Sicon Approvals Help and User Guide – Approval Routes

1. Approval Settings Tab

The Approval Routes system provides a number of options to create approval routes for documents which need to be configured within System Settings cogs – System Settings – Approval Tab.  These must be configured prior to building approval routes.

1.1. Display

View PDF Attachments Inline:  this must be enabled if using a document management system within the Invoice module; this setting will allow the attached invoice to be viewed during the approval process.

Use Acrobat Viewer for inline PDFs:  if Adobe is installed on client machines it will use this to open the attachment; if not enabled, the Approvals viewer will be used.

Hide Budgets tab on approval pages:  this setting will hide the budget tab on all approval pages.

1.2. Functionality Banner

Various parameters can be turned on and off to create the required approval route settings per document within the Approvals system.  These settings are configured per Approvals install rather than per Company.  Once routes have been created or there are documents awaiting approval, these settings cannot be changed without deleting routes and ensuring there are no documents awaiting approval.  Combinations of approval options are possible (for example Requisitions could be approved by both requesting user and nominal account) but it is recommended to keep the routes as simple as possible to allow for easier administration and troubleshooting.

Based on modules enabled, all applicable document types are listed, e.g. Requisitions, Sales Orders, Invoices, Project Requisitions etc. and approval route functionality is set per document type.  Some document types may not have all approval options available; e.g. Holiday Requests can only be approved by requesting user.

Document Item Value or Document Value?

If approval is set on Document Item Value, lines with the same nominal code are collated together and checked against the approver’s approval value to determine whether further approval is required.  If an approver had £500 approval value and a user entered a requisition with two lines against different nominal codes, both £300 each, the approver would be able to approve.  If the two lines were on the same nominal code, further approval would be required as the approver does not have sufficient approval value.

If approval is set on Document Value, the total value of the document is checked against the approver’s approval value to determine whether further approval is required.  If an approver had £500 approval value, regardless of the number of lines or nominal code on a document, if the total value is more than £500, further approval would be required as the approver does not have sufficient approval value.

Once routes have been created, this setting cannot be changed without clearing out existing routes and ensuring no documents are awaiting approval so it is important to configure this as required before creating routes.

Approval is always at the Net value, not Gross value.  All approval is calculated against the system base currency; any documents entered with a different currency will be converted to the base currency (Sage exchange rates are used when converting).

Document Requires Approval:  by default, this will be on, but if documents do not require approval, this can be unticked.

Approve as Single Document:  if this is ticked it would mean that only one nominal account can be set per document; usually more than one nominal code would be needed on a document so this wouldn’t need to be switched on.

Approval Type:  set at either document item value or document value; document value will use the total value of the document for approval while document item value will total the lines with the same nominal code for approval.

Nominal Account:  approval to be based on nominal account (combination of account number, cost centre and department); if a new nominal account is added in Sage, corresponding approval routes would need to be created in Approvals.

Supplier:  approval to be based on the Purchase Ledger supplier account; if a new supplier account is added in Sage, corresponding approval routes would need to be created in Approvals.

Value Band:  value bands would need to be created to either allow for documents to skip approvers or for more targeted approval; for example, if documents over a certain value should go straight to a Director for approval rather than going through line managers before reaching the Director.  Value bands are usually used in conjunction with another functionality option, e.g. nominal account or requesting user.

Requesting User:  approval to be based on the user who submitted the document; if new users are added in Approvals, corresponding approval routes would need to be created.  Some document types cannot be set on Requesting User as there is none – this is where the document has originated outside of Approvals, e.g. invoices entered in Sage or suggested payments.

Project:  approval to be based on the project selected; if new projects are created in Sage, corresponding approval routes would need to be created.  This will only show as an option if Approvals is linked with a Costing Module.

Project Header:  approval to be based on the project header (or project item) selected; if new project headers or project items are created in Sage, corresponding approval routes would need to be created in Approvals.  This will only show as an option if Approvals is linked with a Costing Module.

Project Manager:  this can only be used in conjunction with Sicon Projects; approval would be based on the Project Manager linked to the project selected.  If new Project Managers are created in Sage, corresponding approval routes in Approvals would need to be created.  If projects are being created in Sage regularly, it is advisable to have approval based on Project Manager (rather than Project) as this would mean less maintenance; approval routes only need configuration if new project managers are created, rather than every time a new project is entered.

Approval Configuration examples per Document Type

Requisitions:  if no costing module is configured, approval would usually either be based on nominal account or requesting user; if a costing module is configured, approval may be based on project or project manager.

Suggested Payments:  these can only be approved either based on value or supplier.  A default approval route for this document type may be sufficient to the Company’s MD or FD.

Invoices:  if invoice approval is used in conjunction with the requisition module, the invoice approval routes will usually mirror requisition approval routes.  Requesting user can only be selected if invoices are entered directly into Approvals (i.e. when Commercials are not configured in Sage).

Project Requisitions:  approval is usually always to the same set of users, i.e. the Procurement Team, so a default approval route is usually sufficient.  Approval routes can also be configured based on requesting user or value band.

Expenses:  usually these would be approved based either on requesting user or on the nominal code.  If Approvals is linked with a Costing Module, the Project Manager may have an impact.

Timesheets:  usually these would be approved based either on requesting user or on Project Manager.

