Approval (approval process, electronic document approval workflow)

Overview

The Approval module (approval process, electronic approval workflow) is used for the controlled approval of documents and requests within the company – typically invoices, contracts, quotes or other documents that require the signature of one or more responsible employees before the document is considered valid. Within the module, documents are divided into types (for example Invoices, Contracts, Quotes); for each type you can set your own approvers, the number of signatures required, and optionally two consecutive approval rounds. The submitter uploads the document together with its attachments, the system automatically notifies the approvers by email, and continuously tracks how many signatures the request has already received. The module thus replaces the manual circulation of paper documents and provides an overview of who decided on the document, when, and how.

Key features

• Division of documents into types, each with its own settings for approvers and access rights
• One or two consecutive approval rounds with a configurable number of required signatures
• Personal mailbox "Awaiting my approval" with a summary of all requests waiting for the signature of the logged-in user
• Bulk approval or rejection of several requests at once
• Approval or rejection directly from the email, without logging into the application
• Automatic rejection of the request after the deadline expires (for types with this option enabled)
• Custom fields for individual document types for additional information
• Summary and evaluation of the request using artificial intelligence
• Forwarding a received document from the Paper Mail module directly for approval

Access and settings

How to access the Approval module

Open the Approval module from the main menu via the Approval item. The main screen offers a panel of tiles – the first tile, "Awaiting my approval", leads to the personal mailbox, while the other tiles correspond to the individual document types (for example Invoices, Contracts, Quotes) for which the logged-in user has at least read rights. A user without any assigned rights to a document type in the Approval module does not see any type tiles at all, but always sees the personal mailbox tile.

Approval module settings

The Approval module settings are available to users with rights to manage the module settings, via the Settings link, which is displayed on the main screen next to the tiles and opens in a new window. The settings are used to manage the document types for approval – you use them to divide the company's documents by content, department, or the approvers involved. For each type, this is where you define the number of approval rounds, the number of signatures required, the approvers, the access rights, and the optional fields.

Creating and editing a document type for approval

Procedure: You create a new document type for approval using the Add Type button in the Approval module settings. Fill in the Title (required, maximum 64 characters) and Description, and set the Number of signatures for approval/rejection for round 1 (a whole number, at least 1) and for round 2 (a value of 0 disables the second round completely and the type remains single-round). Optionally check the default values for newly created requests of this type: Auto‑close (the request is automatically rejected after the deadline expires), Agree/disagree even after approval/rejection (approvers can add their opinion even after the decision has been made), and Email the information to approvers (all approvers, not just the submitter, are notified of the result by email). After saving, you edit the type by clicking the pencil icon on the corresponding row in the list of types.

Assigning approvers and access rights to a type

Procedure: On the document type row in the Approval module settings, click Select users next to the column you want to set – Can approve for round 1 or round 2, or Read, Write, or Delete/Restore. In the dialog, check the specific users; for the Read, Write and Delete/Restore rights, instead of listing individual users you can check the summary option All, which also includes users added to the company in the future. The rights are arranged from lowest to highest, left to right, and each higher right also includes all the lower rights to its left. Without assigned approvers, there is no one to vote on requests of that type, and the requests remain permanently undecided, unless the type also has automatic closing after the deadline enabled.

Custom fields for a document type for approval

The Approval module settings allow you to define up to 5 custom fields for each document type; these are then offered when creating a request and are displayed as columns in the request table. Open them using the Edit button next to the Optional fields column, and for each field choose a Title and a Type – Text/Number (up to 250 characters), Text (unlimited length), or Date. If you leave the field type empty (the "-" option), the field will not be displayed at all in requests of that type. Custom fields are useful, for example, for a contract number, an invoice amount, or another piece of information specific to that document type.

Permissions and access rights in the Approval module

Permission	Description
No rights	The user does not see the document type at all; the type tile is not displayed even when accessed directly.
Read right	Can open the type, view the list and detail of requests; cannot create new documents or delete anything.
Write right	Can additionally create new requests for approval and add notes to requests.
Delete/Restore right	Can additionally delete requests and entire document types, and restore them from the deleted list.

Independently of these four levels, there is the approver role, which is assigned separately for round (level) 1 and, if applicable, round 2 of each document type. An approver may sign, i.e. approve or reject, a request that is waiting for their signature, even if they have none of the rights listed above for that type – this is also why the link in the email, which allows a request to be approved or rejected without logging into the application, works. The Approval module administrator, i.e. the assigned module administrator, or the company's overall administrator, additionally has access to the module Settings – they may create and edit document types, delete types, set the required number of signatures, default values, custom fields, and assign rights and approvers to other users.

