# Department budget requests and approvals in SharePoint > For the full documentation index, see https://250highstreet.com/llms.txt > Build a SharePoint budget request list with a department list, an amount-based approval flow in Power Automate, and a total per department. Short answer: use two SharePoint lists, one for departments and one for budget requests, and a Power Automate flow that sends each request for approval. The flow writes Approved or Rejected back to each request, and a grouped view totals the approved amount per department. ## Lists to build Departments list: 1. Title: the department name, such as Operations. 2. Annual budget: a Currency column. 3. Department head: a Person column. Budget Requests list: 1. Title: the short name of the request. 2. Department: a Lookup column to the Departments list. 3. Amount: a Currency column. 4. Reason: a Multiple lines of text column. 5. Status: a Choice column with Draft, Submitted, In review, Approved, Rejected. Set the default value to Draft. 6. Fiscal year: a Choice column, such as FY2027, so each year's requests stay apart. I do not give a budget number or a threshold here. Your finance lead sets those. ## Approval flow Build this in Power Automate at [https://make.powerautomate.com](https://make.powerautomate.com). Exact names may differ on your screen. 1. Create a new flow from blank and add the SharePoint trigger When an item is created or modified, pointed at Budget Requests. 2. Add a Condition so the flow runs only for a submitted request: Status equals Submitted. 3. Inside the yes branch, add Update item and set Status to In review. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: this stops the flow from firing again on its own edit, and from sending a second approval if someone edits the request while it waits. 4. Add the Approvals action Start and wait for an approval. 5. Pick an approval type. Microsoft's table lists Sequential approval: "Approvals are requested one at a time, in a specific order. Each approver must respond before the request moves to the next approver in the sequence." 6. Assign the department head first, then the next person. Assigned To takes email addresses, with a semi-colon (;) between users. 7. When the approval finishes, write the result back with a second Update item: Status becomes Approved or Rejected. ## Different approvers by amount Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: add a Condition on Amount before the approval. One branch assigns one approver for a smaller amount. Another branch assigns a second approver for a larger one. Your finance lead picks the cutoff. For a fixed order of two people, see "[Sequential approval](/guides/power-automate-sequential-approval/)". ## Running total by department Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: group the Budget Requests view by Department and add a total on Amount. See "[Totals in a SharePoint list view](/guides/sharepoint-list-totals/)" and "[Sort a SharePoint list by more than one column](/guides/sharepoint-list-sort-by-multiple-columns/)". Filter the view to Status equals Approved and to one Fiscal year, so the total shows that year's approved requests only. ## Limits to know - Microsoft's connector page says approvals can fail when custom responses go to many users with the type set to "Everyone must approve". - It says approval timestamps "will always be shown in UTC." - Microsoft says the creator of the flow is always shown in the approval details, so approvers see the flow owner's name. - See "[Approval timeout after 30 days](/guides/power-automate-approval-timeout-30-days/)" if answers are slow. ## What to avoid - Do not let requesters edit Status. Use a view or permissions so only the flow changes it. - Do not let the flow start an approval unless Status equals Submitted. - Do not store bank or account numbers in the list. Related: "[Expense approval in SharePoint](/guides/expense-approval-sharepoint/)" and "[Purchase order tracker](/guides/purchase-order-tracker-sharepoint/)". ## When to get help You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: \$5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "[What a SharePoint tracker costs to build](/guides/what-a-sharepoint-tracker-costs/)". Bring one example of the problem to a free call. I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything. See trackers I built: [Tools I built](/portfolio/) ## FAQ ### How do I build a budget request tracker in SharePoint? Make a Departments list and a Budget Requests list with a Lookup to Department and a Currency column for Amount. ### Can Power Automate approve a budget request? Yes. Use Start and wait for an approval, then Update item to write the result. ### Can I send a request to two approvers in order? Yes. Microsoft lists a Sequential approval type that asks approvers one at a time. ### How do I see total requests per department? Group the view by Department and add a total on Amount. ### What license does the approval flow need? Microsoft says the approvals connector is a standard connector, so a license with standard connectors is enough. In the default environment, Microsoft creates the Dataverse database approvals need for you. ## Sources - [Microsoft Learn, Get started with Power Automate approvals](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/get-started-approvals) - [Microsoft Learn, Standard approvals connector](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/approvals/) - [Microsoft Learn, SharePoint connector](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sharepointonline/) ## Related guides - [Overtime request form with approval in SharePoint](/guides/overtime-request-form-sharepoint/) - [Job costing tracker in SharePoint](/guides/job-costing-tracker-sharepoint/) - [Purchase requests stuck waiting for approval: how to see them and move them](/guides/purchase-requests-stuck-waiting-for-approval/) Source: https://250highstreet.com/guides/department-budget-request-approval-sharepoint/