Holidays:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.

Construction Applications:  if this functionality is to be used; approval will be based either on supplier, project or project manager.

Customers:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.  Usually a default approval route for this document type will be created to either a Finance user or set of users.

Supplier:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.  Usually a default approval route for this document type will be created to either a Finance user or set of users.

Stock Item:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.  Usually a default approval route for this document type will be created to a Procurement user or set of users.

Expense Supplier:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.  Usually a default approval route for this document type will be created to a Finance user or set of users.

Absence:  these can only be approved based on requesting user.

Sales Orders: usually approval would be based on requesting user, although other approval options are available to be configured as required.

Sales Order Quotes: usually approval would be based on requesting user, although other approval options are available to be configured as required.

Sales Order Returns: usually approval would be based on requesting user, although other approval options are available to be configured as required.

Deleting Approval Routes

Once an approval route option has been configured above and approval routes have been created, it is not possible to change the approval configuration for that document type without removing all the existing routes and making sure no documents are awaiting approval; i.e. changing Requisition approval from being based on nominal account to requesting user.

Clicking on the Approval Route Deletion Options banner will show hidden buttons provided to remove all approval route for each document type allowing new options to be selected and new routes configured.  Routes can be deleted per Sage database and per module type.  It is recommended to export existing approval routes before deleting routes in this screen.

Deleting all routes will stop the Approvals system being able to be used until there is a default approval route (all menu options on the left will disappear).  A global default approval route will need to be created; we would advise this to be an Administrator user who does not appear in other routes.

It is not possible to recover approval routes once they have been deleted – please ensure routes are exported prior to deletion to allow for them to be reimported if needed.  Warnings will show prior to routes being deleted.

The below settings can be changed while approval routes are configured in the system.

Auto escalate approval to next approver if not approved within number of hours:  if this setting is configured it will automatically send a document to the next approval step if it has not been approved or rejected within the allocated time period.  The approval history of the document will be updated to show it has moved to the next approval stage due to it not being approved within the time limit.  If the document reaches the final step of the approval route, it will not escalate any further.  It is recommended this setting is set at a minimum of 48 hours to cover for weekend dates.  Suggested Payments and Project Requisitions will not move to the next approver as these documents can require action from approvers.

Approval Routes for a document are restarted on changes made to a document by any user (not just the requestor):  by default, any changes made to a document by the requester will cause the document to restart the approval route, but checking this option will mean changes made to the document by any user will restart the route.

All Document Approval Routes are restarted when an approval route is changed:  if an approval route is changed while a document is awaiting approval, this option will cause the document to start the approval route from the beginning, rather than carrying on from the current stage.

Prompt for confirmation before approval when using ‘Approve All’ option:  this option will cause a pop-up to appear to ask the user for confirmation when they are approving documents using the multi select option.

Prompt for confirmation for individual item lines before completing approval (only when single document approval is disabled):  this option will cause a pop-up to appear to ask the user for confirmation when they are approving a single document item or line.

When single document approval is enabled, compare the actual approval routes for the items rather than the approval options (e.g. the routes are the same instead of the nominal accounts being the same):  this will mean the routes are checked during document entry; i.e. items can only be entered if the approval route is the same, rather than only checking nominal accounts (i.e. if document approval is based on another option other than nominal account).  All lines on the document will be approved or rejected at the same time.

Approval history display type for report grids:  this affects how approval progress is displayed in all reports with approval details.  Combined – all details are combined into a single column per step.  Discrete – all the details are separated into multiple columns per step.  All – shows all columns from combined and discrete.  None – approval step columns are hidden.

1.3. Invoice Approval

Approvals has been developed with three settings regarding approving invoices that are linked to purchase orders.  Only one of the below settings can be chosen.  If these settings are changed, please restart the Approvals service once saved to ensure the new configuration is used.

Option 1

Automatically approve invoices that are linked to Purchase Orders.

This option allows for auto approval of an invoice that is linked to a related purchase order and will be used in conjunction with the variance checking options.  If an invoice fails the variance check, it will not be automatically approved and will be pulled through into Approvals – it will follow the pre-configured invoice approval routes.  The approver will see a post-it note against the invoice on the approval screen which will explain the variance.

Check for variance when auto approving invoices (Requires Approvals Addon configured in Sage): Using the Approvals Addon in Sage, this setting will check for any variance in conjunction with the other settings configured on this screen.

Acceptable variance percentage with purchase order line: This setting will check the value of the invoiced line(s) against the total of the matched PO lines with the figure here.

Acceptable variance value with purchase order line (Approvals base currency): This setting will check the value of the invoiced line against the total value of the matched PO lines with the figure here.  If the invoice falls outside of this acceptable monetary value it will require additional comments to explain the discrepancy (if it is within the variance, comments are not mandatory), and will then be sent for approval.

If the invoice falls within this variance, the invoice will be automatically approved.

Note; these top two settings work together so if there is any variance outside of either acceptable value or percentage, the invoice will require approval.

Check the invoiced quantity matches the Goods Received quantity:  this setting will check the invoice quantity against the total goods received quantity at the time of recording the invoice.  It requires three-way matching to be turned on in Sage Purchase Order Settings.  If an order is subsequently received, the invoice will still require approval.

If the order is part-received and invoiced, this will not be counted as a variance that requires approval (if the quantities match).