User interface

Main screen of the Approval module

The main screen of the Approval module displays a panel of tiles at the top. The first tile, "Awaiting my approval", carries a red badge with the number of requests currently waiting for the logged-in user's signature, and leads to the personal mailbox. The other tiles correspond to the individual document types for approval (for example Invoices, Contracts, Quotes) for which the logged-in user has at least read rights; the active tile that is currently open is visually highlighted. A user with rights to manage the module settings additionally sees the Settings link with an icon indicating it opens in a new window.

Document type screen

After clicking the tile of a specific type, for example Invoices, the screen for that document type opens in the Approval module. At the top there is an information card summarizing the type – how many approval rounds it has, who can approve in round 1 and how many signatures are required, and, for two-round types, the same information for round 2. Above the request table there is a status switch with the buttons All, Awaiting approval in round 1 (for single-round types just "Awaiting approval"), Awaiting approval in round 2 (only for two-round types), Approved and Rejected – each button displays a badge with the current number of matching records. On the right, above the table, are the Add document button, which requires write rights, and the Deleted button, which requires delete rights.

Filters and search for a document type

The document type screen in the Approval module contains a collapsible Filter panel with the fields: Search (text in the request's name or description), Inserted (a date range from–to), Approve by (a decision deadline range from–to), Inserted by (a selection of submitters who have already submitted something for this type), and the checkboxes Only after the deadline and Only my requests. You run the configured search with the Search button, and the Cancel filter button resets it back to the default state.

Request table for a document type

The request table on the document type screen in the Approval module displays the columns ID, Title, Description, Status, Inserted by, Inserted, Approve by, Signed/Rejected (the names and agree/disagree icons of the individual voters), Signature Progress (a numeric ratio and a colored indicator), Attachments, then the optional fields defined for that type, and the Actions column. The Actions column contains a magnifying glass icon to view the request detail, and, for users with delete rights, also a trash icon to delete the request.

The Signature Progress column shows how many signatures the request already has out of the total required for that round – for example, a ratio of 2/3 means that one more approving or rejecting vote is still needed to close the round. The Inserted by and Inserted (date and time of insertion) columns are filled in automatically based on who created the request and when, and the user does not edit them directly.

Awaiting my approval mailbox

The Awaiting my approval mailbox in the Approval module is shared across all document types and shows only the requests that are currently waiting for the logged-in user's signature. It has its own filter with the fields Type, Search, Inserted and Only after the deadline. The table contains a checkbox column for bulk selection, then ID, Type, Title, Inserted by, Inserted, Approve by, Round (for example "round 1"), Signature Progress, Attachments and Actions – a magnifying glass icon for the detail, and the Approve and Reject buttons directly in the row. Above the table are the Clear selection, Approve and Reject buttons for bulk processing of the selected rows. If the user is not an approver for any type, the table is replaced by the message "Nothing is waiting for your signature".

Request detail for approval

You open the request detail (view details including previous versions) in the Approval module by clicking the magnifying glass icon on a row in the request table or in the Awaiting my approval mailbox. The detail header has the AI: What are you approving? button, which provides an AI summary of the request. The detail also shows a separate section for each approval round, with an overview of which of the required approvers have already signed – for each individual user, you can also see the time when they recorded their signature or rejection – together with the Approve and Reject buttons, and a Notes section with the Add note button. If the document in the request has been additionally edited, the detail also shows the history of its previous versions, so you can return to older versions of the document at any time.

Basic operations

Procedure: Add new document for approval

1. On the screen of the relevant document type, click the Add document button in the Approval module.
2. Fill in the fields:
   • Title: required, a short name for the request
   • Description: optional description of the request's content, formatted text
   • Approve by: an optional deadline by which a decision should be made, preset to 14 days ahead
   • Auto‑close: a checkbox – after the deadline expires, the request is automatically rejected
   • Agree/disagree even after approval/rejection: a checkbox – allows approvers to add their opinion even after the decision has been made
   • Email the information to approvers: a checkbox – after the decision, sends an email with the result to all approvers as well, not just the submitter
   • Your field: custom fields according to the type's settings, up to 5, if defined
3. Drag the attachments into the Attachments area (60 files maximum).
4. Click Save.

The request is created and all round-1 approvers are notified by email; the email also contains buttons for direct approval or rejection without logging into the application.

Note: If you enter a request on the same day with the same Title and Description that you already entered for this type within the last two days, the Approval module will refuse to create it, showing a duplicate message – just adjust the title or description to make the request unique.

Procedure: Approving or rejecting a single request

1. In the Approval module, open the request detail using the magnifying glass icon, or use the button directly in the row of the Awaiting my approval mailbox.
2. On the detail, in the section for the relevant round, click Approve or Reject.
3. In the dialog, optionally fill in the Note and confirm with the Approve or Reject button, respectively.
4. As soon as the required number of signatures or rejections is reached, the round closes; for two-round types, once round 1 is approved, an email is automatically sent to the round-2 approvers.

