This article will run through how to create an approval definition within the SweetHawk Approve app. 

What is an approval definition? 

An approval definition is a set of rules and configurations that outline how an approval process will work. It specifies what data or ticket fields are up for approval, who is responsible for providing the approval, how the approval is applied to the ticket, and what actions should occur based on different outcomes of the approval process. In other words, it serves as the blueprint for your approval workflow.

How do I create an approval definition? 

To create an approval definition click into Approve admin screen in the main left bar, then under Approval definitions, click on add approval definition at the top right.

Now work your way through the Approval definition screen by filling out the various fields. 

Name: Select a name which clearly identifies this approval to other admins. Agents may also be able to see this approval, see the "Permission" field below.

Recipients: This is where you set who should make a decision on this approval. You can set an unlimited number of approvers either by selecting them individually, selecting groups or using the advanced options indicated by the </> button on the right of the field. 

To add an external approver:
External approvers must first exist as Zendesk end users. To do this:
In a Zendesk ticket, click the “+ Add” button

• Select user
• Enter their name and email address

Once added:

• Return to the approval definition
• Search and select their email in the Recipients field.
   

Required: You can set the number of agents that are required to approve a step before the flow can proceed. 

Timeout: You can set how long approvers have to action an approval in before it either times out or is escalated. 

Escalating an approval: On the far right of each line of recipients, you can click the vertical ellipsis which will allow you to add an unlimited number of escalation steps. 

Approval steps: At the top far right of the recipients section, you can click the + icon to create as many approval steps as required. For example, an approval could initially be sent to the managers, and once they approve, it could then move on to the Finance team. 
 

Message: This is where you define what is being approved (ie. the content of the approval). Use the at the top right of the field to reference data held in any Zendesk ticket field.

Message fields are mandatory: When switched on, this setting means that all the ticket fields listed in the message must have a value before the approval can be sent by an agent.

Disable message fields once an approval is sent: When switched on, all the Zendesk ticket fields listed in the message will be uneditable after the approval has been sent. (More precisely, when the approval is either Granted or still Pending).

Approval options: These allow you to define what options each approver has when actioning an approval. See here for more information on Approve, Decline and Abstain buttons.

• Approve button: Specify the label and color of the approve button shown to approvers. When an approver selects this option, it counts towards the number of approvals needed to proceed in the current step of the approval as defined in the Recipients field.
• Decline button (optional): Specify the label and color of the decline button shown to approvers. If any approver declines an approval, the entire approval is marked as declined. 
• Abstain button (optional): Specify the label and color of the abstain button shown to approvers. When an approver clicks to Abstain, they are removing themself from the flow of the approval.

Permission: This field will allow you to choose who can add this approval to a ticket manually. Note that this field is based on a minimum user level. For example if you select Managers, then only managers and above will have access to manually apply approvals (ie. Managers and Admins). However if you select Agents, then all agent roles will have access to manually apply these approvals. 

Ticket updates: With ticket updates you can set anything to happen to the ticket based on the state of an approval. For example, when an approval is granted, you may wish to add a specific tag to the ticket, or set a date field to record when the approval was granted. 

Once you have set all of the Approval definition parameters, click Save at the bottom right hand side of the screen.