Approvals that follow your rules, with every step recorded
Approval Workflow is a ready-made product for sending any request to the right people and keeping a full history. It uses SharePoint Online and Power Automate in your tenant, and we set up the routes to match how your business approves.
Talk to us about Approval Workflow
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What it does
Six things it does for your approvers
The product comes with a set of request types you can start from. We adapt them to your process.
Request templates
Start from templates for documents, purchase requests, leave and HR, invoices, IT access and change, contract review, or build a custom one.
Routes by rule
Choose approvers by request type, region, category and amount range.
Conditional, sequential and parallel
Send a request to one approver after another, to several at once, or by a condition.
Approve where people work
Approvers can act from Microsoft Teams as well as from the application.
Complete history
Every request keeps its approvals, comments and timestamps.
Customised with Power Automate
Flows can be adapted to your process, with no-code and low-code options.
Dashboard
See what is waiting at a glance
The dashboard greets each user with counts for total, pending, approved and rejected requests, a chart of requests raised over the week and a breakdown by category. A New Request button sits at the top.
- Total, pending, approved and rejected counts
- Request volume over the week
- Requests by category
- New Request button
All requests
Every request in one searchable list
A table lists each request with its title, type, location, who submitted it, date, amount and status. Search and filter, and open any row to see its detail.
- Search and filter
- Type, location, submitter and amount
- Status of pending, approved, rejected, more info or draft
- Open any request for detail
Raise a request
Show the route before the request is sent
The request entry form shows the approval route the request will follow, then asks for the basic information: financial or non-financial, location, request type, category and a business justification. Save it as a draft or submit it.
- Predefined approval route shown up front
- Financial and non-financial requests
- Location, request type and category
- Save as draft or submit
Request detail
The request and its timeline together
Each request shows its details, level, justification, attachments and requester next to a full approval timeline. Every approver and decision appears in order, with their comments.
- Request details and attachments
- Business justification
- Requester details
- Full approval timeline with comments
Approver route
The route and the activity, side by side
One view shows the fixed approver route, such as initial review, department head and financial review, next to the activity timeline of completed approvals and comments.
- Fixed approver route in order
- Activity timeline of completed actions
- Comments from each approver
Set-up
Set routes by type, region and amount
Administrators keep a request type matrix. For each request type, they add records by region, category type and an amount range, and choose the approvers for that record. Records can be switched on or off.
- Request types listed in a matrix
- Region and category type
- Lower and upper amount bounds
- Approvers for each record
- Active switch for each record
Who it is for
Built for
Finance and procurement teams. HR for leave and policy requests. IT for access and change requests. Managers who approve every day.
- Routes you setApproval routes follow your rules for amount, department and request type.
- Deadlines trackedSLA timers show what is late and who holds it.
- A record of every decisionWho approved what, and when, is kept with the request.
- Works with Microsoft 365Requests and decisions sit in the tools your people already use.
How it works
How a request moves
These are the steps for one request. Your routes and thresholds are set during installation.
Submit
The requester fills in a short form and attaches what the approver needs.
Route
The request goes to the right approvers by your rules.
Decide
Approvers approve, reject or ask for changes, and everyone is notified.
Record
The outcome and the full history are stored for later reference.
Approval Workflow: questions we hear often
What is an approval workflow?
A set of steps that sends a request to the right people for a decision, and records who decided what and when.
Can we customise the workflow?
Yes. Flows are customised with Power Automate to match your process, using no-code and low-code options.
Does it work in Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Approvers can act on requests from Teams.
Are approvals logged?
Yes. Every request keeps its approvals, comments and timestamps.
Can it send a request to several approvers?
Yes. It supports sequential approvals, parallel approvals and conditional routing.
Can the route depend on the amount or region?
Yes. You set the approvers for each request type, region, category and amount range.
Do we need to write code?
No. The standard request types work as they are, and changes to the flows can be made with no-code and low-code tools.
Where does our data stay?
In your own SharePoint Online, inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. The product is installed there, and AscenWork has no access to your data.
How do people sign in, and what licence is needed?
People sign in with their Microsoft 365 account. The product is built on SharePoint Online, so you need an active SharePoint Online licence. It uses the Microsoft 365 licences and infrastructure you already have.
Can it be changed to fit our process?
Yes. Every installation is configured to your process: your forms, steps, roles and approvers. If you need something beyond the standard product, our technical team checks the scope and what is feasible, and we quote those changes separately so you can decide.
What does an installation include?
Setting up the environment, loading your master data, and setting user permissions and menu permissions to follow your company policy.
Do you train our team?
Yes. We provide training and documentation for the product we deploy, a train-the-trainer programme for your own team, and video training for the modules.
How secure is it?
It runs on Microsoft 365, so it uses the security features of your licence, such as role-based access, multi-factor authentication, conditional access, audit logs and external sharing controls. Which of these you have depends on your Microsoft 365 licence, and Microsoft governs them.
Who supports it after go-live?
You can run it with your own team, or add optional managed support from AscenWork for fixes, small changes and reviews. To report an issue, write to support@ascenwork.com and a support executive will pick it up.
Can it run on SharePoint Server instead of SharePoint Online?
It is built for SharePoint Online. For SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019 we can try it, and a few changes may be needed. Tell us what you run and we will confirm.
How do we get a price?
Talk to us. We listen to how your process works today, then send a written quote that covers the product set-up for your tenant and any custom changes as separate lines.
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