To make an approval process more flexible, you can separate the approvers set making their decisions mandatory and non-mandatory.

A mandatory approver can either Approve or Reject the approval task; the non-mandatory approver can either ignore or (optional) Reject a task.

Flexible approvals are configured via User approval workflow activity.

Configuring participants

In general, to configure participants, please specify the approval conditions in the Approval block in your workflow.

For mandatory participants, please fill in the fields below on the Mandatory Participants tab of the Approval block properties:

  1. Employees / Groups / Roles (you can fill in one of these fields)
  2. When approved - define the approval logic
    1. Approval Conditions - specify the approval conditions
    2. Rejection Conditions - specify the rejection conditions.


If your process requires non-mandatory participants involvement, then, please complete the steps below:

  1. Select the Non-Mandatory Participants checkbox when configuring your Approval block properties. The Non-mandatory participants tab appears.
  2. Fill in the fields below:
    1. Employees / Groups / Roles (you can fill in one of these fields).
  3. To make them able to reject approvals, select the Consider non-mandatory participants checkbox.

Participant properties

To make an approver mandatory in a particular process or task (for example, Change Request authorization).

Mandatory participant properties

Their reaction is mandatory to authorize a request. When a mandatory approver receives an approval request, he can:

  1. Approve it.
  2. Reject it (providing the rejection reason). 

Non-mandatory participant properties

Their reaction is not mandatory for authorization. When a non-mandatory approver receives an approval request (if he was involved in the process), he can:

  1. Ignore it.
  2. Reject it (if this ability has been provided).

You can configure your approval rules so that the first reject from the non-mandatory participant will cancel the approval process. For this, you need to use the options listed below in your Approval block:

  1. The Non-mandatory participants checkbox is selected.
  2. Participants taking part in the approval process are chosen (whether specified employees or user groups or user roles).
  3. The Consider non-mandatory participants checkbox s selected.

Example of business usage

Approvals flexibility serves well ad hoc, for example, in a business-cases requiring a case-by-case approach, such as Change Enablement Practice.

When authorizing a change request, mandatory and non-mandatory approvers may take part in the approval process.

Both of these types can be classified according to the RACI matrix.

RACI Matrix

ProcedureProcess Manager (for example, Change Manager)Mandatory approverNon-Mandatory approver
ApprovalARI, R


The process manager is accountable for the whole process, so he is marked with A in the table.

Mandatory approvers are responsible for the request implementation, so they are marked with R in the table.

Non-mandatory approvers generally should be informed but may be responsible for one or more implementation stages, so they are marked with I and R.