Note: Whichever threshold is reached first – approval or rejection – determines the outcome. Until round 1 is approved, round 2 does not open at all and cannot be voted on.

Procedure: Bulk approval or rejection of multiple requests

1. In the Awaiting my approval mailbox in the Approval module, check the selected requests.
2. Click the Approve or Reject button above the table.
3. The dialog shows a list of the requests you are actually allowed to sign – the rest are silently skipped; add a common Note and confirm.
4. After processing, a message shows the number of items processed and, if applicable, skipped.

Note: In the Approval module, a maximum of 50 items can be processed in bulk at one time; for larger selections, process the requests in smaller batches.

Adding a note to a request

In the request detail in the Approval module, click the Add note button, fill in the text in the optional Description field, and save. The note immediately appears in the Notes table on the detail of that request and is visible to all users who have access to the request. Notes are useful, for example, for clarifying the circumstances of the request or recording an arrangement made outside the application.

Deleting and restoring a request

In the request table in the Approval module, click the trash icon on a record, available only with delete and restore rights, and confirm the prompt "Delete? / Do you really want to delete this record?". The record disappears from the regular list and appears in the Deleted list, which you open with the Deleted button above the table. From there, with Delete/Restore rights, it can be moved back into the regular list. In the same way, using the trash icon on the type row in the module settings, this right also lets you delete an entire document type.

Statuses of requests for approval and their progression

Status	What it means	How a record reaches it
Awaiting approval (single-round types) / Awaiting approval in round 1 (two-round types)	The request is waiting for the signatures of the round-1 approvers	Created when a new request is submitted by anyone with write rights to that type
Awaiting approval in round 2	Round 1 has been approved, the request is waiting for the round-2 approvers	Automatically, once the required number of approvals in round 1 is reached
Approved / Approved in round 1 / Approved in round 2	The required number of approving signatures for that round has been reached	By voting of the approvers of the relevant round and level
Rejected / Rejected in round 1 / Rejected in round 2	The required number of rejecting votes has been reached, or the deadline expired without a decision for types with automatic closing	By voting of the approvers, or automatically in the nightly check after the Approve by deadline expires

For two-round document types, the second round does not open until the first round has been approved – so voting in the second round is not possible before that. If a document type has the Agree/disagree even after approval/rejection option enabled, the approvers of that round can add their opinion even after it has closed, up until the Approve by deadline.

Round and level of approval – the same concept

The Approval module uses two different terms for the same thing: on the request screens, it refers to "round 1" and "round 2", while in the document type settings it refers to "level 1" and "level 2" (for example for the Can approve option). It is always the same thing – the first or second phase, respectively, of the approval process for that document type, with its own group of approvers and its own configured number of required signatures.

Example: Two-round approval of an invoice

Example: A company has the Invoices document type set up as two-round – round 1 requires just 1 signature from any of the cost center managers, while round 2 requires 2 signatures out of a total of 3 executives. The accountant enters a new invoice for approval using the Add document button and sets Approve by to the end of the month. The system emails the cost center managers assigned to round 1. As soon as one of them approves the invoice, the request moves to the Awaiting approval in round 2 status, and all three executives assigned to round 2 receive an email. As soon as two of them approve the invoice, the request receives the Approved in round 2 status, and an email with the result goes to the accountant who submitted the invoice, and, if the Invoices document type has this enabled, to all the approvers as well. If none of the executives had decided by the end of the month and the type has Auto‑close enabled, the request is automatically rejected during the nightly check.

Advanced features

Using the AI assistant during approval

In the request detail in the Approval module, click the AI: What are you approving? button. The artificial intelligence displays a summary of the request, Key Points, any risks or missing information, and suggested justifications for both approval and rejection, including buttons to approve or reject directly with a note pre-filled according to the suggestion. The Regenerate button forces a new evaluation instead of using the previously saved answer – without it, the answer is not recalculated the next time the detail is opened, and the one saved from before is used instead. The feature draws on the company's shared pool of AI credits; if the company is running low on credits, the button will warn about it and regenerating the answer will not be possible.

Automatic email notifications and nightly closing of overdue requests

The Approval module sends emails automatically in several situations. When a new request is created, all round-1 approvers receive an email with buttons for direct approval or rejection, without logging into the application. Once round 1 of a two-round type is approved, the round-2 approvers receive the same type of email. After a decision is made on a request, an email with the result is sent to the request's submitter, and, if the document type has this enabled, to all the approvers of that type as well. In addition, an automatic check of requests runs once a day for requests that have Auto‑close enabled and whose Approve by deadline has already passed without a decision – such requests, and individual rounds for two-round types, are automatically rejected, a note about the rejection due to the expired deadline is recorded in the decision history, and an email with the result is sent, the same as with a regular rejection. The Awaiting my approval tile additionally continuously shows the current number of requests waiting for the logged-in user's signature.

