Approvals for quotes, invoices and inquiries
After reading this article you will know what approvals are, how to create rules by amount, discount, rooms, booking page or customer tag, who may approve, and when an approval expires.
With approvals you decide that certain steps never happen alone: a quote only goes out once a second person has approved it; an invoice is only issued once it is approved; an inquiry is only accepted once it is approved. This is the four-eyes principle.
One thing to set expectations: an approval governs sending from the system. You can still send a downloaded PDF outside the system, and the customer can still accept quotes that already sit with them. Automatic paths — bookings with automatic acceptance after payment, quotes sent automatically by a booking page and automatically created invoices, for example for tickets — need no approval.
Approvals are available from the Scale plan upwards (Enterprise included).
Creating rules
You create rules under Settings → Approvals. Only the owner of the account may do this.
- Open Settings and go to Approvals.
- Click New rule.
- Give the rule a name you will recognise later — for example "Quotes from €5,000".
- Pick the type: Accept inquiry or Send document. For Send document you also pick the document type — Quote or Invoice.
- Pick the condition (see below) and fill in amount, discount, rooms, booking pages or customer tags as needed.
- Leave Active switched on and click Save.
You can edit, pause or delete a rule at any time. While Active is off the rule is not checked, and the step works as before.
Rules for quotes and invoices
For documents there are three conditions:
| Condition | When the rule applies |
|---|---|
| Always | To every quote or invoice of that document type. |
| From amount | When the document's net amount reaches or exceeds the amount you entered. The amount is inclusive: with "from €5,000" a document with exactly €5,000 net also triggers the rule. |
| From discount | When the discount on the document reaches at least the percentage you entered — also inclusive. |
Which discount counts. The discount is the largest discount on the document: the discount on the whole document, the discount on a single line item, or the price reduction that comes from overriding a line item with your own price. A line item you charge at €0 counts as a full discount. Free line items without a list price can only be measured through the discount field — enter the reduction there if it should count for the rule.
A cash discount (skonto) is not a discount in the sense of the rule.
Rules for accepting an inquiry
For inquiries there are four conditions:
| Condition | When the rule applies |
|---|---|
| Always | To every inquiry. |
| Specific rooms | When the inquiry concerns one of the selected rooms. |
| Specific booking pages | When the inquiry came in through one of the selected booking pages. |
| Customers with a tag | When the inquiry's customer carries one of the selected tags. |
Several rules of the same type act as OR: it is enough for one of them to apply. A rule for quotes and a rule for invoices are separate pairs — a quote is never checked against an invoice rule.
Who may approve
Anyone with the management right Grant and reject approvals in their role may approve. The owner may always approve. How to grant that right in a role is described in Access, roles and permissions.
Two things to keep in mind:
- Anyone who may approve needs no approval for their own documents. The rules only apply to people without that right.
- Without roles the rules apply to no one. As long as you have not created a role, every member may approve. A notice on the Approvals page reminds you of this. So create the roles first if you really want to steer approvals.
How it works for staff
Someone who may not grant approvals notices it when they perform the step:
- You try to send the quote, issue or send the invoice, or accept the inquiry.
- The system replies that an approval is needed and names the rule that applied. Nothing is sent and nothing is accepted: the document stays a draft, the inquiry stays open.
- You click Request approval. Optionally you add a note for the approvers — for example what they should look at.
- Until the decision the item shows Waiting for approval. Under Settings → Approvals, tab Requested by me, you see your own request and can end it with Withdraw if you no longer need it.
- After the approval you perform the step yourself as usual. An approval never triggers anything by itself.
Important: an approval never gives you a right for a step that you otherwise lack. Anyone who may not issue an invoice at all cannot issue it with an approval either.
How it works for approvers
Anyone who may approve gets a notification in the bell for every new request and — if they allowed push notifications — a push notification. There is deliberately no email.
- Open Settings → Approvals and the To decide tab.
- Click Review approval on the request. You see what it is about: date, guests, rooms, net amount, discount and the requester's note — and can jump straight to the document or the inquiry from there.
- Click Approve or Reject.
Rejecting needs a reason. The reason is mandatory and is shown to the requester. After a rejection the item can be changed and a new approval requested.
You cannot decide your own request — that always needs a second person. The History tab shows every decided approval.
When an approval expires
An approval covers exactly the content that was there when it was requested. If anything about that content changes, the approval expires — and you are notified. For a document what counts is: line items, prices, quantities, discounts, tax, totals, recipient and validity. For an inquiry: date, time, rooms and guest count.
That is on purpose: nobody should approve something that looks different afterwards. If you change the item, simply request the approval again.
A quote tied to an inquiry
If a quote belongs to an inquiry that needs an approval under a rule, the quote cannot be sent as long as the inquiry is not approved. In that case, have the inquiry approved first.
What is not blocked
- Editing drafts: you can still create and change a document. The step is blocked, not the document.
- Downloading a PDF and sending it outside the system: the approval does not govern that. It governs sending from the system.
- Quotes that already sit with the customer: the customer can still accept them. An approval applies to sending from the system, not retroactively.
- Automatic paths: bookings with automatic acceptance after payment, quotes sent automatically by a booking page and automatically created invoices (for example for tickets) run without an approval.
- Non-commercial steps: marking as paid, voiding, creating a credit note — there is no approval for those.
Plan
Approvals come with the Scale plan (Enterprise included). On smaller plans the Approvals page only shows a notice about the required upgrade. If your account drops below Scale, your rules stay saved but are paused; you can still read stored requests. Every step is free again right away.
Frequently asked questions
Why is nothing blocked for me even though I created a rule? Because the rules only apply to people without the right Grant and reject approvals. As long as no role exists, every member may approve. Create roles and assign them if the rules are to apply.
Can I I approve my own request? No. Your own requests are always decided by a second person.
What happens if I change the document after the approval? The approval expires and you have to request it again.
Do I get an email when an approval is waiting? No. Approvals arrive through the bell and optionally by push.
Does the approval cover a whole event? No. An approval always covers exactly one document or exactly one inquiry, and only the state it was in when it was requested.