Setting Up the Vendor Payment Approval Process

The Payments approval process is an automated process that approves Vendor Payments in Salesforce. When you build an approval process, you specify the steps necessary for approval. A given step can apply to all records or just records with certain attributes. You also specify who approves at each step and the actions to take when a record is approved, rejected, or recalled.

Note: Some of these procedures use Salesforce functionality, so we recommend you refer to the Salesforce Help for more information.

Prerequisites

Before you begin setting up the payment approval process, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

  • Create an Approval Status picklist in the Vendor Payment object and add these statuses:
    • Approved
    • Pending for Approval
    • Rejected
    • Recalled
  • Create a new email template folder and email templates. The email templates are stored in the folder. These emails will be used as email alerts later. For more information, see the Salesforce Help. To create the suggested approval process below, you should create email templates for the following:
    • Payment Approval Requests
    • Payment Approved
    • Payment Rejected
  • On the Vendor Payment page, ensure you are in the "Proposed" status, click Edit Page and add the Submit for Approval button with the relevant the filter: Record> Status Equal Proposed.

Sample Vendor Payment Approval Process

This is a sample vendor payment approval process. This process consists of the following phases:

Creating a Basic Approval Process

Create a new approval process using the Standard Setup Wizard. The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Manage Approval Processes For: Vendor Payment

2

Process Name: Vendor Payment Approval Process

Description: All payments must be approved by the Accounting manager 

3

Select your approval criteria.

For example: Vendor Payment Value greater or equal 1000

4

Use Approver Field of Vendor Payment Owner: True

5

Select the email template for vendor payment approval requests. 

6

Select the fields to display on your Approvals page. 

For example:

  • Payment Currency
  • Payment Date
  • Payment Method
  • Payment Value

Display approval history information in addition to the fields above: True

7

Allow submitters to recall approval requests: True

Creating Initial Submission Actions

To create an Initial Submission Action, navigate to the Initial Submission Actions related list: Add New | Field Update.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Define the field update, including the object associated with the workflow rule, approval process, or entitlement process, the field to update, and the value to apply. 

  • Name field: Approval Status to Pending
  • Field to Update: select "Approval Status" from the picklist.
  • Specify New Field Value: select a specific value, then select Pending for Approval.
Note: The field to update may be on a related object. Fields are shown only for the type that you select.

Creating Approval Steps

To create approval steps, navigate to the Approval Steps related list: New Approval Step.

Adding Approval Step One

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Enter a name, description, and step number for your new approval step.

Name: Accounting Manager

2

Specify whether a record must meet certain criteria before entering this approval step. 

  • If these criteria are not met, the approval process can skip to the next step, if one exists. 
  • If there are no specific criteria, select “All records should enter this step”.

3

Specify the user who should approve records that enter this step. 

The options available are:

  • Automatically assign using the user field selected earlier (Manager): True. You can also select more than one approver.
  • Automatically assign to approver(s): True. 
  • Select "Users" and choose the relevant person who will approve. You can add as many approvers as required.

4

(Optional) Choose whether the approver's delegate is also allowed to approve these requests.

Adding Approval Step Two

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Enter a name.

Name: Vendor Payments Approver 1

2

Specify whether a record must meet certain criteria before entering this approval step. If these criteria are not met, the approval process can skip to the next step, if one exists. 

If there is no specific criteria, select "All records should enter this step" option.

3

Specify the user who should approve records that enter this step.

4

Automatically assign to approver(s): True

5

Select “Related User” from the picklist that appears, then select your preferred approver from the secondary picklist.

6

(Optional) Choose whether the approver's delegate is also allowed to approve these requests. 

7

When multiple approvers are selected: 

select "Approve or reject based on the first response". 

Or

Select "Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers", if it is required.

8

What should happen if the approver rejects this request?: Perform all rejection actions for this step AND all final rejection actions (Final Rejection).

Adding Approval Step Three

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Enter a name.

Name: Vendor Payments Approver 2

2

Specify criteria for this step. 

Enter this step if the following criteria are met: True

Criteria: Vendor Payment: Payment Value is greater or equal to 10,000.

3

Automatically assign to approver(s): True

4

Select "User" from the picklist that appears, then select your preferred approver from the secondary picklist.

5

(Optional) Choose whether the approver's delegate is also allowed to approve these requests. 

6

What should happen if the approver rejects this request?: Perform all rejection actions for this step AND all final rejection actions (Final Rejection).

Creating the Final Actions

To create the final actions, navigate to the Final Approval Actions related list: Add New | Field Update. You can create the final actions, such as approval or rejection, along with their associated email alerts.

Setting Approval Status to Approved

To define this field update, navigate to the Final Approval Actions related list: Add New | Field Update.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Define the field update, including the object associated with the workflow rule, approval process, or entitlement process, the field to update, and the value to apply. 

  • Name field: Approval Status to Approved
  • Field to Update: select "Approval Status" from the picklist.
  • Picklist Options: select a specific value, then choose “Approved” from the picklist.
Note: The field to update may be on a related object. Fields are shown only for the type that you select. 

Setting Up Email Alerts for Approval

To set email alerts for the approval activities in the Vendor Payment approval process, navigate to the Final Approval Actions related list: Add New | Email Alert.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Note: Before you proceed with setting up email alerts, ensure you have created email templates for the various actions and also created a folder to store email templates. For more information, see the Salesforce Help.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Create an email alert to associate with one or more workflow rules, approval processes, or entitlement processes. 

  • Description: Email Vendor Payment Approved
  • Email Template: Select the email template for vendor payment approvals.
  • Recipient Type: “Owner”, “User” or any other option as required.
  • Available Recipients: "Vendor Payment Owner" or any required option, then click to move it to the Selected Recipients column.
Note: When changing an email alert, any modifications will apply to all rules, approvals, or entitlement processes associated with it.

Setting Approval Status to Rejected

After setting up email alerts for approval action, you need to create final rejection actions. To create final rejection actions, navigate to the Final Rejection Actions related list: Add New | Field Update.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Define the field update, including the object associated with the workflow rule, approval process, or entitlement process, the field to update, and the value to apply. 

  • Name field: Approval Status to Rejected
  • Field to Update: Select "Approval Status" from the picklist.
  • Picklist Options: Select a specific value, then choose “Rejected” from the picklist.
Note: The field to update may be on a related object. Fields are shown only for the type that you select.

Setting Up Email Alerts for Rejection

To set email alerts for the rejection activities in the Vendor Payment approval process, navigate to the Final Rejection Actions related list: Add New | Email Alert.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Note: Before you proceed with setting up email alerts, ensure you have created email templates for the various actions and also created a folder to store email templates. For more information, see the Salesforce Help.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1
  • Description: Email Vendor Payment Rejected
  • Email Template: Select the email template for vendor payment rejections.
  • Recipient Type: "Owner", "User" or any other option as required.
  • Available Recipients: Vendor Payment Owner or any required option, click to move it to the Selected Recipients column.

Setting Up Field Update to Recall Approval Requests

To recall your approval requests, navigate to the Final Rejection Actions related list: Add New | Field Update.

The following table lists the recommended field values.

Step

Description/Suggested Values

1

Define the field update, including the object associated with the workflow rule, approval process, or entitlement process, the field to update, and the value to apply. 

Name field: Vendor Payment Approval Status to Recalled

Field to Update: "Approval Status"

Picklist Options: select a specific value, then choose “Recalled” from the picklist.

Note: The field to update may be on a related object. Fields are shown only for the type that you select. 

Once you are done with all the steps, click Activate on the Approval Processes page and click OK on the popup window that appears. The approval process setup is complete.