Preparing to Create Approval Rules

Before you create an approval rule, take note of the following reminders:

• You can create multiple approval rules for a record type so long as the combination of name, priority, and saved search condition is unique. For more information about uniqueness validation, see Approval Rule Validation.

• If you want to use saved searches in approval rules, create saved searches of transaction records before you create rules. For guidelines and instructions for defining saved searches, read Saved Searches.

  Tip:

  Take note of the titles of your saved searches when you define or redefine them. You can save time when creating approval rules if you remember the title of the saved searches you want to use.

  You can choose not to select a saved search when creating approval rules. The workflow filters records for the approval based on the transaction amount or employee limit, depending on the Approval Routing settings you use.

• The Saved Search Condition field can load a maximum of 4,000 public saved searches for each user.

• By default, an approval rule locks records that are in the Approved or Pending Approval status. A record may only be edited and resubmitted for approval if its status is Rejected. For more information, see Resubmitting Records for Approval.

• If you enabled the required features for project-based approval, the Project Manager approver type is added in the approval matrix. For more information, see Enabling Prerequisite Features for SuiteApprovals.

  Project-based approvals apply only to expense reports, purchase orders, or vendor bills that are linked to projects.

• SuiteApprovals can process a maximum of 18,000 approver records for each NetSuite account. Take note of the following record category limits:

  Record	Limit
  Employee	10,000
  Role	4,000
  Group	4,000

  If any of the record category limits or the combined record limit is exceeded, an error can occur when you create approval rules.

Take note of the required approvers for expense reports. For more information about supervisor and expense approver approvals, see Approving an Expense Report.

Approval Rule Validation

SuiteApprovals validate approval rules based on the following criteria:

1. The system checks for approval rule uniqueness in the following order:

   1. Name

   2. Priority

   3. Unique combination of the following:

      • Record Name

      • Subsidiary

      • Start Date

      • End Date

      • Status: Running

   Watch the following help video for information about approval rule uniqueness:

2. The system checks for running approval rules. If there are multiple, the rules are evaluated by priority. The one with the highest priority is activated.

   However, if an active approval rule with no assigned priority is found, then that rule is used first by default.

3. The rule checks if the record passes any saved search criteria. The following list explains the possible outcomes:

   • If the rule matches with a record, then the workflow proceeds.

   • If the rule does not match, the system runs the rule with the next highest priority and the next until a match is found.

   • If no rule is found, the record exits the approval workflow. Approve the record manually. For additional information, see Resubmitting Records for Approval.

Related Topics

Defining Approval Rules

Approval Rule Basic Information Fields

Approval Rule Setting Fields

Vendor Bill Exception Criteria Overview

Creating Approval Rules

Copying or Editing Approval Rules

General Notices