Setting up approval workflows in Business Central, step by step

Manual sign-offs by email and hallway conversation do not scale, and they leave no record. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) has built-in approval workflows that route purchase orders, sales orders, and payment journals to the right people based on dollar limits, then block posting until someone approves. This guide is for the BC administrator or controller who wants to stand up approvals from scratch. By the end, you'll have approval users with spending limits, an active workflow for purchase orders, working notifications, substitute approvers for vacations, and a tested chain you've proven out before anyone relies on it.

Before you start

• A BC user account with the SUPER permission set, or at least access to Approval User Setup and Workflows.
• A short list of who approves what, and up to what dollar amount (for example, a manager up to 10,000 dollars, a CFO above that).
• Each approver's BC user ID and a monitored email address for each person.
• Outgoing email already configured under Set Up Email so notifications can actually send.
• Agreement on which documents you want under approval first. We suggest starting with purchase orders only, then expanding.

Step 1: Set up approval users and amount limits

1. Choose the search icon (the magnifying glass in the top right), enter Approval User Setup, and choose the related link.
2. Choose New to add a line for each person in the approval chain.
3. In the User ID field, pick the BC user. Fill in Salespers./Purch. Code if your routing depends on it (optional).
4. Set the dollar limits: Sales Amount Approval Limit, Purchase Amount Approval Limit, and Request Amount Approval Limit (the last one covers payment journals and similar requests). Leave Unlimited Sales/Purchase/Request Approval checked for a top approver who has no ceiling.
5. In the Approver ID field, point each person at the next person up the chain. This is how BC escalates when an amount exceeds someone's limit.
6. Set the Approval Administrator checkbox for whoever should receive overflow and delegated approvals.

Step 2: Enable a workflow from a template

1. Search for Workflows and choose the related link.
2. Choose New Workflow from Template, then choose the Purchase Order Approval Workflow template. BC copies the template into a new, editable workflow.
3. Open the new workflow. You'll see rows in a When / Then structure: a triggering event (a purchase order approval is requested) and the response steps (create approval requests, send notifications, set status to Pending Approval).
4. To stop tiny purchases from clogging the queue, choose the condition on the "When a purchase document is sent for approval" row and add a filter such as Amount is greater than your threshold. Routine small orders then skip approval.
5. In the response step Create an approval request, confirm the Approver Type and Approver Limit Type. For limit-based routing, set Approver Limit Type to Approver Chain, which walks up the Approver ID chain until someone's limit covers the amount.
6. Check the Enabled box at the top of the workflow so it goes live.

Step 3: Configure notifications

1. Search for Notification Setup and choose the related link.
2. For each user, set how they're notified. Choose Approval in the Notification Type column, then set the Notification Method to Email, Note (the in-product Role Center notification), or both.
3. To control timing, open Notification Schedule from the same page and choose Instantly so approvers hear about requests as they arrive rather than in a daily digest.
4. Confirm each approver's email address is correct on their user card, since that's where the email goes.

Step 4: Set substitute approvers

1. Return to Approval User Setup.
2. In the Substitute field for each approver, choose the person who covers for them when they're out. If no substitute is set, BC falls back to whoever has the Approval Administrator box checked.
3. Tell your approvers how to delegate on the fly: from the Requests to Approve page, an approver can choose Delegate to hand a single request to their substitute.

Step 5: Test the chain with Preview Posting

1. Create a test purchase order above your approval threshold.
2. Choose Request Approval, then Send Approval Request. The document status should change to Pending Approval and the order should lock for editing.
3. Sign in as the approver (or have them do it). Open Requests to Approve, confirm the request landed, and check that the notification arrived by email or in the Role Center.
4. Approve the request. The order status should return to Released.
5. Before posting, choose Preview Posting to confirm the G/L (general ledger), inventory, and vendor entries are what you expect, without committing anything.
6. Try a second order below the threshold and confirm it does not require approval, so you know your condition filter works in both directions.

Verify it

Run one order all the way through above the limit and one below it. The above-limit order should route, notify, lock, and only post after approval. The below-limit order should pass straight through. Open Approval Entries (search for it) and confirm each approval and rejection is logged with a user, date, and time. That log is your audit trail.

What to do next

Once purchase orders are stable, enable the sales order and payment journal workflows the same way. Keep approval limits current as roles change, and revisit substitutes before holiday season. If your routing needs to depend on dimensions like department or cost center rather than just amount, that's a sign you're ready to build a custom workflow with added conditions.