Custom Attribute Group Approval Flow

Short Description A Custom Attribute Group (CAG) workflow fires its own approval when designated attribute changes happen on a tactic — independent of the tactic's main approval workflow.

What this article answers

What a CAG workflow is for.
How it's configured and triggered.
The relationship to the tactic's regular approval flow.

Why CAG workflows exist

Some attribute changes are significant enough to warrant their own approval — independent of the tactic's normal lifecycle. Examples:

A budget reallocation that doesn't change anything else.
A business unit change that affects financial reporting.
A target audience change that requires legal review.

For each of these, you might want a focused approval flow that signs off on the specific attribute change, without forcing the whole tactic to re-cycle through its standard approval.

That's what a Custom Attribute Group (CAG) workflow does.

[SCREENSHOT NEEDED — Settings showing Custom Object / CAG Workflow configuration]

How CAG workflows are configured

A CAG workflow is set up by your admin:

Define a Custom Attribute Group — a named bundle of one or more attributes.
Configure a workflow tied to that group.
Specify approver types, stages, and rules.
Enable the Custom Object Workflow toggle (or the equivalent named toggle in your instance) under Settings → Org Setup.

Once enabled, changes to any attribute in the group trigger the CAG workflow on save.

What happens when a CAG workflow fires

A user edits one or more attributes in the CAG group on a tactic.
On save, Hive9 detects the CAG change.
The CAG approval flow starts — separate from the tactic's main approval flow.
The CAG-specific Approval Tracker generates and approvers are notified.
The tactic's main status is unaffected by the CAG cycle (in most configurations).
Once the CAG approval completes, the change is fully applied.

CAG and main approval — independent or linked?

In most configurations, CAG workflows are independent of the tactic's main approval:

A tactic can have CAG approvals in flight without affecting its main approval status.
A tactic can be Approved overall but have an open CAG approval for a recent attribute change.

This independence is the point — CAG workflows are designed to govern specific changes without disrupting the broader tactic state.

Turning CAG workflows off

If CAG workflows aren't useful to your organization, your admin can turn off the Custom Object Workflow toggle in Settings → Org Setup. The toggle is the broadest off-switch.

Note that even with the toggle off, individual CAG workflows that exist in the database may still hold orphaned references on tactics. If you see workflow-inactive errors after disabling, see Error: "Selected Approval Workflow is either marked as inactive or deleted".

Common questions

Where do CAG approvals appear for approvers? Like other approvals — on the My Approvals screen. The approval item indicates it's a CAG approval and which attribute group it covers.

Can a CAG cycle reject a change? Yes — if the CAG workflow is rejected, the attribute change is reverted (or held pending revision, depending on instance configuration).

Do CAG workflows have their own audit trail? Yes — every CAG approval cycle is captured in the Plan Log and (where finance-related) the Finance Log.

Can I use both CAG and main approval workflows on the same tactic? Yes. The tactic has its overall approval workflow for full-tactic submission, and CAG workflows fire as attribute changes happen. They run independently.