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Approving a draft invoice

Updated

Draft invoice approval adds a check before a sales invoice goes out, so someone other than the person who built it signs it off first. It works in three steps: Ready for approval, Approved, and Made real.

This article explains how to set up draft invoice approval, how to move an invoice through the three stages, and how the email alerts work.

Setting up approval permissions

Draft invoice approval is set up per user, not organisation-wide. You'll find the settings on the Approval tab, in the Authorisation section of each user's profile.

Tip: Copy an existing user with the right permissions when setting someone up, rather than building their approval settings from scratch each time.

Moving a draft through approval

Once approval is switched on, the draft invoice header shows the relevant tickboxes depending on where the invoice is in the process.

Marking a draft ready for approval

On a brand new draft, you'll only see one option: the Ready for approval tickbox, on the right of the draft invoice header. Tick it once the draft is finished and ready for someone else to check.

Approving a draft

Once a draft is marked ready for approval, an Approved tickbox appears alongside it. A user with approval permission ticks this to confirm the invoice is correct and can go out.

If anyone tries to make the draft real before it's been approved, Synergist blocks the action and shows an error.

Note: Ready for approval and Approved are two separate steps. A draft needs both ticked before it can be made real.

Email alerts

Draft approval can send email alerts at each stage, so nobody has to chase invoices manually. Set these up in Company settings > Alerts.

  • When a draft is marked ready for approval, an email goes to everyone with approval permission.
  • When a draft is marked approved, an email goes to everyone with permission to convert drafts to real.
  • You can send a response email back to whoever actioned the previous step, so they know their invoice has moved on.
  • You can limit alerts to just the default handler on the relevant client, rather than the whole approver group.
Note: If the person actioning a step also holds the next permission in the chain, no alert is sent. For example, if someone marking a draft ready for approval can also approve it themselves, they'll just approve it there and then rather than waiting on an email.

Adding a tile to your personal dashboard

Add a tile to your personal dashboard using filters on the draft invoices section in your navigation bar. This gives you an at-a-glance count of draft invoices needing action, whether that's approving them or making them real.

Find out more about Personal Dashboard and setting up tiles.

Tips

  • Let anyone who creates draft invoices also mark them ready for approval. Keep Approved and convert to real permissions for a smaller group, such as finance or team leads.
  • New users default to every tickbox checked. Check each user's approval settings are correct, and copy an existing user when onboarding someone new so the right settings carry over.
  • Keep the approver group small and deliberate. The more people who can approve, the less meaningful the check becomes.
  • Use the default handler alert option to keep approval emails client-specific, rather than sending to a large general list.
  • Set up a personal dashboard tile so approvers and finance can see outstanding draft invoices without having to go looking for them.

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