If you’re wrangling big-ticket B2B deals, you know approvals can be a minefield—pricing exceptions, one-off configurations, sales reps pushing the envelope, and managers juggling priorities. Out-of-the-box tools don’t always cut it. This guide is for admins, operations folks, or anyone who needs to build a custom approval process in Verenia that actually fits how your business works—not just how some vendor thinks it should.
Let’s cut through the noise and get you a working, maintainable approval flow that makes sense for real-world deals.
Why Custom Approval Processes Matter (and What to Watch Out For)
Let’s face it: most B2B deals aren’t cookie-cutter. You’ve got:
- Special pricing requests that need a manager’s blessing
- Deals that trigger legal or finance reviews
- Products or bundles that only certain folks can approve
- Edge cases no CPQ system seems to handle out-of-the-box
The point of a custom approval process is to keep deals moving without letting mistakes slip through, and without making everyone hate their jobs. But if you over-engineer it, you’ll end up with a bottleneck that frustrates sales and annoys approvers.
Pro tip: Don’t try to automate every possible scenario on day one. Start with the pain points that come up most often.
1. Map Out Your Real Approval Needs
Before you click anything in Verenia, sketch out your process. Seriously—grab a whiteboard, notepad, or whatever your team uses.
Ask: - Who actually needs to approve what? (Not just “manager.” Name actual roles.) - What are the triggers? (Discount over 20%? Custom product? Legal terms changed?) - Where does it break down today? (Deals waiting days for sign-off? Confusion over who approves?)
What works: Talking to the people who do the work. Sales reps, legal, finance—get their real stories.
What doesn’t: Copying your competitor’s workflow or just recreating your old system in a new tool.
Ignore: Edge cases that happened once in 2018. Focus on what happens every week.
2. Get Familiar with How Verenia Handles Approvals
Verenia calls these “Approval Rules.” At its core, you’re building logic that says, “If X happens, require approval from Y.” The system is flexible, but not magic—there’s no AI reading your mind.
Key Features (Worth Knowing)
- Rule-based triggers: Set conditions based on quote values, product selections, discount levels, etc.
- Approval chains: Stack multiple approvers in sequence, or set parallel approvals for different teams.
- Notifications: Automated emails or system alerts to nudge approvers.
- Audit trails: Logs who approved what and when.
What works: Start simple—one trigger, one approver. Layer on complexity once that’s solid.
What doesn’t: Relying on fancy notification settings instead of clear accountability.
Ignore: Trying to replicate your email approval chain exactly. Let the system do the heavy lifting.
3. Build Your First Approval Rule
Let’s walk through creating a basic approval workflow for high-discount deals.
Step 1: Access the Approval Rule Builder
- Log into Verenia as an admin.
- Go to Admin Settings > Approval Rules (you’ll need the right permissions).
Step 2: Define the Trigger
- Set a condition, e.g.:
- Quote Discount > 20%
- Product Category = “Custom Bundle”
- You can stack conditions, but keep it readable. If you need a flowchart to understand your own rule, it’s too complex.
Step 3: Assign Approvers
- Choose a role (e.g., Sales Manager, Finance Lead) or a specific user.
- Decide if it’s sequential (one after another) or parallel (all at once).
Step 4: Set Notifications and Escalations
- Configure who gets notified, how often, and what happens if someone ignores the request.
- You can set fallback approvers, but don’t go nuts—too many options = confusion.
Step 5: Test It (With Real Quotes)
- Create a test quote that should trigger the rule.
- Walk through the process with your own team—actually click the buttons, don’t just read the docs.
Pro tip: Build in a manual override for emergencies, but use it sparingly (and log who uses it).
4. Handling Complex Approval Scenarios
As your process matures, you’ll hit more complicated cases. Here’s what you can (and can’t) do in Verenia.
Multi-Stage Approvals
- Example: Sales Manager approves, then Finance, then Legal.
- Set up rules so each stage only triggers if the last one approved.
- Don’t stack unnecessary steps—every extra approver slows things down.
Conditional Routing
- Example: If deal is over $500K, require VP; otherwise, just Sales Manager.
- Use “if-then” logic in the rule builder.
- Keep conditions clear. Avoid spaghetti logic (“if it’s Tuesday and the moon is full…”).
Product or Region-Based Approvals
- Route approvals based on product type or sales territory.
- Good for organizations with specialist approvers.
- Watch out for overlapping rules—test edge cases so deals don’t get stuck.
What works: Reviewing your rules every quarter. Business changes, approval flows need to keep up.
What doesn’t: Making everyone approve everything “just in case.” That’s how you end up with deals dying in someone’s inbox.
5. Reporting and Audit Trails: Keeping Track
Approvals are pointless if you can’t track them. Verenia logs every approval action, which is helpful for:
- Auditing: Who signed off on that crazy discount?
- Reporting: Where are deals getting stuck?
- Compliance: Proving you followed the right steps.
Set up simple reports—start with “approval bottlenecks” and “average time to approve.” Don’t bother with a dashboard wall of numbers nobody reads.
Pro tip: If you’re in a regulated industry, double-check your audit trail settings. Make sure rejected and overridden approvals get logged too.
6. Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Here’s where most approval processes go sideways:
- Over-complicating rules: More steps ≠ better control. Start lean, add only when you must.
- Ignoring feedback: If sales or approvers say something’s broken, believe them.
- Neglecting maintenance: As your business changes, so should your workflows. Set a calendar reminder to review them.
- Using email for everything: Email notifications are fine, but make people log into Verenia to approve. Otherwise, you’ll lose the audit trail.
7. When to Use Custom Code (and When to Avoid It)
Verenia has scripting and API options if you really need to extend things. But honestly, most teams don’t need to code their own approval logic.
Use custom code if: - You need to integrate with a homegrown ERP or CRM. - You have truly unique business logic (think: multi-currency, cross-region approvals with custom escalation paths).
Don’t bother if: - You’re just trying to automate another email notification. - You can get 90% of what you want with built-in rules.
Warning: Custom code is harder to maintain, especially when your admin leaves or your process changes. Use sparingly.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Listen
Custom approval processes in Verenia can save you a ton of time and headaches—but only if you keep them focused and review them regularly. Start small, automate the obvious pain points, and don’t be afraid to prune steps that slow things down. Listen to your team, trust the data, and remember: the best workflow is the one people actually use.
Now, go build something that keeps your deals moving without making everyone miserable.