Value approval rules

If your purchasing approval policy uses a value approval rule type, you need to have value approval rules. The value approval rules define which purchasing transaction amounts require approval and by whom.

About value approval rules

Value approval rules work a bit differently, depending on the value approval rule type they are for:

  • Department-based value approvals (Value Approval - Department and Value Approval - Transaction Department)

    These rule types use one or more value approval rules that are defined in a rule set. For each rule set, you define a default value approval rule that applies to any department without its own specific value approval rule. Then, you use the Value Approval Rule page to define a value approval rule for each specific department that needs a different set of approvers and/or different approval amounts.

    For both Value Approval - Department and Value Approval - Transaction Department, approval requests are routed to the first approver and then to each successive approver until the transaction amount falls below the next approver's limits. (See the field descriptions for examples.)

  • Permission-based value approvals (Value Approval and Value Approval - Progressive)

    These rule types have only one value approval rule. You select the number of levels of approval you need and the amounts for each level. The approvers for a specific level are those users who have permission for purchasing approval at that level.

    For Value Approval, approval requests are sent directly to the approvers for the level in which the transaction amount falls. For Value Approval - Progressive, approval routing starts at Level 1 and progresses through each level until the transaction amount falls below the next. (See the field descriptions for examples.)

    Users that are restricted to specific entities or departments may not receive notifications for this type of value approval regardless of their email preferences.

Any changes you make to the value approval rules do not affect any purchasing transactions that are currently in the approval cycle. The changes take effect whenever a purchasing transaction gets submitted—whether a new one is submitted, a declined one is resubmitted, or an approved transaction was modified and the purchasing configuration is set to require a new approval cycle if an approved transaction is modified.

Department-based value approval rules

Subscription Purchasing
User type Business user with admin privileges

To add or edit a value approval rule for a rule set, you start from the Value Approval Rule Set page. To find this page:

  1. On the Purchasing Approval Policy page, find a line item where Value Approval - Department or Value Approval - Transaction Department is selected for one of the rule types.
  2. Select the rule set dropdown list, and then complete one of the following tasks:
    • Select the Add link at the top of the list to create a new rule set.
    • Select a rule set in the list and select the View link.
  1. In the Department-specific rules section on the Value Approval Rule Set page, if you do not see an Add button above the table, select Edit. The page refreshes and the Add button appears.
  2. Select the Add button. The Value Approval Rule page appears.
  3. Select a Department ID.
  4. Add any optional Description.
  5. For each approver you want:
    • Select an Approver. For a named user to appear in the list, the user must have permission to list purchasing transactions that need approval.
    • Enter Value from and Value to to specify the minimum and maximum approval amounts for the approver. For the first approver, you can specify a non-zero value for the minimum amount. For the last approver, leave the maximum amount empty.

    See field descriptions for details.

  6. Select Save. The Value Approval Rule Set page appears. A row for the department is added to the table of department-specific rules.
  7. Select Save when you are through working with the value approval rules for the rule set.
  1. In the Department-specific rules section on the Value Approval Rule Set page, find the department that you want and select the Pencil icon. The Value Approval Rule page appears.
  2. Add, change, or delete the approvers and approval amounts as needed. For details, go to field descriptions.
  3. Select Save.

You delete the value approval rule for a specific department from the Value Approval Rule Set page and not from the Value Approval Rule page.

Permission-based value approvals

You add or edit the value approval rule for permission-based value approvals starting from the Purchasing Approval Policy page.

Subscription Purchasing
User type Business user with admin privileges

If you have selected Value Approval or Value Approval - Progressive as a rule type in an approval policy and have not previously set up the level approval amounts, you need to add a value approval rule.

  1. On the Purchasing Approval Policy page where you have specified Value Approval or Value Approval - Progressive as a rule type, select Edit. The Value Approval Rule page appears.
  2. Add any optional Description.
  3. For each level of approval you want:
    • Enter Value from and Value to to specify the minimum and maximum approval amounts for the level. For the last level, leave Value to empty. For the first level, you can specify a non-zero value for the minimum amount.
    • Select Minimum approvers to specify the required number of approvers for the level. Transactions can be approved by anyone with permission for that level of approval.

    See field descriptions for details.

  4. Select Save.

If you have selected Value Approval or Value Approval - Progressive as a rule type in an approval policy, you might want to edit or view its value approval rule.

