Introduction

Executing a project is not always easy. Before, during end after the execution of a project there are many risks that can influence the financial results, harm employees or lead in extreme cases to the bankrupt of the company. It is wise to know and evaluate the risks before sending the quote to the potential customer.

If a quote is sent to a potential customer, it is a commitment to this potential customer. For this reason, many organizations have an approval procedure before an opportunity will be transferred to a quote or before a quote is sent to a potential customer.

In a simple way of approval process an opportunity or quote can be approved by a manager. In that example a work flow, using standard functionality could fulfill the approval requirement. In larger organizations the approval procedure depends on the amount of the opportunity or quote, the risk level and given discounts. Sending a quote for EUR 1000 is not a problem, but for EUR 1.000.000 it might need approval of a C-level manager.

 

Approval Process

Starting point is a process that is mentioned in Active Approval Entities. As mentioned the advice is to start with Opportunity and Quote. The relevant data you like to approve should be entered the opportunity or quote.

For opportunities and quotes there are tabs Approvals in the form. For other entities these should be configured by a application administrator.

First step is to select the Process. After this selection, the bottom "Submit for approval" can be entered. The relevant approval steps are displayed.

 

 The status of the approvals can be:

• Approved: the approval step is approved
• Open: the approval step waits to be approved
• Pending: this approval step will get the status open if the steps before are approved
• Disapproved: the approval step is disapproved. It is mandatory to enter text in the field remarks
• Cancelled: If an approval step is disapproved the next steps in the process are Cancelled

How to (dis)approve?

My Approvals

In the Tender Management app section My Work a user can find a list of approvals that need to be processed by the user.

For users having the security role "System Administrator" it is possible to select other views with approvals and (dis)approve all open approvals. It is also possible from the tab "Approve"at the entities where the approval process is relevant.

For the approval process the standard functionality of activities is used and modified. This can be used for configuring in CE. It is not relevant for functional users only.

 

Select an approval

By clicking on an approval the approval is selected. Go to the tab Approvals select an approval.

 

 An Open Approval can be selected to approve or disapprove.

 

If Approved is clicked the status of the approval line will be changed to Approved and the next approval line will get the status Open. If the Approval line is Disapproved, the approval process is cancelled.

The selection to approve or disapprove is also possible on mobile devices like tablets and smart phones. In this situation first the app "Dynamics 365 for Phones" should be installed and setted up.

 

The procedure to approve or disapprove is the same as with a traditional device: select the line and approve or disapprove using the buttons.