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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / Approval Workflows - B...
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
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Approval Workflows - Business Central

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Posted on by CU16090925-0 41
Hello,
 
We have recently started using the approval workflow function in Business Central and we are having a minor issue with purchase documents that get re-opened having to be re-approved.
There is also an issue with Blanket Purchase orders requiring approval, but the linked PO also requires approval.
 
As such, we're essentially approving a lot of things multiple times, which is very annoying.
 
Does anyone know of a workflow set up that will take a previous approval into account when the approval request is sent?
I was hoping it could be set up as a condition on the workflow so that the document can either just be re-released or automatically release itself if approval is requested but already provided.
 
 
Thanks,
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Business Central
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  • Suggested answer
    Yi Yong Profile Picture
    Yi Yong 2,423 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Approval Workflows - Business Central
    Hello,
     
    You will need to add customization for both the scenarios you mentioned above such as PO will only need to approve once and PO generated from Blanket PO will not need to be approve again.
     
    Though it is not an ideal approach for this because the first approval could be a PO of 1k and subsequently, user can add in more items and yet the PO is still approved.
  • Suggested answer
    Dr Gomathi MVP, MCT Community lead, MLE Profile Picture
    Dr Gomathi MVP, MCT... 384 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Approval Workflows - Business Central
    In Dynamics 365 Business Central, approval workflows are document-driven. This means:
    • Any time you re-open a purchase order (PO) or modify a document after approval, the system treats it as a “new version.”
    • Because of that, it clears the approval status and requires a fresh approval, even if only small changes were made.
    • Blanket Purchase Orders (BPOs) and their related POs are treated separately, so each document goes through its own workflow — hence the “double approval.”

    What you can do
    1. Adjust Workflow Conditions
      • In your workflow setup, you can add conditions to check fields like Status, Amount, or Last Modified By.
      • Example: If no financial field (e.g., Amount, Vendor, or Dimension) has changed, skip the re-approval.
    2. Use “Record Restrictions” / Event Conditions
      • Customize the workflow so it only triggers on significant changes.
      • For example, trigger approval only if Total Amount changes by more than X%.
    3. Customization with Extensions
      • Out of the box, Business Central doesn’t “remember” old approvals once a document is reopened.
      • A developer can create a small extension that:
        • Stores the approval state.
        • Checks if key fields are unchanged.
        • Auto-releases the document instead of forcing re-approval.
    4. Blanket PO vs. Linked PO
      • Standard behavior: Both need approvals separately.
      • Possible workaround:
        • Skip approval on the PO if it is generated from an already-approved Blanket PO.
        • This again usually requires a customization or a modified workflow condition.


     

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