If there is no GRN at all, a warning will be displayed to the user to explain that “Order X has been invoiced for X items but no items have been delivered.”  The user will then need to enter a reason for this variance (or close the screen if this is a mistake and query with the user who raised the requisition).

Further information with examples of all these variance settings can be found in the Approvals Add-on Help and User Guide.

Automatically approve if invoice line is less than purchase order line:  this option can be configured if company policy is to approve automatically an invoice that is received less than the purchase order.  If an invoice falls outside of the acceptable variance in Sage it will require additional comments from the person inputting the invoice to explain the variance, and will then be sent for approval.

Invoices that are not auto approved should be approved first by the requisition requestor, then the normal approval route for the invoice (when there is no default route configured for invoices with variance):  this setting will mean that if an invoice has a variance to either the PO or GRN, the first approver must be the user who raised the requisition, then the standard approval route will be used.  For this to work, there must be no default approval route for variance invoices.

Note, Approvals cannot distinguish between the different types of variances – if there is any variance between the order and the invoice in line with the above settings, the linked invoice will require approval, regardless of whether it’s a price or GRN discrepancy.

Option 2

Invoices linked to requisitions should be approved by the requisition requestor.

This option generates a custom approval route for each invoice that is linked to a requisition; the route will contain only the user who raised the requisition in Approvals and will not follow the pre-configured standard approval route or any budget checking options.  If this option is required, each user who could raise a requisition would need to also be given permission to approve an invoice with unlimited invoice approval value.

Option 3

All invoices require approval

If this option is chosen, all invoices entered into Sage 200 and picked up for approval will use the standard configured invoice approval routes.

1.4. Mandatory Approval - Custom Fields Banner

This feature allows up to three additional mandatory approval labels to be included in approval routes and have a custom label so they can be personalised per installation.  An example of this being used is the CAPEX Spend option below; it might be that when the user is raising a requisition this is identified as cap-ex and so additional approval would be required.

When adding or amending an approval route, any custom fields that have been enabled will appear as selectable options, similar to the standard mandatory flags, see below.

If enabled, the label is displayed when submitting either a requisition, invoices or a sales order for a user to select.

1.5. Self-Approval

Each Approvals user can be set with a self-approval value per document type (User Setup – Users – Account Options).  There are three options available for configuring self-approval when the user submitting the document is also in the approval route.  One of these options must be selected; by default, the first option is checked at install.

Self-approval will override mandatory approval routes, except if the nominal or project is over budget.

Use the requestor self-approval value instead of the document approval value:  as a general rule, self-approval value is usually less than the user’s document approval value; this will accommodate the scenario where a user can approve other user’s documents at one value but they can only approve documents submitted by themselves at a lower value or at 0.00, forcing the document through the approval routes.

Use the approvers alternate user account where available, or remove the requester from the approval route for that document when there is no alternate user available:  the alternate user is set on the user’s profile; if there is no user configured here, the document will go to the next stage of the approval route.

Use the normal approval value that would be used if approving a document requested by another user:  the user’s document approval value or specific nominal approval value will be used rather than their self-approval value.  Use this option if different nominal codes have different requisition approval values.

2. Approval Route Reports

There are four reports that can be run from the approval route report section.

Once a report has been run, right-click on a column header to view additional options for sorting, searching or exporting the report.  All reports can be exported to XLS, XLSX and PDF.  Click the ‘Column Chooser’ option to see any additional columns that can be added to the report or to drag columns from the report if they should no longer be seen.

Reports are cookie based so to allow for this customisation, ensure the browser settings allow cookies from the Approvals website.  Customised columns may return to the standard configuration following an Approvals or browser upgrade as cookies may be cleared.  Within the user’s individual settings there is also an option to reset report layouts.

2.1. Approval Routes

This report will show all approval routes for a particular document type and Sage database.  Depending on approval route configuration, options will appear to select a nominal code, requesting user, project etc. when running the report.  Once the report has been run, it will show each route configured with each approval stage; if single users are in the approval step, their approval value will show in brackets with M marking Mandatory and MOB showing Mandatory over Budget.

Selecting a Document Type, Sage Database and then clicking Run without any nominal code, requesting user, project etc. selected will return all routes for the Sage Company and Document Type chosen.

Selecting a Document Type, Sage Database and nominal code, requesting user, project etc. will return the routes for that combination only.

Selecting a Document Type, Sage Database and ‘Any’ will only return routes if the ‘Any’ option has been configured in any routes (see next section for further detail on creating routes using the ‘Any’ feature).

Include Inactive – by default only active requesting users will show (for when approval routes are built based on Requesting User); if leavers are to be shown also, tick this slider.  This can cause performance issues on sites with large number of leavers.

2.2. User Approval Values

This report will show all users with their item, approval and self-approval values for each document type. The report can be run for one user or if the user filter is left blank, data will be generated for all users.

2.3. Custom User Nominal Values Report

This report will show per database and per user nominal codes with overridden approval value per nominal code.  If the ‘Show Nominal with no custom value’ option is ticked, all nominal codes allocated to the user will be displayed.  This report is the best to run to show nominal codes allocated to users.  The report can be run for one user or if the user filter is left blank, data will be generated for all users.

