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Parts · Approvals

Order approvals over a purchasing limit

Each person can have a purchasing limit. An order over it goes to the people who approve that kind of order, and the last approver sends the PO.

#Why this exists

A foreman can buy a $200 hose without asking anyone. A $9,000 final drive needs the equipment manager's yes. Approvals let each person send what they may, and route the rest to the right approver before the PO leaves, with no email chain.

#The rules

Purchasing limits. An account admin sets each person's limit in Settings → Users ("Purchasing limit in dollars (blank for no limit)"). Blank is no limit: that person may send an order of any amount. A person whose limit covers the order total sends the PO alone.

Who approves. Each person's What they manage words in Users say what they look after, for example "approves orders over $2,500 for the Civil business unit". Gearflow reads those words into approval rules, and an admin confirms each rule. Only a confirmed rule names an approver ("Not counted until confirmed").

The approval chain. An order over the selector's limit goes up a chain of levels, lowest amount first. Every person on a level approves before the order moves up. The last person on the last level sends the PO. A person who selects an order and is in its chain counts as their own level's approval. With no confirmed rule for an order, the selector picks one approver (Pick who approves).

#Ask for approval

1. Compare quotes and pick the vendor's quote. When the order is over your limit, the order shows the approval footer instead of Send PO.
2. Check Who approves ("Approval request will be sent to:"). Add a Message to the approver if it helps.
3. Click Select and send for approval.

The approvers each get an approval task. "No approver is set up for this order. Ask an admin." means no rule and no person covers it.

#Approve or send back

The approver opens the order from their task.

• Approve passes the order to the next level.
• Approve and send PO approves and sends the PO, when the approver is the last level.
• Send back returns the order to the person who selected it, with a note ("Note if you send it back (optional)").

The order's timeline records each ask, approval and send-back.

#Settings → Approvals

Who sees it. Account admins, except on accounts whose ERP names the approvers for each job.

The page is read-only: rules change only where the words are, in Users.

• Approval map. Every confirmed rule, grouped by one request field (Group by: Amount, Business unit, Department, Location or Request type). A Gap is a case no rule names; an Overlap is two people who approve at the same amount ("both must approve").
• Test an order. "See who would approve an order before anyone places it." Enter an order's amount and fields, click Test, and read the chain. "No approval needed beyond the requester's own limit." means the order needs no approver.

#Accounts whose ERP names the approvers for each job

Gearflow sets this up for some accounts connected to an ERP. These accounts keep their own approval rules, and Settings shows no Approvals page for them.

• A person sends alone when their purchasing limit covers the order total.
• Over the limit, the order goes to the approvers your ERP setup routes for the request's job.
• The approver finds the order in their Tasks, and may send it even when their own limit is lower.
• Gearflow refuses an over-limit send on the server, not only on the screen.

#Tips

• Write What they manage in plain words, then confirm the rule Gearflow reads. Test an order before the first real one.
• Read the Approval map's gaps after a reorganisation. A gap is an order nobody will approve.
• Set limits per person, not per role. The foreman on a remote job may need a higher one.