How to Set Up an Approval Workflow in HappyFox Workflows

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This article explains how to add an approval step to a workflow, configure approver addresses and decision logic, and set up the Approved and Declined branches that run after a decision is made.

Applicable Plans: Available on all plans.

Prerequisites

How the Request Approval action works

The Request Approval action pauses a workflow and sends an approval request to one or more approvers through the platform you choose — Email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. Each approver receives Approve and Decline options. When an approver responds, they can leave an optional comment before confirming their decision, and see a confirmation message afterward.

The workflow remains in a Waiting status in Run History until a decision is recorded. Once the decision is made, the workflow continues down either the Approved branch or the Declined branch, depending on the outcome.

Setting up the Request Approval action

  1. Open the workflow you want to add an approval step to.
  2. Click the + icon at the point in the workflow where the approval step should occur.
  3. Select Request Approval from the action panel.
  4. Select the platform where approvers will receive the request from the Platform dropdown — Email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.

Note: The steps below show the fields as they appear for the Email platform. Field labels and available options vary slightly for Slack and Microsoft Teams — see the platform-specific guides at the end of this article for the exact differences.

  1. Enter one or more approver email addresses in the Approvers field.

Note: To add multiple approvers, separate each email address with a comma.

  1. Select the decision logic from the Approval required from dropdown. The options are:
    • Everyone — All approvers must approve for the request to be granted. If any one approver declines, the final decision is Declined.
    • Majority — At least 50% of approvers must approve for the request to be granted.
    • Anyone — If any one approver approves, the final decision is Approved. The decision is Declined only when all approvers decline.
    • First responder — The decision made by the first approver to respond is the final decision, regardless of what other approvers do.
  2. Enter a subject line in the Subject field.
  3. Edit the message body in the Message field.

Note: The default message template includes <<approve_button>> and <<decline_button>> placeholders. These render as clickable Approve and Decline buttons in the approver's email. Do not remove them — the approver cannot respond without these buttons.

  1. Optionally, add attachments using the Attachments field.
  2. Use + Insert Merge Fields on any field to pull in dynamic values from the ticket, such as ticket ID, subject, or contact name.
  3. Click Save.

Configuring the Approved branch

The Approved branch contains the actions that run when the approval decision is Approved. This branch is a standard action panel — you can add any combination of workflow actions to it.

  1. Click the + icon inside the Approved branch on the workflow canvas.
  2. Add the actions you want to run on approval — for example, updating a ticket field, sending a notification, or creating a related ticket.
  3. Click Save after configuring each action.

Configuring the Declined branch

The Declined branch contains the actions that run when the approval decision is Declined. Configure it the same way as the Approved branch.

  1. Click the + icon inside the Declined branch on the workflow canvas.
  2. Add the actions you want to run on decline — for example, notifying the requester, adding a note to the ticket, or closing the ticket.
  3. Click Save after configuring each action.

Note: Both branches are optional. If you do not add any actions to a branch, the workflow simply ends when that branch is reached.

Checking approval status in Run History

When a workflow is waiting for an approver to respond, the workflow execution appears in Run History with a Waiting status. This indicates the approval request has been sent and no decision has been recorded yet.

To check the status of a pending approval:

  1. Navigate to Run History in HappyFox Workflows.
  2. Locate the relevant workflow execution.
  3. Check the execution status. A status of Waiting means the approval request is still pending.

Platform-specific approval guides

Each platform has a few fields and behaviors of its own. See the guide for the platform you selected:

Frequently asked questions

How do I check whether an approval is still pending? Open Run History and find the workflow execution. If the status shows Waiting, the approval request has been sent and no decision has been recorded yet. Run History does not show which individual approvers have or have not responded.

Can I send an approval request to more than one approver? Yes. Enter multiple email addresses in the Approvers field, separated by commas. Use the Approval required from setting to control how many approvers must respond and in what way before a final decision is reached.

What happens if an approver never responds? There is no timeout. The workflow stays in a Waiting status in Run History indefinitely until a decision is recorded. If you need a time limit, build one yourself with a separate scheduled check or reminder step outside the approval action — HappyFox Workflows does not expire or auto-decide pending approvals on its own.

Do I need a separate ITSM or procurement tool for approval workflows? Not necessarily. The Request Approval action already supports multiple approvers, configurable decision logic (Everyone, Majority, Anyone, First responder), and separate Approved and Declined branches where you can add further actions — including another Request Approval action, which lets you chain approval stages into a single hierarchical workflow. Whether this is enough depends on how complex your approval chain needs to be: teams with extensive multi-department procurement hierarchies may still want a dedicated ITSM or procurement platform, but many approval processes can be built directly in HappyFox Workflows without adding a separate tool.

Your approval workflow is now configured with a decision step, response logic, and separate Approved and Declined branches. Next, enable the workflow and check Run History to confirm the approval request fires correctly on your next test ticket.

 

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