Sicon Approvals Help and User Guide – System Settings

1. Initial System Setup

When Approvals is first installed there are a number of system settings to configure, detailed below. These are documented further throughout this HUG and other HUGS.

*Please make sure the Approvals Service is restarted following any changes to emails.

For the Approvals system to be available the licence string must be valid with the right modules enabled, number of users and linked to the correct Sage serial number.  Once this is configured, menu options will then be visible within the system.

The Approvals system will require an enable string to continue working and will be updated automatically.  Please speak with your Sage Business Partner in the first instance regarding licencing and renewals.  Licences can be checked in System Settings – Miscellaneous menu item – Licencing. The module expiry date is shown along with the modules that have been enabled and the maximum number of users.

2. System Settings - Approval

The Approval tab is used to turn configure various parameters used to create approval routes within the system.

2.1. 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.

2.2. Functionality

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 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.

2.3. 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.

2.4. Mandatory Approval - Custom Fields

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.

2.5. 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.

3. System Settings - Auditing

This tab is used for switching on Approvals Auditing.

Audit Log Enabled:  switch on to record changes being made within the Approvals system.  Not all fields are currently audited.

4. System Settings - Budgets

These settings are used to configure appropriate options for checking budgets when submitting or approving documents within Approvals.  Budgets will always be set in Sage, either against the nominal code or the project.

4.1. Display

Supress ‘Over Budget’ warnings:  this setting determines whether or not users are shown a warning when they enter a request that exceeds the budget for the nominal or project selected.

Budget Reporting Mode:  by default, this is set to Detailed but can be changed to Simple if required.

4.2. Functionality

Budget Calculation Mode:  by default, this is set to ‘Standard’ but can be changed to ‘Actual plus approved invoiced lines’ if required.

Filter outstanding transactions by financial year start / period start:  by default, budget checking and budget enquiry will only include outstanding transactions for the current period, switch this off if all outstanding transactions from previous periods or years should be included.

Filter outstanding transactions by financial year end / period end:  by default, budget checking and budget enquiry will only include outstanding transactions for the current period, switch this off if all outstanding transactions for future periods or years should be included.

Check Nominal Monthly Budgets:  tick to check nominal monthly budget, as configured in Sage.

Check Nominal YTD Budgets:  tick to check nominal year to date budget, as configured in Sage.

Check Nominal Group Budgets:  tick to check nominal group budgets, as configured in Sage.

Check Reporting Category Budgets:  tick to check reporting group category budgets, as configured in Sage.

Check Nominal Budgets during submission:  tick to check budgets when a document is submitted.  Some organisations may only require budgets to be checked during approval.

Check Project Budgets during submission:  tick to check budgets when a document is submitted.  Some organisations may only require budgets to be checked during approval.

Check Nominal Budgets during approval:  tick to check budgets when a document is approved.

Check Project Budgets during approval:  tick to check budgets when a document is approved.

Nominal over Budget if Budget is Zero:  if enabled, nominal codes with no budgets set in Sage will be treated as over budget.

Projects over budget if budget is zero:  if enabled, projects with no budgets set in Sage will be treated as over budget.

Enable ‘SiExtraBudget’ table:  a custom table that can provide additional years of nominal budget in addition to the standard Sage 200 ‘Next Year’ budget.

4.3. Requisition with Nominal Budget Example

In this example, we will look at the nominal budget set in Sage and show how Approvals reads this depending on how settings have been configured.

Sage Nominal Budget Configuration

In Sage, the budget for this account has been set as 6,000,000 which gives a monthly budget of 500,000:

In the example above, many transactions have already occurred, so the current YTD actual is 5,017,520.39.

Approvals Budget Configuration

In Approvals – System Settings – System Settings – Budgets – Functionality, the below budget settings have been configured so that Monthly, YTD and Annual budgets will all be checked during submission (there’s no specific setting for Annual, these are always checked if budget checking is enabled):

Example 1 – Requisition checking Nominal Budget

In the example we are going to work through, it’s currently Period 10.  When a user enters a requisition against this nominal during that period, they will see a picture of the Monthly, YTD and Annual Budget for that period.  By turning on the setting to ‘Check Nominal Budgets during submission’, an additional Budget tab is displayed with a summary of whether the item is within budget or not:

By drilling into the hyperlink, further information can be gained.

Current Period

1 – 3: Current period details, as per the accounting periods in Sage (Accounting System Manager – Accounting Periods – Maintain Accounting Periods):

Nominal Transactions

4, 6 and 7 are taken from the budget and transactions against the nominal in Sage (Nominal Ledger – Nominal Enquiries – Account Enquiry):

Part 4 is also considering existing items and will be explained in more detail by the second half of this Approvals budget drilldown screen.

Current Approvals document

Part 5 is the value of the current requisition in Approvals:

Current Month, YTD and Annual Budget summary

In the bottom half of the Approvals screen, more specific detail about each budget is displayed, depending on what settings have been set:

The value within the pending Approvals document columns includes all orders in Approvals that are not completed, deleted, rejected or sent to Sage. It will also include approved orders that haven’t posted to Sage (e.g. orders that have failed to post or haven’t posted yet).

Note, the annual budget will always be shown if budgets are being checked in Approvals, there is no setting to ignore this.

Remaining Budget Summary

Value 11: Remaining Monthly budget – actual/pending budget spend.  E.g. 500,000 – (51,800.76 + 9,943.76 + 150) = 438,105.48

Value 12: Remaining YTD budget – actual/pending budget spend.  E.g. 5,000,000 – (1,869,528.72 + 9,943.76 + 150) = 3,120,377.52

Value 13: Remaining Annual budget – actual/pending budget spend.  E.g. 6,000,000 – (5,017,520.39 + 9,943.76 + 150) = 972,385.85

4.4. Requisition with Project Budget Examples

In these examples we will work with budgets against Sicon Projects.

Sicon Projects Budget Configuration

In Sage, a budget has been configured against the project and when viewed By Project Header looks like this:

These are further broken down into the phases, stages and activities across the project, which can be seen in detail by selecting the ‘By Phases & Stages’ view and expanding the individual lines as required:

Within Sicon Projects, the system allows maintenance of budgets by project, with budgets being split at a project header level.  Further information on Project budget setting is available in the Projects Help and User Guide.

Approvals Budget Configuration

Once the budget is set up in Projects, within Approvals, System Settings > System Settings > Budgets > Functionality, project budgets can be checked during submission, during approval or both:

In the example, both settings will be applied.

Example 1 – within budget, one activity within the Project Header

Taking the example of Overheads (Phase) – Office Costs (Stage) – and Office Costs (Activity), and Sundry (Project Header), a 5,000 budget has been set:

In Approvals, costs are entered against this combination on a requisition:

Navigating to the Budget tab shows the user a snapshot of whether the line is in budget or not:

In the example above, because this is within budget, it is showing the overall Sundry budget here, minus the net value of the requisition (5000 – 3000):

By clicking on the link in Approvals, the specific budget levels can be viewed:

At the top of this pop-up, Approvals will show the Project, Phase, Stage, Activity and Project Header that the line refers to.

In the bottom half of the pop-up, each relevant budget is listed out:

Job: overall project budget

Phase: The phase budget this line applies to

Stage: The stage budget this line applies to (within this phase)

Activity: The activity budget this line applies to

Job Header: The project header budget this line applies to

The value within the Approvals Items column includes all orders in Approvals that are not completed, deleted, rejected or sent to Sage. It will also include approved orders that haven’t posted to Sage (e.g. orders that have failed to post or haven’t posted yet).

Example 2 – within budget, multiple activities within the Project Header

Taking the example of Overheads (Phase) – Software (Stage) – Software (Activity), and Material (Project Header), a 7,000 budget has been set at this level:

However, as the Material header also has budgets set in other stages, these are collated to give an overall Header budget of 19,000:

In Approvals, costs are entered against this combination on a requisition:

Navigating to the Budget tab shows the user a snapshot of whether the line is in budget or not:

In the example above, because this is within budget, it is showing the collated Material Header budget here, minus the net value of the requisition (19,000 – 5,500):

At the top of this pop-up, Approvals will show the Project, Phase, Stage, Activity and Project Header that the line refers to.

In the bottom half of the pop-up, each relevant budget is listed out:

Job: overall project budget

Phase: The phase budget this line applies to

Stage: The stage budget this line applies to (within this phase)

Activity: The activity budget this line applies to

Job Header: The project header budget this line applies to

The value within the Approvals Items column includes all orders in Approvals that are not completed, deleted, rejected or sent to Sage. It will also include approved orders that haven’t posted to Sage (e.g. orders that have failed to post or haven’t posted yet).

Example 3 – over budget, only one activity within the Project Header

Taking the example of Overheads (Phase) – Office Costs (Stage) – and Office Costs (Activity), and Sundry (Project Header), a 5,000 budget has been set:

In Approvals, costs are entered against this combination on a requisition:

Navigating to the Budget tab shows the user a snapshot of whether the line is in budget or not.  In the example here, because this is outside of budget, the view changes to show what budget has been exceeded.  Approvals will show the relevant exceeded Sundry budget, minus the net value of the requisition (5000 – 5001):

By clicking on the link in Approvals, the specific budget levels can be viewed, and the over budget area is highlighted:

At the top of this pop-up, Approvals will show the Project, Phase, Stage, Activity and Project Header that the line refers to.

In the bottom half of the pop-up, each relevant budget is listed out and the over budget line highlighted:

Job: overall project budget

Phase: The phase budget this line applies to

Stage: The stage budget this line applies to (within this phase)

Activity: The activity budget this line applies to

Job Header: The project header budget this line applies to

The value within the Approvals Items column includes all orders in Approvals that are not completed, deleted, rejected or sent to Sage. It will also include approved orders that haven’t posted to Sage (e.g. orders that have failed to post or haven’t posted yet).

