You set the Assigned Approver while adding or editing an approval step, in Setup under the approval process. Decide first whether the approver should be the submitter's manager, a named user or queue, or a person the record itself points to. Then pick the matching assignment option on the step.
- Open the approval process
In Setup, go to Approval Processes, choose the object, and open the process you want. Approval steps appear in the Approval Steps related list. Click New Approval Step to add one or edit an existing step.
- Reach the approver selection screen
Work through the step wizard past Step Name and the step criteria. The third screen, Select Assigned Approver, is where you choose who acts on requests that reach this step.
- Pick the assignment type
Choose one option. Let the submitter choose the approver manually, automatically assign using the user field selected earlier (such as Manager), or automatically assign to approver(s) and add specific Users, a Queue, or a Related User from the dropdown.
- Set the multi-approver rule
If you add more than one approver, choose how their decisions combine. Pick approve or reject based on the first response, or require unanimous approval from all selected approvers.
- Save and activate
Save the step, then activate the approval process. Submit a test record so you can confirm the request lands with the approver you expected before users rely on it.
The person submitting the record selects the approver at submission time. Flexible, but it depends on submitters knowing the correct approver.
Follows a hierarchical user field, usually Manager, read from the submitting user. Survives reorganizations but breaks if the field is blank.
Name one or more approvers directly. Each can be a specific User, a Queue, or a Related User field on the record.
Uses the record owner's user field instead of the submitter's. Note that later steps then chain off the previous approver's manager, not the owner.
- A blank Manager field on the submitter makes a manager-based step fail with no obvious error, so verify the data before going live.
- Once a step uses Use Approver Field of Record Owner, every following step refers to the manager of the previous approver, not the record owner.
- Inactive users left in approval queues look assigned but can never act, quietly holding requests until someone audits the queue.
- Naming a specific user as the approver strands requests when that person leaves; prefer manager, role, or queue assignment where you can.