You can set up alternative rules to choose an Approver based on multiple conditions. This means the Approver will be notified if any of the criteria are met. Alternative rules are helpful for handling exceptions or for Approvers working with different departments or accounts.
The conditions for these rules depend on the information available in your connected system, such as Accounts, Items, Customers, or custom fields.
How to add an alternative rule
To add an alternative rule:
In the main menu, select your Organisation.
Go to Approval workflows under Workflows and settings:
In the relevant workflow, click on the
icon to open the approval matrix:
Find the Approver for whom you want to add an alternative rule and click on the Three-dot icon next to their name. From the drop-down menu, select "Add an alternative rule":
Specify the additional condition(s).
For example, in the screenshot below, Betty White is added as an Approver if either:
The total amount is under 1,000.00 GBP and the Region is North, and the Account matches 260, 270 or 310
OR
The customer is Bank West, regardless of other field values
Click on DONE in the top right-hand corner of the matrix to save/update the workflow:
For a quick video overview, please see below:
Important note: Be careful not to use overlapping rules. In the example below, there are two rules: one says Dave should approve all requests except those from Microsoft; the other one says he is to approve any request with the Accounts 310, 400, 408.
This means: requests from Microsoft with the Account=310 will be assigned to Dave despite one of the rules saying he is not to approve requests from Microsoft.
How to remove an alternative rule
To remove an alternative rule:
Click on the X icon next to the rule you want to remove:
Save your changes by clicking on DONE, then update the workflow.