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Approval Framework

The flair Approval Framework provides a flexible and centralized way to manage approval processes across multiple areas of your HR system. Instead of configuring approvals separately for each feature, you can now create reusable approval policies that define who approves requests, in what order, and under which conditions.

What is the Approval Framework?​

The Approval Framework is a unified system for managing approvals across different objects in flair, including:

  • Absence requests - Vacation, sick leave, and other time off
  • Employee documents - Documents uploaded by employees that require HR review
  • Future expansions - The framework is designed to support additional approval workflows as they're added

This framework replaces the previous feature-specific approval configurations with a more powerful and flexible approach.

Key Benefits​

Centralized Configuration
Create and manage all approval policies from one place in Salesforce, rather than configuring approvals separately for each feature area.

Flexible Assignment
Define approvers based on segments (departments, positions, specific employees), relationships (managers), or custom criteria.

Multi-Step Workflows
Configure complex approval chains with multiple steps, where requests can go through several levels of approval before being finalized.

Smart Priority Handling
When multiple policies could apply to the same request, the framework automatically selects the right one based on matching priority.

Easy Enable/Disable
Turn policies on or off without deleting them, making it easy to test new configurations or temporarily adjust approval flows.

How It Works​

Default Policies​

When you install or upgrade to a version with Approval Framework support, flair automatically creates default approval policies for supported features:

  • Default Absence Policy - Routes absence requests to the employee's direct manager
  • Default Document Policy - Routes employee-uploaded documents to HR managers when visibility is set appropriately

These default policies are ready to use out of the box and cannot be deleted, though you can disable them if you prefer to use custom policies.

Custom Policies​

You can create additional approval policies to handle specific scenarios:

  • Route certain absence types to different approvers
  • Require multi-level approval for specific departments
  • Assign specialized approvers based on employee segments
  • Create backup approval flows with different matching priorities

Approval Process Flow​

When an employee submits a request (like an absence or document):

  1. Policy Matching - The system identifies which approval policy applies based on the request details and policy assignments
  2. Approver Assignment - The policy determines who needs to approve, based on your configured steps and segment rules
  3. Notifications - Approvers receive notifications via email, Slack, Employee Hub, and mobile app
  4. Review & Decision - Approvers can view request details and approve or reject with optional comments
  5. Automatic Updates - When managers change, pending approvals automatically transfer to the new manager

Getting Started​

To start using the Approval Framework:

  1. Review Default Policies - Check the automatically created policies to understand the default behavior
  2. Customize as Needed - Create or modify policies to match your organization's approval workflows
  3. Test Your Setup - Have employees submit test requests to verify approvals route correctly
  4. Monitor & Adjust - Use the approval path visualization to track requests and refine your policies over time

The Approval Framework is designed to grow with your organization's needs. Start with the defaults and add complexity as your approval requirements evolve.

What's Different from Before?​

If you're familiar with the previous approval system:

  • Absence Management: Previously, you assigned "Additional Managers" with absence approval permissions. The new framework uses Approval Policies instead, offering more flexibility and control.
  • Employee Documents: Document approvals now follow the same consistent pattern as other approvals, with better visibility and tracking.
For Existing Customers

The previous approval methods are still documented for organizations that haven't upgraded yet. Look for "deprecated" notices in older documentation.

Support for Multiple Objects​

The framework is designed to support approvals across many areas of flair. Currently integrated:

✅ Absence Management
✅ Employee Documents
🔄 More features coming soon

As new approval workflows are added to flair, they'll automatically benefit from the same powerful configuration options you set up once.