Creating an approval involves three steps: entering basic information, designing an approval form, and designing an approval process. This document will show you how to design an approval process.

I. Intro

Feishu's Approval feature allows you to design flexible approval processes. You can design rules for each approval step, including approvers required, approval methods, and approval permissions. You can also design different approval processes for different situations. For example, you can design a rule where leave requests for less than 2 days only require approval from an employee's direct supervisor whereas leave requests for 2 days or longer require approvals from a supervisor and the HR department.

II. Steps

In Approval Admin, go to Process Design by selecting Create a new approval or Edit an existing approval. The system will set up a default approval step which you can flexibly modify with a wide range of approval processes to meet your needs.

Set up an approval step

Click an approval step to set the following options:

1.Approval type: Manual approval is the default method. You can also set the type to Auto-approve or Auto-reject. In this case, the system will automatically perform the approval with no manual intervention.

2.Select approvers: You can add approvers of the following types:

•Manager: You can make a specified manager an approver, such as the direct manager of the requester.

•Department supervisor: You can make a specified department supervisor an approver, such as the direct department supervisor of the requester.

•Role: You can make a specified role an approver, such as HR, administration, or finance. You must first configure team roles in Feishu Admin > Organizational Structure. Click here for more information about setting roles as approvers.

Note: The manager, department supervisor, and role options here correspond to the settings in Feishu Admin > Organizational Structure.

•Specify approver: You can make a specified member an approver.

•Selected by requester: The requester selects the approver. You can limit the selection method and selection range.

•Requester: The requester also performs the approval. This is generally used when it is necessary to review information.

•Continuous multi-level manager approval: Approval is granted at multiple levels in order. For example, the approval can start from the requester's direct manager and be escalated until the last approval specified. This is a convenient way to manually add multiple levels of manager approval.

•Step approver: You can automatically associate the previous steps, so the actual approver from the previous step can perform approval again. This option can't be selected for the first approval step.

•Contacts in the form: New approver type "Contacts in the form" added to the Approval step in Process Design. This approver type can be linked to the Contacts field in the approval request form, and the following 3 types of approvers can be selected: contact themself, contact's supervisor, and contact's department leader.

•Departments in the form: This approver type is linked with the Department field in the approval request form, and the level of the department leader can be specified. The approver is the leader of the department specified in the approval request.

3.Multi-approver approval: Click + Add approver to set multiple approvers for the current step. If you select Multi-approver approval, you must configure the following approval methods:

•Everyone assigned: All approvers must approve the request at this step.

•Anyone assigned: Only one approver needs to approve the request at this step.

•Sequential approval: The approvers must provide approval in the specified sequence.

4.Approver is empty: When the approver is empty, you can set the system to automatically approve the request, send it to a specified person for approval, or transfer it to the approval administrator.

5.Approver and requester are the same: When the approver and requester are the same person, you can have the requester perform the approval, automatically skip the approval, transfer the request to the requester's direct manager, or transfer it to the department supervisor.

Click here for more information about approval processes when the approver is empty, when the approver and requester are the same person, and when the approver has resigned.

6.Add persons to CC: When personnel must be informed of the approval or the approval must be backed up, you can select persons to CC. If you check the CC approved requests only option, the specified persons will only be CC'ed if the request is approved at this step.

Click here for more information about persons to CC.

7.Form permissions: Click Form permissions at the top of the page to limit the form content that approvers can view or edit at this step. This helps protect private information or allows necessary information to be added at this step.

•View: Specifies the form content that approvers can view at this step.

•Edit: Specifies the form content that approvers can edit at this step.

8.Action permissions: Click Action permissions at the top of the page to set the actions that approvers can perform at this step.

•Transfer: The approver can transfer the request to another employee for approval.

•Add/Remove approver: The approver can add another employee as an approver or delete an added approver.

•Roll back: The approver can roll the request back to a specified approval step.

Click here for more information about transfer, adding/removing approvers, and roll back.

At last, click Save to complete the configuration of the approval step.

Setting more steps

Click the + symbol between steps and select Approver to add a new approval step at this position. Configure the approver, form permissions, and operation permissions for this new step (as described above) to set up it up and create a multi-step approval process.

Setting conditional branches

You can use conditional branches to implement different approval processes in different situations.

1.Set Branch: Click the + symbol between steps and select Branch. By default, the process will split into two branches. You can click Add condition to create more branches.

2.Set condition: To set conditions for the branch, click Set condition, then click Add condition group in the settings box that appears on the right. For example, you can set an approval branch so that all reimbursements for travel expenses are routed to the left approval process branch and all other requests are routed to the right branch.

Learn more 👉How to set branch conditions?

III. FAQs

What is the difference between the approver options Manager (bottom up) and Manager (top down)?

•When Manager (bottom up) is selected, the applicant's direct manager is the first approver and the approval request ascends through higher levels. When Manager (top down) is selected, the manager at the highest level in the organizational structure is the first approver and the approval request descends through lower levels.

•For example, assume John's direct manager is Mary, and Mary's direct manager is Paul. If you select Manager (bottom up), a request submitted by John must first be approved by Mary, then Paul. If you select Supervisor (top down), a request submitted by John must be approved first by Paul, then Mary.

What are the differences between adding an approver before, along with, or after the current approver?

•Before: The new approver is added before the current step, so they must approve the request before the current approver can approve the request.

•Along with: The new approver is added in the current step and both approvers must approve the request.

•After: The new approver is added after the current step and the request is approved in the current step by default.

What is the difference between conditions and condition groups?

•In a step, multiple condition groups are connected by an "OR" relationship. When a request satisfies the conditions of one condition group, it enters the corresponding branch.

•In a condition group, multiple conditions are connected by an "AND" relationship. Only by meeting all the conditions can a request enter the corresponding branch.

What fields can be used as branch conditions?

Not all fields can be used as branch conditions. Currently, the following fields can be used as such conditions: applicant, some components (including multiple choice, checkboxes, numerals, amounts, formulas, date ranges, and details), leave type and leave duration in the leave components groups, overtime type and overtime duration in the overtime components group, and origin, destination, and trip duration in the trip components group.