An Approval Process is a multi-step workflow where humans approve or reject a record before something happens. A Workflow Rule is a one-shot, fire-and-forget automation that runs when a record saves. They look similar in Setup but solve very different problems.
At a glance
| Workflow Rule | Approval Process | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Fires actions when a record saves | Routes a record for human approval, step by step |
| User involvement | None — runs in the background | Approvers must act (approve/reject/reassign) |
| Record locking | None | Record is locked while in approval |
| Multi-step | No (you’d need multiple rules) | Yes — that’s the whole point |
| Triggers | Insert/update of a record | Manual Submit for Approval or automated trigger |
| Outcomes | Always succeeds or skipped | Approved, Rejected, Recalled |
| Actions on outcome | Field updates, email, task, outbound message | Same set, but separate sets for Initial / Approval / Rejection / Recall |
When to use each
Use a Workflow Rule when:
- The record needs a field set, an email sent, or a task created on save
- No human decision is involved
- It’s a single step
Use an Approval Process when:
- A manager (or chain of managers) must explicitly say yes
- The record should be locked from edits during the review
- You need an audit trail of who approved/rejected and when
- The path branches: approval action set differs from rejection action set
A worked example
Use case: Discount above 20% on an Opportunity needs manager approval.
| Step | Workflow Rule alone | Approval Process |
|---|---|---|
| Rep saves Opp with Discount = 25% | Field update sets Pending_Approval__c flag | Rep clicks Submit for Approval; record locks, manager gets notification |
| Manager reviews | Manual process outside the system | Manager opens approval queue, approves or rejects |
| On approval | (Workflow can’t really do this) | Field update sets Approved__c = TRUE, record unlocks |
| On rejection | (Workflow can’t really do this) | Field update sets Rejected_Reason__c, record unlocks, rep notified |
Workflow alone can’t model the “wait for a human” part.
In 2026: Flow vs Approval Process
You can also use Flow with the Submit for Approval action to invoke an approval process. And Salesforce has been adding more approval-like features to Flow (Approval Orchestrator, approval steps in Screen Flows). But for classic multi-step approvals, the Approval Process feature is still the most common.
What interviewers want
- The structural difference: workflow = one-shot, approval = multi-step with human steps
- Record locking as the unique approval-process feature
- The four action buckets on an approval process: Initial / Approval / Rejection / Recall
Related
- Give an example of where we will implement the approval process
- Complex multi-step approval example
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Approval Processes. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26 release.