@CW When these are turned on you will need suiteapproval workflow https://netsuite.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11105

cool so we have that checked and we have suiteapproval workflow bundle installed and a PO workflow released and functioning, but EC just can't utilize approvals for some reason

are you running the workflow as administrator?

We are running the workflow as admin- @Sam-I-Am it was the supervisor dude, thank you so much. Updated the supervisor meanwhile our custom workflow (that i inherited) uses a custom field for po approval routing, since they match now employee center can view/approve the PO per usual. Do we have the ability to turn off the default approval routing pointing towards employee hierarchy approvals for employee center and and instead have our custom workflow 100% determine PO/Requisition approvals? Is that effectively the same thing as me unchecking all of the accounting preferences approvals boxes in your above screenshot? I would have thought custom workflow takes over when released or would show up in workflow history if it was clashing with the default approval workflow? Thanks again for all the help, more used to advanced approvals which as I am sure you know comes with its own slew of great benefits and wonkiness