Example 4 – over budget, multiple activities within the Project Header

Taking the example of Overheads (Phase) – Software (Stage) – Software (Activity), and Material (Project Header), a 7,000 budget has been set at this level:

However, as the Material header also has budgets set in other stages, these are collated to give an overall Header budget of 19,000:

In Approvals, costs are entered against this combination on a requisition:

Navigating to the Budget tab shows the user a snapshot of whether the line is in budget or not.  In the example here, because this is outside of budget, the view changes to show what budget has been exceeded.  Approvals will show the relevant exceeded Sundry budget, minus the net value of the requisition (7000 – 7001):

By clicking on the link in Approvals, the specific budget levels can be viewed, and the over budget area is highlighted:

At the top of this pop-up, Approvals will show the Project, Phase, Stage, Activity and Project Header that the line refers to.

In the bottom half of the pop-up, each relevant budget is listed out:

Job: overall project budget

Phase: The phase budget this line applies to

Stage: The stage budget this line applies to (within this phase)

Activity: The activity budget this line applies to

Job Header: The project header budget this line applies to

The value within the Approvals Items column includes all orders in Approvals that are not completed, deleted, rejected or sent to Sage. It will also include approved orders that haven’t posted to Sage (e.g. orders that have failed to post or haven’t posted yet).

5. System Settings - Costing

The Costing tab is used to link Approvals through to a particular costing module or to stop posting to Sage Commercials. For module specific information on Costing integration pre-requisites, please review the individual module Help and User Guides.

Enable posting to Sage Commercials (SOP & POP):  only untick this setting if the Sage install does not use Commercials’ this will mean that approved requisitions are not posted to Sage and invoices will be entered directly into Approvals.  If this setting is disabled, a costing module cannot be selected.

Enable Intercompany features (e.g. stock transfer, nominal postings for invoices):  only tick this if linking Approvals with Sicon Intercompany for invoices to post to mirrored nominal codes.

None:  check if this is no costing module is to be enabled; this option is the default.

Sicon Projects:  select if Approvals is to be linked with Sicon Projects; additional menu options will then appear.

Job Percentage Complete Filter:  any projects with a percentage complete figure greater than the figure entered here will not be pulled through to Approvals.

The number of transactions to display per page on summary:  this will determine on the Sicon Projects enquiry screen in Approvals, how many transactions to display on the summary page.

The number of transactions to display per page on main tabs:  this will determine on the Sicon Projects enquiry screen in Approvals, how many transactions to display on the main tabs.

The number of transactions to display per page on main tabs when displayed in CRM:  if using Sage CRM integration, this will determine on the Sicon Projects enquiry screen, how many transactions to display on the main tabs.

Project Cost Rates are allocated in Sage 200:  set against each employee in Sicon Projects which cost rates should be available in Approvals to choose from when entering timesheets.

Use Sicon Sage Timesheets: If using Approvals with Sicon Projects it is recommended to turn this setting on.  This is a single consolidated timesheet across all Sicon Sage 200 and Approvals modules.  This is very useful when many Sicon applications are installed.

Show the Cost to Complete tab in Sicon Projects list:  tick to show the cost to complete tab; if this shouldn’t be shown in Approvals, untick.

Show the Project Summary tab in Sicon Projects list:  tick to show the project summary tab; if this shouldn’t be shown in Approvals, untick.

Default to simple view for Sicon Projects list:  tick to default to the simple view for Sicon Projects list; if the advanced view should show, untick.

Send Construction Applications to Project Manager for approval (uses standard approval routes if false):  tick if any construction applications will just require approval from the project manager.  If more complex approval routes are required, do not tick this option and build approval routes accordingly.

Show project analysis codes on user project wizard:  if switched on, any analysis codes set against the Project in Sage will show when using the wizard to allocate projects to user.  This can be helpful when searching for projects to only show those linked with an analysis code.

Project Accounting:  select if linking Approvals to Sage Project Accounting, an additional menu option will appear.

Show Description in Project Item Drop Down:  by default, this is ticked; untick if the user should not see the project description, only the project code.

Approvals Projects:  select if linking to Approvals Projects, an additional menu option will appear.  Approvals project information will not post through to Sage.

Auto Generate Approvals Project Numbers:  tick if project numbers should be auto generated or untick if project numbers should be entered manually.

Allow list selection of Project Items (if this is disabled users must use the tree):  by default, this is selected and will allow users to select a project and project header from the drop-down list rather than using the tree structure.

Show tree selection box:  select this to allow the user to select a project header or project item using the tree structure; this can make it easier for users if projects have many layers of project items.  N.B. some screens (Rapid Timesheet Entry screen) do not allow for tree selection, users can only pick a project item from the drop-down list.

Force Project Selection:  set to either Yes, No or Prompt to specify whether users should enter a project against each item line within Approvals.  If Sicon Projects is configured, this should be set as Yes.  Yes, will force across all modules all lines to be entered against a Project and Project Header; Prompt will allow the user to not select a project but they will see a pop-up asking if they should select a project, and No will allow the line to be saved with no project selected.

6. System Settings - Document Management

The Document Management tab is used to link Approvals through to a document management system with some common settings regarding image location and size.  Only one document management system can be selected; please restart the service if any changes are made to these settings.

6.1. Common Settings

File path for attachments:  an existing local folder where Approvals can save documents to.  Please ensure the file path does not end with ‘\’.  Use the ‘Check path’ option to make sure the file path exists and passes read/write tests.  A file path must be added before transactions can be entered.

Continually check for new documents for Invoices/Credits with no attachments:  this can be ticked so any invoice or credit in Sage with a U query will be checked for new images entered into Sage to ensure these are pulled through to Approvals.

Resize images uploaded:  this will resize any images uploaded to prevent large images taking a long time to load.  These settings relate only to images, not other file types.

Prefer compression over quality for uploaded images:  if ticked, this will try to make the file as small as possible while still being readable.

Convert uploaded images to greyscale:  this will turn all images uploaded to greyscale, again to improve loading times.

Maximum width for resized uploaded images:  values entered here are defaults but can be changed as required per install.

Maximum height for resized uploaded images:  values entered here are defaults but can be changed as required per install.

Maximum file upload size (Mb):  values entered here are defaults but can be changed as required per install.

6.2. Sicon Documents

Tick to link Approvals with Sicon Documents.

6.3. Draycir Spindle Document Capture

Tick to link Approvals with Spindle and enter Hostnames and port numbers.

To integrate Spindle with Approvals, a valid Third-Party Product Key will need to be obtained from Spindle and entered on the Spindle licence key settings as shown below.

The user running the Approvals service will need to be linked with a View licence to allow for documents added against an invoice in Sage to be viewed in Approvals.

If not already configured, the user running the Approvals Service will also require read/write access to the folder where Spindle Documents are stored.

Please speak with your Spindle Administrator or Business Partner in the first instance for any queries with Spindle integration.

7. System Settings - Email / Notifications

7.1. Email

If any email settings are changed, please ensure the Approvals service is restarted to pick up the changes.

Notification Mode:  select an option form this box to enable emails to be sent out from Approvals.  These options are explained below.

None – No notifications will be sent.  It can be useful during initial implementation to set this setting to None so when creating new users and testing the system emails are not sent out which could cause confusion.  If this is not configured during testing and then switched on, please make sure once the settings have been saved, the Approvals service is restarted.

Email – the system will only send out notifications by email to the account configured against the user.

Push Notification – the system will only send popup notifications onto the user’s machine.

Email and Push Notification – the system will send both popup notifications onto the user’s machine and an email to the account configured against the user.

Link to system to show on notification emails:  this is the hyperlink that will appear on the bottom of notification emails to take users directly into Approvals.  If the URL is changed or the server is moved, this link will need to be updated.

System Email Address:  enter the email address that has been created for Approvals to use; this is usually Approvals@companyname.co.uk.  This is a mandatory field if email integration is to be used.

All emails are sent from the System Email Address:  configure if all notification and supplier emails should be sent from the system email address.  All notification emails will be sent from the system email address.  By default, this is not ticked to allow POs to be emailed to suppliers from the user email account.

Service Error Notification Email Address:  enter an email address here if error notifications are required to be emailed to a particular user.  Any notification recorded in the Event Log will be sent to this email address.  It is advised an email address is entered here only when investigating if there is an issue with documents posting between Approvals and Sage.

SMTP Username/Email/Password/Server/Port Number/Enable SSL:  an account must be entered for Approvals to use to send emails out.  An IT contact who configured the email account will be able to provide the information required here.

Check email settings: clicking this will run a check to see if all the fields have been populated correctly and checks the email addresses entered in the section are valid.  If so, it will also check if it can connect to the specified mail server/port and report back if those settings are incorrect.

Send a Test Email:  enter an email account and click send to ensure the email account settings have been configured correctly; any errors received should be reported back to the IT contact who initially configured the email account.  When testing it is advised to try sending an email to both an internal and external email address.

7.2. Notifications

Notification Options:

Waiting approval, approval or rejected notifications will be sent based on Document Item (one notification line per line on document).  Posted to Sage notifications will be based on Document (one notification per document).  Below is an example of how a notification would be displayed for each notification option –

Document Item example notification– “Item ‘X’ on Requisition Z with Delivery Date DD/MM/YYYY needs your approval”.

Document example notification– “Requisition for Supplier ‘ABC’ with ID Z for value £X has been fully authorised by X”.

