entries.

Form Approval Workflow Use-cases

Form approval workflows are a common in businesses and organizations that need to collect data and then review and approve them before further processing. Here are some examples of how form approval workflows can be used:

Employee Onboarding

HR departments can use form approval workflows to collect new employee information such as personal details, job role, and department, and then send the form for approval to the relevant managers or team leaders before the employee can be officially onboarded.

Purchase Requests

Businesses can use form approval workflows to collect purchase requests from employees, including items, quantities, and budgets. The form can then be sent for approval to the relevant managers or department heads before the purchase can be authorized.

Leave Requests

Organizations can use form approval workflows to collect leave requests from employees, including the type of leave, dates, and reasons. The form can then be sent for approval to the relevant managers or HR personnel before the leave can be authorized.

Expense Reports

Companies can use form approval workflows to collect expense reports from employees, including expenses such as travel, accommodation, and meals. The form can then be sent for approval to the relevant managers or accounting personnel before the expenses can be reimbursed.

Service Requests

Service providers can use form approval workflows to collect service requests from clients, including the type of service, scope, and budget. The form can then be sent for approval to the relevant project managers or service delivery personnel before the service can be initiated.

Types of Approval Processes

Depending on your workflow complexity, Zoho Forms offers two types of approval workflows:

Basic
Advanced

Basic Approvals

The Basic approval process is designed for straightforward, sequential approvals with multiple levels. If you need a linear approval flow without complex conditions, this option is ideal. Form entries are processed step-by-step through a chain of approvers. If the first approver accepts the submission, it moves on to the next approver. You can define several stages of approvals. For example, a leave request might go through the employee's manager first, then HR, and finally the department head. This type of workflow doesn’t include conditions. Every submission follows the same path through all the approval stages.

Advanced Approvals

The Advanced approval process introduces more flexibility with the ability to configure conditional logic at multiple levels. This option is suitable for complex approval workflows that require different actions based on the form responses. You can configure conditional rules to decide which approver the submission goes to next based on the data submitted. For example, if the total expense is above a certain amount, it may require higher-level approval. Each level in the workflow can have unique conditions, and different branches can be triggered based on the data submitted.

Steps to setup Form approvals