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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Concept: Statement of Work Approval Workflows

Concept: Statement of Work Approval Workflows

Once a statement of work (SOW) manager creates an SOW draft, they can send it for internal and/or vendor approvals. The specific approvals that occur and the order in which they occur depend on your organization’s approval workflow.
You can customize the approval workflow based on your organization’s needs. For example, you can choose to:
  • Send SOW drafts to vendor approvers to get their feedback before sending it to internal approvers.
  • Send SOW drafts to internal approvers to ensure accuracy before sending it to vendor approvers.
  • Skip vendor approvers and only send SOW drafts to internal approvers, especially if your organization already approved the draft with vendors outside of Workday VNDLY.
  • Skip all approvers, especially if your organization negotiates and approves SOW drafts outside of Workday VNDLY.

SOW Acceptance Workflow Approval Rules

The approval workflow for SOW drafts is determined by your organization’s
SOW Acceptance
 workflow approval rules in
Company Settings
. By default, Workday VNDLY creates an
SOW Acceptance
 rule in your tenant with these approvers:
  • Approver Name
    :
    Vendor Approver
    • Level
      :
      1
  • Approver Name
    :
    Sow Manager
    • Level
      :
      2
However, you can edit this rule to add, remove, or change approvers as needed. You can add as many approvers as desired, and you can also remove all approvers.
Each approver must have a level. Levels determine the approval order, with level 1 being the first approver and additional levels being subsequent approvers. Internal approvers can share the same level as other internal approvers, but vendor approvers can’t share the same level as any other approvers. Example: An SOW manager approver and a manager approver can both occur at level 2. However, if they occur at level 2, a vendor approver can’t also occur at level 2.
Note that if you have multiple internal approvers who share the same level, then approval requirements depend on the rule’s
Approval Strategy
 field configuration.

Approval Actions on SOW Drafts

Your organization’s
SOW Acceptance
 workflow approval rule determines the actions that SOW managers, vendor approvers, and internal approvers can take on SOW drafts.
SOW Manager Actions
After SOW managers complete all required fields on a SOW draft, they can:
  • Send to Vendor
    : Click this button to send the draft to the vendor for collaboration without formally starting the approval process. This button displays even if the draft doesn’t require vendor approvals. Vendors can make edits directly on the draft or propose changes, depending on the SOW’s
    Allow Vendors to make edits to the SOW?
     setting configuration.
  • Send for Approvals
    : Click this button to begin the approval workflow, starting with the level 1 approver(s). This button only displays if your organization’s workflow approval rule includes approvers.
  • Publish SOW
    : Click this button to immediately publish the SOW without approvals. This button only displays if your organization’s workflow approval rule doesn’t include approvers.
Vendor Approver Actions
When vendor approvers receive a SOW draft, they can:
  • Send to Client
    : Click this button to send an updated draft back to the SOW manager for approval. This button only displays if your organization allows vendor approvers to edit SOW drafts.
  • Approve
    : Click this button to approve the draft. Workday VNDLY then sends the draft to the next approver or publishes the SOW if the vendor was the final approver. This button displays if your organization has granted vendor approvers with view-only access to SOW drafts.
  • Propose Changes
    : Click this button to send the draft back to the SOW manager with a list of proposed changes, instead of edits directly on the draft. This button displays if your organization has granted vendor approvers with view-only access to SOW drafts.
Internal Approver Actions
When internal approvers receive a SOW draft, they can:
  • Approve
    : Click this button to approve the draft. Workday VNDLY then sends the draft to the next approver or publishes the SOW if the vendor was the final approver.
  • Reject
    : Click this button to send the draft back to the SOW manager. Workday VNDLY also requires internal approvers to provide a rejection reason.

SOW Statuses in Approval Workflows

SOWs can have these statuses throughout the approval workflow:
  • Awaiting Client Review
    : A SOW manager needs to take action on the draft after sending it for approvals.
  • Awaiting Vendor Review
    : A vendor approver needs to take action on the draft.
  • Pending Approvals
    : An internal approver needs to take action on the draft.
  • Active
    : A final approver clicked
    Approve
     on the draft. Or, a SOW manager clicked
    Publish SOW
     on the draft, if no approvals were required.