This area can also be used to set whether reminders should be generated.  Requisition Reminders is used to generate reminders when goods are due to be received (see further explanation below).

Timesheet Reminders are used to generate reminders when timesheets have not been submitted – further information can be found in the Approvals Timesheet Help and User Guide).

Use requisition line date to generate goods received reminder:  this is used in conjunction with the ‘Generate Reminders’ option against Document Type ‘Requisition’.  If this is ticked the requester will be sent a reminder each day past the delivery date if no goods have been received.

Automatically dismiss notifications after X days:  by default, this is set to 14 days but can be amended if needed.  All notifications will be dismissed.

Generate Notifications for Out of Office users:  if this setting is on then notifications will be sent to any users marked as out of office and also their alternate users.  If this setting is not on, only the alternate users will get the notification, not the user who is marked as out of the office.

Include Company name in notifications:  this can be useful to switch on if users will receive notification emails across multiple companies to assist with identification of notifications.

8. System Settings - Enhancement Pack

If Sicon Enhancement Pack is enabled within Sage, various settings can be replicated within Approvals.

Show Supplier Popup Notes:  if Pop-up Notes have been entered against a supplier, these will be shown in Approvals when a user is entering a requisition and selects the supplier.

Show Customer Popup Notes:  if Pop-up Notes have been entered against a customer, these will be shown in Approvals when a user is entering a sales order and selects the customer.

Show POP Stock Item Popup Notes:  if Pop-up Notes have been entered against a stock item, these will be shown in Approvals when a user is entering a requisition and selects the stock item.

Show SOP Stock Item Popup Notes:  if Pop-up Notes have been entered against a stock item, these will be shown in Approvals when a user is entering a sales order and selects the stock item.

9. System Settings - Expenses

System Settings relating to the Expense module are accessed under System Settings – Expenses. Refer to the Expenses Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

10. System Settings - Holidays

System Settings relating to the Holiday module are accessed under System Settings – Holidays. This menu item will also show if using Timesheets to allow for configuration of Bank Holidays (where Timesheets is not being used with Sicon Projects) and Mandatory holidays. Refer to the Holidays Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

11. System Settings - Invoices

System Settings relating to the Invoice module are accessed under System Settings – Invoices. Refer to the Invoice Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

12. System Settings - Miscellaneous

The Miscellaneous tab provides global system settings that affect information displayed to users, Approvals licences, email configuration and security requirements.  The majority of these settings will be configured during initial implementation and should not require amendment.

12.1. Display

System Culture:  this allows each system to have headings, tabs and labels amended for specific installs.  At present there is not yet a user facility to manage this but where specific organisation terminology is required, this can be provided at additional cost.

Sort order of supplier lists:  set whether supplier account listings are sorted by account number or account name.  By default, account number is selected.

Sort order of Nominal Account lists:  set whether nominal account listings are sorted by account number, account name, cost centre, department and account number.  By default, account number is selected.

Show Cost Centre and Department Names in Nominal Selection:  tick if users should be able to see cost centre and department names when selecting a nominal code.

Number of Items to show on each grid page:  defaulted to 15 but can be set to a higher value so the user does not need to click through so many pages to find information.

Decimal Format:  by default, this is set to 0.00 but can be changed if required.

Show deleted lines by default:  if ticked, any deleted lines on a document will be shown.  By default, this is not ticked so a user must select that they want to view any deleted lines when viewing a document.

Display Detailed Error Messages (Includes the stack trace of any errors encountered): If ticked, in the event of an error within Approvals, full error message details with a stack trace will be displayed.  By default, this will be ticked.  If unticked, the message displays but the extended stack trace will not show.

12.2. Sage Configuration Database

Information is entered here to allow for Sage companies to be added into Approvals using a drop-down list rather than entering manually and for attachments added against invoices using Sicon Documents to be viewed in either the Budget Enquiry screen or the Project Enquiry screen.

Information may need to be provided either by Sicon or by the Sage BP.

SQL Server:  the SQL instance; this could either be ‘Servername’ or ‘Servername\Instancename’.

SQL Username:  the name of a SQL user who has access to the Sage Configuration database.

SQL Password:  the password for the username above.

Sage Config database:  the name of the Sage 200 configuration database.

Check SQL Server connection:  use this to test the connection; it should return a ‘Connection successful’ message.

12.3. Functionality

Web API address:  this will need to be configured if using Approvals with Projects, Sales Orders and Contracts (contracts will be posted directly through to Sage prior to approval), sub-contractor orders, supplier applications or planned purchases.  Click Check WebAPI address to ensure the connection is successful.

View Loaded Add-ons:  any loaded add-ons will be shown if applicable.  Most companies will not have loaded add-ons.

Close browser on Log Off:  if selected, when a user logs out of Approvals the browser will close automatically.  Some companies require this as an additional security feature.

Enable User Warehouses allocation:  this enables the functionality to allocate users to specific warehouses.

Use Non-VAT rate only (uses configured non-VAT rate per Sage database):  some Not-for-Profit or Charitable Organisations may require this setting to be checked if they cannot reclaim VAT or want to use a VAT inclusive or exclusive pricing module for requisition entry processing.

VAT Inclusive/Exclusive:  this setting is used in conjunction with the above setting; by default, this is set to be exclusive.

Enable Save Only Buttons on Document Entry:  if required, this setting can be enabled so users are only allowed to submit documents rather than save only.

Number of Security levels:  this relates to reporting abilities within the HR module.

Check for unsaved changes on leaving edit pages:  if enabled, a pop-up will appear to users if they have made changes to a page and are moving away without clicking Save.  This is most noticeable when editing a user’s Approvals profile.

Google Maps API key:  to use Google Maps functionality within the Expense module, enter an API key here.  For more information on Google API key requirements, see our Expenses Help and User Guide.

Google Maps Autocomplete minimum length:  enter how many characters are required before Google will start searching for a postcode or place; e.g. 3 or 4 – IP3 or IP33.  It can be useful to enter a value here to reduce the number of searches Google undertakes when users are entering a postcode.

Allow dismissal of Awaiting Approval notifications:  by default, users won’t be able to dismiss notifications that are awaiting an action but if this is required, enable this setting.

12.4. Licensing

The module expiry date is shown along with the modules that have been enabled and the maximum number of users.  For further information on licencing, please speak with your Business Partner in the first instance.

12.5. Default Company Details

Default logo:  this is the logo that will show on the homepage to the user when they log into Approvals.  This must be a .gif format, should be max 100dpi, and no more than 7-10cm wide and 5-7cm high.  N.B. only one logo can appear on the login page.

Default dark mode logo:  this is the logo to use if the user has set to view Approvals in Dark Mode.

Default print page logo (will be resized):  this is the default logo that will appear on PO layouts and should be a .gif format and max 100dpi.  Individual logos can be uploaded against each company in Sage Connections if different logos should appear for each company.

Default Address:  enter the main Head Office address here; this can be used by the Expenses module to allow for users to select an office address when entering mileage claims.

12.6. Password / Security

Prevent users being created with blank passwords:  this will be on by default and stop users from being created without a password – it isn’t recommended to switch this setting off.

Require Complex User Account Passwords:  by default, this is enabled with certain complexity requirements but these can be changed as needed to match company policy.

Remember me remembers password as well as username for automatic login:  if unchecked, this will only remember the user’s username, if the remember me option is ticked on the login page.

Hide ‘Remember Me’ option on Login page:  tick here if users should not be able to configure the Approvals login screen to remember their username or password.

Allow users to change passwords on login:  if ticked this will allow users to change their password when they login.  If unchecked, the only way to change a user’s password is for an administrator to change on the user’s Approvals profile.

Force Password change after number of days (0 for never):  if company policy is for users to change their password regularly, set the specified number of days here.

Allow users to request a ‘Forgotten password’ code:  tick to allow users the option on the login screen to enter their username and request a reset code be sent via email allowing them to access Approvals and enter a new password.

Allow password reuse after how many passwords (0 for no checks):  if passwords should not be reused within a certain number of new passwords, enter a value here.

Number of failed logins before an IP Address is blocked:  the IP address will be blocked if a certain number of incorrect login attempts are made from the same IP address.  The IP address blocked will be that of the machine on the internal network, unless accessing Approvals externally where the external IP address will be blocked.  Depending on which is blocked, it will either stop just the user trying to login or multiple users.  These IP blocks can be cleared using the ‘Delete all IP Address Lockouts’ button.

Please be aware when creating passwords not to add the ‘<’ character preceding text as this can cause Approvals to throw a ‘potentially dangerous request’ error.  This is due to a web browser limitation designed to stop hackers entering code into your site to steal/destroy data.

Enforce Two Factor Authentication: If sites require an extra layer of security to ensure that users log on with more than their Approvals username and password, enable this setting. The prompt will show for 2FA when users are logging in so if Windows Authentication is enabled (which will automatically log the users in if their Approvals username matches their Windows username), this prompt will not show.  Please note, if the system setting is disabled, users can still choose to set two factor authentication individually within their My Settings menu.

Number of days before Two Factor Authentication is required again: configure the number of days required for two factor authentication to be prompted again.  If 0 is entered, users will be prompted to use two factor authentication whenever they log into Approvals.

Authentication links: select one of the tabs to download the authenticator tool on either an IOS device, Android device, or web browser for the administrator (the same links are also available within My Settings for each user).

12.7. Service

Requisition service ‘Posting Interval’ (Seconds):  this is defaulted to 15 seconds, please contact your Sage Business Partner if any queries arise with this.

Service Utility Posting Interval: this is defaulted to 1 hour. Please contact your Sage Business Partner if any queries arise with this.

Create Client Initiators: Before you change this, speak to your BP who installed your Approvals.