  1. On the Purchasing Approval Policy page where you have specified Value Approval or Value Approval - Progressive as a rule type, select Edit. The Value Approval Rule page appears.
  2. Add, modify, or delete information as needed. For details, go to field descriptions.
  3. Select Save.

You cannot delete the value approval rule for the permission-based value approvals.

Field descriptions

The following tables describe each item on the Value approval rule page.

Page for department-based value approval rules

Department-based value approval rules field descriptions
Field Description

Department ID

The department for the value approval rule.

Description

An optional note about the value approval rule.

Approver, Value from, and Value to

Specify how many approvers that you want and the amounts that require approval.

Approval requests are routed to the first approver and then to each successive approver until the transaction amount falls below the next approver's limits.

Assume you have a value approval rule that's defined as follows:

  • Approver 1: Department Manager, R500 to R1,000
  • Approver 2: Mark Johnson, R1,000.01 to R5,000
  • Approver 3: Lucy Ruiz, R5,000.01 to no-maximum-limit

Depending on the amount of the transaction, here's how the approval routing would work:

  • R100 transaction amount: Not routed because it's automatically approved.
  • R2,500 transaction amount: Routed to Approver 1 and then to Approver 2.
  • R15,000 transaction amount: Routed to Approver 1, Approver 2, and then Approver 3.
  • For each approver, the amounts that can be approved is the limit specified by Value from and Value to. For example, you might define the following three approvers: 
    • Approver 1: Department Manager, R500 to R1,000
    • Approver 2: Mark Johnson, R1,000.01 to R5,000
    • Approver 3: Lucy Ruiz, R5,000.01 to no-maximum-limit
  • Specify Value from and Value to for each approver except the last. For the last approver, leave Value to empty, which ensures any transaction amount over the last approver's minimum amount is always approved. Use contiguous values from approver to approver, leaving no gaps. For example, if Approver 2 is R1,000.01 to R5,000, then the minimum value for Level 3 must be R5,000.01.
  • For Level 1, you can specify a Value from that's greater than zero; any amount below a non-zero value is automatically approved.
  • If your company is enabled for multiple base currencies and you selected a value approval currency, the approval currency is displayed in the text above the table with the approvers and approval limits. To set the approval currency, see the Entity Preferences section of Manage multiple entities.
  • To select a named user as an approver, and not a named role such as Department Manager, the user must have permission to list purchasing transactions that need approval. To assign permission, edit the user's permission in the Purchasing application and select approve purchasing transactions. Learn more about assigning permissions.

Page for the permission-based value approval rule

Permission-based value approval rule field descriptions
Field Description

Description

An optional note about the value approval rule.

Level, Value from, Value to, and Minimum approvers

Specify how many levels of approval that you want, the amounts that require approval, and the number of required approvers. Sage Intacct supports a maximum of 6 approval levels.

For Value Approval, approval requests are sent directly to the approvers for the level in which the transaction amount falls. For Value Approval: Progressive, approval routing starts at Level 1 and progresses through each level until the transaction amount falls below the next level.

Assume that your value approval rule is defined with the following three levels:

  • Level 1:  R500 to R1,000
  • Level 2: R1,000.01 to R5,000
  • Level 3:  R5,000.01 to no-maximum-limit

If the transaction amount is R2,500, here's how the approval requests would be sent:

  • Value Approval: Approval requests are sent directly to Level 2.
  • Value Approval: Progressive: Approval requests are sent first to Level 1 and then Level 2.
  • For each level, the amounts that the approver can approve is the limit specified by Value from and Value to. For example, you might define three levels of approval:
    • Level 1:  R500 to R1,000
    • Level 2: R1,000.01 to R5,000
    • Level 3:  R5,000.01 to no-maximum-limit
  • Specify Value from and Value to for each level except the last. For the last level, leave Value to empty. Use contiguous values from level to level, leaving no gaps. For example, if Level 2 is R1,000.01 to R5,000, then specify R5,000.01 as the minimum value for Level 3.
  • For Level 1, you can specify a Value from that's greater than zero. Any amount below a non-zero value is automatically approved.
  • If your company is enabled for multiple base currencies and you selected a value approval currency, the approval currency is displayed in the text above the table with the approval levels. To set the approval currency, see the Entity Preferences section of Manage multiple entities.
  • Purchasing transactions can be approved by anyone with permission to that level of approval. To assign permission, edit the user's permission in the Purchasing application and select the purchasing approval levels that the user is allowed to approve. Also, ensure that approve purchasing transactions is selected. Learn more about assigning permissions.