2.4. User Nominal Accounts List

This report will show per database and per user nominal codes allocated to the user.  The report can be run for one user or if the user filter is left blank, data will be generated for all users.

3. Approval Routes

Once the initial functionality set up has been completed, approval routes can be created.  By selecting the System Settings cogs icon and choosing the Approval Routes option from under the Approval Route Setup banner, the Approval Routes menu will be displayed as below.

3.1. Edit Single Route

Create or edit a single approval route based on the configured approval options for the selected document type.  When a route is chosen, the existing route will be shown and amendments can be made or a new route created.

In the below example an approval route is being created/edited for a requisition raised in Rachel’s Demo Data company against nominal code 89100-ADM-ADM.  Once the route components have been selected, click Edit Route.

If a route has been created, this will be shown, if no route has yet been created, an empty Approval Route screen will be displayed.

Approval routes will always work from the top down (e.g. Rosana to Ryan), like a ladder; the first step will always need to sign the document and if it is within their approval value, the document will look for any other steps marked as mandatory or mandatory over budget.  If no other steps are mandatory, the document will be fully approved.  If the first approver does not have sufficient approval value to approve the document, it will progress to the next approval step and keep progressing until a user has adequate approval value.  Any further steps will be checked for mandatory or mandatory over budget flags and either direct the item for additional approval or the document will be fully approved.

In the example below, if a requisition is raised for £22,000, the document will first be approved by Rosana as they appear first in the list.  Although Rosana can approve up to £25,000, the document will also go to Adelina if the item is flagged as over budget.  Once the document has been through the approval process and the requisition is authorised, the requester will be notified by email and the PO can be sent to the supplier.  Note, it is recommended that mandatory over budget approvers are placed later in the approval route and have adequate approval value to sign off the document.

Clear Route:  use this to empty all approval route steps previously created, if new steps are to be configured.

Simple:  by default, this radio button is selected to allow for single users to be selected from the drop-down box and users added.  Users will only be visible on the drop-down list if they have permission to approve the document type.

Advanced:  select this radio button for further configuration options, e.g. to add a User Type or User List to an approval step (see further information below on Advanced options).

Name:  this will show the user(s) included at the approval step; their default User Type is shown in brackets.

Type:  this will show details on the approval step; either a single user, User Type or User List will be shown.

Maximum Approval Value:  if the step is a single user, this will show the user’s maximum approval value with an explanation of where the approval value is taken from.  If the step includes multiple users (e.g. a User Type or User List step), this will show the lowest maximum approval value and the highest maximum approval value.  For example, if Rosana and Asher from the example above were both in an approval step as a User List, the maximum approval value would show ‘25,000 to 100,000 (Rosana can approve up to £25,000 and Asher can approve up to £100,000).

Req. No. App (Required Number of Approvers):  this will show the required number of approvers at the step; if the step contains a User List or User Type it may be that more than one approver is required.

Mandatory:  tick if the approver at the step must sign of all documents regardless of value.  An example of a user being marked as Mandatory is a final Finance approval step of all expenses.

Mand. Ovr. Bud. (Mandatory over Budget):  tick if the approver at the step must sign off documents if the nominal or project is over budget.  It is recommended that this step is put towards the end of the approval route and the user has adequate approval to approve the whole document.

Blue Directional Arrows:  use these arrows to move levels either up or down the route.

Cross Icon:  use this to delete the step from the route.

Users Icon:  this will show the number of approvers at the current step; if clicked, the approval route will be shown in more detail with all approvers listed, required number of approvers etc.

Back To Route Selection:  use this option to return to the previous screen to select another route if additional changes are to be made.

Copy Route:  use this option to copy the current route to another configuration.  Make sure to save the current route first if changes have been made.

Save:  use to save the route if changes have been made.

Close:  use to return to the approval route management options.

3.2. Creating a Route - Any Nominal

In addition to the example explained in the last section, if approval functionality is driven by Nominal, it is also possible to create a route for “Any” nominal:

By selecting this and creating a route based on it, any nominal that does not have a specific route configured will follow the approval route set up in this stage.  This can be useful where the majority of routes are the same and just the exceptions have routes created.

3.3. Creating a Route - Any Project

In addition to the examples explained previously, if Sicon Projects is in use and approval functionality is driven by Project, it is also possible to create a route for “Any” project:

By selecting this and creating a route based on it, any project that does not have a specific route configured will follow the approval route set up in this stage.  This can be useful where projects are added regularly and the majority of routes are the same, just the exceptions have routes created.

3.4. Creating a Route - Any User

In addition to the examples explained previously, if functionality is driven by Requesting User, it is also possible to create a route for “Any” user:

By selecting this and creating a route based on it, any user that does not have a specific route configured will follow the approval route set up in this stage.  This can be useful where users are added regularly and the majority of routes are the same, just the exceptions will have routes created.

3.5. Creating a Route - Any Supplier

In addition to the examples explained previously, if functionality is driven by Supplier, it is also possible to create a route for “Any” supplier:

By selecting this and creating a route based on it, any supplier that does not have a specific route configured will follow the approval route set up in this stage.  This can be useful where suppliers are added regularly and the majority of routes are the same, just the exceptions will have routes created.

