---
title: "Approvals"
url: "https://helpcentre.esayworkmobile.co.uk/en/article/approvals"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2026-03-26T11:05:50.127Z"
---

# Approvals

## **Introduction to Approvals**

The WorkMobile **Approvals** feature is a powerful tool designed to help businesses and individuals establish complex sign-off processes directly within the platform. By keeping the data related to a task and its associated approval workflow together, WorkMobile streamlines governance and ensures proper review.

Whenever data arrives from a form that has an approval workflow defined, that record immediately begins the multi-step approvals process.

Approval steps can be used to model various sign-off requirements, such as:

1.  A review by a senior engineer.
2.  A quality assurance check.
3.  The final sign-off required to release funds.

Approvals can be carried out either by anyone who has access to the form, the manager of a group or a named individual.

## **1\. Setting Up and Enabling Approvals**

Setting up an Approval process is done on a per-form basis. Approvals can be applied to both **records** and **jobs** on that form.

#### **1\. Enabling Approvals for a Form**

-   Navigate to the form dashboard and locate the **Approvals** section.
-   Use the toggle at the bottom of the page to **enable** the functionality.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/176c62de-a617-47e7-bf2f-50c3c8b7b298)

#### **2\. Defining the Approval Workflow**

Once enabled, you can define your workflow, which must consist of one or more **Approval steps**.

-   **Adding Steps:** Click the **plus** icon to add a new approval step.
-   **Reordering Steps:** Use the **up and down indicators** to change the order of the steps. This allows you to easily remodel your workflow to introduce new steps or change the order of approvers. (*Note: See the Troubleshooting section later regarding amending approvals that are currently in progress.)*
-   **Describing the Step:** Each step should have a **meaningful textual description** of what the approval represents in your business. For example, you might name a step "**Awaiting Line Manager Approval**".

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/97123d03-cd11-45e4-a236-6a2b032bbb21)

#### **3\. Specifying Approvers**

For each approval step, you must specify who is authorised to sign off the work. You have three options for defining the approver(s):

| Option | Description | Constraint |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Allow All Users** | Allows **anyone** who can log into the portal to sign off that specific step. | If selected, you cannot simultaneously select **Group Manager** or **Individuals**. |
| **Named Individual(s)** | One or more specific individuals who are always responsible for signing off the step. If multiple individuals are selected, **any one of them** can complete the step. | To require multiple specific people to sign off, you must use multiple, separate approval steps. |
| **Group Manager** | The **manager of the user who filled out the form** is the designated approver. This is essential for workflows like expenses where the approver changes based on the submitter's group. | Requires the Group Manager role to be configured in User Management (see next section). |

You may select a mix of **Group Manager** and **Named Individuals** for a single step.

**Setting up your Approvers**

Click all or group managers - the below shows how you can set group manager

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/ef429f79-924a-4744-88fc-1a804951da3f)

Or you can specify individuals

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/13fd3ddd-26b5-46d3-99a8-2c6f44ef57a1)

You can remove them with the red cross

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/b54e2243-d762-42e7-9e44-372747c9d8d4)

#### **4\. Setting Up Group Managers**

If your approval process requires the use of a Group Manager, you must first configure this role within your User Groups.

1.  From the Main Menu, navigate to **User Management** --> **User Groups**.
2.  Select the relevant group that your form is associated with. (*If the form is in several groups, you must set up the manager in each one.*)
3.  Scroll to the new **Approvals** section at the bottom of the User Group screen.
4.  Set the person who is the primary approver for work in that group as the **User Group Manager**.
5.  (Optional) Specify an **Alternate Group Manager** who will also see and be able to sign off those approvals, useful for coverage during absence.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/50d44a14-3a38-4e4e-9087-a60936a623bd)

### **2\. Actioning Approvals**

  
Once a record has been submitted and left the sender's outbox, it becomes visible to the designated approvers in the WorkMobile Workspace.

