> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://support.suptask.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://support.suptask.com/working-with-tickets/how-to-send-and-manage-approvals.md).

# Approvals

Learn how to request and manage approvals in Suptask

Approvals let you get a decision from someone outside your team of agents – a manager, Legal, Finance or a system owner – without leaving the ticket. The request, the decision and any change of mind are recorded on the ticket.

{% hint style="success" %}
For example\
Confirm a purchase with a manager, have Legal review a contract request, or get the system owner's sign-off before granting access.
{% endhint %}

There are three ways to request an approval:

| How                                  | Who approves                                               | When to use it                                                       |
| ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **By hand from the ticket**          | Anyone the agent picks                                     | One-off decisions                                                    |
| **Automatically with an Automation** | Fixed users, or the person selected in a field on the Form | The same rule applies to every ticket from a Form or Inbox           |
| **Found by an AI Assistant**         | Whoever the Assistant looks up in another system           | The approver has to be looked up, for example a manager in your HRIS |

***

### Request an approval by hand

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/ykTpzIBnDS4>" %}

An Agent of the ticket can request an approval on any active ticket.

Every request can be sent to one or many users in your Slack workspace, and a ticket can hold several requests – for example one to Finance and one to Legal. Within each request you can see who has accepted or rejected, and the replies from your approvers.

***

### Request approvals automatically

<figure><img src="https://621243658-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FO5JbdwXcuzsmDvD73Ccf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-3c7ec5ab8a9ddd790425e2487db88c9b4faca8ab%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Use an [Automation](https://support.suptask.com/integrations-automations-and-workflows/how-to-set-up-automation-rules) to send an approval request every time a ticket is created in an Inbox or with a specific Form.

**Who approves**

* **Fixed users** – Pick one or more users from your Slack workspace. The same people are asked on every ticket.
* **Users from a Form field** – Pick a **Single Slack user** field from the Form. The person selected in that field when the ticket was submitted becomes an approver. Use this when the approver differs from ticket to ticket, for example the manager the requester picks in the form.

<figure><img src="https://621243658-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FO5JbdwXcuzsmDvD73Ccf%2Fuploads%2FS3fc9f2PDyh5yvzXpcvf%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=7417ff20-6b8e-45fb-872a-f9606e9ff282" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Select a Line manager approver from a Slack user field on the form</p></figcaption></figure>

You can combine both, for example a fixed reviewer from Finance plus the manager selected in the field. Several fields can be used in the same rule, for example *Approving manager* and *System owner*.

{% hint style="info" %}
Approvers from a field are available when the automation is enabled on a specific Form, since the field has to be part of that Form. Make the field required if every ticket must have an approver. Make sure to use a Single Slack user field.
{% endhint %}

**How approvers are asked**

* **Sequential approvals** – Approvers are asked one at a time, in order. A single rejection stops the sequence.
* **Flexible approvals** – All approvers are asked at the same time and everyone must approve. A single rejection denies the request.

Example:

> When a ticket is created with the form *Purchase request*, send a sequential approval first to the user selected in the field *Approving manager*, then to the fixed user *Head of Finance*.

***

### Let an AI Assistant find the approver

When the right approver isn't something the requester can pick – their manager in Google Workspace, their HR partner in BambooHR, the owner of the app they're asking for – an AI Assistant can look the person up in your connected systems, send the approval to them, and carry on once they've decided.

{% content-ref url="/pages/EMXzCysY1oz2JPFXI8gH" %}
[AI Assistants](/suptask-ai/ai-assistants.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

***

### Automation or AI Assistant?

Use an **Automation** when the approver is always the same people for a Form or Inbox, or someone the requester selects in the form. It's simpler and needs no AI.

Use an **AI Assistant** when the approver depends on who's asking or what they're asking for and has to be found in another system, or when something should happen automatically after the decision.

***

### How to approve a request

<figure><img src="https://621243658-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FO5JbdwXcuzsmDvD73Ccf%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b8d674455a656a2c9f18277315953412d303f0b2%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Example on how an approval request can look</p></figcaption></figure>

The approver experience is the same however the approval was requested.

The approver gets a notification from Suptask in Slack with the options to **Accept** or **Reject** the request.

The approver can read the ticket and its replies to understand the context, and can reply within the ticket if there are follow-up questions.

When done, the approver can **Unfollow** the ticket to stop receiving updates on it. After unfollowing, the approver can no longer reply to the ticket.

***

### Audit and Compliance

Every approval request is saved inside the ticket, including the request text and who it was sent to.

Any change from an approver, such as changing a decision from approved to rejected, is recorded in the ticket.

A summary of the current state of the approval is also shown on the ticket, so you can track who has approved and who has rejected over time.