Sage 200 Services Bin Override: Before you change this, speak to your BP who installed your Approvals.

Disable Timesheets updating Sage:  switch on if no timesheets should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Disable Requisitions updating Sage:  switch on if no requisitions should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Disable Sales Orders updating Sage:  switch on if no sales orders should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Disable Invoices updating Sage:  switch on if no invoices should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Disable creating Invoices from Sage: switch on if no invoices that are already posted in Sage should be pulled through into Approvals. Useful on sites that are still testing invoices after recently adding the module, but are not prepared to use it, since they still need to complete live invoices in Sage etc. but do not want to disable the invoice module in Approvals online licencing for a month or two.

Disable Expenses updating Sage:  switch on if no expenses should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Disable Payments updating Sage:  switch on if no suggested payments should not post through to Sage once fully approved.  If this setting is switched on, once saved please make sure the service is restarted.

Service Host:  this stores the server name the Approvals service was last marked as running on.  It is used as confirmation that the server has not changed due to a server move.  If this setting does not match with the service’s current server, the service and application will be disabled to avoid potential posting to incorrect databases.

12.8. Cache / Memory

Occasionally the cache (temporarily stored information from webpages) can prevent updated content being displayed or cause functionality problems; e.g. changes made in Sage not pulling through to Approvals or a new logo not showing on the logon page.  These can be resolved by clearing the cache.

12.9. Logging

Verbose Logging Enabled:  switch on to allow page access and memory to be recorded in the Sicon application within Event Viewer; by default, this is not enabled.  Verbose logging should only be enabled for a short period of time if diagnosing a particular Approvals service issue.  If enabled, more detailed information will be recorded but this can result in large log files which can slow performance.

12.10. Sage 50 Payroll

Add in ODBC details for Sage 50 Payroll to allow for importing of employees and HR data into Approvals.

12.11. Mobile Access

Enable Mobile Service: this will enable the Approvals system to allow access from mobile devices connected via the Approvals Mobile app.

Http protocol:  choose https, http or http behind https proxy (use this only if Https is handled exclusively (aka SSL Offloading) by an external web proxy such as Amazon Web Services); the applicable setting will depend on how the connection has been configured by IT.

Service Address:  the address used by the app to connect to the server. The default would be the server name (e.g. APPROVALSSERVER or SAGESERVER), for external access this would be whichever host name has been configured in the external DNS (e.g. Approvals.company.com). Refer to the site’s network administrator if there are any queries on this.

Port number:  enter port number opened for Approvals app to use.

Mobile Service endpoint address: this will be generated automatically; e.g. “http://[Web address Domain]:[Port Number]/APPROVALSService”.

Https certificate thumbprint to bind the port number to: required for users that require a secure connection.

Max file upload size from mobile device: if a maximum upload limit for attachments (in Mbs) is required, enter the maximum size here.

Enable Mobile Timesheets: tick to allow for timesheet configuration with the mobile app.

Enable Mobile Requisitions: tick to allow for requisition configuration with the mobile app.

Enable Mobile Holiday Requests: tick to allow for holiday request configuration with the mobile app.

Enable Mobile Expenses: tick to allow for expense configuration with the mobile app.

Enable Mobile Invoices: tick to allow for invoice configuration with the mobile app.

Enable Mobile OCR: tick to allow OCR within the expense module (i.e. to create an expense line from a scanned receipt).

Enable Mobile Biometric/PIN Login:  tick to allow users to log into the app using either biometrics or PIN.

Enable Mobile Absence Requests:  tick to allow for absence request configuration within the mobile app.

Mobile App Links

IOS:  scan the QR code to be taken through to the correct location to download the app.

Android:  scan the QR code to be taken through to the correct location to download the app.

Endpoint Address:  scan the QR code to populate the end point address from System Settings into the app settings.

Please refer to the Approvals App Help and User Guide for further information.

13. System Settings - Requisitions

System Settings relating to the Requisition module are accessed under System Settings – Requisitions.  Refer to the Requisitions Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

14. System Settings - Sales Orders

System Settings relating to the Sales Order module are accessed under System Settings – Sales Orders. Refer to the Sales Orders Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

15. System Settings - Timesheets

System Settings relating to the Timesheet module are accessed under System Settings – Timesheets.  Refer to the Timesheets Help and User Guide for more information on configuring these settings.

16. System Setup - Analysis Labels

These analysis labels sit within Approvals and if linked to a document type, will not post through to Sage 200.  These analysis labels provide additional reporting fields and can be set per document type and if applicable, at either a parent or item level.  These analysis labels can be set to show on reports if required.  Text labels will allow the user to enter free text into the box and check box labels will allow the user to tick a check box.  Some document types may only allow either text or check box labels, not both.

Example 1 – Analysis Labels on Requisitions

The above example will appear on the Justification tab when entering a requisition.

Example 2 – Analysis Labels on Users

These can be used to keep a record of users’ leave dates, whether a user is a first aider or an internal team the user belongs to.

These analysis codes will be visible under the Person Details tab on the user profile; only free text fields can be configured against the User.

If a user has an analysis code configured, these will show on the user grid which can then be exported if required.  Although 10 analysis codes can be configured against a User profile, only the first two will show on the user grid.

17. System Setup - Calendar Labels

If the HR module has been enabled, this option will appear relating to the HR calendar; various events will be shown with default colours assigned to each, but these can be changed if needed.

18. System Setup - Countries and Cities

These are used by the Expenses module if Subsistence grades and rates are to be enabled, or countries used by the Holidays module to configure bank holidays.

See our Approvals Expenses Help and User Guide.

19. System Setup - Credit Cards

This is where credit cards would be configured used by the Expenses module.

See our Approvals Expenses Help and User Guide.

20. System Setup - Delivery Addresses

Delivery and invoice addresses need to be created for users raising requisitions within Approvals.  Configure default addresses before linking a Sage Company through to a user to ensure the default delivery and invoice address is associated with that user.  Users will not be able to enter a requisition until a delivery and invoice address is selected.

Addresses which are ‘Not Sage Database Related’ will be available to use against all requisitions that are raised in the system, across all Sage Companies.  Addresses can be linked to a particular Sage Company if they should not be available across all Sage Companies or have specific company names per Sage company.

Enter a new Address:  click to add a new address.

Import addresses from Sage warehouses:  addresses or locations can be imported for each Sage 200 Company.  If used in conjunction with the filters on the left hand-side, this setting can also be used to update existing warehouse addresses if these have been changed in Sage since being imported to Approvals.  Select the Sage Database and Warehouse to be updated, then click the import button to update that specific warehouse address.

Free text delivery addresses are also an option for users if configured within System Settings – Requisitions.

When adding a new address:

Sage Database:  choose to link the address either to a specific Sage Company or set that the address is not related to a company.

Warehouse:  if the address should only be linked to a particular warehouse, select from the drop-down list.  Leave blank if the address is available regardless of the warehouse on the requisition.  A warehouse can only be picked if linked to a particular Sage Company.

Supplier Account:  if the address should only be linked to a particular supplier, select from the drop-down list.  Leave blank if the address is available regardless of the supplier on the requisition.  A supplier can only be picked if linked to a particular Sage Company.

Name:  enter the name of this address; this would usually be the Company name.  This is a mandatory field.

Description:  enter a description of this address; this will be visible when entering a requisition so ensure the description will allow the user to pick the correct delivery address.  This is a mandatory field.

Postal Name:  enter the Postal Name; this will be configured to appear on the PO to the supplier so ensure the correct Company name is entered.

Contact Name:  if applicable, enter a contact name that should appear on the PO to the supplier.  This can be left blank if not required.

Address:  use the four free text boxes to enter the correct address.  At least one line must be entered per address.

Post Code:  enter the post code; this is a mandatory field.

Telephone No:  if applicable, enter a telephone number.  This can be configured to show on the PO to the supplier but is not a mandatory field.

Fax No:  if applicable, enter a fax number.  This can be configured to show on the PO to the supplier but is not a mandatory field.

Email Address:  if applicable, enter an email address.  This can be configured to show on the PO to the supplier but is not a mandatory field.

Web Address:  if applicable, enter a web address.  This can be configured to show on the PO to the supplier but is not a mandatory field.

Default Delivery Address:  tick if this should be the default delivery address either for the Sage Company selected or across all Companies.  There should be one default delivery address per Company or across all Companies.

Default Invoice Address:  tick if this should be the default invoice address either for the Sage Company selected or across all Companies.  There should be one default invoice address per Company or across all Companies.

21. System Setup - Document Type Reminders

Reminders can be set to be sent to users linked to a particular document type; users will receive the reminder if they have the permission to be able to submit that document type.

To add a new reminder, choose configuration and click to ‘Add’.

Document Type:  select from the drop-down list the correct document type; e.g. invoice, expense, timesheet etc.

Priority:  select the priority level that should show on the Approvals homepage; either Low, Normal, High or Urgent.  High or Urgent priorities will be shown in red on the user’s homepage.

Interval:  select the correct interval, either weekly or monthly.  Depending on interval selected, either the day of the week or day of the month will then need to be selected.

Day of Month/Day of Week:  depending on interval chosen, either the day or week will need to be selected.  If the interval is set as monthly, the day cannot be set as further than the 28th day of the month.

Time of Day:  enter the time of day the email should be sent.

Description:  enter a description; this will be the email subject.

Use Out of Office Alternates:  if configured and a user has their Out of Office switched on in Approvals, the document reminder will be sent to their out of office alternate user.

Text:  enter text as required; this will be the email text.

Send Now:  tick to send the notification email straight away.  If not ticked, the email reminder will be sent based on the interval and time configured.

