Last updated 02 June 2026
Every Action step needs an assignee rule — a rule that determines who receives the step at runtime. Aitomic Flow supports seven rule types.
Assigned to the person who triggered the workflow.
Use for: acknowledgment steps, steps where the submitter needs to provide more info, return-to-sender notifications.
Always assigned to a specific person identified by email address.
Use for: steps that always go to the same individual — a CFO, a specific HR admin, a compliance officer.
Caution: If the person leaves, update the flow manually. Prefer role-based rules where possible.
Assigned to the direct manager of the person who triggered the workflow.
Use for: first-level approvals — the most common pattern in approval workflows.
Requires: the requester must have a manager set in their profile.
Assigned to the manager's manager — two levels up in the hierarchy.
Use for: high-value approvals requiring senior sign-off: large POs, project proposals, policy exceptions.
Requires: both the requester and their manager must have managers configured.
Assigned to the head of the requester's own department.
Use for: approvals that go to whoever leads the requester's team, regardless of direct reporting line.
Requires: the requester must belong to a department with a head assigned in Departments → Management.
Assigned to the head of a department chosen at design time.
Use for: steps that always go to a fixed department head — Finance head for all finance approvals, IT head for all IT requests.
Requires: the named department must have a head assigned.
Assigned to a user with a specific role (Admin or Member) in a specific department.
Use for: approvals determined by organisational role — any admin in Legal reviews contracts.
| Rule | Common failure reason |
|---|---|
| Manager of requester | Requester has no manager |
| Skip-level | Manager chain is incomplete |
| Dept head of requester | Requester has no department, or dept has no head |
| Dept head (specific) | Named department has no head |
| Role in department | No user matches the role |
See What to Do If a Workflow Step is Stuck or Errors.