Request Estimate Work Order approval
Before you begin
You need the View Estimates permission to open an Estimate Work Order's detail screen, where the Request action lives. The estimate must be in New or Pending status — the Request action is disabled once the estimate is Approved or Closed. See Work Order permissions for the full permission list and Estimate Work Order statuses for what each status means.
Steps
Open the Estimate Work Order you want approved.
Select Request.
The Request Approval dialog opens, defaulted to the internal-employee path.
Choose one of the two paths below, depending on who you're requesting approval from.
Request approval from an internal employee
With the Outside checkbox left unchecked, use the employee field to search for and select the approving employee.
Optionally, enter a note in the Comments field.
Select Request.
A confirmation message reading "Approval Requested" appears, and the dialog closes.
Request approval from an outside (non-employee) approver
Select the Outside checkbox.
The employee field is replaced by two text fields: approver name and approver email.
Enter the outside approver's name and email address.
Optionally, enter a note in the Comments field.
Select Request.
A confirmation message reading "Approval Requested" appears, and the dialog closes.
If this step fails
If the approver — internal or outside — never acts on the request, or you're not sure the request went through, see Estimate approval email was not received for diagnostic steps, including how to resend the request and how an internal employee can approve directly without waiting on an email.
See also
Convert an approved estimate to a Work Order — the next step once approval is confirmed
Estimate Work Order statuses — what New, Pending, Approved, and Closed mean
Work Order permissions — permission definitions
Estimate approval email was not received — what to do if the approver never responds