Unale to approve the requests via service portal

[nandini29]

Hi,

User is not able to approve the requests from service portal even though manager check box is ticked in user records. could you please help me on this.

Thanks,
Nandini

[kaushal_snow]

Hi @nandini29 ,

Ensure the user has the necessary roles assigned. Specifically, the user should have the approver_user role to perform approval actions in the Service Portal and another check is Verify that the approval records are correctly assigned to the user and are visible in the Service Portal. Sometimes, approval records may not appear due to visibility settings or incorrect assignments....

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[Me Being Mustaq]

Hi @nandini29 ,

If a user is unable to approve requests in the Service Portal even though the "manager" checkbox is checked in their user record, several configuration points and common pitfalls in ServiceNow need to be reviewed.

Core Troubleshooting Steps

1. Approver Assignment vs. "Manager" Checkbox

• Simply having the "manager" box checked or being marked as a manager DOES NOT automatically make a user an approver for requests in ServiceNow.

• The approval workflow must explicitly assign the approval record to that manager—typically via the manager field on sys_user or via dynamic approval logic in the workflow or Flow Designer.

• Review if the approval activity in your workflow or Flow Designer actually points to ${requested_for.manager} or another relevant user field.

2. Required Roles for Approvals

• For a user to approve from the Service Portal, they should generally have the approver_user role. The ITIL role alone is insufficient for portal-based approvals.

• If assigned approval records are not visible in the portal, check role assignments and (for widgets) if a role is required to view the Approvals widget.

3. Permissions and ACLs

• Users must have read and write permissions (via ACL rules) on the sys_approval_approver and related task tables.

• Check if your instance has custom ACLs that would block the user from updating the approval record in the portal.

4. Approval Record Assignment

• The approval record generated by the workflow needs to be assigned directly to the user trying to approve. If no approval record exists for them, or if it is assigned incorrectly, approval actions won’t be available.

• Confirm in the sys_approval_approver table that the affected user actually has a Pending approval record and that it's not mistakenly assigned to someone else.

5. Widget/Portal Issues

• Sometimes, portal widgets or customizations inadvertently hide approval actions or are restricted by user roles. Verify that the "My Approvals" widget (or similar) is visible to the correct users, and check the widget server script configuration.

• Look for client or server errors with browser dev tools, as failed scripts can block portal actions.

Next Steps

1. Verify the approval record exists and is in the Pending state for the correct user.

2. Confirm the user has the approver_user role.

3. Validate the portal widget visibility and required permissions.

4. Review the workflow/Flow approval logic to ensure it's assigning to the manager as expected (not just relying on the checkbox).

5. Review browser developer console for errors if nothing is shown in the portal.

Correcting the actual assignment logic in the workflow or fixing missing roles typically resolves this scenario in ServiceNow instances.

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Thanks & Regards,

Mohammed Mustaq Shaik

[Anand2799]

Hi @nandini29 ,

Confirm that the user has approver_user role assigned to them.

Verify that approval records is attached to the request and was not deleted and state is requested.

There is no OOB Manager checkbox field available.

Check if there is any custom BR, script created which restrict users to approve/reject.

Thanks

Anand

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@nandini29 

Things to check

1) does that user have approver_user role

2) is that person able to approve from "My Approvals" in left nav in native

3) is this for RITM?

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