Depending on document type selected, users will receive an email when specified and also see a reminder on their Approvals homepage.

Examples of document reminders being set up:

Weekly reminder to submit timesheets; one could be configured to be sent on Friday afternoon and also another configured on Monday morning.

Weekly or monthly reminder to ensure expense claims are completed and submitted prior to the expense cut off.

Weekly or monthly reminder if credit card statements have been imported.

Monthly reminders to ensure invoices are approved prior to month end.

22. System Setup - Email Threads

System email threads dictate how often notifications are emailed to users.  Please ensure that the Sicon Approvals Service is restarted following any changes being made to the threads.  By default, there will be three threads created on initial install; Daily, Hourly and URGENT.

The Daily thread is intended as a daily reminder to users containing all notifications – the option to send previously sent items is ticked.

The Hourly thread is intended to show the user any new documents that are either awaiting approval or have been approved – the option to send previously sent items is not ticked.

The Urgent thread is a system thread used when a user marks a document as urgent and cannot be deleted. The Welcome Email thread uses the Urgent Email thread so if users have not received a welcome email, make sure the Urgent Email thread has been configured correctly.

To make changes to a thread, click Edit or click to add a new email thread.  Ensure there are no threads configured with no notification options ticked as this can prevent emails being sent out.

22.1. Interval Tab

The interval is determined by the ‘Interval’ and the ‘Next Email Send Time’.  In the example above the service will try and send emails every hour after 08:00, as that time falls within the Email Window Start Time (08:00) and the Email Window End Time (18:00); if there are new notifications for the user, the email will be sent.

If the interval was set at 30 minutes (rather than one hour), the service would try and send the email every 30 minutes after the Next Email Send Time.  If that time falls within the Email Window Start and End Time, emails will be sent.  If the setting for ‘Send Previously Sent Items’ is on (as configured under the Notifications tab), the user could potentially receive the email twice in a window of one hour.

If the interval is configured to be either minutes or seconds, the system will keep trying to send the email at that interval but will only send emails when that time overlaps with the Window Start and End time.  The next send time gets updated after an email is sent, which is done by the service’s email process.  The first time the email process runs after the next send time, but within the window, the thread’s next send time gets updated (by adding the thread’s interval to the current next send time).

If ‘Send Previously Sent Items’ is on, users will get emails until the notification is dismissed in Approvals or the action is completed.

22.2. Days Tab

Configure the days the notification emails should be sent on.

22.3. Notifications Tab

Configure what notifications are sent on the thread; different notification options would be chosen on different email threads.

22.4. Notifications Tab

When received on email, Approvals notification emails are grouped by document type to make approval notifications clearer for the recipient:

23. System Setup - Expense Item Types

If the Expense module has been enabled, this is where the expense types are setup initially.

See our Approvals Expenses Help and User Guide.

24. System Setup - Expense Meetings

If the Expense module has been configured, this is where expense meetings can be created if required.

See our Approvals Expenses Help and User Guide.

25. System Setup - Fuel Rates

If the Expense module has been configured, set up or edit fuel rates as required.

See our Approvals Expenses Help and User Guide.

26. System Setup - Holiday Default Projects

If using both the Approvals Timesheet module either with Holidays and/or the HR module (to record absence), or bank holidays are to be automatically populated from Sicon Projects, it is necessary to define a default holiday project within Approvals.  Timesheets will be populated with users’ approved holiday requests, bank holidays and mandatory holidays, as configured, and these lines will need to be linked to a Project and Project Header/Project Item.  It is recommended to set one default holiday project for all users per Company but it is also possible to define specific projects at an individual user level.

Each absence type will need to be linked to a project; these can either be the same projects or different projects if required.  The separate absence types are –

Bank Holidays

Mandatory Holidays

Holiday (only used with Holiday module)

Unpaid Holiday (only used with Holiday module)

Absence (only used with HR module)

It is advised that default holiday and absence projects are configured at initial implementation and not changed.  However, if a change does become necessary, once the default project has been amended timesheets will need to be reprocessed; under System Settings – Holidays.  This will remove the existing holidays associated with the current project and re-populate them with the new holiday/absence project.

27. System Setup - IP Lockouts

If a login attempt is tried incorrectly more than five times the IP address will be blocked and the user(s) on that IP address will be unable to log in – the number of failed attempts can be configured within Approvals System Settings.  Within this screen any IP addresses with a failed login attempt will be shown with the number of failed attempts.  IP addresses with more than five attempts will be blocked; it is possible here to either clear a single IP address or clear all lockouts.  It is a User Type permission to be able to access this screen.

28. System Setup - Repost Requisitions

This function is provided as an advanced recovery option should the Sage 200 system need restoring.  Select the Sage Database and follow the instructions on the screen for the system to recreate any missing purchase orders in Sage 200.  Auto generate order return numbers must be switched off in Sage POP before running this function and re-enabled after the process is run.

It is advised to discuss with your Sage BP or with Sicon before running this routine.

29. System Setup - Sage Connections

The Sage Connections screen provides the settings required to link Approvals to a Sage company and will list the Sage Companies already linked through.  There is no limit to the number of Sage 200 companies that can be linked.

Is Valid:  this will be ticked if the connection to Sage passes validation; if a Sage Connection is not valid the System cannot be used and the menu options on the left of the screen will be hidden.

Edit:  click to open up and view connection details, update PO layouts, logos and terms and conditions.

Delete:  use to remove a Sage company from Approvals; it might be that a test company has been added in temporarily.

Make Base Currency:  if multiple companies have been linked to Approvals with multiple currencies, mark one as the base currency.  This will be used to calculate approval values; other currencies will be converted to the base currency.

Suspend Posting:  if required, posting can be suspended temporarily for a particular company which will prevent any approved documents posting through to Sage.

29.1. Connection Details

When adding a new company, if details have been entered using the Sage Configuration Database section within Miscellaneous settings, then details of possible companies will be automatically populated (see the earlier section “Sage Configuration Database” for further information on configuring the Sage database string):

A new company can still be added manually by clicking ‘create empty’ and entering the required information manually.

When editing a company, the connection details will be visible.  Some information required here can be found in Sage System Administration, but it is recommended to speak with your Sage Business Partner and/or IT contact for further assistance.  The Sage Company Description must match in Approvals how the Company is named in Sage System Administration.

IMPORTANT NOTE: it is strongly advised that throughout Approvals only one instance is open at a time (e.g. only one browser tab open).  This is particularly important on the Sage Connections screen to avoid inadvertently overwriting any existing company information which can result in Approvals becoming inaccessible.

29.2. Company Details

Information on this tab will be used when sending out approved purchase orders from Approvals to suppliers or approved sales orders to customers.  Enter Company registration details as applicable; these can be found in Sage under System Settings.  Upload a company logo per company; ensure the format is .gif.

Under the Purchase Order sub tab enter the email subject and body text using the fields underneath.  Choose a purchase order report from the drop-down list; it is possible to preview the report before selection.  If required, two different reports can be configured.

Under the Sales Order sub tab enter the email subject and body text using the fields underneath.  Choose a sales order report from the drop-down list; it is possible to preview the report before selection.  If required, three different reports can be configured.

29.3. Terms & Conditions

Terms and conditions can be entered which will be attached to either a sales or purchase order when emailing to customers or suppliers.  Use the tabs at the bottom of the screen to preview how the text will appear when sent out.

29.4. Signature Page

This page is only applicable if using Sales Order module; use the fields to enter a signature as required.

This will then add an additional page to the layout with the signature details included.

29.5. Settings

Standard Tax Rate:  configure the standard tax rate; this is used by the Expense module when users enter an expense claim and depending on configuration, also by the Requisition module.  This is a mandatory field.

Non-Tax Rate:  configure the non-tax rate; this is used by the Expense module when users enter an expense claim and depending on configuration, also by the Requisition module.  This is a mandatory field.

Per passenger category component for Project Accounting Expense Claims:  if using Project Accounting, select the component for passenger mileage claims.

Purchase Order Number Prefix:  if required, enter a prefix per company, e.g. SICON.  This will show before the PO number on the PO sent to the supplier but will not post through to Sage.

Next Purchase Order Number (Internal Orders):  used for when raising Internal Orders or if Sage Commercials are not configured; enter the next PO number to be used.

Warehouse to use for direct delivery:  to be used with the Sales Order module if direct delivery is used.

Default stock item warehouse:  if entering stock lines on a requisition and a default warehouse is to be used, select here from the drop-down box.  If the stock item in Sage is linked to this warehouse, when entered on a requisition in Approvals this warehouse will default.

WebAPI Username and Password:  if using Sicon WebAPI (if linking Approvals with Sicon Projects), enter the WebAPI username and password here.  Use the Check button to validate the settings.

Sales order Automatic Approval

Automatically approve sales orders if not under-price book price:  Enable as required.

Minimum Gross Margin for Automatic Approval of Sales Order:  enter as required; if no automatic approval should happen, leave as zero.

Minimum Margin for Self-Approval of Sales Order lines:  enter as required; if no self-approval should happen, leave as zero.

29.6. System Settings Overrides

If using Requisition Approvals, it is possible to override a number of system settings per company.  This can be useful if different companies have different uses of the requisition modules.

Supplier Filters – Supplier Stock Filter Configuration:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required can be changed; for example, it might be for one Company stock items can only be ordered from the preferred supplier while for another Company stock can be purchased from any supplier.  In the above example, as this setting has the ‘Derive’ option selected, this setting is the same for this Company as the system setting.

Supplier Filters – Supplier/Unit Pricing Display:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required it can be changed; for example, it might be that for one Company the pricing will be visible per supplier but for another Company it shouldn’t be visible.

