Creating an Approval System

This article will walk through the steps in creating an approval system.

To Setup a Pre-Approval System:

1) Go to Tools

2) Select System Configuration

3) Go to Approval Systems Tab

4) Select “NEW”

5) Name your new Pre-Approval System, making sure to select the “Pre” radio button indicating this is a pre-approval system.

For a Basic Pre-Approval System Continue Reading the following Section I, for a more advanced approval system please continue to Section II

Section I: Standard Approval System Configuration

Users can force an approval based on a users threshold. This allows an organization to have a higher threshold for those individuals who are more knowledgeable or have been with the company longer, and lower the threshold for those individuals who might be new to the company or new to the position. We will break down the setup of this basic approval system by setting up the approvals first and then setting up the thresholds for a user.

Set Up Standard Approval System

Add all Appropriate Groups required to approve into the Approval Group Queue Drop down the List of available Groups.

6) Select the 1st group needed to approve the job     

7) Once Selected Click on “Add"  

On the Right Side, Select The Type of Approval System:      

Standard: All Groups added in previous step will be allowed to approve the job in any order     

Hierarchy: The groups added in previous step will be required to approve in the order entered.

On the right side of the screen then make sure to select “Threshold Violation Only” The other checkboxes will not be reviewed in this section, but definitions are explained below for your knowledge.

Allow Customer Edit during/after Approval: Allows users to edit the customer during or after the approval process

Allow Email: Allows user to send an email of the proposal before it is fully approved

Allow Print/Export:Allows user to print and export the proposal before it is fully approved (For Crystal Reports). 

For Doc Editor Clients it limits the ability to "SAVE AS WORD"

Estimates are Read Only during Approval: During the approval, approvers are only allowed to approve or reject, no edits allowed to the job.Ignore No Cost Change Order: If the job is a change order with no change to the cost of the job, ignore the approval system

Ignore Test & Inspect Only: If there is only Test & Inspect Items on the job, ignore the approval system

Insert all Exceptions at Once: When using Approval Exceptions (to be covered in Advanced Approvals Section), insert all rules at once, to be approved.Only Salesperson Can Exit Process: Do not allow any users who have access to the proposal to exit the Approval Process, Only salesperson / owner of  the job can do so

Parts Approval: Currently UnavailableProcess Exceptions First: When using Approval Exceptions (to be covered in Advanced Approvals Section) Exceptions are process before the standard approval groups

Salesperson Must Start Approval: Only Salesperson / Owner of the job can begin the approval process

Threshold Violation Only: The Standard Approval Process is triggered only by the users threshold.

Use Job Types: The Job Types on the job are what trigger the approval process from being executed.

Setup of User Thresholds

We will now setup user thresholds to hold the triggers for the standard approval system setup above.

1) Go To Tools

2) Select System Configuration

3) Select User Setup

4) Select the appropriate User whose thresholds need to be setup

5) Select the Thresholds tab on the right side of the screen

For this session we will only setup Upper Proposal Value and Lower GP% which are the most commonly used thresholds for the approval system. Upper Proposal Value: Will trigger the approval system to be initiated if the value of the proposal exceeds this amount. Lower GP%: Will trigger the approval system to be initiated if the gross profit margin falls below this %.

Repeat this step for all necessary users whom you would like to assign thresholds to.

Assigning users to an Approval System

To assign a user to an approval system:

1) Go To Tools

2) Select System Configuration

3) Select User Setup

4) Select the appropriate User from the list of users.

5) Select Edit

6) On the right side of the screen select the Approvals Tab

7) Select the appropriate Pre-Approval System and/or Post Approval System Setup.

8) Click Save

Section II: Advanced Approval System Configuration

In this section we will be reviewing the Exceptions tab within a Pre-Approval System. Unlike the Standard Approval System setup in Section I which is based per user threshold. We will setup a universal approval system that can be configured to account for multiple thresholds / triggers. In the example below we will setup an Approval System as follows:

If Sale Price >=$5,000 or GPM < 35% Then Approval by Engineering Group

If Sale Price >=$10,000 or GPM < 30% Then Approval by Operation Manager Group

If Sales Price >=$50,000 or GPM < 25%Then Approval by Executive Management Group

To begin setup we will begin by creating a Pre Approval System, Please see section above describing how to do this. Once System is created, we will define the following checkboxes:

System Type: Hierarchy, since I want my approval system to go in the order I present it. 

Process Exceptions First: Since I will not be using the Standard Approval Groups, I want the approval system to skip this step and move directly to the Exceptions approval.

Next we will click on the Exceptions Tab to enter the advanced approval setup.

Within This Screen, go ahead and select the following Selections:

Type: “Sale Price” 

Operator: “>=“ 

Amount: $5000

Table Type: None Required

Approval by: The appropriate group, in my example this will be the Engineering Group

Replicate this step to add the following values as seen below. *** Please note all rows will have an “OR” statement except for the last row which will be an “END”

Once this step is complete, you can go ahead and assign a user to the approval system, See steps above on how to complete this.

Closing: In my example above, Only if the job is >= $5,000 OR GPM% < 35% will it require approval by Engineering. As an example if I have a job that is $40,000 and GPM = 38% : Engineering will have to approve, after Engineering approves the job, Operations will also have to approve because it is greater than $10,000.

In the Next Section we will review how to setup the Approvers for this Pre-Approval System.

Further clarification on Logic:

Example:

Say we have two approval conditions

If a job has a GPM less than 50% then it will require approval by Sales Managers in White Plains.

If a  job has a Sales Price greater than $10,000 then it will require approval by VP of Operations.

If a  job has both a GPM less than 50% and a Sales Price greater than $10,000 then it will first require approval by Sales Managers in White Plains and then require approval by VP of Operations.