Setting Up Purchase Order (PO) Approvals

Enabling PO Approvals

1. Go to Lab Settings > Approvals
2. Under General Approval Settings > Purchase Order Approvals, select:
   • Always Require Approval - choose this when all POs must be approved before ordering
   • Auto-Approve POs Below $X - choose this if you only require approval for POs above a certain dollar value
     
     
      
3. Click Save Changes

Approval Teams

Using Approval Teams is a great way to ensure that even when someone is out of office or unavailable, POs can still be approved! Approval Teams are used in tandem with dollar threshold routing. Here's how to create an Approval Team in your lab: 

Click Create new team under the Approval Teams header

Then, name the Approval Team and select the users that should be included in the team. Anyone in the team will be able to approve requests that are sent to the team for approval (approval from more than one person on the team is not needed).

Don't forget to click the Save button to create your new Approval Team!

Setting Up Custom Approval Workflows

1. Go to Lab Settings > Approvals > Purchase Order Approval Routing
2. Create tiers based on PO value. For example:
   • Sage approves POs up to $800
   • Rowan approves POs up to $2,000
   • Fern approves anything over $2,000 (no limit)
     
     
      
3. Add as many steps as needed, and customize email notification settings for each approver

Setting Up Email Notifications

1. Go to Lab Settings > Approvals > Purchase Order Approval Routing
2. Select the appropriate lab admins below the following questions:
   • Who should be notified when a PO needs approval?
   • Who should be notified when a PO is ready to be ordered?
     
     

By default, all Lab Admins are opted in to receive these notifications. Admins may uncheck their name if they’d like to opt out of the notification email.

Initiating PO Approvals

1. To submit requests for PO approval, a Lab Admin will group requests by Vendor and select "Create PO".

2. You can select the Payment Terms, enter Notes, Quote #, attach files, and track fees.  When the form is complete, select Submit for Approval.

3. PO approval status will display at the bottom of the PO page along with a history of who marked the item approved at each stage.

Next Up: Understanding the Purchase Order (PO) Lifecycle in Quartzy