Tracking approval status and history

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 24, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Tracking approval status and history

    This feature enables ServiceNow customers to monitor and track the progress of approval requests as they move through the defined steps in an approval workflow. After submission, all users involved in the approval process—including requesters, approvers, and users with view access—can access a detailed approval workflow interface within the CSM Configurable Workspace. This interface provides transparency and an audit trail for each approval step, helping customers manage approvals efficiently and maintain clear records.

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    Key Features

    • Quote State Tracking: Displays the current status of the quote through stages such as Draft, In Review, Approved, and Rejected. This helps agents understand when a quote is editable and when it requires resubmission.
    • Approvals Tab: Provides a related list for entities (like quotes) that displays the entire approval workflow, making it easy to find and review approval details.
    • Approval Chain with Sequential Steps: Shows grouped approval steps that proceed in sequence according to the rules specified, allowing users to see the exact order and status of each action required.
    • Approval Step Card: Presents detailed information about each approval step, including the approval state, assigned approvers, comments, timestamps, and options for actions such as approval, rejection, or overrides (for approval admins with requester roles).
    • Approval Options Based on Role: Depending on user roles, options like adding ad hoc approvers are available, enhancing flexibility in managing the approval workflow.

    Key Outcomes

    ServiceNow customers can expect a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate interface to track and manage approval requests. This visibility ensures efficient handling of approvals, auditability of each step, and the ability to intervene when necessary through overrides or adding approvers. Ultimately, this supports faster decision-making and better governance over approval processes within the platform.

    Monitor the progress of an approval request as it moves through the steps in an approval workflow.

    Approval workflow interface

    After a requester submits an approval request, users involved in the approval process can view and track the approval request steps for the entity in the CSM Configurable Workspace. For example, in a quote approval workflow, the requesters, approvers, and users with view access can navigate to the quote and access the approval workflow interface from the Approvals tab.

    The approval workflow interface provides an audit trail of each approval step, including the rule, assigned approvers, actual approvers (for completed steps), approval comments, and assignment and completion timestamps.

    Figure 1. Approval interface in Advanced Approval Management
    Approval workflow for a quote. The following table describes key elements of the interface.
    Table 1. Approval workflow interface elements
    Feature Description
    1. Quote state Quote state:
    • Draft: Initial state of the quote. Editable by agent.
    • In Review: Quote has been submitted for approval. Not editable by agent unless the quote is recalled by the agent, or the quote has been approved or rejected.
    • Approved: Approvals for the quote are complete.
    • Rejected: Quote rejected by an approver. Editable by agent so that it can be revised and resubmitted for approval.
    2. Approvals tab Related list for the entity, such as a quote, which displays the approval workflow.
    3. Approval chain with approval steps Grouping of approval steps that are run in sequential order, based on the order specified for the steps in the approval rules. Each step card represents an approval rule and its associated approvers.
    4. Approval step card Card that provides the following information about the approval step and the rules and conditions for that step:
    • Approval step state:
    • If the request was previously recalled during the approval process, an Auto-approved flag indicates at least one or more previously completed approvals are automatically reapplied.
    • Depending on the approval step state and the user role, the card displays the More options ( ) menu for approvers to approve or reject the request in the step.
    • For approval admins that also have the requester role, the More options ( ) menu provides an Override option to bypass the step if it's no longer required. For details, see Override an approver.
    5. Approval options Options displayed for certain approval actions, depending on the user role.

    For example, requesters and approvers have the option to add an ad hoc approver to the approval workflow using the Add approver option. For more information, see Add ad-hoc approvers to an approval request.