Auto-approve an opportunity versus auto-assign on a form

Auto-approve an opportunity or auto-assign on a form: which do I need?

Overview

Two settings in Vome sound almost identical and behave very differently. Reaching for the wrong one approves people for things they never asked for.

This article is for administrators setting up approval on an opportunity or a form.

1. What does auto-approve on an opportunity do?

It approves someone for the opportunity they actually registered for.

The setting lives on that opportunity's recruitment workflow. With it on, registering approves the person immediately instead of queueing a request for you to action. It is scoped to one opportunity, and only to people who chose it.

2. What does auto-assign opportunities on a form do?

It approves someone for every opportunity you selected, on submission, whatever they picked.

The setting lives on the form. You choose a list of opportunities in advance, and anyone who submits that form is approved for all of them. It does not read what the person selected.

3. When do I want each?

The question to ask is whether the person chose the thing.

  • Auto-approve on an opportunity when people browse and pick for themselves, and you are happy for their choice to be approved without review. Sessions, open events and self-explanatory roles fit here.
  • Auto-assign on a form when everyone who submits this particular form should end up in the same place regardless of what they clicked. A form that exists specifically to onboard people into one programme fits here.

4. What goes wrong if I mix them up?

You approve people for things they never booked.

The common mistake is reaching for auto-assign on a form to solve a session sign-up. Because it ignores what the person selected, everyone who submits gets approved for every opportunity on your list, including the sessions they did not choose. Your attendee lists then stop matching reality, and the fix is manual.

Sessions want auto-approve on the opportunity. It is the one that respects the choice.

5. Can I use both?

Yes, on different things.

A form can auto-assign the one opportunity everybody needs, while an individual opportunity elsewhere in your account auto-approves the people who go and pick it. They do not conflict, because they are attached to different objects. Just avoid pointing both at the same opportunity, since you then have two rules approving the same people for the same thing and no single place to look when it misbehaves.

Summary

  • Auto-approve lives on an opportunity and approves the person for what they registered for.
  • Auto-assign lives on a form and approves the person for every opportunity you selected, whatever they picked.
  • Ask whether the person chose the thing. If yes, auto-approve. If it should apply to everyone regardless, auto-assign.
  • Using auto-assign for session sign-ups approves people for sessions they never booked.
  • Both can be used in one account, on different objects.
  • Avoid pointing both at the same opportunity.

Where to go next