Contents

• Overview 
• What Are Approvals? 
• Before You Begin: Enable Approver Role & Invite Approvers
• Step-By-Step Instructions
  • Step 1: Enable Approvals
    • How to Enable Awarding Approvals
    • How to Enable Disbursement Approvals
    • How to Enable Reimbursement Approvals
  • Step 2: Determine Your Approval Workflow
  • Step 3: Create Approval Groups 
    • Add a Group
    • Assign Approvers
    • Set the Minimum Number of Approvals Required
    • (Optional) - Select Fields to Show the Approver(s)
    • Save Changes
• Next Steps
   

Overview

This step-by-step guide shows Program Admins (Organization Owners, Program Owners, Program Managers) how to set up approvals for awarding, disbursements, and/or reimbursements in an award cycle in Next. 

• If you already set up approvals for your cycle and are looking for instructions on how to request them, see ➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements, & Reimbursements.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Approvals must be enabled for your organization. If you would like this feature enabled, please contact Customer Success. 
 

What Are Approvals? 

Approvals let you route awards, disbursements, and reimbursements through a structured review process before they move forward. 

You can control: 

• Who approves
• How many approvals are required
• Which application sections/fields approvers can see

Approvals can be applied to: 

• Awarding: Before notifying an award recipient
• Disbursements: Before initiating a disbursement
• Reimbursements: After an awardee requests reimbursement for eligible expenses 

Before You Begin: Enable Approver Role & Invite Approvers 

⚠️IMPORTANT: Enable the Approver Role and invite approvers to your program before setting up approvals. This ensures they are available to select when you create your approval groups in later steps. 

For step-by-step instructions, see ➡️Enable the Approver Role & Invite Approvers. 
 

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Enable Approvals 

Follow the steps for the approval type(s) you want to enable:

• Awarding
• Disbursements
• Reimbursements

How to Enable Awarding Approvals

1. In the cycle, click Awarding in the top menu, then select Award Approvals from the left menu.
   
   
    
2. Switch the toggle on the far-right of the screen to Enabled.
   
   

How to Enable Disbursement Approvals 

1. In the cycle, click Post-Award in the top menu, then select Disbursement Approvals from the left menu.
   
   
    
2. Switch the toggle on the far-right of the screen to Enabled.
   
   
    

How to Enable Reimbursement Approvals 

1. In the cycle, click Post-Award in the top menu, then select Reimbursement Approvals from the left menu.

   
    

2. Switch the toggle on the far-right of the screen to Enabled.
   
   

Step 2: Determine Your Approval Workflow

The workflow you choose determines whether approvers review requests at the same time or one group after another. There are two options:

A. Parallel Approvals (Approvers review at same time)

• All approvers in the group receive the request at the same time and review independently. 
  • Example: Program Admins + Finance Team review together
  • Best Used When: You want a fast turnaround or the order of review doesn't matter.
  • How to Set Up: Create 1 group and add all approvers to it.

B. Sequential Approvals (Approvers review in a specific order)

• Groups review one after another. Group 2 cannot start until Group 1 finishes.
  • Example: Program Admins (Group 1) → Finance Team (Group 2) → Grant Director (Group 3).
  • Best Used When: You have a strict chain of command or earlier decisions affect later ones
  • How to Set Up: Create Group 1 and add the first set of approvers. Create Group 2 and add the next set of approvers. Repeat as needed.

Step 3: Create Approval Groups 

• These steps apply to parallel and sequential approval setups. The only difference is how many groups you create. 

Add a Group 

1. On the Award, Disbursement, or Reimbursement Approvals screen, click +Add group at the bottom.

Example: 

2. (Optional) - Click the pencil icon to rename the group. 


💡Tip: To expand or minimize the group settings, click the arrow icon on the far-right of the group. To delete a group, click the trash can icon. 

Assign Approvers

1. Use the “Assign approver” dropdown to select one or more approvers for this group. 

• If you’re using only one approval group (parallel): Add all approvers here. 
• If you’re using more than one group (sequential): Add the approvers who belong in Group 1. You’ll create additional groups in future steps. 

⚠️IMPORTANT: Only approvers who’ve been invited to the program will appear for selection. If an Organization Owner needs to be added as an approver, see ➡️ Adding an Organization Owner as an Approver for instructions.

Set the Minimum Number of Approvals Required 

This tells the system how many people in the group must approve before the item can move forward. 

1. Use the Min. Approval required dropdown to choose the minimum number of required approvals.

📌Note: In sequential/combined workflows, once this minimum is reached for a group, the next group is notified and can begin their approvals. 

➜ If you select 1:

- Any one approver in the group can approve (it doesn't matter which person). 
- Example: 4 approvers → Min. = 1 → Any one of the four can approve.

➜ If you select the maximum value:

- Everyone in the group must approve.
- Example: 4 approvers → Min. = 4 → All four must approve.

➜ If you select a number in between:

- Only that many approvals are required.
- Example: 4 approvers → Min. = 2 → Any two of the four must approve.

(Optional) - Select Fields to Show the Approver(s) 

• Choose which Profile and/or Intake Form fields each approver can see during their review. Select only the fields that are relevant to the approver. 
  
  1. Click Show Fields. 

2. In the "Show application fields to approver" pop-up, select the checkboxes for the sections and/or fields you want the approver to see. 

💡Tip: To show specific fields within a section, click the arrow icon next to a section to expand it, and select the individual fields to show. 

• For Reimbursement Approvals, you can also select which reimbursement fields you want to share with approvers.

📌Note: Some fields are locked/required to show and cannot be changed.
 

3. Click Show Fields in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up to save your selections. 

What approvers see:

• When viewing their approval requests, approvers will see the fields you selected displayed in a single row for each awardee, as shown in the example below. 
  
  Example:
  
  

Save Changes

➜ If you only need one approval group (parallel): Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner. 

Example: 

➜ If you need more than one approval group (sequential): Create the number of groups you need, then click Save Changes in the upper-right corner. 


 

Next Steps

• Review ➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements for instructions on requesting approvals. 

Related Articles

➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements
 

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