Enable ‘Free Text’ line entry:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required it can be changed; for example, it might be that for one Company free text lines can be entered on a requisition but for another Company, they should only be able to raise stock lines.

29.7. Checklist for adding new company into Approvals

When adding a new company into Approvals, various configuration will need to be completed before the company can be used.  Not all these items will be relevant, it will depend on other configuration (e.g. whether Approvals has been linked with a costing module and what modules are enabled).

• Company added into Approvals (information from Sage System Admin is required only if Sage Database Connection string has not been entered into System Settings).
• PO layout and PO email configuration – can the same default text and layout be used as is currently with a different logo or does a new layout need creating (if using Requisition module) – see System Settings Help & User Guide, Sage Connections, Company Details section.
• New delivery/invoice addresses added in (if using Requisitions or Invoice module) – see System Settings Help & User Guide, Delivery Addresses section.
• Approval Routes setup in new company – see Approval Help and User Guide.
• Users given access to correct nominal codes in new company (if using Requisitions or Invoice module) – see User Settings Help and User Guide, Nominal Accounts.
• Users given access to correct projects and project headers (if is linked with Sicon Projects or Sage Project Accounting and users don’t have access to all projects/headers).
• Users linked to correct expense and mileage types (if using Expense module) – see Expenses Help and User Guide.
• Users linked to correct new company as required (configure Projects/Project Accounting Resource and Purchase Ledger supplier account- if using Timesheets or Expense module) – see User Settings Help and User Guide Users.
• Enable settings as required within Approvals Add-on – see our Approvals Add-on Help and User Guide.

30. System Setup - Sage System Settings

If using Approvals with requisitions, it is possible to override a number of system settings per company.  This can be useful if different companies have different uses of the requisition modules.  Select the required database from the top drop-down box and configure the settings accordingly.

Supplier Filters – Supplier Stock Filter Configuration:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required can be changed; for example, it might be for one Company stock items can only be ordered from the preferred supplier while for another Company stock can be purchased from any supplier.  In the above example, as this setting has the ‘Derive’ option selected, this setting is the same for this Company as the system setting.

Supplier Filters – Supplier/Unit Pricing Display:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required it can be changed; for example, it might be that for one Company the pricing will be visible per supplier but for another Company it shouldn’t be visible.

Enable ‘Free Text’ line entry:  the default from System Settings will be used initially but if required it can be changed; for example, it might be that for one Company free text lines can be entered on a requisition but for another Company, they should only be able to raise stock lines.

31. System Setup - Subsistence Grades

If within the Expense module configuration, Subsistence has been enabled, this is where subsistence grades are setup.

See our Expenses Help and User Guides.

32. System Setup - Subsistence Incidentals

If within the Expense module configuration, subsistence has been enabled, this is where subsistence incidentals are configured.

See our Expenses Help and User Guides.

33. System Setup - Subsistence Rates

If within the Expense module configuration, subsistence has been enabled, this is where the subsistence rates are configured.

See our Expenses Help and User Guides.

34. System Setup - System Messages

Messages can be configured to appear in a yellow pop-up to all users when they log into Approvals; each message can have a unique text with a date and time to display until.  The message can prevent users from logging into the system; this can be useful if needing to stop users logging in while system configuration is taking place.

The message configured within system messages will appear on the users’ homepage following login and can be dismissed by clicking anywhere on the notification.

35. System Setup - Vehicles

This is where vehicles would be configured used by the Expenses module.

See our Expenses Help and User Guides.

36. System Setup - Warehouse Nominal Accounts

This function allows the ability to override the cost centre and/or department of a nominal code on the requisition line based on the warehouse selected. Ensure the setting ‘Use Warehouse Nominal Account Override’ is enabled in System Settings. For more information on using this, please see the Requisition Help and User Guide.

37. Approvals Email

Basic email functionality exists within Approvals to allow for users to email either other Approvals users or external contacts.  It can be useful to use this functionality during initial implementation to check emails can be sent from the system and received both internally and externally.  It is a User Type permission to be able to access the Email option so can be configured as per organisation requirements.

To:  either select from the drop-down list an Approvals user or enter an email address in the box below.

From:  choose whether to email from the email address configured against the logged in Approvals user, or from, the System Email address – as configured in System Settings.

Subject:  enter the email subject.

Body:  enter the email body.

Send Email:  click to send the email.

38. My Approvals Settings

All users will have access to their own settings by clicking on their initial icon at the top of the screen.

Theme:  select either the Default or Dark theme.

Out of Office:  if a user is an approver, while they are away from Approvals they should switch on their out of office to direct approvals to another user.  Once the out of office has been set as on, the user will see a list of other users to select from; it is only possible to select one alternate.  When the user logs in once they return, a pop-up will show asking whether to switch off out of office.  If a user has delegate access to another user, they are able to switch on the out of office using this screen.

Enable dashboard quick links:  if this is on, users get the option to see a Quick Link drop down box allowing direct access to document entry pages as well as showing any pages the user has marked as a Favourite page.

Enable Two Factor Authentication: to add an extra layer of security when logging on, enable this setting.  Some companies will have this configured as default and therefore the setting will not be visible, but two factor authentication will still be required.  Please see the next section on Two Factor Authentication for further information on configuring this.

Email addresses:  use this option to clear your custom email list (these are addresses that have been entered when emailing Purchases Orders etc.).

Report layouts:  use this option to clear any customisations made on reports (column grouping, positioning etc.).

Favourite pages:  use this option to clear all pages that have been marked as favourite on the user’s quick links.

Two Factor Authentication Links: if using two factor authentication, the links to download an accompanying app either via IOS, Android or as a Browser Extension are available here.

Mobile App Links:  if a user has been flagged in their User Type as a mobile user they will see these links here.

IOS:  scan the QR code to be taken through to the correct location to download the Approvals app for Apple Devices.

Android:  scan the QR code to be taken through to the correct location to download the Approvals app for Android Devices.

Endpoint Address:  scan the QR code to populate the end point address from System Settings into the app settings, once the app has been downloaded.

38.1. Two Factor Authentication

What is two Factor Authentication?

Configuring two factor authentication with the Approvals desktop website requires the user to not only enter their username and password when signing on, but also to enter an additional code received by an app on their phone or browser.

Sicon’s two factor authentication works with a 2 Factor Authenticator app, such as Google Authenticator, available from Apple’s App Store, Google’s Play Store, or as a browser extension.  There are links to the Google Authenticator apps available in the User Settings.

Setting up Two Factor Authentication

Two factor authentication can be set up at a system level within System Settings – System Settings – Miscellaneous – Passwords/Security.  The number of days will control how often the user needs to enter a code.

If configured here, users will be forced to have two factor authentication turned on and there is no override for this.

Alternatively, if it is not enabled at a system level, users can choose to enable it individually instead, from My Personal Settings across the top:

The frequency of when this would be required is still reliant on the System Setting to specify how often two factor authentication should take place.

To use two factor authentication, users will need to install the Google Authenticator app, or equivalent, as standard to their mobile device.

Once the app has been installed, and the two factor authentication setting enabled, when the user next logs in to Approvals, after successfully entering their username and password they will be prompted to enter an authentication pin.

From the installed app, after clicking through the Get Started information the user will be prompted to set up their two factor account and can either do this by scanning a QR code, or by entering the manual setup key from the Approvals Desktop screen above.

Within Approvals, enter the code that is produced by the app and click Verify.  This will log the user in.

This account that has been set up on the device will now be displayed automatically in the app and the code regularly regenerated.  This can be used for all future log-ons to Approvals, where just the authentication PIN will be required next time.

Maintaining Two Factor Authentication

If required, the authentication can be reset to force an individual user to recreate the account on the authentication app.  Administrators can do this through User Setup – Users and using the Reset button on the relevant user:

38.2. User Favourite Pages

Users can mark pages as favourites if regular access is required, as indicated by a heart button at the top right of the screen.

This heart button can also be used to remove individual pages from the User Favourites list if the favourite is only a temporary measure, perhaps during initial system configuration.

Any pages that are marked as favourite will show on the user’s quick links:

If required, users can clear all favourite pages from their User Settings:

39. Enquiries

This are various menu options under the Enquires option – these are User Type permissions so can be assigned accordingly.

39.1. Budget Enquiry

Users will be able to view nominal budget information for any nominal codes they have been given permission to.  Some users may be given permission to view all nominal accounts in the budget enquiry; this is a permission allocated on their user profile and is usually only given to Finance members or Administrators.  This enquiry will show a breakdown of Annual and YTD budgets set against a nominal code and data can be exported to Excel for further analysis if required.

Budget information is pulled through from Sage; monthly and annual budgets are set against the nominal account and YTD (if ticked on the filters to show), will show the combined total of the monthly budgets up to the current period.

Actual Transactions:  invoiced costs that are in open accounting periods.

Deferred Transactions:  invoiced costs that are in closed accounting periods.

Historical Transactions:  historical costs.

Sage Purchase Orders:  purchase orders that have posted to Sage that have not yet been invoiced.

Sage Sales Orders:  sales orders that have posted to Sage against the Issues nominal that have not yet been invoiced.  These will not be removed from the budget totals, unless running an enquiry specifically on an Issues nominal.

Pending Approvals Requisitions:  requisitions that have not been approved and therefore not posted to Sage.

Pending Approvals Sales Orders:  sales orders that have not been approved and therefore not posted to Sage.

Pending Approvals Invoices:  invoices that have been entered into Approvals directly.

Pending Approvals Expenses:  expenses that have not been approved and therefore not posted to Sage.

