Create your first approval workflow

This guide walks through one complete approval workflow from a normal data page to a working reviewer experience.

Fastest path: Automation Home

If you only need the first working approval:

1. Open Automation Home.
2. Click Create your first automation: Get an approval.
3. Confirm the form trigger and submitted status.
4. Create or repair the approval workflow.
5. Create a test request.
6. Confirm the request appears in Approval Inbox.
7. Open Approval Inbox as the approver persona.

Use the longer steps below when you are building a customer-ready purchase approval desk from a data page, Decision screen, and Work Queue.

Example

An employee creates a purchase request, clicks Submit, a reviewer sees the request on a Decision / Approval Inbox screen, the reviewer approves or rejects it, and the requester can see the final status.

Before you start

You need one data page with enough fields for a reviewer to make a decision: request title, requester, department, vendor, amount, reason, needed by, reviewer, status, and decision notes.

Step 1: Confirm the user can create a request

Open the request page and make sure users can add a new item. The user should know what to fill out, which fields are required, and what happens after Submit.

Step 2: Add the submit behavior

The submit action should:

1. Save the request.
2. Mark the request as Submitted or Waiting for review.

Write down the exact status value. If the workflow listens for one value and the app writes another, the workflow will not start.

Step 3: Start from Automation Home or the approval wizard

1. Open Automation.
2. Prefer Get an approval on Home for the guided first win.
3. Or open the Approval workflow setup panel and set When this happens to the real submit action.
4. Choose the submitted status value the app actually writes.
5. Create or repair the approval workflow.
6. Confirm Approval Inbox / Decision screens and reviewer visibility.
7. Save / validate.

Step 4: Create the approval inbox

Create from Screens → New Screen → Automation → Work Queue (or Decision, depending on your desk).

Make it visible to the reviewer role and add it to reviewer navigation.

Step 5: Create the Decision screen

Create from Screens → New Screen → Automation → Decision. Bind it to the same workflow. Confirm Approve / Reject / Request changes actions.

Step 6: Connect screens to the workflow

In Automation → Workflows, confirm the workflow and screens share the same binding.

Step 7: Validate after the screens exist

Run Validate only after the workflow and approval screens exist. Treat blockers as publish blockers.

Step 8: Run a live test as both people

1. Preview as requester → create → Submit.
2. Preview as reviewer → open Approval Inbox → open the request → Approve.
3. Confirm requester status updates.
4. Open Activity and Exception Resolution.
5. Repeat with Reject and Request changes.

Home’s Create test request path is complete only when Request appears in Approval Inbox.

Definition of done

The first approval workflow is done when the requester can submit from the app, the reviewer can decide from a Decision / Approval Inbox screen, the requester sees the result, validation is clean, and the maker can explain the whole flow from visible screens.