Module 10 · Advanced · 9 min read

Approval workflows

You will be able to: Write an approval rule with conditions and steps; Follow a document from Submit to approval to posting; Use delegation and understand what the Workflow Approvals screen does not do.

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An approval rule says: when a document of this kind meets these conditions, it cannot be posted until the people named approve it. A document that no rule covers posts as usual. Rules are in Settings ▸ Approval Rules, and decisions are made in Approvals in the Overview group.

The life of a held document

  1. A user presses Submit or Amend on a document that a rule covers.
  2. Zeyto keeps the document but does not post it. A new document stays a draft and nothing reaches the ledgers.
  3. The people named at step 1 find it in Approvals and press Approve, or Reject with a reason.
  4. After the last approval, the person who raised the document presses Submit again, and only then does it post.
  5. If the document changes after a decision (date, party, branch, warehouse, currency, payment terms or any line), the decision is cancelled and approval starts again.
The Approvals inbox with tiles for documents waiting on you, over a day old and value held, and a list of documents to decide.

Approvals: documents waiting for your decision.

Approvals: documents waiting for your decision.

Building a rule

  • Code and Rule name, and Applies to a document type code such as SI (sales invoice) or PO (purchase order).
  • Conditions, all of which must be true: for example Document total is more than 50000. Other tests include Largest line discount %, Currency and Credit exposure % of limit.
  • Steps in order. Each step names an approver: anyone with a role, a named person, and so on, and how many approvals are needed.
  • Self-approval: Blocked (recommended) means the person who raised the document cannot approve it, not even an administrator.
  • Escalate after (hours) moves a stuck request to another step. It never approves by itself.
  • Rules are checked from the lowest Order number; the first active rule that matches is used.
The Approval Rules screen explaining that rules are checked in order and the first match wins, with the New Rule button and the list of rules.

Settings, Approval Rules: checked in order, first match wins.

Settings, Approval Rules: checked in order, first match wins.
The new approval rule form with the document type, the condition and the approval steps.

Press + New Rule to build one.

Press + New Rule to build one.
Large invoicesRule LARGE-SI: Applies to SI, Document total is more than 50,000, one step, role Finance Manager, self-approval Blocked. Ahmed submits an invoice for AED 80,000. It waits. Layla, the Finance Manager, presses Approve. Ahmed presses Submit again and the invoice posts. An invoice for AED 30,000 posts immediately because no rule matches.

Delegation

Settings ▸ Approval Delegations lets another person approve for someone who is away, between a start and end date. It does not change the rules, and it does not let anybody approve their own document when the rule blocks self-approval. To change dates, add a new delegation and remove the old one.

The Approval Delegations screen where someone can approve in another person place for a fixed period.

Delegation: someone approves in your place for a period.

Delegation: someone approves in your place for a period.

What does not hold documents

The Workflow Approvals / Workflow Dashboard screen lists ready-made definitions and inbox views. The Enabled tick there saves, but nothing else in Zeyto reads it, so switching a definition on does not hold any document. Use Approval Rules for that. Other guard rails are separate: Credit Control can warn or block on credit limit and overdue, and Posting Controls can block future dates.

Watch outPOS sales and system-made documents never wait for approval. Tell approvers when something is waiting, and check the Approvals list regularly.

Try it in the demo

  1. Open Settings ▸ Approval Rules and press + New Rule to see the fields. Do not save a rule on the shared demo.
  2. Open Approvals in the Overview group and press Showing mine / Showing everyone if available.
  3. Open Settings ▸ Approval Delegations and read the State column explanations.
Open the live demo

Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.

Key takeaways
  • A rule holds a document until named approvers agree; then the requester submits again.
  • Self-approval is blocked by default.
  • Changing a document after a decision restarts approval.
  • The Workflow Approvals definitions screen does not hold documents.

Check yourself

4 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.

1. POS sales never wait for approval, even if a rule would otherwise match.

2. An approval rule holds an invoice. After the last approver presses Approve, what posts it?

3. What does 'Self-approval: Blocked (recommended)' mean?

4. You tick Enabled on a definition in the Workflow Approvals screen. What happens to large invoices?

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Practice questions for this module · Printable study sheet