If documents have been added against an invoice using Sicon Documents, the attachment can be viewed in Approvals through this screen; the document count column will show against the transactions and if there is an attachment, click on the number to open the Document pop-up and then click to view the attachment.  To be able to view attachments, a Sage Configuration string needs to be entered in System Settings – Miscellaneous.

39.2. Expense Nominal Account

This report will show the total expense claims against individual nominal codes for expense claims entered in Approvals.  It is possible to show only mileage or expense claims, or all.  Data can be exported to Excel or PDF as required by right-clicking the column headers for filtering and exporting options.

39.3. Project

If a costing module is configured, this enquiry will list out each project that a user has been granted access to.  This report can be exported to Excel or customised on the Approvals screen if required by right-clicking the column headers for filtering and exporting options.

39.4. Project Header Type

If a costing module is configured, this enquiry will list out by user each project header type they have access to.  If a user has access to all Project Header Types, they will not appear on the report.  This report can be exported to Excel or customised on the Approvals screen if required by right-clicking the column headers for filtering and exporting options.

39.5. Project Header

If a costing module is configured, this enquiry will list out by user which project headers they have access to and whether a specific item or approval value is being used rather than the user’s default.  If a user has access to all Project Headers, they will not appear on the report.  This report can be exported to Excel or customised on the Approvals screen if required by right-clicking the column headers for filtering and exporting options.

40. Sage Admin

Sage Admin functionality allows users to request new suppliers, customers and stock items which once approved, will post through to Sage and then be available to use in Approvals.  This functionality is not module specific so will be available with all installs.

40.1. Enabling Sage Admin

User Type permissions need to be enabled to allow users to either request suppliers, expense supplier, customers or stock items, view all requests and approve requests.  These permissions can be found under the Sage Admin tab in the User Type settings.

Request new Customers:  the ability for a user to request a new customer.

View all Customer Requests:  the ability for users to view all customer requests entered through Approvals.

Request new Suppliers:  the ability for a user to request a new supplier.

Request new Expense Suppliers:  the ability for a user to request a new expense supplier; this option appears when linking a user through to a PL supplier account.  Usually this permission is only given to Finance or Administrators who will be creating new users in Approvals.

View all Supplier Requests:  the ability for users to view all supplier requests entered through Approvals.

Request new Stock Items:  the ability for a user to request a new stock item.

View all Stock Items:  the ability for users to view all stock requests entered through Approvals.

Approve new Customers:  the ability to approve new customer requests.

Approve new Suppliers:  the ability to approve new supplier requests.

Approve new Expense Suppliers:  the ability to approve new expense supplier requests.

Approve new Stock Items:  the ability to approve new stock item requests.

Delete Customer Requests:  the ability to delete customer requests; it is not possible to delete a request once it has been approved.

Delete Supplier Requests:  the ability to delete supplier requests; it is not possible to delete a request once it has been approved.

Delete Stock Item Requests:  the ability to delete stock item requests; it is not possible to delete a request once it has been approved.

Once a user has relevant permissions, a new menu option will appear on the left titled ‘Sage Admin’ with various menu options underneath, depending on permissions enabled.

40.2. Sage Admin Approval Routes

All Sage Admin approval routes are based on requesting user and built using the standard approval route wizard functionality.  If routes will not be different based on user requesting the item, it would only be necessary to set a default approval route per document type.

For supplier or customer requests, these would usually go to a Finance team member, for stock items these would usually require approval from someone in the Warehouse team.

40.3. New Customer Requests

Click on New Customer and enter details as applicable.  All the below details are mandatory except the telephone and website fields.  A check is done on the account reference to ensure it does not exist in Sage already.

Under the Contacts tab, complete as applicable.  The first name, last name and email fields are mandatory.

Under the Trading tab, complete as applicable.  The Country code is the only mandatory field; analysis codes will be pulled through as configured in Sage.

The Approval History tab will be populated once the request is submitted and approved.  Once all fields have been completed, click Save & Submit.  The request will go down the pre-configured approval route and show to the approver as awaiting approval.  The request can be approved or rejected and clicking view request details will open the customer request to allow for amendments to the fields before being approved.

Once fully approved, the customer will move to the Completed tab, appear in Sage and be available for selection in Approvals.

40.4. New Supplier Requests

Click on New Supplier and enter details as applicable.  All the below fields are mandatory except for the telephone and website fields.  A check is done on the account reference to ensure it does not exist in Sage already, and only currencies enabled for new accounts in Sage will display in the currency drop down (Accounting System Manager – Settings – Currencies and Exchange Rates – Settings).

Under the Contacts tab, complete as applicable.  The first name, last name and email fields are mandatory.

Under the Trading tab, complete as applicable.  The Country code, default tax code and duration to keep transactions for are mandatory fields.  Analysis codes will be pulled through as configured in Sage.

Under the Bank tab, complete if known.

Under the Payment tab, complete as applicable.  The Payment Group is the only mandatory field.

Under the Attachments tab, enter a document providing additional justification for the new supplier, it might be that headed paper is required; either attach using the drop files or browse option.  If Sicon Documents is enabled, once the supplier is approved this documentation will post through to Sage.

The Approval History tab will be populated once the request is submitted and approved.  Once all fields have been completed, click Save & Submit.  The request will go down the pre-configured approval route and show to the approver as awaiting approval.  The request can be approved or rejected and clicking view request details will open the supplier request to allow for amendments to the fields before being approved.  If bank details have not been added by the user entering the supplier request, these will need to be added directly into Sage.

Once fully approved, the supplier will move to the Completed tab, appear in Sage and be available for selection in Approvals.

40.5. New Stock Item Requests

Click on New Stock Item and enter stock details as applicable.  All the below fields are mandatory.

Under the Supplier tab, complete as applicable; none of these fields are mandatory.

The Approval History tab will be populated once the request is submitted and approved.  Once all fields have been completed, click Save & Submit.  The request will go down the pre-configured approval route and show to the approver as awaiting approval.  The request can be approved or rejected and clicking view request details will open the stock item request to allow for amendments to the fields before being approved.

Once fully approved, the stock item will move to the Completed tab, appear in Sage and be available for selection in Approvals.

40.6. New Expense Supplier Requests

New expense supplier requests are made through a user profile, usually when a new user is added onto the Approvals system and if there is no PL supplier account already set in Sage for the user.

On a user’s profile, under the Company Access tab – Expenses sub tab, click New Expense Supplier to be taken to the new supplier pages; some fields will already be populated with data from the user’s profile but can be overridden if required.

Complete all mandatory fields as per the standard new supplier request screen and submit for approval.  Once submitted, this request will follow the pre-configured approval route for new expense supplier requests.  Once approved, the supplier account will be linked to the user’s profile.

41. Sicon Projects Screens within Approvals

If Sicon Projects has been configured as the costing module, it is possible to link the project list through to allow users to complete analysis on their projects, edit certain fields or create new projects.  It is designed as a quick access analysis option for users who may not have Sage licences.  It does not carry the full functionality available within Sicon Projects within Sage and as such, some sites may wish to restrict what access users are given within Approvals.

When Approvals is linked with Projects, the Sicon WebAPI should also have been configured in Sage and Approvals.  See the earlier sections on System Settings – Miscellaneous and System Setup – Sage Connections – Settings for further information on configuring WebAPI.

41.1. Sicon Projects User Type Permissions

If Projects has been configured as the costing module, there are User Type permissions to allow for Projects screens to be viewed in Approvals with limited fields also able to be edited.

Edit Projects during Invoice Approval (if no Project selected or N/A and the Invoice is not in Sage Already):  the project entered on an invoice can only be changed if it was entered in Sage as a direct purchase ledger invoice.  If it is a PO Invoice, the project can only be changed if recorded in Sage against the N/A Project and N/A Project Header.

Edit Projects during Order Approval (if no Project selected or N/A and the Invoice is not in Sage Already):  the project can only be changed on the approval page if the line has not been goods received or invoiced.

Can access Sicon Projects screens:  whether the Sicon Projects screen menu options are visible on the menu options on the left of the screen.

Can view all jobs in Sicon Projects screens:  if this is ticked, the users will be able to see all projects, if unticked, users can only view projects where they have been set as the project manager (the resource must be allocated to their user profile) or, have had projects allocated to them within their user profile.

Can edit jobs in Sicon Projects screens:  if this is ticked, the users will be able to amend a project and edit the percentage complete figure and the actual completion date.  Once saved, these will then update the project within Sage.

Can add/edit memos in Sicon Projects screens:  if this is ticked, users will be able to add notes or memos onto the project in Approvals which once saved, will post through to the project within Sage.

Can create jobs in Sicon Projects screens:  the ability for a user to create a project within Approvals that will save through to the Project list within Sage.

Can edit job analysis codes in Sicon Projects screens:  if this is ticked, users will be able to edit analysis codes as configured from Sicon Projects settings within Sage.  Once an update has been saved it will post through to the project within Sage.

Can view Job Custom Field values in Sicon Projects screens:  the ability for a user to view additional custom analysis tabs, as configured from Sicon Projects settings within Sage.

Can edit Job Custom Field values in Sicon Projects screens:  this setting is used in conjunction with the setting above; the ability for a user to edit additional custom analysis tabs, as configured from Sicon Projects settings within Sage.  Once updates have been saved, these will post through to the project within Sage.

Can submit Construction Supplier Applications:  if Sicon Construction is installed, the ability for the user to be able to submit supplier applications.

Can approve Construction Applications:  if Sicon Construction is installed, applications can require approval.  This permission allows the user to approve such applications; either ones that have been entered in Sage or Approvals.

Can View Construction Applications:  the user will be able to view applications that are awaiting their approval or they have approved.

Can View all Construction Applications:  the user will be able to view all applications in Approvals.