3.6. Creating a Route - Simple Option

By default, this radio button is selected when using the wizard or creating a single route to allow for single users to be selected from the drop-down box and users added.  Users will only be visible on the drop-down list if they have permission to approve the document type.  Add as many users as required until the route is completed; approval values should start with the smallest amount and finish with a user with unlimited approval value.  Up to ten approval steps can be configured.

3.7. Creating a Route - Advanced Options

When using the wizard or creating a single route, select this radio button for further configuration options, e.g. to add a User Type or User List to an approval step.  This can be useful if multiple users are required in one step of the approval ladder.

• Add User. Select a single user, add the selected user and save the step.  Users will only be visible on the list if they have permission to approve the document type.
• Add User Type. Select the required User Types from the list, add the selected User Types and save the step.  Before saving, make sure the required number of users is correct.  User Types will only be visible on the list if they have permission to approve the document type.
• Add User List. Select the required users from the list, add the selected user and save the step.  Before saving, make sure the required number of users is correct.  Users will only be visible on the list if they have permission to approve the document type.
• Add Requester.  If this is added into the approval route for any document type, the document will go back to the Requester of that document for approval.  If there are other users in the approval route prior to the Requester, these will need to be marked as Mandatory so that all levels are picked up (otherwise the approval route starts from the Requester and the first level approvers will not see the document for approval).  If the Requester is to be the last approver in the route, they must have sufficient approval values to cover the document.  Note.  This setting will only work for invoices if entering invoices directly into Approvals rather than into Sage.

Required Number of Approvers for this Step:  enter the required number of approvers at this step; if the step contains a User List or User Type it may be that more than one approver is required.  For example, the document may be sent to four directors and any two can approve.

This Step is Mandatory:  tick if the approval step must sign of all documents regardless of value.  An example of a user being marked as Mandatory is a final Finance approval step of all expenses.

This Step is Mandatory only if Over Budget:  tick if the approval step must sign off documents if the nominal or project is over budget.

Allow previous approvers to approve this Step:  make sure this is ticked if a user is being added to the approval route twice; e.g. if a Finance User Type is the first step and the last step, when adding the last step make sure this option is ticked.  If it is not ticked, the Finance approvers will not be able to approve at the final stage.

3.8. Editing Default Approval Routes

The default approval route is used when a document is processed and there is no specific route configured.  There is a default route for each document type and a global default that is used if no document default has been set.

A global default route must exist before the system can be used; at installation this will be set to go to the Admin user account.  If the Admin user exists in an approval route they will take up a licence; replace this user with a named user to free up the Admin licence.  Note; if all routes including defaults are deleted, the system will not be able to be used – all menu options will disappear.

If the invoice approval module is enabled, it is necessary to create a default route for rejected invoices or credit notes; usually this is either one Finance User or a Finance User Type who would edit the nominal code and resend for approval.

The first route to configure within this section is the Global Default which is used when no approval route exists for the selected nominal code, user or project and should be used as a ‘catch all’ for these situations.

For some document types; i.e. Customer, Supplier, Stock or Expense Supplier requests, a default route may be created rather than individual routes – if the requests will always require approval from the same user or group of users.  Default routes for each document type are created in the same way by clicking on the relevant button for the document above and then creating the route in the usual way.

3.9. Approval Route Wizard

The approval route wizard can make configuration much quicker and simpler; multiple routes can be created and maintained at once.  If the approval route configurations are the same (i.e. based on nominal account), multiple document types can be selected.

The wizard cannot display any existing routes configured; either edit a single route or use the approval route report to view current routes.  Any existing routes for the criteria selected will be overwritten with the new route created.

In the below example, routes will be created for requisitions based on a set of nominal codes.  Firstly, select the correct document type; only documents enabled in the licence string will show.

Select the required Sage Database.

The next step is to choose the nominal codes the approval routes should be assigned to.  In the example below, the Cost Centre and Department ‘ADM’ have been entered in the top search bar.  Once listed, either click the nominal codes required or tick the top box to select all.  Once nominal codes have been selected, different cost centres or departments can be entered in the search bar – previous selections will be retained.  Click on the column headers to sort; by default, the nominal account name will be listed A-Z but click on one of the column headers to sort by these instead.  Once all required nominal codes have been chosen, go onto the next step.

In this example, this step shows the nominal codes; if approval route configuration was different e.g. requesting users, this step would list all users in Approvals or if configuration was based on Projects, this step would list all Projects.

Build the approval route as required adding users / User Types / user lists as applicable.

Once the route has been built correctly, move onto the next step.

The final step will show a summary of what is to be created, click through the next step to confirm the wizard to create new approval routes.  Depending on system configuration, any documents currently awaiting approval will either remain at their current step or will reset to the beginning of the new route.

3.10. Global Replace for User

This function will allow for a user to be replaced in approval routes with an alternate user; as changes occur in the organisation such as promotions, users leaving etc. amendments will need to be made to the routes to reflect these changes.  Users can be marked as leavers in their user profile so they will not take up a licence but their user history remains, however they cannot be marked as a leaver while they are configured as an approver in a route. In order to replace a leaver with another user in all the approval routes, first make sure the new user is setup with the appropriate permissions (access to nominal codes, projects, User Type permissions and approval values).  When the new user is set up correctly, click the Global replace user button.

