After you have submitted an invoice to the approval process using the “Submit for approval” button, it will appear with the status “In approval.”
Two options are now available in the details window:
Approve:
Click on “Approve” to release the invoice. This will transfer it to the next step in the workflow, where it can be prepared for payment or marked as paid.
Reject:
The invoice is removed from the approval process and given the status “Rejected” in the overview of Approval Policies. Rejected invoices are displayed in the “New” widget immediately after rejection and can be resubmitted.
If you have defined an approval policy (additional option), each submitted invoice first goes through the approval process.
Depending on the configuration (approval by a single person or multiple users), the invoice must be approved before it can be processed further.
Included in the Professional & Enterprise Edition. Also available as an add-on option for Business Edition – contact support.
To create a new policy:
In the “page to Bills” area, navigate to the “Approval Policies” tab.
Click on the “Create” button.
Define conditions for approval policies
When creating an approval policy, you can specify the conditions under which an invoice should be submitted for approval. This is done by selecting one or more condition types.
This allows you to automatically control which invoices must be approved by whom before they are forwarded for payment. These policies are based on conditions you specify and are tailored to your team.
Naming policies
Assign a meaningful name to each approval policy.
There is no automatic check for duplicate names; multiple policies can have the same name. In the invoice overview, it is then not possible to see which rule was applied.
Use clear, distinguishable names such as:
Level 0 – up to €2,000
Level 1 – €2,000 to €10,000
Level 2 – €10,000 and above
Assignment to users
Approval can only be given by users who have been invited to COMMITLY via “Settings -> Team.”
Whether a person can be selected in a policy also depends on their role and authorization.
Who is authorized to approve is determined by the defined approval policy. Only the persons listed there can perform the respective step.
If no approval policy is defined, any invited person can approve invoices, regardless of their role.
Approval process
When creating a policy, the approval process can be selected:
Single user
A single person must approve the invoice.
Any user from the list
A group of people is defined. The minimum number of approvals required must be specified (e.g., “at least 1 of 2 team leaders”).
Users one by one
Multiple users can be selected. All selected users should approve the invoice.
Simple approval policy
All designated persons can approve simultaneously.
It is sufficient if at least one of the authorized persons approves the invoice (depending on the settings).
Suitable for simple approval processes
Create multi-level approval steps
Approvals are made one after the other (sequentially).
Only when the first step is completed is the next step initiated.
Ideal for multi-level approval chains
In this example, we show you how to map a corporate policy with three approval levels:
If the amount is less than €2,000.
Approval process: User from list: Katharina Stankova or Ermira Morina
Number of approvals required: 1 (one of the two is sufficient)
We click on “Add approval step” to define the next step.
If the amount is between €2,000 and €10,000.
Approval process: Single user, Jürgen Eger.
Invoices over €2,000 that can no longer be approved by Ermira or Katarina alone must also be approved by Jürgen Eger.
We click on “Add approval step” to define the final step.
If the invoice exceeds €10,000, there is no longer any amount restriction – “ELSE.” Applies automatically to everything over €10,000
Approval process: Single user, Jürgen Fae
Invoices over €10,000 must also be approved by Jürgen Fae. Finally, the approval policy is saved.
Here, too, the previous steps must be completed before step 3 is reached.
Each stage is completed sequentially. The invoice only receives the status “to be paid” once all necessary approvals have been granted.