---
title: "Workflows: from request to decision"
description: Understand how a request goes through an Illizeo workflow, from the trigger to the decision, who can decide and where circuits are set up.
url: "https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/workflows-overview/"
updated: "2026-11-05"
category: "Platform / Flows & approvals"
---

# Workflows: from request to decision

In Illizeo, a request that needs approval (absence, expense report, data change, payroll closing, job offer…) follows a workflow: a circuit that starts from an event, goes through one or more approval steps and ends with a decision. This article explains the mechanism shared by every module. It is for everyone: approvers, HR and administrators.

## Before you start

- Workflows are part of Illizeo's core: there is nothing to install. The categories and settings of a module that is not activated in your workspace are not shown.
- Permissions are set in **Settings › Manage Employees › Employee Roles**, WORKFLOWS section of the role matrix, with the **Access**, **Execute** and **Admin** levels (see [Permissions & roles](https://illizeo.com/en/docs-category/platform-en/platform-roles-permissions/)).
- The supplied role "All employees" holds no permission in this section: an employee who approves nothing does not see the **Workflows** menu. They follow their requests from the module concerned and receive the decision by notification and email.

## Vocabulary

| Term | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Workflow | The circuit itself, filed under a category (Payroll, Absence management, Expense reports…). It is **Active** or **Inactive**. |
| Trigger | The event that starts the workflow, for example "Leave request submitted" or "Expense report or per diem submitted (to approve)". |
| Step (node) | A block of the circuit: **Approval**, **Condition**, **Notification**, **Action**, **End**, and for HR processes **Wait**, **Document** and **Signature**. |
| Approver | The person who decides at an approval step: the employee's manager, the members of a role or a group, a named person… |
| Instance | One specific request going through the workflow. The number of instances is shown next to each workflow. |

## From request to decision

1. An event occurs: an employee requests an absence, a manager proposes a data change, a payroll period is closed…
2. Illizeo starts the active workflow that carries this trigger. A trigger starts only one workflow: keep a single active workflow per trigger.
3. The request goes through the steps in the order of the arrows. A **Condition** sends it down the **YES** or **NO** branch; a **Notification** informs the chosen people.
4. At an **Approval** step, Illizeo designates the approvers, notifies them in the app and by email, and waits for their decision.
5. If the approver accepts, the request moves to the next step. If they reject it, the request is rejected and the reason is passed on to the requester.
6. At the **End** step, the request takes its final status (approved, or rejected if the end says so). The requester is informed and the module applies the decision: the absence is scheduled, the expense report becomes payable, the change is saved.

![The Workflows tab of Settings, Manage Employees, Workflows: the workflow categories, with Absence management expanded showing its workflows, their Active or Inactive state, the ILLIZEO badge and the number of instances](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/workflows-overview-01.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
Workflows filed by category, with their state and number of instances.

## Where workflows live

- **Settings › Manage Employees › Workflows**: the **Workflows** tab lists workflows by category, with their state (**Active** or **Inactive**), the **ILLIZEO** badge for those supplied by Illizeo and the number of instances. The **Global settings** tab gathers the shared rules and the settings per module (see [Global settings, deadlines and automatic actions](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/workflows-global-settings/)).
- The **Workflows** menu opens the **Workflows** screen and its **Overview**, **Approvals** and **Metrics** tabs, with one entry per category: Salaries, Employees, Absences, Attendance, Offboarding, Performance, Documents, Expense reports, E-signatures.

## Supplied workflows and the fallback circuit

- Workflows marked **ILLIZEO** are prepared by Illizeo. Some are active as soon as your workspace opens, others wait for you to activate them. You can adapt them and go back to their original values at any time; you can neither rename nor delete them.
- Absences, clocked days, data changes and expense reports always go through a workflow. If no active workflow carries their trigger, the request follows the **Fallback circuit — line manager**: it goes to the employee's line manager. This circuit appears in the category concerned from the first request; you can read and edit it like any other.

![The Absence request circuit workflow open in the editor: header with the name, state and buttons, Add bar, then the circuit diagram, from the Trigger to the End through a condition and the approval steps](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/workflows-overview-02.en_.png?resize=800%2C358&quality=80&ssl=1)
An approval circuit: from trigger to end, step by step.

## Who can decide

- Only the approvers designated by the current step decide. Nobody decides on their own request: the requester is always excluded.
- An approver must have the right to decide: "Approve a request" at the Execute level, the approval category of the module (for example "Approvals — Absences") and a role population that covers the employee. Anyone who does not meet these conditions does not receive the request; the **Approver without the right to decide** setting says what happens to their step.
- When a step finds no approver, the request stays pending and is never approved silently. A role that holds "Approve a request" at the Admin level (Administrator by default) can then unblock it; this action is recorded in the history.

## Module-specific details

Each module describes its own approval rules (automatic approvals, supporting documents, payment…):

- [Approving absence requests](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/absences-approve/)
- [Approving expense reports](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/expenses-approve/)
- [Approving attendance and following the team](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/attendance-approval-and-team-view/)
- [Administering the Performance module](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/performance-administer/) (Workflows section)
- [Configuring the HR requests module](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/hr-requests-configure/)

## Good to know

- A request in progress keeps the circuit as it was when it started: editing a workflow only applies to new requests.
- The emails shared by all workflows are "Demande de validation (workflow)", sent to the approver, and "Workflow — décision rendue", sent to the requester (template names are shown in French in every language). They can be customised in **Settings › Manage Illizeo › Email**, HR & Workflows category (see [Emails](https://illizeo.com/en/docs-category/platform-en/platform-emails/)). Absences and expense reports have their own templates.
- Everyone chooses the alerts they receive in their personal settings, "Approvals and workflow" family, "Approval requests" box (see [Alerts & notifications](https://illizeo.com/en/docs-category/platform-en/platform-alerts-notifications/)).

## FAQ

### I cannot see the Workflows menu.

None of your roles holds a permission from the WORKFLOWS section. Your requests are followed in their module; if you need to approve, ask your administrator for the permissions described in [Approving, rejecting or delegating a request](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/workflows-approving-requests/).

### I activated a second workflow on the same trigger, but it is not applied.

A trigger starts only one workflow. For different paths depending on the population or the amount, add conditions to a single workflow (see [Creating and editing a workflow](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/workflows-create-and-edit/)).

### *Similaire*