Create a Custom Approval

The article provides guidance on creating a custom approval process in BambooHR for custom fields or tables. It outlines the steps necessary to establish a workflow that allows managers to submit change requests for employees. Key sections include instructions on adding a new approval workflow, creating an approval form, and setting requester and approver options. Users can preview forms and specify who can initiate requests and approve them. Caution is advised when granting approval request access, as it may expose sensitive data. The article also addresses the implications of broken approval workflows when an approver is removed from the system, ensuring users are informed of necessary updates.

  • Jun 30, 2026
  • Knowledge

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Create a Custom Approval
Article Text
This feature is included in the Core, Pro, and Elite packages.

How do I create a custom approval?

Purpose: A custom approval allows you to set up an approval process for any created custom field or table in your BambooHR account. You can create a workflow for managers or supervisors, allowing them to submit a change request for an employee. This guide will show you how you can do this action from a custom table in your BambooHR account.

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Note: Use caution when giving users access to request approvals. Granting access to a user to make a request can give them access to fields or data within BambooHR that they do not have access to through access levels.

It is also important to note that those in an employee access level cannot submit an approval workflow and therefore, will not see the Request a Change button on their profile.

Add a custom approval workflow

The first step to creating a custom approval workflow is ensuring you have created the field or table you are setting the approval workflow for. View the Custom Fields guide for steps on how to create a field, and the Custom Tables guide for how to create a table.

Once you have set up the related field or table, go to Settings > Approvals and click the plus button next to "Approvals" to create a new workflow.

Create an approval form

1. Create a name and description for the new approval workflow.

2. Select the fields that you would like to include in the approval form. A user will fill out the form as part of their request. In this example, the selected fields came from Bonus, a custom table added to an employee's Job tab (see below). 

3. You can mark fields as required or optional with the toggle button. A green star means the field will be required to fill out. Fields without a toggle button are defaulted to remain required.

4. You can see what the approval form will look like by clicking Preview Form below the form builder.

5. Click Create Approval to save the new form.

Details of a custom approval

Once you save the form, you will get a redirect to Approvals in Settings where you can specify who can initiate this kind of request and who will be responsible for approving or denying it. From this page, you can do the following:

  1. Go back and edit the approval form (change the name, change the description, or add fields.)
  2. Preview the existing approval form.
  3. Set up requesters - defaults to Manager (Reports to).
  4. Set up approvers - defaults to Full Admin(s).
  5. Set up advanced approvals, or disable or delete the approval workflow in the action menu.

If you disable an approval workflow, active requests will remain valid, and they need to be resolved through the approval process. You can reenable the approval workflow by clicking Enable Approval in the action menu.

Requester options

The requester list includes the following options: Account Owner, Full Admin(s), Manager (Reports to), Manager’s Manager, and Access Levels. All workflows will default to Manager (Reports to), and you can select one requester or multiple requesters. You cannot save changes to the workflow until you choose the requester(s).

Note: An employee access level user cannot submit an approval workflow. Additionally, granting access to a user to make a request will give them access to fields or data within BambooHR that they do not have access to through access levels.

Approver options

The approver list includes the following options: Account Owner, Full Admin(s), Manager (Reports to), Manager’s Manager, and Access Levels. All workflows will default to Full Admin(s), but you can select up to five approval levels.

When you select  Access Levels or Specific Person, an additional box will appear on the right side to choose from available access levels or a specific person from an employee drop-down list.

A broken approval workflow

If a user removes an approver from their BambooHR account (terminated or marked as inactive), the Account Owner will receive an email notification about a broken approval workflow. Within the notification, they can click Settings to go to Settings and update the approval workflow. In the meantime, all requests for this approval will skip the removed approver.

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