Overview

Felix supports two distinct types of approval workflows: Sourcing approvals, which govern the review and sign-off of procurement activities such as RFQs, RFAs, and Variations within a project; and New Vendor Request approvals, which govern the review and sign-off required before a new vendor invitation is sent. Both workflow types share a common approval infrastructure — approval groups, approval routes, and multi-level approver chains — but they differ in what triggers them, who initiates them, how they are scoped, and which features apply to each. This article explains those differences so administrators can configure approval groups correctly and users understand which approval type applies to their task.

Who this article is for: Organisation administrators configuring approval workflows, and anyone wanting to understand how the two approval types relate to each other.

Two Approval Types, One Shared Infrastructure

Both sourcing approvals and New Vendor Request approvals use Felix's Approval Workflows feature as their foundation. This means both types use the same approval groups, approval routes, and approver chain structure that administrators configure in Tools > Approval Workflows > Approval Groups. An approval group can be configured to serve one type, the other, or both simultaneously.

Despite this shared infrastructure, the two approval types are deliberately separated. A sourcing-only approval group does not appear in the New Vendor Request form, and a New-Vendor-Request-only approval group does not appear in sourcing workflows. The Approval type toggle on each approval group is what controls this separation.

The key distinction comes down to purpose: sourcing approvals are about what your organisation is buying and through which process; New Vendor Request approvals are about who your organisation is buying from and whether that vendor should be onboarded at all.

Feature Comparison

Feature or behaviour	Sourcing approvals	New Vendor Request approvals
What triggers the approval	A procurement event within a project — an RFQ (Request for Quotation), RFA (Request for Award), or Variation is submitted for approval.	A user submits a New Vendor Request form to add a new vendor to the organisation's vendor list before sending the vendor an invitation.
Who initiates the workflow	Project users with the relevant sourcing approval permission, working within a specific project.	Organisation users with the Request new vendor security group permission, working from the organisation-level vendor list.
Where it lives in Felix	Within a specific project. Sourcing approval groups can be scoped to all projects or restricted to a single project using the Projects selector on the approval group.	At the organisation level, outside of any project. New Vendor Request approvals are not scoped to a project and are not affected by the Projects selector.
Project scoping on approval groups	Yes. The Projects selector on the approval group determines which projects the group is available in. Can be set to All projects or a specific project.	No. The Projects selector is not shown for approval groups that are enabled for New Vendor Request approvals only. New Vendor Request approval groups are always available organisation-wide.
Approval group toggle to enable	Sourcing approvals toggle must be ON. This toggle is active when at least one sourcing approval subfeature (Enable RFQ approval or Enable RFA approval) is enabled for the organisation. If neither subfeature is enabled, the toggle is locked.	New vendor request approvals toggle must be ON. This toggle is active when the New vendor request approval feature is enabled for the organisation. If the feature is not enabled, the toggle is locked.
Route entity type selector	Yes. When a group is enabled for sourcing approvals, each approval route includes a Use this route for approval of selector to specify whether the route applies to RFQ, RFA, Variation, or other sourcing entity types.	No. When a group is enabled for New Vendor Request approvals only, the route entity type selector is not shown — all routes in the group automatically apply to New Vendor Request approvals. For groups enabled for both types, routes specify their applicable entity type individually.
Custom form questions (approval template)	Yes. Sourcing approvals support approval templates with custom sections and questions that appear in the sourcing form for requesters to complete.	Yes. New Vendor Request approvals also support approval templates with custom sections and questions. The same four question types are available: Text input, Text area, Yes/No, and Checkbox. Approval templates for New Vendor Requests must be configured internally by the Felix team.
Intervention delay (lockout period before on-behalf actions)	Yes. A configurable intervention delay period can be set in PMA to prevent on-behalf actions from being taken until a specified number of hours have passed. This is designed for organisations that require approvers to have a minimum window to action their turn themselves before someone else can intervene.	No. The intervention delay does not apply to New Vendor Request approvals. On-behalf actions can be performed at any time by users with the Action on behalf of permission, regardless of how long the approval has been pending. The PMA setting label for this field has been updated to reflect that it applies to sourcing approvals only.
Action on behalf of	Yes. Users with the Action on behalf of permission can approve or decline on behalf of an approver with an active turn, subject to any intervention delay configured.	Yes. Users with the Action on behalf of permission can approve or decline on behalf of an active-turn approver at any time. No intervention delay applies.
Decline behaviour	A decline action by any approver concludes the sourcing approval workflow for that entity. The outcome depends on the sourcing entity type — for example, a declined RFQ approval returns the RFQ to a previous state.	A decline action by any approver immediately concludes the entire New Vendor Request approval workflow. The vendor invitation is not sent. The requester receives a Request declined notification email containing the decline reason provided by the approver.
Outcome of final approval	Depends on the sourcing entity type. For RFA approvals, the final approval triggers the award of the RFQ. For RFQ approvals, the final approval publishes the RFQ to vendors. For Variations, the final approval confirms the variation.	The final approval triggers the vendor invitation email to be sent to the vendor's contact email address. The approval instance moves to a status of Sent. The vendor receives a Felix onboarding invitation.
Approval instance statuses	Varies by sourcing entity type. Statuses track the approval state within the context of the sourcing workflow (e.g. Pending, Approved, Declined).	Pending — workflow in progress. Sent — all approvers approved and vendor invitation sent. Declined — at least one approver declined. Approved not sent — approval completed but invitation send failed (exception state).
Where to track progress	Within the relevant project, on the sourcing entity (RFQ, RFA, or Variation) approval page. Also visible in My Tasks > Approval Instances for approvers.	In My Tasks > Approval Instances for both requesters and approvers. Filter by Type = New vendor request to isolate vendor request approvals from sourcing approvals in the list.
Manual reminder emails	Available. Administrators and requesters can send reminder emails to the active-turn approver from the approval instance.	Available. Requesters can use Remind next in line from My Tasks > Approval Instances to send a reminder email to the active-turn approver. A targeted Send remind action is also available from within the individual approval view.
Feature enablement	Controlled by the Approval Workflows parent feature plus the Enable RFQ approval and/or Enable RFA approval subfeatures in PMA. Enabled by the Felix team on request.	Controlled by the Approval Workflows parent feature (required) plus the New vendor request approval feature in PMA. Both must be enabled by the Felix team. Contact your Customer Success Manager to request enablement.
Can an approval group serve both types?	Yes. An approval group can have both the Sourcing approvals and New vendor request approvals toggles set to ON simultaneously. The group then appears in both the sourcing workflow selectors (subject to project scoping) and the New Vendor Request form.	Yes — same as above. When both toggles are ON, approval routes within the group must specify their applicable entity type so that sourcing routes and vendor request routes remain correctly separated in each workflow's selector.

