Products · Advanced approval workflow

Advanced approval workflow

A workflow engine for Frappe and ERPNext. Conditions pick the workflow, each stage sets who may act and what they may edit, and every action is logged.

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For: Organisations whose approvals depend on amount, department or funding source
Runs on: Frappe, with or without ERPNext

Request to posting

Request
Rules
Fund owner
Committee
Approved
Posted

Illustrative records · one request through its rules

One claim, three funds, each approved in turn.

The workflow is chosen by rules on the document. Each fund row runs its own approval, and the history records every step.

erp.client.in/app/expense-claimIllustrative data

Expense claim · approval historyFund 2 of 3

Submitted by applicantDraft to pending with guideDone

Committee reviewAll members respondedApproved

Fund 1Fund owner approvedDone

Fund 2Pending with fund ownerWaiting

Fund 3Starts after fund 2Queued

The problem

A standard Frappe workflow gives each document type one path. Real approval rules are rarely that simple: the route depends on the amount, the department or the grant that pays. Teams fall back on email, and nobody can trace who approved what.

What it does

Several workflows on one document typeChosen by conditions on the document and its child-table rows, in priority order
Stages with the roles or named users who may actAnd the fields each stage may edit
Transitions with their own conditionsFor example only above a set amount
Committee stagesevery member responds, the document moves on when all have answered, and one rejection sends it back
Per-fund routingwhen several funds pay for one document, each fund row goes through its own approval in turn
Comments on an actionOptional or mandatory per transition
Field visibility by role or condition; restricted fields are hidden when the document opens and protected when it is saved
A history of every actionwho acted, when, from which state to which, and the comment

How it works

Define a workflow for a document type
its conditions, priority, stages and transitions
When a document is created
The engine picks the matching workflow and sets its first state
Approvers act from the document; each action is checked against the stage's roles, users and conditions
At a final state
The next fund row starts its own workflow, if the document has one

Works with

Frappe Framework
ERPNext

Industries

Education and skilling

Where it runs

Education and skilling

IIT Bombay moves research grant administration onto one platform

ESTEM: travel advances and multi-fund approvals on ERPNext, integrated with SAP FI and SSO, on-premise.

Grant requests to SAP posting on one platform

FAQ

Does it replace Frappe's built-in workflow?

You use it instead of the built-in workflow on the document types you choose. Document types without an advanced workflow keep working as before.

Can it route one document through several funds or grants?

Yes. Conditions can read child-table rows, and when one fund's approval is complete the engine starts the workflow for the next fund row. It was built for multi-fund approvals in research grant administration.

Does it send reminders or escalate overdue approvals?

Not on its own. Frappe's standard notifications can be set on state changes. Delegation and escalation are not built yet.

Can approvers see every field?

Only what the stage allows. Fields can be made visible by role or by condition, and the rest stay hidden and protected.