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Approval inbox
The Approval inbox is where requests get sent, reviewed and decided — time off, attendance corrections, overtime, expenses and anything else your workspace has a template for. Employees use it to submit requests and follow them; managers use it to approve or reject what's waiting for them.
Menu: ›
Where to find it
Menu: Approvals › Approval inbox · Address: hub.siteconnect.ai/approvalsWho can use it: everyone. The inbox shows requests you sent, requests where you're an approver or CC'd, and lists someone shared with you.
How a request moves
Your teamSite ConnectDecisionBlockedDone
A rejection always needs a reason, and it ends the whole request. An approval moves the request to the next step of its template, or finishes it if that was the last step. The sender gets a chat message and an email with the final decision.
How the inbox is laid out
The approvals sidebar on the left has everything you need:
| Area | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Tasks / My requests | Two tabs at the top. Tasks is what other people sent to you; My requests is what you sent. |
| Search box | Filters the current list by keyword. |
| Filters under Tasks | To do (waiting for your decision — the number is your queue), Up next (coming to you after someone earlier in the workflow decides), Complete (requests you've already handled), Ended (finished requests you took part in), CC'd (requests you were copied on). |
| Filters under My requests | In progress, Completed, Rejected. |
| Share | Shared with me and Shared by me — see Share a batch of requests. |
| Manager | Approval template and Report, if you have those permissions. |
| Submit new request | The blue button at the bottom. |
Clicking a filter opens it and also expands the templates under it, with a count next to each one — click a template to see only those requests (for example only time off requests in To do), or All templates to see everything again.
At the top right of the list you can switch the layout:
- Columns (the default) — the list on the left, the selected request on the right. Best for working through a queue.
- List — a table with Order number, Title, Type, Level, Sender, Current step, Created date and Status. Click a row to open the request in a side panel.
- Kanban — cards in columns. Use Group: to group by Due date, Process type or Status.
Submit a request
- Start a request
Go to Approvals › Approval inbox and click Submit new request at the bottom of the sidebar.
- Pick the type
A gallery opens: What request do you want to submit? Request types are grouped by category. Type in Search request types... to find one quickly.
- Fill the form
Click a request type. The form opens in a side panel. Fields marked with a red asterisk are required — the footer counts how many are still missing.
- Send it
Click Submit request.
You land on My requests › In progress with your new request open, so you can see who it's waiting for.
TIP
Some templates help you fill them in. An attendance correction form, for example, shows your existing clock-in and clock-out for the day you pick, so you can see what needs fixing. Some templates also limit how far back you can pick a date, or how many requests you can send per month — the form tells you when you hit a limit.
You can also submit and approve requests from the Site Connect mobile app — see Approvals on mobile.
Approve or reject a request
- Open Tasks › To do.
- Select a request. You'll see the sender, the request content and attachments on the left, and three tabs on the right:
- Workflow — every step, who approves it, and where the request is now.
- Discussion — comments. You can @mention people and paste images.
- Activity — the history of what happened to the request.
- At the bottom, click Approve or Reject.
- Approve opens Approve this request? with an optional Approval note. Click Approve to confirm. The request moves to the next step in the workflow, or finishes if yours was the last step.
- Reject opens Reject this request?. Enter a Rejection reason and click Reject. The request ends and the remaining steps don't run.
After you decide, the next request in your list opens automatically, so you can keep going.
Notes can be required
A template can require a note when you approve, when you reject, or both. If a note is required, you can't confirm until you write one. A rejection always needs a reason, whatever the template says.
Other actions on a request
Depending on how the template's step is set up, you may also see:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Move to stage | Hands your step to someone else (pick the recipient and add a note). |
| Add approver | Brings another person in. Choose Approve first (they approve before you), Approve together (in parallel with you) or Approve last (it's approved on your side, then goes to them). |
| Send back | Returns the request to an earlier approved step, or to the submitter so they can update and resend it. A Return reason is required. |
| CC | Copies other people on the request so they get notified. |
| Duplicate | Creates a new request with the same content, which you can edit before sending. |
| Open handling Task | Shown when your step is a work step rather than an approval. It opens the task created for you. |
On a small screen, most extra actions move under See more.
Approve several requests at once
- In To do, click Multi-select at the top right.
- Tick the requests you want.
- In the bar at the bottom, click Approve (you can add one note for all of them) or Reject (a reason is required).
Only requests that are actually waiting for you are approved or rejected; the toast tells you how many went through. Click Cancel to leave multi-select.
Follow your own requests
Open My requests. Each request shows its status: Pending, In progress, Approved, Rejected or Withdrawn. Open one to see exactly which step it's on in the Workflow tab.
- Revoke — while a request is still pending or in progress, you can withdraw it. Confirm in Recall this request? with Withdraw. A withdrawn request ends and can't be approved any more.
- Resend — if an approver sent your request back to you, click Resend, update the form in Update & resubmit, optionally add an Update note, and click Resend again.
- Duplicate — start a new request from an old one.
Share a batch of requests
Sometimes you want someone to review a group of requests in one go — for example, sending this week's expense requests to the owner.
- In Tasks, click Multi-select and tick the requests.
- Click Share in the bottom bar.
- Under Send to, pick people or chat groups. Optionally edit the Title and add a Message.
- Click Share. You can also click Copy link to get a link that people in your company can open.
The recipient finds the list under Shared with me. Opening it shows every request in the list; they can Approve or Reject each one, use Approve all or Reject all for the ones waiting for them, or click View full to open a request. Lists you've sent are under Shared by me.
Approval statistics
If you have the Approval reports permission, Report under Manager opens Approval statistics (hub.siteconnect.ai/approvals/report).
- Pick a time range and filters at the top.
- The cards show Total requests, Approved, Rejected, Withdrawn, Awaiting action, Overdue, Processing time and Urgent. Click any number to see the requests behind it.
- Charts show Submitted vs completed by day, requests By approval template, and decisions per Approver.
- Recent lists the 20 latest requests in the period.
- Export to Excel downloads every request that matches your filters.
A request counts as Overdue when its waiting step is older than the deadline set on that step of the template.
Good to know
- You'll get a chat message when a request is waiting for you, and when your own request is approved or rejected. These come from the built-in approval notification flows in Automation. The card in Chat lets you open the request — and approve or reject it right there.
- Approved requests update the rest of Site Connect. An approved time off request is recorded as leave (paid leave is taken from the employee's balance — see Time off and Annual leave). An approved attendance correction updates that day's clock-in and clock-out and also shows up in Adjustment approvals.
- Who approves is set by the template, usually the sender's direct manager. If requests go to the wrong person, fix the template — see Approval templates.
- The Approval inbox badge in the menu counts requests waiting for your decision.