How to Create a Salesforce Report on Records Submitted for Approval Using a Custom Checkbox Field

Overview

The steps below explain how to use a custom Checkbox field and an Approval Process Field Update to tag records upon submission, making them reportable in standard Salesforce Reports.

Steps

1. Choose the Salesforce object on which you want to track records submitted for approval (for example, Opportunity or Case).
2. Create a custom checkbox field on the object and label it with a meaningful name, for example: Submitted for Approval.
3. Create your Approval Process. While configuring it, add a Field Update as an Initial Submission Action.
4. In the Field Update, choose the Submitted for Approval field created in Step 2 and set the value to True.
5. Build a report on the object.
6. Filter the report  on the custom field: Submitted for Approval equals True.

This report returns all records of the selected object that have been submitted for approval.