Integration with other modules

Paper Mail

The Approval module is linked to the Paper Mail module (incoming mail) – for a received item, you can choose to have the document forwarded directly for approval. This creates a new request of the selected type in the Approval module, with the same attachments as the received item. A note with a link to the newly created request is recorded in Paper Mail, and the item's status changes to processed. Conversely, a note with a link back to the original record in Paper Mail is recorded in the request detail in Approval, available under the Document transferred from module button.

Artificial intelligence

The AI: What are you approving? button in the request detail uses the shared artificial intelligence feature in the application and draws on the same pool of company AI credits as similar features in other modules. The evaluation is only calculated on request; the result is saved and is only recalculated after manual confirmation using the Regenerate button.

Files and attachments

Attachments added to a request for approval are stored in the application's shared file management, the same as in other modules. For each attachment, a download button is available in the request detail. A maximum of 60 files can be attached to a single request at a time.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions and error messages

Question: Why don't I see any document type tile in the Approval module, only the Awaiting my approval tile?

Solution: The document type tile is only displayed to users who have at least read rights to that type. If the tile is missing, ask the Approval module administrator to grant you rights to the relevant document type.

Question: How can I tell in the Approval module how many signatures a request still needs for approval?

Solution: Both the request table and the Awaiting my approval mailbox show this in the Signature Progress column – a numeric ratio, for example 2/3, together with a colored indicator. In the request detail, you can also see by name which approvers have already signed and which have not.

Question: What does the Round column mean in the Awaiting my approval mailbox?

Solution: The Round column shows which approval round the request is currently waiting for the logged-in user's signature in – for example "round 1" or "round 2". For single-round document types, this always shows round 1, because the second round is disabled.

Question: Why does the Approval module refuse to create a new request, showing a duplicate message?

Solution: The module shows the message "You have already entered a request with this name and description today. Please adjust the name and description - to make the request unambiguous." when the same user has created a request with the same Title and Description for the same type within the last two days. Just adjust the title or description to make the request unambiguous.

Question: Why does the Approval module show the message "This request cannot be approved"?

Solution: This message appears when trying to approve or reject a request that the user is no longer allowed to affect – for example, someone else has already closed it or voted on it in the meantime. Refresh the page and check the current status of the request.

Question: What does the message "Nothing is waiting for your signature" mean?

Solution: It appears in the Awaiting my approval mailbox if the logged-in user currently has no request waiting for their signature, or when attempting bulk approval or rejection without any items selected – in that case, first select at least one request.

Question: Why does bulk processing in the Approval module report that only a limited number of items can be processed?

Solution: The message "The maximum number of items that can be processed at one time is: 50" appears when more than 50 requests are selected at once. Process them in smaller batches.

Question: Why can't I save a new document type in the Approval module settings?

Solution: The messages "Number of signatures for approval/rejection: >= 1" and "Number of signatures for approval/rejection: >= 0" mean that the Number of signatures field must be at least 1 for round 1 and at least 0 for round 2, where a value of 0 disables the second round. The message "Incorrectly entered name: …" means that the type's Title is empty or longer than 64 characters – enter a valid title.

Question: Why did I fail to attach all the files to a request?

Solution: The message "You can upload up to 60 files." appears when trying to attach more attachments than the Approval module allows. Reduce the number of attachments in a single request.

Question: Why did the AI assistant in the Approval module not return an answer?

Solution: The message "The AI was unable to process the report. Please try again." indicates a temporary processing error. Try using the AI: What are you approving? button again, or later. If the company has run out of AI credits, the button will warn about it and regenerating the answer will not be possible.

Question: Why can't I delete a request or document type in the Approval module?

Solution: The message "You do not have permission to perform this action." means that the user has not been granted Delete/Restore rights for that document type. Ask the Approval module administrator to grant you this right.

Tips for efficient work

• Tip: In the Awaiting my approval mailbox, you can handle signatures across all document types in one place, without having to go through the individual type tiles.
• Tip: For types with a large number of similar requests, use the bulk Approve or Reject – it saves time compared to signing requests one by one.
• Tip: Enable the Auto‑close option for a document type if you don't want undecided requests to remain open indefinitely in the Approval module.
• Tip: Use the AI: What are you approving? button for longer or more complex documents – the summary and risk warnings will help you decide faster.
• Tip: If a document type does not need two-level approval, set the number of signatures for round 2 to 0 in the module settings – this simplifies the approval process to a single round.
• Tip: Approvers can also handle a request without logging into the application, directly from the buttons in the email notification – useful when they are out of the office.