The Global Replace function is particularly useful if the user leaving is being replaced exactly with a new user (e.g. everywhere Ryan appears, replace with Renee) but if more complexity is required (e.g. sometimes Renee would be the correct approver but for other cost centres, Ryan would be replaced with Rita), it would be recommended to export current routes, change in Excel and import.

Choose the user to replace from the User to replace menu box and the new user from the second menu box.  Once the save button is clicked, this will replace the old user with the new user wherever they appeared in approval routes in the system.  Users will not appear in these drop-down fields if they do not have permission to login.

3.11. Import / Export Approval Routes

Import templates are generated from within Approvals, completed and then imported into the system to allow for multiple routes across multiple documents and Sage Companies to be created at once.  When a template has been generated, please ensure columns and rows with sample text are not deleted and the file is saved with the same name as when generated.  If these are not retained, the file may fail validation.

Approval routes can be exported per Document Type and Database, select the required option from the drop-down filters and click export.  A CSV file is then generated in the format of the import ready for any changes to be made and imported back in.  Again, please ensure columns and rows with sample text are not deleted and the file name is saved with the same name as when exported.  The option to export current routes, change and re-import is particularly useful if many changes are to be made or if a user is leaving and they cannot be globally replaced just with one user.

This functionality is also very useful when initially setting the Approvals system up; a few routes may be created for one nominal code combination and then these can be exported, the rest of the combination routes created in the file and imported.  It is also useful to be able to export from a Training Company, change the company name and import for a Live Company (as long as nominal codes/projects etc. will be the same across companies).

4. Restrict Nominal Accounts

This function allows for a list of nominal accounts to be configured that cannot be authorised within the Approvals system, e.g. if a set of nominal codes temporarily cannot be used.  To add a nominal to the list, choose the Company and the Nominal Account from the drop-down options and click Add Nominal Account.  A list will show all the nominal codes that are currently restricted (the system cache may need to be cleared if nominal codes have been added but are not showing here).  If a nominal code can be approved at a later date, click Remove to take the nominal off the list and allow documents to be approved.

If a document has been entered using a nominal on the restricted list, the approver will see the below message as they try to approve the document.  The approver could either reject the line or document with an instruction for the requestor to change the nominal code, or speak with the Superuser to unblock the nominal so the document can be approved.

5. Value Bands

Value Bands are configured in System Settings cogs – Approval Route Setup Banner – Value Bands.

5.1. Using Value Bands

Value bands are a way to separate approval routes depending on the value of the document and work in conjunction with whether the approval functionality is based on Document Value or Document Item value.

Value bands are not required for general approval values, i.e. setting approval values at a user level.  Approvals in its simplest form will route a document through the approval route until someone with a high enough approval value approves the item – starting with the lowest value and onto the highest, like a ladder.

Band values will be based off the base currency as configured in Sage Connections.

There are two main uses for value bands

To skip steps on the ladder – if higher value documents do not require approval from lower steps of the route but would just go directly to the user who has sufficient approval value.

To target certain approvers – if the document is to be sent to four directors but if over a certain value, one in particular must approve. Value bands can be set so the lower value would go to all four and any two could approve, while the higher value would go first to one specific director and then go onto the remaining three for any additional one to approve.

Skipping approval steps explanation

Value bands can be used to skip approval steps.  For example, if higher value documents do not require approval from lower steps of the route but would just go to the user who has sufficient approval value.

The company approval matrix for this scenario may look like below:

The budget holder only sees items under 25,000.  Documents from 25,000-200,000 would go straight to 2 directors for approval.  Anything over 200,000 would go to different approvers again.

Targeted approval explanation

Value Bands can be used to target approval to certain approvers; e.g. if the document is to be sent to four directors but if over a certain value, one in particular must approve, value bands can be set so the lower value would go to all four and any two could approve while the higher value may go first to one specific director and then go onto the remaining three for one to approve.

The company approval matrix for this scenario may look like below:

5.2. Creating Value Bands

Value bands can be created for a particular document type; i.e. if Requisitions require different value bands to Invoices, or default bands can be created if they are to be applicable across all modules.  To create or edit bands for a document type, select the document type from the drop-down box and click ‘Edit Bands For’.

The Description is used when creating approval routes, either a single route, using the wizard or the import and for ease of reporting etc. should be named as per the band start and end.  Ensure band end and start figures do not overlap and are sequential; e.g. as above ending at £25,000.00 and then starting at £25,000.01 – not £25,001.  Make sure there are no gaps in the end and start figures but they cannot overlap; e.g. a band cannot end at £25,000.00 and the next band then start at £25,000.00.  ensure a band is created that has and end value sufficiently high enough to cover the value of documents being raised (as per example above, this end value is set as 999,999,999).

Please ensure in the description the characters ‘<’ or ‘>’ are not used as this will cause the import to fail validation due to dangerous characters.

Once bands have been created correctly, make sure to click Save at the bottom of the screen before moving away to a different screen.

5.3. Value Bands Examples - targeting approval (Document Item Value)

First, we need to determine whether it is the value of the lines that triggers these limits (Document Item Value), or the value of the whole document (Document Value).

