Route a commission record to a manager for approval via a custom object workflow

Outcome. A newly calculated commission record reaches the right manager for a yes or no decision automatically, instead of sales ops chasing an approval over email or Slack.

Workflow map Enrollment, branches and actions at a glance sales-ops-021

flowchart TD
    A[Commission status becomes Calculated] --> B[Set approval status = Pending review]
    B --> C[Create approval task for manager]
    C --> D[Notify approver by email]
    D --> E[Wait until approval status changes, cap 5 business days]
    E --> F{Approved?}
    F -->|Yes| G[Set Commission status = Approved]
    F -->|No or timeout| H[Notify sales ops: overdue or rejected]

When to use it, when not to

• UseUse it directly on top of sales-ops-020: once a commission record exists with status Calculated, this workflow takes it from there.
• UseUse it when every commission record needs the same manager to sign off, or when the approver can be derived from the deal owner's reporting line.
• SkipDo not use it if approval needs multiple sign-offs (for example, both a sales manager and finance) in sequence; this base version only routes to one approver. See Variants for a two-step version.
• SkipDo not use it if commission amounts vary so widely that a flat approval process misses obviously wrong records; pair with a threshold branch (see Variants) so unusually large amounts get extra scrutiny.