#### **1\. Accessing Pending Approvals**

1.  Log onto the **WorkMobile Workspace**.
2.  A new menu item called **Approvals** will be available.
3.  Approvals are grouped first by the name of the form and then by the current status/step they are at. For example: "**Leave Request Form (7)**" indicates seven pending approvals, all at "**Awaiting Line Manager Approval**" with an additional 2 pending approvals from the Training Course Approval form

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/5fcfa3c3-7203-4c57-98b4-b846d1dd927e)

#### **2\. Reviewing, Approving, or Rejecting**

1.  **Double-click** an item in your queue list to launch the data editor. You may review all pages of the record
2.  The editor's toolbar will provide the option to **Approve** or **Reject** the item.
3.  Clicking on the respective button will provide a visual indication of the action taken.
4.  Once you are satisfied with your selection, click **Save and Close** to record your action and save any comments.

| Action | Result |
| --- | --- |
| **Approve** | Your login is recorded against that step. The record moves to the next person/step in the workflow. If it is the final step, the item becomes **'Fully Approved'** and is removed from all queues. |
| **Reject** | The entire workflow stops immediately. The item is marked as rejected and cannot be subsequently approved. |
| **Postpone** | Simply **cancel out** of the review screen. The item will remain **pending** in your queue until you are ready to make a decision. |

Review your pending approval

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/d957b089-4a74-4fb0-834b-de1c6fcd21b1)

Clicking on each item will give a visual indication of the action taken.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/6a8a6ce9-a82f-4607-9f5c-cb39af179b0a)

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/778dfb25-3672-4a9a-99f2-4026c0121355)

Once you are happy with the selected item – you can click Save and Close to save your changes and record a comment.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/f17ea800-a992-4624-90b7-c7e9ac0e3a37)

### **3\. Complex Workflow Examples**

The WorkMobile Approvals feature can model sophisticated business processes through multi-step and hybrid approval chains.

**Example A: Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Request**

This workflow is common for high-value requests where departmental oversight and financial compliance are mandatory.

| Step | Step Name | Approver Type | Rationale |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **1** | Awaiting Line Manager Sign Off | Group Manager | Ensures the request is necessary and budgeted within the submitting user's immediate team. |
| **2** | Awaiting Department Head Approval | Named Individual(s) | A senior individual reviews the request for alignment with broader departmental goals. |
| **3** | Finance Review & Approval | Named Individual(s) | A member of the Finance team validates the cost, funding source, and compliance before final sign-off. |

**Example B: Annual Leave Request**

This demonstrates the use of both Named Approvers and a Manager hierarchy for redundancy.

| Step | Step Name | Approver Type | Rationale |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **1** | Awaiting Primary Manager Approval | Group Manager | The direct manager reviews for coverage and scheduling. |
| **2** | Awaiting HR Sign Off | Named Individual | The HR Administrator reviews for compliance with company leave policies and ensures the correct accrued leave is available. |

###   
**4\. Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions**

| Issue | Resolution |
| --- | --- |
| **I don't see the 'Approvals' menu item.** | Check with an Administrator to confirm that the **Approvals** menu item has been added to your custom menu structure. The user must also be listed as an approver for at least one active step in a workflow. |
| **An item is stuck at a certain approval step.** | Check the **Approvers** settings for that specific step. The designated approver may not be receiving notifications, or they may be the *Group Manager* for a user group that has not been correctly configured. |
| **The Group Manager is out of the office.** | Ensure an **Alternate Group Manager** is set up in the **User Groups** screen. This individual will automatically gain approval access, preventing the workflow from stalling. |
| **I need to change an approval workflow that is currently in use.** | **Caution is required.** Modifying an active workflow (reordering steps, removing steps) will affect all records currently sitting in that workflow. It is highly recommended to **finalise or reject all outstanding approvals** before making significant structural changes. |
| **A rejected item needs to be approved later.** | A rejected item stops the entire workflow and cannot be re-approved. The original form submitter must **re-submit a new record** with the necessary changes for the process to start again. |
| **How do I allow multiple approvers for one step?** | On a single step, select multiple individuals under the **Named Individual(s)** option. **Any one of these** individuals can sign off on that step to move the process forward. |