Invoice Approvals

This feature is only available for Pro and Enterprise package users. To upgrade your plan, contact your Account Manager or request a contact here.

Now you can set up custom approval workflows that match the way your business works. Create multi-step approvals based on invoice amounts, assign the right people or teams to review certain items, and set up escalation rules if approvals are delayed. It’s an easy way to automate your invoice  approval processes, save time, reduce errors and get a clear record of who approved what. With better control and visibility, you can manage your property finances with confidence.

Create a new Workflow

Workflows are created at the Billing Group level and can be assigned to one or more companies. Currently, you can create only one approval type per workflow, such as invoice approvals or work order approvals, but you can manage multiple approval scenarios by adding multiple steps within the workflow.

1. Navigate to Settings > Automations > Approval Workflows 
2. In the Workflows area, click Create New Workflow
3. Name your approval workflow type (e.g., “Invoice Approvals”)
4. Add a description if you wish
5. From the Approval type dropdown menu, select Invoice Approval
6. Select which company or companies this workflow applies to
7. Click Create and save. From here you can start adding workflow steps to this approval type.

Adding multiple steps to your approval

Your approval workflows can include multiple steps, which are triggered in sequence once an invoice is marked as Awaiting Approval. Each step can have its own set of conditions that must be met for the invoice to move forward.

You have full flexibility to set up approval steps that are as simple or detailed as needed. Define criteria based on things like invoice amount, approver roles, or escalation rules for delayed approvals.

Here's a breakdown of criteria you can use: 

1. Conditions including invoice value, property, or tenancy. You can add as many new condition rows in each step as you need to. If you need to remove a line, simpyl click the rubbish bin symbol at the end of that row. 

2. Approval including who can approve the invoice. This can be specified at role, team or user level

3. Escalation including to whom the approval will be escalated next if the initial approval has not been actioned within a specified time frame. 

Once you've set all your criteria for this step, click Save. To keep on adding more steps to your invoice approval, click Add a step and start adding new workflow criteria as explained above.

When you're ready, click Save Workflow at the top of the screen to publish it.

From then on, any expense invoice that meets the criteria you've set will automatically go through the workflow. The system will follow each step and send approval requests based on the rules you've defined. 

The Approvals Hub

To access all the Approvals Hub, navigate to the Approvals area from the toggle menu. 

Here you'll get a centralized view of all approval activity across your company. You can quickly see the status of each item, whether it’s awaiting approval, pending, rejected, completed, or failed, so nothing slips through the cracks.

To find a more specific subset or information, use the search bar or apply filters to drill down into a particular set of approvals, such as those related to a specific company or property.

To save time or action multiple approval requests at the same time, you can also approve them in bulk with just a few clicks by first selecting the invoices you wish to approve and then clicking the bulk actions button. 

Approving / Rejecting an Invoice

When you are approving an expense invoice, you’ll have a summary of the invoice, and who the current approver is. You can then approve the invoice, or reject it with a comment.

Users with permission to approve invoices can still approve them manually, even outside the Invoice Approval Workflow. If you want to prevent this, you can remove their approval permissions by updating their user role:

1. Go to Settings > Maintain User Roles

2. Select the relevant role

3. Under Income and Expense Permissions, deselect Can approve invoice and credit note

4. Save your changes

This ensures that approvals can only be completed through the defined workflow.

Track all activity with the audit log

Any comment you or an approver adds will be saved in the Comments and History section as part of the approval audit log, making it easier to stay on top of changes to the invoice approval workflow.

In addition to showing who approved or rejected the invoice, and whether or not they left a comment, it will also show when the invoice first entered the approval workflow and how many rounds of approval it has gone through.

Stay on top of your approval requests

Whenever you're asked to approve an invoice, you'll receive an email notification for each request.

If you regularly receive multiple approval requests each day, we recommend adjusting your Notification Preferences and Daily To-Do List Digest in your Personal Profile Settings. This helps you manage the number of emails you receive and keeps your inbox organised.