# Your first approval request

Send an Equipment Request for a second screen, see who will decide before you send it, follow it while the approvers decide, and read the decisions of a finished request.

A request for approval asks for a yes before something happens: a purchase, a trip, a piece of equipment. Each request belongs to a type, which decides the fields the request shows and the steps it goes through; each step asks one or more people, the approvers. This walk-through sends an **Equipment Request** for a second screen as the demo administrator. The demo approvers are هدى الوهمي, سامي الخيالي and Nizar Al-Khayali.

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

- Every internal user can send a request and decide the ones that wait on them. The **Supervisor** and **Administrator** access rights of **Approval** add supervision and configuration: [Create a user and set access rights](/docs/general-settings/create-a-user-and-set-access-rights).
- A type can be kept for some groups; the **Type** field offers only the types you may send. How a type is built: [Configure a request type](configure-an-approval-type).

## Step 1: start a request {#start-a-request}

1. Open **Approval/My Requests** and click **New**. The draft names you as **Requester**, with your current company.
2. In **Type**, choose **Equipment Request**. The form follows the type: this one adds a **Date** and an **Items** tab; others show a contact, a period, a place or an amount.

![The Equipment Request type adds a Date and the Items tab to the draft.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17784-95f7b83d/approvals-your-first-approval-request-type_fields-en.png)

## Step 2: say what you need {#say-what-you-need}

1. Type the title on the first line: "Approval demo: a second screen for the design desk".
2. Open **Items** and click **Add a line**. Leave **Product** empty when the thing is not in your catalog, and write it in **Description**: "Approval demo: 27-inch screen". **Quantity** starts at 1.
3. The **Description** tab takes the reasons in your own words.

![One item, written in Description because the screen is not a catalog product.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17788-7d4e8930/approvals-your-first-approval-request-item_line-en.png)

An Equipment Request needs at least one item: **Send for Review** refuses a draft that misses a required part, and names every missing part at once.

## Step 3: see who will decide {#see-who-will-decide}

Open the **Approval Path** tab and click **Save manually**. The tab now lists each step with its **Order**, its **Rule** and **Who Decides** if the draft were sent now. **Team Lead** and **IT Check** share the order 10, so they open together; **Final Sign-off** waits until both are closed. You are not among the people of **Final Sign-off**, although you are a supervisor: by default nobody decides their own request.

![Who would decide each step if the draft were sent now; the first two steps share the order 10.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17792-375bacee/approvals-your-first-approval-request-who_decides-en.png)

The list is a preview. The people of each step are worked out again when the step opens.

## Step 4: send it {#send-it}

Click **Send for Review** at the top of the request.

- The request gets its number, such as APR/2026/00011, and the status moves to **Under Review**.
- **Waiting On** shows هدى الوهمي and سامي الخيالي, and **Current Steps** shows the two open steps.
- The **Approval Path** tab lists every step with its status: **Open** for the first two, **Queued** for **Final Sign-off**.

![The request has its number and waits on the approvers of the two open steps.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17796-3187ed7b/approvals-your-first-approval-request-sent_request-en.png)

From now on the request cannot be edited. A file attached to it stays for the record and can no longer be removed or replaced.

## Step 5: what the approvers receive {#what-the-approvers-receive}

Each approver of an open step gets an activity **Decision needed** followed by the step's name, assigned to them on the request; it appears in their own activities and under **Planned Activities** in the request's chatter. By default they also receive an e-mail, when their user has an e-mail address. The activity closes by itself when they accept or decline; marking it done by hand is refused.

![One activity per approver of an open step, closed by their decision.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17800-991cc4ea/approvals-your-first-approval-request-approver_activities-en.png)

On a phone, the chatter sits below the form. How the approvers decide: [Decide a request](decide-a-request). Activities in general: [Activities](/docs/activities).

## Step 6: follow it {#follow-it}

Open **Approval/My Requests** again. The list holds the requests you are the requester of, with **Current Steps**, **Waiting On**, **Next Deadline** and **Status**. The request's chatter keeps every event: the sending, each decision, the closing.

![My Requests shows the current steps, who the request waits on and its status.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17804-b73a36a6/approvals-your-first-approval-request-my_requests_row-en.png)

## Step 7: the end of the path {#the-end-of-the-path}

When every step has passed, the request turns **Approved**, and by default you receive an e-mail. When a blocking step fails, for example because its approver declines, it turns **Rejected**: the reason is in the **Outcome** tab, and **Edit and Resend** takes it back to draft for a new round.

The demo request قاعدة توصيل للحاسوب shows a finished path. Open it from **Approval/All Requests** and click the **Decisions** tab. Each row says who decided, at which step, how (**In person**, **As delegate** or **By a supervisor**), when and with which note. The second person of **Final Sign-off** reads **Not needed**: the first answer decided the step.

![An approved request keeps every decision, with who, how, when and the note.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17808-c2989b73/approvals-your-first-approval-request-finished_request-en.png)

## What you have done {#what-you-have-done}

You started a request, filled what its type asks for, checked who would decide, sent it and followed it to its decisions. The user guide takes each part further: [Send a request for approval](start-a-request) covers the other fields, the attachments and cancelling, [Decide a request](decide-a-request) is the approver's side, and [Delegate your approvals for a period](set-out-of-office) names who decides while you are away. [How approvals work](how-approvals-work) explains the states, the rules and who sees what.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/approvals/your-first-approval-request
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Version: Approval 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-11-01