Overview

The Purchase Order Approval feature allows authorised users to review and approve purchase orders before they are printed from the Purchase screen.

This feature applies to purchase orders placed with suppliers.

Enabling Purchase Order Approval

1. Enable the feature in Defaults

1. Open Defaults.
2. Tick Purchase Order Approval.
3. Save the change.

This option must be enabled before purchase order approval can be used.

Once enabled, RedAnt prevents an unapproved purchase order from being printed and displays the following message:

Order Approval Required!

2. Give users approval permission

Approval permissions are assigned through RedAnt security groups.

1. Go to Maintenance → Users → Access Levels.
2. Select the relevant security group.
3. Enable Purchasing → Approve.
4. Check that each user responsible for approving purchase orders belongs to this security group.

If one user requires different permissions from other users, create a separate security group for that user.

Important: Approval and printing are controlled by separate permissions. A user who needs to print purchase orders must also have Purchasing → Print permission.

Reviewing Purchase Orders Awaiting Approval

1. Open the Purchase screen.
2. Select the Approve tab.

The grid displays purchase orders that are awaiting approval. Each purchase order item is shown on a separate row.

The grid is sorted by:

1. Order No
2. Item No

Information displayed

Only the Approve checkbox can be edited from this grid.

Before approving a purchase order, review:

• The supplier
• All item lines
• Quantities
• Prices
• Required delivery dates

The list is selected by approval status. There are no additional filters for order status, date or supplier.

Approving an Individual Purchase Order

1. Find the purchase order in the Approve grid.
2. Review all item lines belonging to the order.
3. Tick the Approve checkbox against the purchase order.
4. Move away from the edited row.
5. Leave the Approve tab to ensure the change is saved.
6. Open the purchase order and check the Approved By field.

Approval applies to the entire purchase order, even though each item is displayed as a separate row in the approval grid.

After the list of unapproved orders is refreshed, the approved purchase order will no longer appear.

Using Approve All

The Approve All button approves all purchase orders currently awaiting approval.

RedAnt records the logged-in user as the approver for each order.

Warning: Approve All is not limited to the selected purchase order or item line. Only use it after all outstanding purchase orders have been reviewed and are ready to be approved.