Contents
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
Complete these two steps if you haven't already.
➜ If approvers are already enabled and invited, skip ahead to Set Up Approvals in an Award Cycle.
1. Enable the Approver Role
- In the Program, go to Program Settings > Member Types, scroll to the bottom, and toggle Approver to Yes. Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner. After saving, a confirmation message will appear.
📌 Notes:
-
Program Members (Program Owners, Managers, Staff, etc.) can serve as approvers under their existing accounts. They do not need a separate approver account.
- To make an Organization Owner an approver, temporarily assign them as a Program Owner to the relevant Program, then switch them back—the temporary role adds them to Program Members so they can be selected as an approver.
-
Program Members (Program Owners, Managers, Staff, etc.) can serve as approvers under their existing accounts. They do not need a separate approver account.
2. Invite Approvers to the Program
- In the Program, click Program Members in the left-hand menu. Click Invite in the upper-right corner. Invite all users who will participant in approvals, and assign them the "Approval" role.
For detailed instructions, see ➡️Add New Program Members.
📌Note: You can return to this page at any time to add new approvers.
Set Up Approvals in an Award Cycle
- Within an Award Cycle, you can set up Approvals for:
- Awarding
- Disbursements
- Reimbursements
- You may enable approvals for one or all; the setup options are the same.
Step 1: Enable Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements, and/or Reimbursements
1. Open the Award Cycle (Program Settings > All Award Cycles).
2. Click Approval Setup in the left-hand menu.
3. Select the tab you want approvals in: Awarding, Disbursements, Reimbursements.
📌Note: Approvals are not shared across tabs. You must set up approvals separately in each tab you want to use.
4. Click Edit in the upper-right corner of the tab.
5. Toggle Enable Approvals = Yes.
Step 2: Set Up Approval Groups
Approval Setup Options
A. Parallel Approvals (Approvers review at same time)
Everyone in the group gets the request at the same time and reviews independently.
- Example: Program Admins + Finance Team review together
- Best Used When: You want a fast turnaround and the order of review doesn't matter.
- Setup: 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 is finished.
- 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.
- Setup: Create Group 1 and add the first set of approvers. Create Group 2 and add the next set. Repeat as needed.
How to Create Approval Groups
- These steps apply to parallel and sequential approval setups. The only difference is how many groups you create.
Step 1: Add a Group
1. Click +Add group
2. (Optional) - Click the pencil icon to rename the group.
Step 2: 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.
Step 3: Set the Minimum Number of Approvals Required
This tells the system how many people in the group must approve before the award/disbursement 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 approval.
➜ 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.
Step 4: (Optional) - Select Fields to Show the Approver(s)
-
For all Approval types (Awarding, Disbursement, Reimbursement): 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. Select the checkboxes for the sections and/or fields you want the approver to see.
💡Tip: Click the arrow ( > ) next to a section to expand and view all fields inside it.
- 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 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.
Step 5: Save Your Groups
➜ If you only need one approval group (parallel): Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.
➜ For sequential approvals:
1. Create Group 1.
2. Create Group 2.
3. Create additional groups, as needed.
4. Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.
Next Steps
- Review ➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements for instructions on sending awards and disbursements for approval.
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