ObjectStackApprovals — routing, queues and audit trail
Seven ways to pick approvers, four decision modes including group sign-off, record locking, overdue escalation, and send-back-for-revision
Discounts, contracts, spend — anything that needs a human "yes" becomes an approval step in a flow, replacing the group-chat shoulder tap with a tracked, enforceable decision.
Who approves — seven resolution styles
A specific person · everyone holding a position (e.g. sales managers) · the submitter's direct manager (needs each user's manager set — see below) · a team · a department (optionally including sub-departments) · organization leadership · a person named on the record itself (e.g. the "regional director" field).
Routing to the submitter's manager needs each user's manager set. This style resolves
sys_user.manager_id, which is not a profile field: editing the user does not set it. A platform
admin sets it one user at a time from Setup → Users → ⋯ → Set Manager, which calls
POST /api/v1/auth/admin/set-user-manager. For many users at once, provisioning fills it: the
admin bulk-import endpoint reads a manager_id column, and a seed, or a SCIM / directory-sync
path your deployment supplies, can write it too. Until it is set, a manager-only approval step
resolves to nobody and the node's onEmptyApprovers policy decides what happens — by default the
request opens and waits for an administrator. The details, and the fallback that needs no manager
data at all, are in Automation → Approvals.
How it passes — four decision modes
| Mode | Rule | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| First response | Any one approval passes it | Routine low-value requests |
| Unanimous | Everyone must approve | Major contracts |
| M-of-N quorum | e.g. 3 of 5 | Committee reviews |
| Group sign-off | Each group must independently approve | Finance and legal must each clear it |
Any rejection ends the chain immediately. Multi-level ladders (manager → director → VP) are just chained steps, and conditions route by amount — under 100k ends at manager, over 500k adds the VP.
Process controls
- Record locking while pending — no editing the deal mid-approval (configurable).
- Status mirrored onto the record — lists can filter by "pending approval".
- Overdue escalation (SLA) — after N hours: reassign, auto-approve, auto-reject, or notify, your choice.
- Send back for revision — return to the submitter for changes and a fresh round, distinct from a hard reject; retry count can be capped.
- An approvals inbox for batch processing, and a permanent audit trail of who decided what, when, and why.
In HotCRM: the opportunity approval flow routes large or deep-discount deals to management, mirrors the outcome onto the record, and locks it while pending.
For developers: approval nodes and approver metadata in Automation → Approvals.
Automation — Processes That Run Themselves
Five trigger styles, visual flow diagrams, notifications, branching, loops, waits, and external calls — the work nobody should have to remember
Permissions — Who Sees What
Four layers from object capability to per-field visibility, five data-depth scopes, sharing rules, audit, and an explain API