Order Approvals

Overview

The Order Approval functionality allows Customers to set an approver for orders over a specific dollar amount.

The process goes something like this:

Order Approvals from the User's Perspective 

1. When Order Approvals is active for a Customer, during Checkout, a popup message alerts the ordering user that approval is required because the order total is over their order limit:

2. Depending on the Approval Type set, the approver is automatically assigned or if a user-select option is active, the user must select an approver from the dropdown list.  

3. Once the order has been submitted, the confirmation page includes an acknowledgment that the order has been sent for approval:

4. The user's 'pending approval' orders as well as any successful and rejected ones can be tracked in the user's Order History (Dashboard → Order History).
Rejected orders = Cancelled orders

Approver Information

When an order has been assigned to a user as approver, they receive a notification email. All 'pending approval' orders can be viewed and approved or rejected through the Approve Orders function. 

1. Login to the website and navigate to Dashboard → Approve Orders. The 'Order Approval' screen lists all orders awaiting approvals.
   
2. The approver can perform one of the following:
   (i) Click View to see order details. An order can also be approved or rejected in the order detail screen.
   (ii) Click Approve to approve the order. Once approved, the order will disappear from this screen. The ordering user will receive an 'Order Approved' notification email.
   (iii) Click Reject to reject the order. If you have set rejection reason to be entered, the message box will appear for the approver to enter the reason. Once rejected, the order will disappear from this screen. Depending on settings, the ordering user will receive a notification email.     

Approval modes

There are 3 modes to choose from, each with increasing complexity:

1. Approval By User - a very simple 1-to-1 relationship. User A's orders are approved by User B if they exceed User A's dollar limit.
   
   
2. Approval By User and Account - the most widely-used mode. User A's orders can be approved by any user on the same account who has the required Approval Limit for that order. 
   
   

3. Advanced Approval By User and Account - for organisations with complex approval hierarchies and approval groups. Offers advanced options for multi-person approval and allows order submitter to cancel 'pending approval' orders and re-assign approver. Note - this option requires consultation with Commerce Vision.

Set up Order Approvals

1. Approval By User

This is the simplest order approval process. A dollar limit is set for the user, and a designated approver is nominated. Any order over the user's limit will require approval. You can set the option of sending email notifications to the approver, and allow them to approve or reject the order via links in the email. 

1. Configure system settings:

1. In the CMS, navigate to Settings → Settings.
2. Select the Orders tab.
3. Select the Restrictions and Charges sub-tab.

4. Find the checkbox labelled Use Advanced Order Approval and ensure it's unticked. If you see a dropdown list instead, set it to Approval By User. 
   
   
   

5. To save this setting, click the Update button.

2. Update the user order limits: 

1. Navigate to Users → User Maintenance.
2. Search for and select the ordering user.
3. On the User tab, click Modify.
4. Update the Order Limit field to the dollar value at which approval will be triggered.
5. In the Orders Approved By field, enter the email address/user ID of the approving user.
   
   
6. Click OK to save.
   
   

TIP - If you have many users to update, you can do it in bulk. See the help page on Data Import for more information. 

2. Approval By User and Account

With this mode, users are given order limits for each order function. For example, User A may have a Requisition Limit of $999,999.00, and an Order Limit of $200.00. This means User A can submit an order up to $200 without approval, but any orders $200.01 - $999,999.00 will require approval. If Users B, C, and D on the same account each have an Approval Limit greater than the order value, any of them will be able to approve the order. 

(If there isn't a user with an appropriate approval limit for the order, a message will be displayed to User A before they submit the order.) 

1. Configure system settings:

1. In the CMS, navigate to Settings → Settings.
2. Select the Orders tab.
3. Select the Restrictions and Charges sub-tab.

4. Tick the box to 'Use Advanced Order Approval' (or if you see a drop-down, set it to 'Approval By User and Account').
   

5. To save this setting, click Update.

2. Update the user order limits:

1. In the CMS, navigate to Users → Website Users. 
2. Search for and Edit the required user.
3. In the Customer Details section, update the dollar amounts for the user's Order Limit, Requisition Limit, and Approval Limit. 
   
   
4. If the user has access to multiple accounts, you may wish to update the limits for those as well. 
5. Click Save & Exit. 
6. Repeat Steps 2-5 for other users on the account, including users who will have approval authority.

TIP - If you have many users to update, you can do it in bulk. See our help page on Data Import for more information. 

3. Advanced Approval by User and Account

Configure Email Notifications 

The Order Approvals feature rely on email notifications to alert the ordering user and any approver(s) at various stages of the process. The content for each email is set in widgets in email templates used by this feature. Which templates are used will depend on the Order Approval settings for the Customer and User. You do not have to add any additional widgets but the email content can be customised to suit your business needs.   

Optional Settings

Approval by Email

For each ordering user, you can set 'Approve' or 'Reject' links in the email the approver receives ('Order Approval Email') after the order has been submitted. Clicking the link allows the approver to quickly approve or reject the order. 

To add the 'Approve'/'Reject' links in the notification email for an ordering user,

1. In the Advanced User menu, find the user. 
2. Click the User tab.
3. Find the field Enable Email Approver and tick the checkbox.
   
4. To save the setting, click OK.
    
    

Related help

• Page:
  Standing Orders Settings
• Page:
  Standing Orders Overview
• Page:
  Approvals
• Page:
  Order Approvals
• Page:
  Order Tracking / Order History
• Page:
  Advanced Order Approval by User and Account