Breeze Premier offers a default approval workflow with four steps. This article explains the routing in the default workflow, and then shows how it can be modified.
Default Approval Workflow: Overview
The default workflow has four steps:
Data Entry: Keys in the invoice and approves small amounts. For other amounts, the data entry person sends the invoice to one of the approvers.
Approver 1: Can approve medium amounts.
Approver 2: Can approve large amounts.
Approver 3: Can approve very large amounts.
When the invoice is approved, it becomes a payable. A diagram of the workflow is shown below.
The diagram shows a simplified version of the workflow; at each step you can also reject the invoice (instead of approving it) or send it back to data entry for corrections.
Approving an invoice means that the workflow is complete. It does not move the invoice to the next step in a chain of approvals, it is the final approval, and the invoice becomes a payable.
To view the default workflow in Breeze, go to Admin > Invoice Approval > Approval Setup. The Approval Setup screen is shown below.
Each row on the screen is a step in the workflow. Click in a row to view details. In the following sections, we explain the setup for each step.
Note: The Reject step is not a normal part of the workflow, this is only used to bring an invoice out of the reject step and back into the workflow.
Data Entry
The top part of the screen contains the following settings:
Current Step | The name of the step. |
Days to Complete | The time to complete the step. |
Allow Invoice Editing | If selected, the user can edit the invoice during the workflow. For the data entry step, this setting should be selected. For other steps, it's optional. |
Instructions | You can enter instructions for the step. (The default workflow does not include instructions.) |
The Approval Process section determines what the user can do with the invoice.
If the amount of the invoice is between 0.00 and 100.00, Approver 1 can approve or reject the invoice.
For other amounts, they can send the invoice to an approver:
Between 100.00 and 5000.00, Approver 1.
Between 5000.01 and 15,000.00, Approver 2.
Over 15,000.00, Approver 3.
Note: In the Amount From and Amount To fields, "0.00" means there are no restrictions. Invoices can be deleted when in the Data Entry step. When they have been sent to an approver, they no longer be deleted. They would have to be sent back to the Data Entry role.
Note: In the Amount From and Amount To fields, "-1.00" means the user should not approve any invoices.
Approving and Rejecting
Approving an invoice means that the workflow is complete. It does not move the invoice to the next step in a chain of approvals, it is the final approval, and the invoice becomes a payable.
If the Reject step is not setup, then rejecting an invoice is a final step. If the Reject step is setup, then a rejected invoice can be put back into the workflow.
Approver 1
The top part of the screen is the same as the one shown above for Data Entry (except for the name of the step).
The Approval Process section is shown below.
Note: The amounts shown below are the default settings. These amounts can be edited.
In this example: Approver 1 can approve/reject invoices up to 5000.00.
They can send any invoice back to Data entry for corrections.
There are lines for Send to Approver 2 and Send to Approver 3. The use of these two lines depends on the first workflow step. If the first step specifies that invoices over a specific dollar amount go to Approver 2 or Approver 3, then Approver 1 will not get those invoices.
Approver 2
The Approval Process section for Approver 2 is shown below.
Note: The amounts shown below are the default settings. These amounts can be edited.
Approver 2 can approve/reject invoices between 5,000.01 and 15,000.00.
They can send any invoice back to Data entry for corrections.
There are lines for Send to Approver 3 and Send to Approver 1 with no Amount From or Amount to restrictions. Setting up these steps is not required, because Approver 2 will not get invoices that are intended for Approvers 1 or 3, based on the routing in the Data Entry step.
Approver 3
The Approval Process section for Approver 3 is shown below.
If you do not see the step "Send to Approver 3" in your Breeze database, please chat with us and we can help you add it.
Note: The amounts shown below are the default settings. These amounts can be edited.
The setup for Approver 3 shows no restrictions.
In this example, approver 3 can approve/reject invoices of any amount. But, due to the setup of the Data Entry step, Approver 3 will only get invoices above 15,000.00. In effect, the setup means that they can approve/reject invoices above 15,000.00.
The setup also means that they can send an invoice back to Data Entry or to Approvers 1 or 2.
Adding Approvers to the Roles
Once the roles are setup, the next step is to add users to the roles. To do this go to Admin > Invoice Approval > Approvers.
Next to the role, click on Users. This will pull up a list of current users in the database.
Note: Users need to be added in Company Settings > User Setup before they can be assigned here.
Select Include next to the user you want added to this role. Then click Save.
Note: You can add multiple people to each role, and you can add the same person to multiple roles if needed.
Modifying the Default Workflow
You can modify the default workflow in various ways:
Change the step names.
Enter instructions.
Change the amounts.
Change the routing.
The following sections give examples.
Changing Step Names and Entering Instructions
Open the detail screen for the step.
Click the Edit icon (the pencil).
That section of the screen changes to Edit mode, and you can change the step name and enter instructions.
Modifying the routing 1
In the default workflow, all the routing is done at the data entry step. Depending on the amount, the invoice goes to Approver 1, 2, or 3. In effect, the workflow only has two steps: data entry and then one of the three approvers.
But some organizations might want Approver 1 to look at all of the invoices with medium and large amounts. In this case, Approver 1 reviews the invoices, approves medium amounts, and sends the others to either Approvers 2 or 3, based on amount.
The Data Entry person can still approve invoices with small amounts, but all other invoices must go to Approver 1.
To do this, set up the Data Entry step like this:
Data entry can approve/reject invoices up to 100.00. Any invoices over 100.00 are sent to Approver 1.
Approvers 2 and 3 are blocked by entering a very large Amount From number, in this case 9,999,999,999.00.
The setup for Approver 1 is shown below.
Approver 1 can approve/reject invoices up to 500.00, or send them back to Data Entry for corrections.
Larger invoices are sent to Approver 2 or Approver 3, depending on the amount.
Modifying the routing 2
You can also set up the routing so that two approvers have to review and approve invoices over a certain amount; to see an example, click here.