In this example, it is the total of the nominal lines that determine who should approve so we will work with Document Item Value and the below approval functionality by nominal and value band:

Document Item Value means Approvals will look at the individual lines for nominals and group them together to determine which value band will be picked up for those nominals. For example, if 5 different lines were entered on one document, 2 of which are for the same nominal at 500 each, Approvals groups the value of the 2 identical nominals together to 1000. At the point of going for approval, that is the value used to determine whether the approving user has enough value to approve them or not. It is possible to amend a users’ approval value for specific nominals and this would be considered as well.

If approval functionality was set to Document Value, Approvals would instead look at the overall value of the document to determine which value band will be picked up. For example, if 5 different lines were entered on one document, 2 of which are for the same nominal at 500 each, Approvals looks at the overall value of all 5 lines on the document to determine whether the approving user has enough value to approve them or not. It is possible to amend a users’ approval value for specific nominals and this would be considered as well, so long as the overall document value is under the approver’s overridden nominal approval value.

We will walk through this example using the sample matrix from the previous sections:

Creating the 25,000-value band route

Let’s now look at how to configure the route at each level:

For under 25k, the approval only needs to come to the budget holder.

When the approval route is built using the wizard, the Sage company and relevant nominals are selected as usual:

And on the next screen, the relevant value band selected:

And finally, the approvers that are required for this level are selected (a Requisition where the lines for this Material nominal fall under 25k):

The result of the Under 25,000 value band route:

A requisition submitted under 25,000 for a material nominal will go to the budget holder. Once the budget holder has approved it, the line will be fully approved as no further approval is required for this line as it falls within the Document Item Value limits. If there are other lines for the same nominal, these will be added together.

Creating the 25,000-200,000-value band route

For orders over 25k and under 200k, the approval still requires the budget holder, but this time it will also require any 2 of 4 directors.

When the approval route is built using the wizard, the Sage company and relevant nominals are selected as usual:

And on the next screen, the relevant value band:

And finally, the approvers that are required for these criteria are selected (a Requisition where the lines for this Material nominal fall between 25k – 200k):

In the example above, the advanced functionality has been used with User Type. If directors are not all in the same User Type, then a User List can achieve the same results. The important part is to say how many within the list need to approve it:

The director step does not need to be marked as mandatory as the Budget Holder can only approve up to £25,000 and the value band selected is for orders more than £25,000, so additional monetary approval is required from the second step. If the budget holder had a higher approval value, then the second step in this band would need to be marked as mandatory.

The result of this 25,000-200,000-value band route

A requisition submitted between 25,000-200,000 for a material nominal will go to the budget holder first:

Once the budget holder has approved, it then moves onto all 4 directors. Only 2 of them need to approve it.

Creating the Over 200,000 value band routes

For over 200k, the approval still requires the budget holder, but this time requires a specific director to approve before moving on to require any 1 of the remaining directors.

When the approval route is built using the wizard, the Sage company and relevant nominals are selected as usual:

And on the next screen, the relevant value band:

And finally, the approvers that are required for this band and nominal are selected (a Requisition where the lines for the Material nominal falls over 200k):

In the above example, two individual named users have been listed. In the third and final step, the advanced functionality has been used with User Type. If directors do not belong to the same User Type or need to be restricted, then a User List can achieve the same results. There are a few important parts to note when using a list or User Type;

Firstly, if this step is mandatory (in the example above, all directors have unlimited approval value, so unless the third step is marked as mandatory, the document will never move onto the final stage as the first director, Helen, had enough to approve it).

Secondly, how many within the list need to approve it?

Finally, because our 2nd approver Helen could also be approving in the 3rd step, is that allowed within the authority matrix? It not, ensure “Allow previous approvers to approve this step” remains unticked:

The result of this Over 200,000 value band route

A requisition submitted over 200,000 for a material nominal will go to the budget holder first;

Once the budget holder has approved, it then moves onto the director in step 2.

Once the named director has approved, it then moves onto the remaining 3 directors (as we did not allow previous approvers to approve this step). Only 1 of them needs to approve it.

Once one of the directors has approved it, the line will be fully approved and no further approval is required for this line as it falls within the Document Item Value limits.

5.4. Value Bands Examples - targeting approval (Document Value)

First, we need to determine whether it is the value of the lines that triggers these limits (Document Item Value), or the value of the whole document (Document Value).

In this example, it is the total of the document that determines who should approve so we will work with Document Value and the below approval functionality by nominal and value band:

Document Item Value means Approvals will look at the individual lines for nominals and group them together to determine which value band will be picked up for those nominals. For example, if 5 different lines were entered on one document, 2 of which are for the same nominal at 500 each, Approvals groups the value of the 2 identical nominals together to 1000. At the point of going for approval, that is the value used to determine whether the approving user has enough value to approve them or not. It is possible to amend a users’ approval value for specific nominals and this would be considered as well.

If approval functionality was set to Document Value, Approvals would instead look at the overall value of the document to determine which value band will be picked up. For example, if 5 different lines were entered on one document, 2 of which are for the same nominal at 500 each, Approvals looks at the overall value of all 5 lines on the document to determine whether the approving user has enough value to approve them or not. It is possible to amend a users’ approval value for specific nominals and this would be considered as well, so long as the overall document value is under the approver’s overridden nominal approval value.

The routes are set up in the same way as the last section, so in this section we will focus on the differences and results for Document Value set-up.

User setup:
Hiroshi (budget holder) has a document approval value of £25k (User setup – Account tab).

