Build an Approval Process | Trailhead Screen Reader Instructions

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Create an Email Template

First create your email template to notify the record owner’s manager that an opportunity has been discounted more than 40%.

  1. From Setup, enter Templates in the Setup search  box, and then select Classic Email Templates.
  2. Activate the New Template button.
  3. Select the Text radio button as the template type, and activate the Next button.
  4. Configure the email template based on the list of information below. Note that the elements may appear in a different order than they are presented here.
    1. Set the Folder dropdown to Unfiled Public Classic Email Templates
    2. Check the checkbox for Available for Use.
    3. Set the Email Template Name to Approve Opportunity Discount
    4. Set the Encoding to General US & Western Europe
    5. Set the subject field to Please approve this discounted opportunity
    6. Enter this into the Email body field:
      {!User.Manager}, The {!Opportunity.Name} has been discounted. Please approve this discount. Thank you.
  5. Including the merge field {!Opportunity.Name} helps the approver by providing a link to the opportunity record. This allows them to review the record before responding to the request.
  6. Activate the Save button.

 

Add Custom Fields

Now let’s create custom fields so that we can track the discount percentage and approval status for each opportunity.

  1. From Setup, enter Object Manager in the Setup search  box, and then select Object Manager.
  2. From the table, choose  Opportunity.
  3. Select the Fields & Relationships  tab and activate the New Custom Field button.
  4. For Data Type, select Percent and then activate the Next button.
  5. Add a Percent field with these values.
    Field Value

    Field Label

    Discount Percent

    Length

    Leave default

    Decimal Places

    Leave default

    Required

    Selected

  6. Activate the Next button.
  7. Activate the Next button again.
  8. Activate the Save & New button.
  9. For our second field, select Picklist and then activate the Next button.
  10. Add a Picklist field with these values.
    Field Value

    Field Label

    Discount Percent Status

    Values

    Enter values, with each separated by a new line

    Picklist Values

    Approved
    Not Approved

  11. Activate the Next button.
  12. Activate the Next button again.
  13. Activate the Save button.

 

Great! You’ve created an email template to notify approvers and you’ve set up an object with the required fields to support your approval process.

 

Create an Approval Process

Now that our org is ready, let’s create the approval process.

  1. From Setup, enter Approval in the Setup search  box, and then select Approval Processes.
  2. In the Manage Approval Processes For combo box, select Opportunity. You'll need to press ALT + down arrow to expand the combo box in order to make your selection.
  3. Below this combo box is text which reads Create New Approval Process. Press ENTER on this text.
  4. A link appears immediately below. Down arrow and press ENTER on the Use Jump Start Wizard link. The Jump Start Wizard helps you create a simple approval process by making some decisions for you.
  5. Configure the approval process using the information in the list below.
    1. For Name, enter Approve Opportunity Discount
    2. For Approval Assignment Email Template, use the lookup link and choose Approve Opportunity Discount
    3. Under the Specify Entry Criteria heading, set field to Opportunity Discount Percent, set operator to greater than, and set value to 0.4
    4. IN the radio button group for Select Approver, choose the option for Let the submitter choose the approver manually
  6. Activate the Save button.
  7. Press ENTER on OK in the pop-up that appears.
  8. Activate the View Approval Process Detail Page button.
    1. Under the Final Approval Actions heading, arrow down to text reading Add New. then press enter. Once you select “add New”, links will appear below.  Arrow down and select the Field Update link.
    2. Locate the Field Edit heading in the bottom portion of the page and Configure the fields there with these values.
      1. Name edit field: set to Approved
      2. Field to Update combo box is set to Discount Percent Status. Note that you will need to press ALT + down arrow to expand this combo box before making your selection.
      3. Select the radio button for A Specific value. In the combo box that follows, select Approved
    3. Activate the Save button.
    4. Under the Final Rejection Actions heading, tab to Add New and press enter. Then activate the Field Update link. Configure the screen with these values.
      1. Name: Not Approved
      2. Field to Update: Discount Percent Status
      3. Choose the radio button for A Specific value. In the combo box that follows, select Not Approved
    5. Activate the Save button.

 

Great job! To start evaluating discounted opportunities, simply activate the approval process.

 

Make Sure That Records Are Submitted

You've done a bunch of work to automate what happens when a record gets submitted for approval. Now, when users click Submit for Approval on an opportunity, it goes through your approval process. But what if—the horror—users forget to click the button?

Enter Flow Builder. One of the available core actions is Submit for Approval, which means you can build a flow that automatically submits a record for approval. And that means your users don’t have to remember to submit opportunities for approval. For example, in a flow that runs when an opportunity is created or edited:

  1. Add a Decision element that checks whether Discount Percent is greater than 0.4.
  2. Add an Action element, set to Submit for Approval, that submits the opportunity for approval.

 

Tell Me More...

Help your users view open approval requests by adding the Items to Approve component to their Home page. Also, let users respond to approval requests directly from email or Chatter. For more details, see

Prepare Your Org for Approvals.

Resources

Click to return to the unit on Trailhead to access your challenge at the end of the reading.