How does order approval work?

1. How it works

When you send an order, Apicbase adds its amount to what the outlet has already sent to the same supplier today. If the total is above the limit, the order is not sent. It waits for approval and the approvers get an email.

The limit is counted per outlet and per supplier, for each calendar day in your library timezone. A library limit of 500 means 500 for each outlet and each supplier, not 500 for the whole library.
Only orders that have already been sent count towards the total. An order that is still waiting for approval does not count yet, so the limit is not a hard cap on the day's spend.
An order that lands exactly on the limit does not need approval. With a limit of 0, every order with an amount above zero does.

You only see the settings below when order approval is switched on for your library. If you do not see them, contact Apicbase support.

2. Set the limit

You can set a limit at three levels. The most specific level that is switched on and has an amount wins: outlet and supplier first, then supplier, then library.

Library: go to Settings > Library Settings and find the row Library-Level Order Approval. Turn on Set library defaults and enter an amount under Orders need approval above. This level saves as you type.

Library Settings, row Library-Level Order Approval with Set library defaults switched on, the amount 500.00 under Orders need approval above, and the approver role under Notify these roles for approval

Supplier: open the supplier in the Edit supplier window, find the row Order approval and turn on Set order approval. Enter the amount and save the window. It applies to this supplier in every outlet.

The Edit supplier window, row Order approval with Set order approval switched on, an amount of 250.00 and the notice Overrides the library default (€ 500.00)

Outlet and supplier: in Outlet Ordering Details, every supplier has its own block with Set order approval. Enter the amount and save the section. It applies to that outlet with that supplier only. Users who hold the Manage procurement permission can change this limit, including outlet users for their own outlet.

The amount is zero or more, with at most two decimals. A level only counts once it is switched on and has an amount. If you try it without an amount, you get Enter an amount of zero or more to enable order approval.

A level that is off shows which limit it uses instead, for example Inherits library default: € 500.00. A level that is on shows Overrides the library default (€ 500.00).

3. Choose who approves

Under Notify these roles for approval, pick the roles that should receive approval requests. Library roles and outlet roles are listed separately. Only roles that hold the Approve Orders permission appear in the list.

A level with no roles of its own uses the roles of the next level up. Roles from different levels are not combined.
If no roles are selected, or none of the selected roles has an active user, the request goes to your library administrators instead. The settings screen tells you this. If nobody can be reached there either, the order simply waits and nobody is told. Apicbase staff accounts do not count as approvers.
A role that loses Approve Orders stays selected but no longer receives requests. The settings screen warns you and lists the roles to remove.

To give a role the permission, open it in the role editor and tick Approve Orders in the Procurement group. It lets the user approve or reject purchase orders that need approval and open the approval queue. There is no separate permission for rejecting. A library user sees the requests of the whole library. An outlet user sees the requests of the outlet they are working in. A new administrator role created through the self-serve signup may not have Approve Orders yet, so check the role if an administrator cannot see Order Approvals.

The role editor with the Procurement group open and the Approve Orders checkbox ticked

4. Place an order that needs approval

When the cart is over the limit, it shows This order will require approval (daily limit ...) and the button Submit for approval replaces Send or E-mail Order.

Build the order as usual and open the cart.
Select Submit for approval, then confirm in the window that opens. Its button may read Confirm & send order, but the order is submitted for approval and not sent.

The cart with the notice This order will require approval (daily limit 500 €), four order lines totalling 585.92 € and the Submit for approval button

Apicbase shows Order submitted for approval and the order appears in Open Orders as Waiting for approval. The approvers receive an email with a Review order button. All approvers are addressed on one email, so they can see each other's email addresses. The Remarks you type on the order are meant for the supplier: the approver sees them as Order remarks and they are sent to the supplier once the order is approved. A separate note for the approver is planned.

The Open Orders list with one order showing the status Waiting for approval and the Recall and edit button

The notice in the cart is a forecast, based on what was sent when the cart opened. Apicbase makes the final decision when you submit. If it differs from the button, a message tells you the order was submitted for approval instead of sent, or sent because approval was no longer needed.

If some items cannot be delivered on the delivery date you chose because of their lead time, Apicbase moves them to a new cart for the same supplier when you submit. The order that waits holds only the items that can be delivered. If no item can be delivered on that date, you are asked to choose a later one.

What you are told afterwards. Nothing tells you that an order was approved: there is no approval email and no message in the product. Check the status in Open Orders. The owner of the order does receive the usual email copy of a sent order, as for any order. It does not mention the approval. A rejection is announced. You receive an email with the reason and a Review and resubmit button, and Open Orders shows an alert with the number of rejected orders. When you open a rejected order, you see the Rejection reason and who rejected it. The approver's Comment (optional) is saved with the request and shown in the side panel. It is not emailed and it does not go to the supplier.

If you are an approver yourself, the cart offers Approve and send for an order over the limit, and the order is sent at once.

5. Approve or reject an order

Open Order Approvals in the Procurement menu, or select Review order in the email. The link in the email stops working after 7 days. Library users see a count of pending requests next to Order Approvals. Outlet users see no count.

Use the filters to narrow the list by status, outlet, supplier, user or date. Select a request to open it. The side panel shows the order lines and Why it was flagged: the Daily total at submit, the Threshold and the Day. The total amount of the order is shown at the top of the panel. Sent orders today is calculated live, so it can be higher than the daily total at submit.

The Order Approvals page with a pending request selected and the side panel showing Why it was flagged: Daily total at submit, Threshold and Day, with Sent orders today and the order items

To approve:

Select Approve.
Change the Delivery date or Delivery time (optional) if needed, and add a Comment (optional).
Confirm. The order is sent to the supplier.

The Approve order window with Comment (optional), Delivery date and Delivery time (optional)

If an item's lead time does not fit the date you chose, the approval is refused with One or more items cannot be delivered by the selected date because of their lead time. Choose the date the window names or later, or select Claim to edit the order yourself. An approval never splits an order.

To reject, select Reject and fill in the Reason for rejection. It is required. The order becomes Rejected and the person who made it receives an email with your reason and a Review and resubmit button.

If someone else decided first, you see Someone already handled this request.

6. Change a waiting or rejected order

In Open Orders, the owner of a waiting order selects Recall and edit. Other users select Claim. A rejected order shows Review & Resubmit. The pending request is cancelled and the order goes back to in progress, owned by whoever selected the button. When you submit again, Apicbase creates a new request. Open Orders shows a small history icon, and Resubmitted ... with the date on hover.

❗Recalling, claiming or resubmitting discards any other order you have in progress for the same supplier and outlet. Apicbase asks you to confirm first.

Limits

There is no reminder or escalation for a request that stays pending.
Send order manually, under More actions in the confirm window for suppliers that are not integrated, records an order as sent without approval. The amount still counts towards the day's total. A fix is planned.
Changing a limit does not change requests that are already waiting. They keep the figures they had when they were submitted.
One approver decides. There is no chain of approvers and no delegation.
The limit is a daily money total. You cannot set limits per item or category.
An approver cannot edit the order lines. They approve, reject, or claim the order back into a cart.