Approving or rejecting orders
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Summary of Approving or rejecting orders
Fulfillment managers in ServiceNow play a critical role in managing the transition from order intake to execution by reviewing orders and deciding whether they are ready for fulfillment or require further review. This process ensures orders meet organizational standards before proceeding.
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Approval Workflow
To approve an order, start by thoroughly reviewing the order and its line items, ensuring all required fields—such as order number, customer details, pricing, critical dates, and product/service specifications—are complete and accurate. Only orders in a New state are eligible for approval. The system automatically validates key details like contract dates to confirm compliance with approval criteria.
Approval criteria typically include:
- Accuracy and completeness of order details
- Compliance with business rules (e.g., discount limits, contractual terms, inventory availability)
- Validity of agreements or entitlements
Maintain clear documentation and communication throughout the review. If issues are found, collaborate with relevant teams to resolve them. Corrections or updates to orders can be made prior to approval.
Once approved, the order status changes to In progress, triggering fulfillment workflows such as decomposition into domain orders, task creation, team assignment, and scheduling. The system logs the approval and updates revision fields accordingly.
Rejection Workflow
Rejection begins with reviewing the order against rejection criteria such as:
- Missing or incorrect data
- Policy violations (e.g., unauthorized discounts, invalid entitlements)
- Inventory constraints
- Fraud or risk flags
If rejected, update the order status to Rejected, which halts fulfillment workflows. Clearly document the reason for rejection in work notes to inform the requester or related teams about required corrections.
Reevaluating Rejected Orders
Rejected orders can be corrected and resubmitted by the order agent. Once all issues are resolved and approval criteria are met, the order can be approved, updating its status back to In progress and resuming fulfillment.
Fulfillment managers bridge the gap between order intake and execution by reviewing the order information and deciding whether an order is ready to proceed or requires further review.
Approval workflow
To begin the approval process, start by reviewing the order and its line items thoroughly. Verify that all required fields such as order number, customer account details, contact information, pricing, critical dates, and product or service specifications are complete and accurate. The order must be in a New state to be eligible for approval.
As part of this review, the system validates key order details such as contract dates to ensure the order meets approval criteria before it can proceed.
- Accuracy of order details
- Completeness of required fields
- Compliance with business rules such as discount thresholds, contractual terms, or inventory availability
- Validity of associated agreements or entitlements
Throughout the process, maintain clear documentation and communication. If any issues arise, coordinate with relevant teams to resolve them before approval, promoting a smooth transition from order intake to fulfillment, and minimizing delays or fallout.
You can make corrections or updates to order characteristics before approval. Once the order passes all checks, proceed to approve it. This action updates the order status to In progress, which triggers the fulfillment workflows such as decomposition into domain orders, tasks, assignment to teams, and scheduling. The system logs the approval action and updates revision fields to reflect the change.
Rejection workflow
- Missing or incorrect data
- Policy violations such as unauthorized discounts or invalid entitlements
- Inventory constraints
- Fraud or risk flags
Once a rejection decision is made, update the order status to Rejected in the system. This action automatically halts any associated fulfillment workflows, stopping the order from being processed further. It’s important to document the reason for rejection clearly using work notes so that the requester or relevant teams understand what must be corrected.
Reevaluating rejected orders
A rejected order can be corrected and resubmitted for reevaluation by the order agent. If all issues are resolved and the order meets approval criteria, you can approve the order. Approving a rejected order updates the status back to In progress, enabling fulfillment to resume.