Creating Approval Flows

• 04/10/2024
• 7 minutes to read

As an alternative to standard purchase approval, you can set up one or more approval flows, which are essentially custom lists of approvers required for document approval. When a document has been assigned an approval flow, it can't be posted until it has been approved either by all approvers in the flow (the default setting) or by the approvers that have been selected according to the specified amount limits. With the default setting, the approvers must approve the document in the order you specify when you set up the flow.

When you create an approval flow, you must provide it with an approval flow code that is suitable for your particular organization's setup. The code can be entered as free text and should be whatever word best describes the approval flow you're setting up, such as SMALL (for small purchases) or GERMANY (for supplies procured in Germany) – basically anything you prefer. The entered code is to be used when you assign the approval flow to a document.

To be able to add approvers to your approval flow, you must set them up first. Once set up, the approvers will be available for selection in the Continia User List, as described below.

To set up an approval flow

1. Choose the icon, enter Approval Flows, and then choose the related link.
2. In the action bar, select New to add an approval flow.
3. In the list, under Code, enter a suitable code for the approval flow.
4. Optional: Under Description, enter a free-text description of the approval flow.
5. Under Selection Method, specify how approvers are to be selected for the approval of documents that have this approval flow code applied. For more information, see Adding amount limits to an approval flow below.
6. Under No. of Approvers, select the number (0 for new flows) to open the Approvers page.
7. In the action bar, select New to add an approver.
8. In the list, under Name, select the three dots on the right to open the Continia User List. Select a user from the list, and then select OK to close the page.
9. Under Approval Amount Limit, add the amount limit that you want to apply to this approver. This applies specifically to this approval flow and overrules any other approval limits configured elsewhere for this user. Note that any entered amount limits will be disregarded if you select All under Selection Method in step 5 above.
10. Repeat steps 7-9 for every additional approver you want to add to the flow.

Adding amount limits to an approval flow

By adding amount limits to an approval flow, you can enable the flow to release documents whenever the specified approval level is met. In this way, each document for approval won't have to be forwarded to all approvers in the flow if it can be released by an approver with the appropriate approval limit early in the process. This ensures that only the necessary number of people are involved in the approval process, thereby enabling documents to be approved faster.

To add amount limits to an approval flow, follow the guide above under To set up an approval flow. The actual amount limits are added as numerical values for each individual approver in step 9 of the guide, under Approval Amount Limit. In step 5 of the guide, you can decide if or how these amount limit values should then be used to select approvers for the approval of documents with this approval flow applied. You can choose between the following selection methods:

See also

Using Approval Flows
Continia User Setup for Approvals