 

How Approval Groups Serve Both Types

When your organisation uses both sourcing approvals and New Vendor Request approvals, you have two configuration options for approval groups:

• Separate groups per type — Create dedicated approval groups for sourcing (with only the Sourcing approvals toggle ON) and separate groups for New Vendor Requests (with only the New vendor request approvals toggle ON). This keeps the two workflows cleanly separated and is the simpler approach for most organisations.
• Shared groups for both types — A single approval group can have both toggles ON. In this case, routes within the group must individually specify which entity type they apply to. Only sourcing routes appear in RFQ, RFA, and Variation selectors; only New Vendor Request routes appear in the New Vendor Request form. This approach is useful when your organisation wants the same approval chain to govern both vendor onboarding and sourcing activities.

The Approval type column and filter: The Approval Groups list in Tools > Approval Workflows > Approval Groups includes an Approval type column showing whether each group is configured for New vendor request, Sourcing, or both. Use the Approval type filter to quickly view only the groups relevant to the type you are configuring. Both the column and the filter are visible regardless of which features are enabled for your organisation.

[SCREENSHOT: An approval group configuration showing both the Sourcing approvals and New vendor request approvals toggles in their ON state, with the route entity type selector visible on a sourcing route within the same group.]

Quick Reference: Which Approval Type Do I Need?

If you want to…	Use this approval type
Require sign-off before publishing an RFQ to vendors	Sourcing approvals (RFQ approval subfeature)
Require sign-off before awarding a contract through an RFA	Sourcing approvals (RFA approval subfeature)
Require sign-off before approving a contract Variation	Sourcing approvals (Variation approval)
Require sign-off before inviting a new vendor to your vendor list	New Vendor Request approvals
Collect justification information from users before a new vendor is considered	New Vendor Request approvals (with an approval template configured)
Apply the same approver chain to both vendor onboarding and sourcing sign-offs	A shared approval group with both toggles ON and routes configured per entity type

Related Resources

• How to Configure the New Vendor Request Approval Feature (Administrator Guide)
• How to Submit a New Vendor Request
• How to Review and Action a New Vendor Request (Approver Experience)
• How to Track the Progress of a New Vendor Request
• How to Create and Modify Approval Workflows
• What is an Approval Workflow