# Configure a request type

Create a request type with its own numbering, form and steps, decide who approves each step and by when, and choose who may send requests of that type.

A request type describes one kind of request: what the requester fills in, how its requests are numbered and the steps they go through. Five shared types ship ready (Purchase Request, Expense Pre-Approval, Travel Authorization, Asset Handover and Document Sign-off), each with one step, **Supervisor Review**, decided by the approval supervisors within two days. Adapt them or create your own.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need the **Administrator** access right on **Approval**.
- The approvers taken from the employee record (manager, department head, coach) need the Employees app: [Employees](/docs/employees).

## Create the type {#create}

1. Open **Approval/Configuration/Request Types** and click **New**.
![The request types of the demo; New starts another one.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17475-6f96ac7b/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-types_list-en.png)
2. Give the **Type** a name and a one-sentence **Summary**. The **Company** is yours by default; empty it to share the type. Keep the **Kind** **Standalone request**; a **Business document** guards other records: [Guard a business record with an approval](guard-a-business-record).
3. Keep **Shared numbering**, one series for every type (APR/2026/00001), or choose **Own numbering** and a **Number Prefix**, such as `LAP/%(year)s/`. A prefix that could repeat another series is refused.
![A new standalone request type with its own numbering, LAP/ followed by the year.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17479-f777f68d/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-new_type-en.png)

## Add the steps {#steps}

In the **Steps** tab, click **Add a line** for each step and fill the row: **Order**, **Step Title**, **Who Decides** and what it needs (**Named Users**, **Group** or **Person Field**), the **Decision Rule** (**First answer decides**, **Everyone must accept** or **A minimum number of acceptances**) and **Answer Within** with its **Unit**, 0 for no deadline. Click **Save**.

![The type is saved with one step, decided by the requester's manager.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17483-37008ce0/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-step_row-en.png)

**Who Decides** also offers a person named on the request or, for business documents, on the record, and the requester's manager, a manager several levels up, the head of their department or their coach.

Steps run one after another by **Order**; two steps with the same order open together.

![Team Lead and IT Check share order 10 and open together; Final Sign-off, order 20, comes after them.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17496-9f4b2f56/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-parallel_steps-en.png)

**View** at the end of a row saves the type and opens the step's form. Untick **Blocking** there for an advisory step whose refusal does not reject the request.

- **Deadline**: **When Late** does nothing, alerts someone, adds an approver or hands the decision over, to the person named in **Escalate To**.
![Two days to answer; when they pass, the approval supervisors are alerted.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17487-d0bd3348/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-step_deadline-en.png)
- **More Options**: **Applies When**, a condition that skips the step when not met; **When Nobody Is Found**; **Note on Acceptance**, **Decision Signature** and **Keep Informed**, people who follow the step without deciding.
![The condition of the step, what happens when nobody can decide, and what a decision asks for.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17491-15f637ef/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-step_more-en.png)

## Form, messages and access {#form-messages-access}

- **Request Form**: one row per field the request shows (**Contact**, **Date**, **Amount**, **Items**, **Attachments** and others), each **Can be filled** or **Must be filled**. A field without a row is hidden.
![Equipment requests must list their items and may give a date; every other field stays hidden.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17504-7eb3f529/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-request_form-en.png)
- **Messages**: the **Intro Text** starts the description of each new request. Untick **Send Emails** to send no e-mail about this type; activities and the chatter stay.
![The intro text, the e-mail switch and the type's own mail templates.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17512-61e9a81c/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-messages_tab-en.png)
- **Access**: **Who May Submit**, empty for every internal user, and **One Step per Person**, so nobody decides two steps of one request.
![Who May Submit is empty, so every internal user may send equipment requests.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17520-6b973760/approvals-configure-an-approval-type-access_tab-en.png)

Requesters now pick the type when they start a request: [Send a request for approval](start-a-request). A sent request keeps the steps it was sent with; each step finds its approvers when it opens, except a person named on the request or the record, who is taken when it is sent.

## FAQ {#faq}

### How do I add a field that no row covers? {#custom-fields}

Open a draft request of the type, choose **Actions** › **Edit Properties**, then click **Add Property**. The field then appears on every request of the type.

### A request cannot be sent: "Step ... has nobody to ask". Why? {#nobody-to-ask}

The check before sending found no approver for that step, often a requester without a manager on their employee record. Set **When Nobody Is Found** to **Ask the fallback user** and choose the **Fallback User**, or pick another **Who Decides**.

### Can I change the kind of a type later? {#kind}

Not once it has requests; create a new type instead.

### How do I stop using a type? {#archive}

Choose **Actions** › **Archive**. Its requests stay with their history, and no new one can be sent.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/approvals/configure-an-approval-type
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Version: Approval 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-11-01