A new approval framework has been created for Reserves 5.3. The fundamentals of the old approval system still remain the same; approvals happen sequentially and objects have to be approved by lower level users in order to become eligible for approval at higher levels. However, this high-level approval framework works on an object-to-object basis, unlike the old change-record-based approval system.
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When an object is approved by the lowest level of an approval, the second level of the approval can then approve the object. Once the second level approves the object, the third can then approve the object. This pattern repeats and continues up to the highest approval level in your approval. When all of the objects included in the approval have been approved at the highest level, the approval as a whole becomes eligible for finalizing. After objects have been submitted for approval, they can be rejected at any stage of the approval. Rejecting an object pushes it back to a lower level of the approval. There, it can be rejected (and pushed to a lower approval level) or approved (and pushed up to a higher approval level).
Once approvals have been set up and initialized, data is submitted to them using The Approval Data Submission Page. Then users can use The Approvals Page to work through the approval process.
Approvals are configured using The Approval Definitions Page and The Approval Management Page. The data in your approvals is stored in approval result sets that can be set up using The Definitions Page. In most cases, these pages will be used primarily by administrative users. For information on configuring your approvals, see Setting up your Approvals.