These are the different mini market approval types:
Standard approval
Multiple approvers
Laddered approval
Selected approval
Chained approval
You control the approval methods within the setup of each individual mini market. The below guide explains each of the available methods in greater detail.
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To learn more about how to change the approval type please visit our guide changing order approval methods.
Standard approval
Standard approval means the order will go to all users with a higher approval limit than the user who created the order to approve. The upper limit is the limit that you can approve up to and place orders up to without going for someone else's approval.
Multiple approvers
š Note: When you select this option, you must select the number of approvers. You can pick between two and five.
In the default approval system it only takes one user to approve an order. With this option you can select how many users need to approve each order before it sends to the supplier and moves to its next stage.
Laddered approval
Laddered approval means the order must go to each user with a higher approval limit than the user who created it, who in turn must each approve the order before it sends.
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For example: If user [1651] or [1652] place an order below Ā£100, it first sends to user [1650] to approve. When this user's approved the order, it sends to the next user with a higher approval limit; [1083], and then finally to user [1544] where, after approval, it sends to the supplier. If all approvers have a lower limit of Ā£0.00, regardless of the order value, it keeps going up the ladder to the person with the largest approval limit.
Selected approval
Selected approval gives you, the user placing the order, the option of who you wish to send the order approval email to, the options that appear are users with suitable approval limits.
Chained approval
Chained approval is an approval structure, for guidance on the principles, consider the table and explanation below:
User | Lower | Upper | Included in chain flag |
A | 0 | 100 | Yes |
B | 0 | 500 | Yes |
C | 0 | 10000 | Yes |
D | 5000 | 100000 | Yes |
E | 0 | 500 | No |
Examples
Scenario one
User A places an order for under Ā£100:
Order submits as normal.
Scenario two
User A places an order for Ā£150:
User B and C must approve the order.
Similar to laddered, user B needs to approve it before user C can.
Sends to the supplier.
Scenario three
User A places an order for Ā£750:
User B and C must approve the order.
Similar to laddered, user B needs to approve it before user C can.
Sends to the supplier.
š Note: User B is included even though the order amount is above their upper limit, they're still included in the chain. Chained approval only uses the upper limit to sort the chain order. This means User B can approve this order even though it exceeds their upper limit. To prevent this, see the Enable upper approval limit for last user in chain setting in the Common issues section below.
Scenario four
User A places an order for Ā£5500:
User B, C and D must approve the order.
Similar to laddered, user B needs to approve it before user C and D can
Sends to the supplier.
š Note: User E isn't included as you can exclude a product list user from chained approval. For orders that don't require approval, you can select the option Chained Approval, but you then need to deselect Included in Chained Approval, following the steps below:
On the relevant mini market click the Users tab.
On relevant user, click Edit.
Clear the Included in Chained Approval option.
When users are showing as Unchained, this means the tick box has been removed on the user and has been removed from the approval listing. This will show as Unchained for that user.
Chained approval ā common issues
Last approver in the chain approving above their limit
By default, chained approval uses the upper limit only to determine the order of the chain ā it does not cap what value the last person in the chain can approve. This means the last approver can approve an order above their own upper limit, regardless of how that limit is set.
To prevent this, enable the Enable upper approval limit for last user in chain setting on the mini market:
Open the mini market and click the Details tab.
Scroll to Approval Options.
Enable the Enable upper approval limit for last user in chain tickbox.
Click Save.
ā ļø Important: When this setting is on, the order will not send if no approver in the chain has an upper limit high enough to cover the order value. Before enabling it, make sure at least one approver attached to this mini market has an upper limit that covers your largest expected order.
Higher-limit approvers not appearing in the chain
A user who is not attached to the mini market's Users tab will not appear in the approval chain for that mini market ā even if they have a high approval limit elsewhere in your organisation. This is a common reason why a lower-limit approver ends up as the last person in the chain and approves orders above their limit.
If an order is approved by a lower-limit user when a higher-limit approver should have been involved, check the mini market's Users tab and confirm:
All required approvers are attached to this mini market.
Each required approver has the Included in chain flag enabled.
Each approver's upper limit is set correctly.
Department restrictions causing orders not to appear for an approver
If an approver in the chain has department restrictions applied to their user account, they may not be able to see orders that belong to departments outside their access. This can cause an order to appear stuck ā it has moved to that approver's position in the chain, but does not appear in their approval queue and cannot progress.
š If an approver reports not seeing an order they expect in their queue: Check whether their user account has department restrictions, and confirm that the order's mini market falls within the departments they are permitted to access.