Approvals

Serval workflows can be configured to require approvals before execution. This provides an additional layer of control and security for sensitive operations in your organization.

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Overview

Workflow approvals in Serval offer flexible options to match your organization’s approval processes:

• Individual Approvers: Specify one or more users who can approve the workflow.
• Group-based Approvals: Leverage groups created in Serval or synced from external systems. Multiple groups can be added to a single approval step.
• Manager Approvals: Automatically route approvals to the requester’s manager.
• Multi-step Approvals: Create approval chains where multiple parties must approve in sequence.
• Self-Approval: Toggling self-approval enables users, who are also approvers for the workflow, to approve their own requests.
• Custom approval: Automate approval decisions based on your business rules. Approve/deny instantly based on custom logic, or escalate.

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Configuring Workflow Approvers

To configure approvers for a workflow, click Add Approvers above the workflow blocks. This will open the workflow approvers configuration dialog.

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Adding Approvers

In the configuration dialog, you can:

1. Select Users or Groups: Use the toggle to switch between individual users and groups
2. Search for Approvers: Type a name or email to find specific users or groups
3. Add Special Members: Select “User’s manager” to automatically route to the requester’s manager
4. Configure Self-Approval: Toggle whether approvers can approve their own requests

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Multi-step approval process

For workflows requiring multiple levels of approval, you can add additional approval steps by clicking “Add approval step”. This allows you to create approval chains such as:

1. First, the requester’s manager must approve
2. Then, a member of the Engineering team must provide approval
3. Finally, a specific member of the IT team must provide final approval

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Mid-run approvals

A workflow can pause partway through to collect an approval, rather than only gating before it starts. When the workflow reaches that step, it holds until a designated approver responds, then resumes automatically. If an approver denies the request, the workflow stops.

• Approve at the right moment: Run initial steps first, then request approval only when the workflow reaches a decision point.
• Respond anywhere: Approvers respond in Slack, Teams, email, or the Serval web portal, and the request appears in their inbox.
• Choose who approves: Route to a specific user, a group, or the target user’s manager, and chain multiple approval steps together.

Use in situations where one workflow needs a human decision at a specific point without splitting the logic across separate workflows. Common examples include mid-run approvals for budget sign-offs, access escalations, and security reviews.

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Delegation

Approvers can delegate their approval authority to another user or group, so requests keep moving when an approver is out. Delegation covers workflow approvals, access-request approvals, and ticket assignments.

• Set rules in user settings: Configure delegation from a user’s settings, not a workflow’s approver dialog. Each rule names the delegator and one or more delegates.
• Delegate to a user or a group: Route delegated approvals to a specific person or to any member of a group.
• Route automatically: When an approval would go to the delegator, Serval sends it to the delegate instead, with no manual reassignment.
• Also applies to ticket assignments: When a ticket would be assigned to the delegator, Serval routes it to their delegate instead.
• New approvals and assignments only: Only new approvals and assignments are delegated. Anything already assigned to the delegator stays with them.
• Keep a clear audit trail: The approval timeline shows who delegated and who made the final decision.
• Manage through the API: Create and manage delegation rules with the Serval public API.

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Best practices

• Use groups for scalability: Instead of adding individual users, consider using groups to make approval management easier as your team grows
• Leverage manager approvals: For requests that need hierarchical approval, use the “User’s manager” option
• Consider self-approval settings: Carefully evaluate whether approvers should be able to approve their own requests based on your security requirements
• Document approval chains: For complex multi-step approvals, document the approval flow for your team’s reference
• Sole Approver: In the case of a specified user to be the sole approver, it is recommended that you turn on self-approval. Otherwise, the workflow will be unable completed whenever the requester is also the sole approver.