Harvey (budget holder) has a document approval value of £25k (User setup – Account tab).

However, for the Stationery nominal below, Harvey has an overridden requisition approval value of £100k (User setup – Nominal tab).

In this section, we will focus on 3 nominals and the associated Value band approval routes set up:

Example 1 – document value under 25k

The approval bands are created in the same way as the last section. However, at the point of choosing the approving users in the route, because we have added in a nominal account value override for stationery, this will show in the approval route (a Requisition where this nominal and the total document value falls under 25k):

The result of this <25,000 value band route

If the total value of the requisition is under 25,000, each line will go to the nominal budget holder as usual. Once the budget holder has approved it, the line will be fully approved as no further approval is required for this line as it falls within the Document Value limits. If there are other lines for the same nominal, these will be added together.

Example 2 – document value over 25k, individual lines under users Document Approval Value

The approval bands are created in the same way as the last section. However, at the point of choosing the approving users in the route, because we have added in a nominal account value override for stationery, this will show in the approval route (a Requisition where this nominal and the total document value falls under 25k):

The result of this >25,000 value band route

In this example, multiple lines were entered. For Maintenance, this was under Harvey’s document approval value (25k), and for IT Costs, the collated values are just over Hiroshi’s document approval value (25k). The stationery costs are under Harvey’s nominal overridden approval value (100k). Because the total value of the requisition is over 25,000, each line will go to the nominal budget holder as usual:

For the Maintenance and IT costs, the total value of the document is over their approval value so these lines proceed to director level of approval. However, the total value of the document is under Harvey’s stationery approval value of 100k, so this line is authorised:

Once the Director Hugo has approved the remaining three lines, the document is then authorised and posted to Sage:

Example 3 – document value over 25k, individual lines under users Document Approval Value, but collated value takes the nominals over the approver values

Using the same scenario as Example 2, finally we’ll look at what happens if multiple lines are added that equate to more than the users’ approval values. In the example below, each line is under the users’ approval value for that nominal, but the collated values take them all over the Document approval values, and the Nominal override that Harvey has:

Stationery = 100,500, Maintenance = 28,000 and IT costs = 27,000.

Once submitted, all the lines come through to the budget holder as usual:

This time, the collated value of all nominal lines equates to more than anyone’s document or nominal override values, so all lines progress to the director level:

Only once the director has approved all lines will the document be fully approved and posted to Sage:

6. Creating Ad-Hoc Approval Routes

If a user has appropriate permissions, they can edit an approval route on a line to create a new approval route for that instance; the standard approval route will not be changed.

When creating or editing a line, the route can be changed through the Approval Tab; click Edit Route and then either clear the route and start again or make changes to individual lines.  The standard Simple and Advanced options are available to include User Types, User Lists etc. in on the new route.  Changes made to a line can be copied to other lines on the document.  Make sure the new route is saved before the line is saved for the changes to be picked up.  If the document had already been submitted, it would need to be re-submitted for the new route to be picked up.

7. User Type Approval Permissions

There are a couple of User Type permissions relating to the general Approval Process.

7.1. General Tab

Create Ad-hoc approval routes:  the ability to create a bespoke approval route to override the pre-configured approval route.  This is usually only given to Superusers or Administrators.

Use ‘Approve Selected’ option on approval pages:  the ability to select multiple documents to approve at once, rather than approving each document individually.  This is usually only given to Superusers or Finance staff who may have many documents at a time to approve.

7.2. Users Tab

Amend Users:  this permission will allow for existing users to be edited or new users to be added onto the system.  Note, users can not be deleted if they have submitted documents or exist as an approver in an approval route.

7.3. System Tab

Amend approval routes:  the ability to create or amend approval routes.

8. User Approval Permissions – User Profile – Account Options tab

This tab controls the monetary level a user can raise, approve or self-approve a document at.  Set the Item and Approval values per document.  All approval values are entered in the system base currency; any documents entered with a different currency will be converted to the base currency (Sage exchange rates are used when converting).  If a user has unlimited approval value (i.e. for users at the end of an approval route), set the approval value as 999,999,999.  When editing or adding new values, make sure to click Update before saving at the bottom of the screen.

Document Type:  choose from the drop-down box the applicable document type.  It is recommended to select a document type to specify approval values.

Item Value:  this sets the maximum document value that the user can enter into the Approvals system; if there is no limit to the value of a document that can be raised, enter 999,999,999 as an unlimited value.

Approval Value:  this sets the maximum approval value for the user, if they were to be approving a document submitted by another user.

User Self-Approval Values:  if a user is allowed to enter and automatically approve a document up to a certain value, set a maximum self-approval value per document type.  Certain document types (e.g. Expenses) would not usually have a self-approval value allocated.  Make sure to click Add before saving.  For Requisitions, there is an option to set self-approval values at the nominal code level; change the Approval Option to Nominal and then enter value at nominal level.

9. Release Notes

The release notes page shows which release of the system includes new features or issues resolved.

At the release of Sicon v21 we announced that going forward, we will only be supporting Sage 200c and as such we are able to drop the year from our version numbers. We moved from 201.201.0.0 to 210.0.0.

New features detailed in the Release Notes relating to Pre-Release versions will not be detailed in the current Help and User Guide until the end of development phase.

10. Help & User Guide Archive

11. New Features & Important Information