How do you use an automated approver AND a specific user approver?

Question

Let's assume that Tom has to approve all quotes with a discount over 25%, but all managers below Tom also have to approve the quote before Tom does. That is not a problem, unless Tom has different hierarchies below him.

Hierarchy 1: Jim > Bob > Tom

Hierarchy 2: Stacy > Ashley > Jess > Tom

If you create two steps in the approval process (Assigned: Manager and User: Tom), then the approval process will skip Jess. How do you create an approval process that makes sure each manager is involved without needing to create a step for each level of the hierarchy? If Stacy becomes an approver for someone below her then the approval process would need another step added, and that is not very flexible.

Answer 1

If your hierarchy is something like:

Tom
├─ Bob
│  └─ Jim
└─ Jess
   └─ Ashley
      └─ Stacy

The real problem is the fact that the number of steps before reaching Tom is not always the same. The only way for you is to build a custom approval process through Apex code and dynamically set who and how many these approvers are.

Have a look at the Apex process classes in the Apex Developer Guide to create approval requests and process the results of those requests.