Approval Workflows

Why approvals matter

Not every quote should go straight to the buyer. Approval workflows let you enforce business rules before a quote is delivered. Use them to review high-value quotes, verify that discounts are within policy, catch edge-case configurations, or ensure margins stay above a threshold. Approvals keep your sales team in control while still giving buyers a self-service experience.

The same approve-or-return engine also powers proposal sign-off for your sales team — see the Sales Portal article.

Creating approval rules

An approval rule defines when approval is required, who must approve, and which products the rule applies to. Create rules from Settings > Approvals or from the Approvals tab in the product builder.

• Conditions — One or more conditions that trigger the rule. All conditions must be true for the rule to fire (AND logic).
• Approvers — One or more workspace members assigned to review the quote.
• Product scope — Apply the rule to a specific product or to all products in the workspace.

Condition types

Per-product rules vs workspace-wide rules

Workspace-wide rules apply to every product. Per-product rules apply only to the assigned product. When a quote matches rules at both levels, all matching rules are evaluated and the most restrictive approval requirements apply.

Flat mode

In flat mode, all designated approvers are notified at the same time. Any one of them can approve or reject the quote. This is the simplest setup and works well when you have a team of equivalent decision-makers.

Sequential mode

Sequential mode creates a multi-step approval chain. Each step must be completed before the next approver is notified. This is useful for organizations with layered authority levels.

1. 1Step 1 approver (e.g., Sales Manager) receives the notification.
2. 2If approved, Step 2 approver (e.g., Finance Lead) is notified.
3. 3Each subsequent step proceeds only after the prior step is approved.
4. 4If any step is rejected, the entire approval is rejected.

Approver selection

Only members of the current workspace can be selected as approvers. When creating or editing a rule, use the approver dropdown to pick from your team. Members with the Owner, Admin, or Approver role can act on approval requests.

What happens when approval is triggered

When a buyer submits a quote that matches an approval rule, the following sequence occurs:

1. 1The buyer sees a "Pending Approval" message instead of a PDF download. They are informed that their quote is under review.
2. 2The assigned approver receives an email containing a magic link to review the quote.
3. 3The approver clicks the link and sees the full quote details: configuration, pricing, buyer info, and any notes.
4. 4The approver either approves (with optional notes) or rejects (with a reason).
5. 5On approval: the buyer receives the quote email with the PDF attached, just as if no approval was needed.
6. 6On rejection: the buyer receives a notification explaining the rejection, with the approver's notes if provided.

Approval dashboard

The Approvals page in your workspace dashboard shows all pending, approved, and rejected approval requests. All workspace members can view the list, but only assigned approvers can take action on a request.

• Filter by status — View pending, approved, or rejected requests.
• Filter by product — Narrow down to approvals for a specific product.
• Search — Search by buyer name, email, or quote reference number.
• Bulk actions — Approve or reject multiple pending requests at once (approvers only).

SLA settings and escalation

Set a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to define how long an approver has to act before the request is escalated or auto-actioned.