Lets you choose which approval flow a screen runs, from the flows the product offers for it. For example, whether a purchase invoice goes straight to posting or has to be approved first.
When to use it
When setting up a new company and deciding how much approval each document needs. Also when your organisation grows and a document that used to be posted directly now needs a second pair of eyes.
Before you start
- Know which screen you are changing and which flow you want, in business terms.
- You need the right on this tool and read access on the screen you are changing. With only one of the two, the screen will not be offered to you.
- You are choosing from a fixed list. You cannot create or edit a flow here; that stays with your administrator.
Where to find it
Setup > System Customization > Workflow Variants.
How it works
Pick a screen and the flows available for it are listed, with the standard one marked. Select one to see a diagram of it: the states a document passes through and the actions that move it between them. Check the flow there before you commit to it.
Save pins your choice for that screen. Reset to default puts it back to the standard.
Understand this before you change anything:
- A change only affects documents created after it. Everything already in progress keeps the flow it started on and finishes on that flow. Switching here will not rescue a stuck document, and it will not add an approval step to documents already approved.
- So plan the change for a quiet moment. Expect two flows to run side by side until the older documents have cleared.
Two smaller things about the screen itself:
- The diagram is fetched once and then kept for as long as the page is open. If your administrator edits a flow while you are looking at it, reload the page, or you will keep seeing the old picture.
- If the diagram cannot be drawn at all, the list and Save still work normally. You only lose the picture.
Tips and common mistakes
- Save does nothing if nothing is selected. It tells you and stops; it does not quietly fall back to the standard flow.
- Adding an approval step to a busy document creates a queue on day one. Make sure whoever has to approve knows before you save, not after.
- Check the diagram, not the flow's name. Two flows can have very similar names and a different number of steps.
Related guides
See also Form & Table Customization, User Session Limits, and the screens whose approvals you are changing.