Can View Sub Contractor Purchase Orders:  the ability for the user to view these purchase orders; either ones that have been entered in Sage or Approvals.

Can submit Sub Contractor Purchase Orders:  the ability for the user to enter these purchase orders in Approvals.

41.2. Project List

If a user has permission to access the Sicon Projects screen, the Project List will display projects as configured within Sage; screens and views may change depending on User Type permissions.  Project managers who are also users in Approvals should have their Sicon Project resource allocated to them within their user profile.

Sage Database:  The Sage Company the user has access to by default will be selected and if the user has access to multiple companies, they can choose another company using the drop-down list.  If the user only has access to one company, the list is greyed out.

Project Enquiry:  once a project has been highlighted, click to see the Project Enquiry screen.

Amend Project:  once a project has been highlighted, click to view additional project information or if permissions have been granted, make changes to analysis fields or completion figures.

New Project:  if permission has been given, click to create a new project.

Show Advanced List:  click to view budget, variance, committed and revised data and if applicable, application, valuation or retention information.  N.B. accessing the Advanced List can cause loading delays as there may be large amounts of data so by default, this option is not ticked.

Column Headers:  click on the filter option either on the column header or in the search bar to only show certain jobs.  Right- click anywhere on the column headers to be provided with further options for customising columns or exporting the data as shown on the screen.  As per other report screens, columns can be dragged around or filtered by using the top search options.

41.3. Project Enquiry

The project enquiry screen displays all transactions for a selected project grouped together as expenditure, income, stock, labour transactions.  Additional information depending on what has been configured in Sage is also available such as budget data.  Data can be exported to Excel for additional filtering and analysis; click Export at the top of the screen and select the tab to export.  If a PO on the Expenditure tab was raised through Approvals it is possible to click on the order number to view the order within Approvals.  Clicking on Edit Project will take the user through to the Amend project screen.

The Project Totals screen will vary depending on the setting within Sicon Projects – Utilities – Project Settings – Enquiry tab – Project totals tab mode.

Transaction type –

Project Header Type –

Project Groups –

Note, all tabs across the top will not be an exact replica of the more detailed information available within Sicon Projects.  For extended detail and maintenance options, it is advised projects are viewed within Sage.

41.4. Amend Project

This screen is used to show additional details of the project and if User Type permissions allow, various fields can be amended.  It is possible to go directly into the Project Enquiry screen from the Amend Project screen by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.

If further analysis or amendments are required that cannot be made in Approvals, these should be completed from within the Sage Sicon Projects.  This view within Approvals is designed as an analysis tool and will not contain the full functionality of the Sage screens.

41.5. New Project

If a user has permission to do so, they will be able to create a new project from within Approvals.  This functionality would usually be reserved for Administrators only.  Depending on Sicon Project settings, users will either need to enter a project number or this will be populated automatically once the job has been saved and posted through to Sage.

41.6. Planned Purchase Import

Planned Purchases can only be used if Approvals is linked with Projects and the Sicon Web API has been configured.

Within this screen users can generate a template and then import planned purchases.  Once a template has been created, enter the correct details, see example below.  In the Line Type column, enter either 0 for a stock item or 1 for a free text line.  If the user knows suppliers to use or prices for an item, these can be entered on the import.

To import, browse for the file and once uploaded, click to Validate; project, project header, stock, warehouse and supplier details will be checked and if correct, the file will be flagged as valid.  Once successfully validated, the file can be imported.

CSV File does not contain column headers:  tick if no column header line is on the import.

Show all lines:  tick to view all lines when validating; if this is not ticked, only lines that have failed validation will show.

Show imported values:  tick to view lines that have imported.

Company Name:  select the correct company to import the transactions into; if a user only has access to one company, the company field selection will be greyed out.

Browse:  use this to find the saved planned purchases file.  Once uploaded, the name will show under the file location – only once this shows will you be able to validate or import the file.

Validate:  once the file has uploaded, validate.  Any errors that are highlighted will need to be resolved before the file can be validated again.

Import:  once the file has passed validation, import the file.

Generate Template:  use this option to create a new template to complete.

41.7. Maintain Planned Purchases

Once the template has been imported into Approvals, the planned purchases will be visible within Approvals and Sage.

In Sage against the job, they will show in the Job Enquiry against the Planned Purchases tab –

The lines will also be visible under the Budgets and Planned Purchases tab –

Within Approvals under the Sicon Projects menu – Maintain Planned Purchases – the imported lines will show.

access to one company, the company field selection will be greyed out.

Show Completed Purchases?  Tick and then select to display any planned purchases that have been added onto a purchase order within Sage.  Lines cannot be amended.

Show Waiting?  Tick and then select to display any planned purchase lines that have been added to a project requisition or requisition within Approvals.  Lines will be highlighted in orange and cannot be amended.

Add to Requisition:  if the supplier and prices are known, select lines to add directly onto a requisition.

Add to Project Requisition:  if the supplier and prices are not known, select lines to add onto a project requisition.  This can then be submitted for approval so this information can be added before a requisition is then created.

Hover the ‘I’ flag to see information as to what project requisition or requisition the line has been added to and prices that have been entered.

Example 1 (Creating a Requisition)

When a supplier and price is known, the lines can be added to a requisition by selecting the line and clicking ‘Add to Requisition’.

The requisition can then have any details updated if required, e.g. additional notes or documents added or comment or charge lines.  Once correct, the requisition can then be submitted for approval or saved if not ready for submission.

Example 2 (Creating a Project Requisition)

If a supplier or price is not known, the lines can be added to a project requisition by selecting the lines and clicking ‘Add to Project Requisition’.

Additional information can be added here, e.g. if a line item description needs changing or additional notes or documents uploaded, or the project requisition can just be submitted for approval.

The approver of project requisitions can then complete this process by adding pricing and supplier information and approving lines as required.  Individual lines can be approved at a time which will then create a requisition to be approved.  For more information, please see Project Requisition section.

41.8. Planned Purchases Sicon Projects Updates

Once the order has been completed in Approvals, the planned purchases tab will update to show the quantity purchased, the status will move to Completed and the Purchase Order number will show.

42. Construction

If linking Approvals with Sicon Projects and Construction, menu options will appear for entering sub-contractor purchase orders, entering supplier applications and approving supplier valuations.

For the purposes of this guide it is assumed that Sicon Construction has already been fully configured in Sage.  Sicon WebAPI must also have been installed and configured.

Below are the steps that should already have been completed in Sage, and the additional steps required in Approvals.

See the earlier sections on System Settings – Miscellaneous and System Setup – Sage Connections – Settings for further information on configuring WebAPI.

From the menu, navigate to Construction to view the options available.

Click View Sub Contractor Orders to load the existing orders – this will give access to search for existing orders, amend am order or submit an application.

The next sections walk through how to use the specific Construction functionality available within Approvals.

42.1. New Sub Contractor Purchase Order

Click the New Order option from the menu.

Chose the Supplier, Project Number and enter the requested delivery date.

On the Delivery & Analysis tab, make sure the delivery address has been chosen – either from the default, a Project address or enter a free text delivery address.  A delivery address must be chosen before lines can be added.

To add lines, choose the Add a new line option.

On the Purchase Order Line entry, you can select between Stock and Measured Works. The Stock Option allows you to enter a Quantity as well as a Unit Price, Measured Works is Unit Price only.

Enter an Item Description, Unit Price, Project Header and select to either Manually or Automatically Receive. The Nominal combination will update with the default one set against the Project Header and may be changed if required (this is on the separate Nominal tab).

Click Save to continue and add extra lines.

The order lines show as below – the Stock items with quantities are displayed with a value in the Quantity column as well as Unit Value and Line Total while Measured Works have no Order Quantity.

Click the Quantities tab to see the order quantity / received for the lines entered.

Clicking the Application Details tab shows the percentage and value applied for as the subcontractor applications are recorded against the Purchase Order.

When the order is saved, the order will then be visible in Sage in the Sub Contractor Purchase Order list.

42.2. Receiving Stock

Currently, stock will be received directly in Sage which will update the order in Approvals.

42.3. Record Applications

From the existing sub-contractor order page, click to Submit Application.

Tick the lines to create the Application for – the example below is to create an application for both lines.

Measured Works need an Apply for Value entering and Stock items require a Quantity to be entered; these will update the Cumulation column.

Make sure a Payment Due date has been entered.

Click Create Application to continue.

The order in Sage will update to show applied for values.

42.4. Create Supplier Valuation

From the Construction Menu, select View Supplier Applications.

Supplier applications will only show to the Project Manager linked with the Project.  Ensure the Approvals user has been linked with the Project Resource (under the user’s profile – Company Access tab).

Click to Edit on the correct application.

Check the incoming application details are correct and at the bottom click to save and add valuation.

Enter the Gross Valuation; text can be added as either a QS reference or additional notes.  Once the information is correct, click to submit.

42.5. Approve Supplier Valuation

Once submitted, the valuation will require approval.  The valuation can be viewed in Sage, but invoices cannot be posted until the valuation has been fully approved in Approvals.  The approval status column will show who the valuation is awaiting approval from.

The approver will see all valuations they have to approve grouped by Project and Supplier.  Individual valuations can be viewed and approved or rejected if not correct.

Once fully authorised, the valuation is available in Sage to post invoices against.

43. Security Features

At Sicon we value strong security, so we have incorporated extra password features where needed within our Sicon Products to provide added protection for your data. Within Sicon Approvals we use 2 Factor Authentication and many other features, for more information please see section System Settings – Miscellaneous > Password / Security.

44. 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.

45. Help & User Guide Archive

46. New Features & Important Information