Approval Process for Interest Manager

Configuring Approval Process for Interest Manager

Overview

Interest Manager sends some Preference_Rule__c (Preference Rule) records through a standard Salesforce Approval Process. A rule's research status can become Approved through that process. This article covers configuring the Approval Process from scratch: queues, entry criteria, approval steps, the approval page layout, and the automated actions that move a rule between statuses.

The validation rules in the AFR attribute ACE.FPM.ValidationRules.ResearchStatusRules drive this configuration. Before you start, open that AFR definition and note every distinct approvalRoute value its rules use. You need one approval step and one queue per route.

How submission works

1. A user saves a Preference Rule in Interest Manager. If a research validation rule fails, Interest Manager sets Research_Status__c = Submit for Approval and copies the route into Approval_Route__c.
2. A trigger on Preference Rule automatically submits the record to the Approval Process. The rule's Owner is the submitter.
3. Salesforce applies the Initial Submission Actions, sets the status to Pending for Approval, and locks the record.
4. The approver approves or rejects the request from My Pending Approvals in Interest Manager, or from the standard Salesforce approval page. The Final Approval or Final Rejection Actions then unlock the record and set the final status.

📘 Reserved route values

The application reserves two approvalRoute values. Admins do not define them:

• DEFAULT: assigned automatically when a matching validation rule doesn't specify its own route.
• BLOCK: a rule on this route is never submitted for approval. It goes straight to Research_Status__c = Inactive. Do not create an entry criterion or approval step for BLOCK.

The author of the AFR rules chooses every other route name.

📘 Disabling auto-submission

To submit rules with your own Flow instead, disable the trigger logic with the AFR attribute ACE.Core.DisabledTriggers.trgFPMPreferenceRuleHandleApprovalSubmit.

Record Locking: What to Expect

❗️ Important: a rule stays locked for the whole time it is Pending for Approval

Salesforce locks every record submitted to an Approval Process. Nothing unlocks it automatically after submission. The record stays locked until the request is approved, rejected, or recalled. Only the corresponding Final Approval, Final Rejection, or Recall action unlocks it (Steps 7 to 9).

Interest Manager is built around this. While a rule's status is Pending for Approval, the Rule Form opens it as view-only, and the user cannot edit, deactivate, or resubmit it until the approval completes.

If a rule is stuck in Pending for Approval and must be edited:

• Approve or reject it from My Pending Approvals in Interest Manager. This is the only release path available inside Interest Manager. Or:
• Recall the request in standard Salesforce. Interest Manager has no Recall action. An administrator recalls the request from the Preference Rule's record page (Approval History related list → Recall Approval Request). Rule owners can only do this if your org adds the Approval History related list to a Preference Rule page layout and gives them a way to open the record. The package does not include a Preference Rule tab or page layout. Or:
• An administrator unlocks the record from its Salesforce record page. Unlocking alone leaves the status at Pending for Approval, so Interest Manager still shows the rule as read-only. Recall it instead.

📘 In practice, a user who needs to change a pending rule should ask the approver to reject it. The rule's owner can then edit it and resubmit from Interest Manager.

Prerequisites

• Access to Setup → Users → Queues and Setup → Process Automation → Approval Processes.
• Access to Setup → Process Automation → Field Updates (for the Recalled field update in Step 9).
• The list of approvalRoute values currently used in ACE.FPM.ValidationRules.ResearchStatusRules.
• A list of the users or groups who should approve each route.

Step 1: Create Approval Queues

Navigate to Setup → Users → Queues → New.

Create one queue per approval route, excluding BLOCK. At minimum you need a queue for the DEFAULT route.

📘 Note

Your organization chooses the queue names; the application doesn't require any particular name. The My Pending Approvals view in Interest Manager shows work items assigned to the logged-in user directly or to any queue the user belongs to. Any queue you create here and add members to works.

Repeat for every additional approval route your AFR configuration uses.

Step 2: Create the Approval Process: Basic Info and Entry Criteria

Navigate to Setup → Process Automation → Approval Processes, select the object Preference Rule, then click Create New Approval Process → Use Standard Setup Wizard.

Basic Info

Entry Criteria

Select "criteria are met" and add one criterion per approval route:

Set Filter Logic to 1 OR 2 OR ... across all rows. If your AFR only uses DEFAULT, a single criterion is enough. You can also enter all routes on one row as a comma-separated value (e.g. DEFAULT,COMPLIANCE).

❗️ Every non-BLOCK route must be covered. If a rule's route doesn't match the entry criteria, the automatic submission fails silently. The rule then stays at Submit for Approval and never reaches an approver.

Step 3: Approver Settings

📘 Note: Record Editability does not prevent locking. It only controls who besides administrators can edit a locked record. Leave it at Administrators ONLY. Interest Manager writes to the rule after the approval action has unlocked it, so approvers do not need edit access while the record is locked.

Step 4: Email Template (Optional)

Select an approval assignment email template, or leave the default. See Step 11 to create a custom template.

Step 5: Approval Page Layout

Add these fields so approvers see what they need to make a decision:

Additional settings

• Display Approval History: checked (or per business rule).
• Security Settings: Allow approvers to access the approval page only from within the Salesforce application.

Step 6: Initial Submitters

Click Save, then choose "No, I'll do this later" to add the steps and actions next.

Step 7: Initial Submission Actions

Step 8: Approval Steps

Under Approval Steps, click New Approval Step. Add one step per approval route, in the order you want them evaluated.

Step 1: Default Approval

Steps 2, 3, and so on: one per additional route

📘 Tips

• Salesforce only offers the "else go to next step" option on a step once a later step exists. If you configure Step 1 before adding Step 2, go back to Step 1 afterward and set this option.
• Reject Behavior is not offered on Step 1, because a rejection on the first step is always final.
• Each request should match exactly one step. Interest Manager approves or rejects one work item per request.

Step 9: Final Approval, Final Rejection, and Recall Actions

All three must unlock the record. Otherwise the rule stays read-only permanently.

Final Approval Actions

Final Rejection Actions

Recall Actions

❗️ The package does not include a Recalled field update. You must create it. Recall only happens in standard Salesforce, usually by an administrator. Without this field update, a recalled rule is unlocked but its status stays Pending for Approval. Interest Manager then keeps showing the rule as read-only and won't let the owner resubmit it. Once the status is Recalled, the owner can edit the rule and resubmit it from Interest Manager.

📘 What Interest Manager does on Approve/Reject: When an approver acts from My Pending Approvals, Interest Manager processes the work item first, which runs the unlock above. It then updates the rule: Research Status, Approval_Note__c, and on approval Start_Date__c (the date the approver chose, or today) and the optional End_Date__c. If the request is approved in standard Salesforce instead, only the field update runs. The Start and End dates stay blank, which means research access is active with no date limit.

Step 10: Activate

Click Activate after you have configured every step above and confirmed each step's "else go to next step" setting. Submissions fail until the process is active.

Step 11: (Optional) Email Notifications

If your organization wants email notifications on submission, approval, or rejection:

1. Navigate to Setup → Classic Email Templates → New Template and create a template, for example:

2. In the Approval Process, set Approval Assignment Email Template to this template. For rejection or approval notices, add an Email Alert to the Final Rejection or Final Approval Actions.

Use the merge-field picker to insert fields. In a subscriber org, object and field names carry the T1C_Base__ namespace prefix.

Troubleshooting

Reference: Research Status values

Research_Status__c is a picklist with these values, in order:

No default value is set. The field stays blank until Interest Manager or a field update sets it. Research access (Is_Research_Active__c) is only active when the status is blank or Approved, the rule is active, and today falls within the Start/End dates.