Jira Service Management Cloud: Approval Workflow Properties Explained

Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the cloud platform.

Summary

When an approval step is added to a workflow status, several workflow properties are automatically added to it. This article explains these properties in detail.

For more details, see our documentation in Add an approval step to a workflow.

Solution

What are these properties?

These are the workflow properties added to your workflow when adding an approval step, and what triggers them:

  • When you select Include approval step in the workflow editor

Key

Value

Description

approval.active

true

True when include approval step is checked;

False when it is unchecked.

  • In the pop-up to configure the approval step, the first page lets you select the Number of approvers and Approver source

Key

Value

Description

approval.condition.type

number

(or)

Percent

(or)

numberPerPrincipal

Determines the type of approval based on the field selected.

number - when a specific number of people should approve (when multiple user picker field is used)

percent - when a percentage of people should approve (when everyone is selected).

numberPerPrincipal - when a specific number of people from each group should approve (when a multi-group picker field is used).

approval.condition.value

2

the value corresponding to the condition type. For example, 2 if two people should approve.

approval.pre-populated.field.id

customfield_xxxxxx

used when Affected Services is used as an Approver source. The custom field ID selected is the value for this key.

approval.field.id

customfield_xxxxxx

used when the Jira field is used as an Approver source. The custom field ID selected is the value for this key.

  • The second page lets you select transitions for approval results and approvers to exclude

Key

Value

Description

approval.transition.approved

123

Corresponds toSelect transition if approved. The selected transition's transition ID is the value for this key. For example, 123 is the transition ID for the transition 'Approved'.

approval.transition.rejected

123

Corresponds to Select transition if declined. The selected transition's transition ID is the value for this key. For example, 123 is the transition ID for the transition 'Rejected'.

approval.exclude

assignee, reporter

They are used to exclude approvers. Options added in the field will be added as values to the key.

  • Manual Addition: Adding these properties manually is not recommended as it may lead to workflow issues.

  • Editing Properties: Existing approval properties cannot be edited or deleted once set.

Updated on June 13, 2025

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