Overview

When a Purchase Receipt enters the Purchasing approval workflow, Aspire notifies the assigned approver and updates the receipt's Approval Status. This article explains how approvers approve or deny receipts and how PR creators can respond to denials.

Things to know

• Approvals occur only when the PR is in the Receipt Status of New.

• Approving a step moves the workflow forward; denying a step requires a comment and stops the workflow.

• Users in higher-level roles can approve the PR at any time after the workflow begins. Users in the same role or a lower role can view the Approval Log but cannot take action on the PR.

• If any step is denied, the workflow stops and the PR returns to the creator for edits and resubmission.

• Editing a denied PR and resubmitting restarts the approval process (the PR re-enters the workflow if it still meets the approval threshold).

• All decisions and comments display in the Approval Log.

• The Current Approver appears on the Approval Status action card as an "Awaiting approval from [name]" label while a receipt is In approval. If the step is assigned to a role, the role's display name shows; if assigned to a specific user, that user's full name shows.

• You can't edit a receipt directly while it's In approval. If you withdraw an In-approval receipt, edit it so the total drops below the lowest configured threshold, and resubmit it, Aspire removes the approval workflow automatically and the receipt returns to New status.

• Purchase receipt fields are locked while a receipt is actively In Approval. To make changes, withdraw the receipt first, then edit and resubmit it.

• Any user with the View Purchasing permission can submit or withdraw a receipt. Approve and Deny remain hidden from the receipt's creator.

Requirements

To approve or deny a receipt, you must be assigned as an approver in a Purchasing workflow and have permission to open and update PRs. To submit or withdraw a receipt, you need the View Purchasing permission, but you don't have to be the receipt's creator.

For more information on how Purchasing approvals work, visit Purchasing Approval Workflow Overview.

Steps

Approve or deny a purchase receipt (approvers)

Use these steps to review and act on purchase receipts that require your approval:

1. Open the PR from the email notification. The email includes a link that opens the PR in Aspire.

2. Review the PR details. You see the Approval Status, the Approve and Deny options, and access to the Approval Log.

   1. The Purchase Receipts advanced search list includes a Current Approver column showing who a receipt is currently awaiting.

   2. You can sort, filter, and group by this column. It is blank for receipts that are not In approval or that have no workflow.

3. Choose one of the following actions:

   1. Approve the PR. Select Approve, enter a comment if needed, and select Save. If additional approval steps exist, the workflow moves to the next step. If this is the final step, the PR's Approval Status updates to Approved.

   2. Deny the PR. Select Deny, enter a required comment explaining the decision, and select Save to complete the denial.

4. Optional: Select Approval Log to view the approval history. The Approval Log displays all approvals, denials, timestamps, and comments.
   

Resubmit a denied purchase receipt (PR creators)

If your PR is denied, follow these steps to restart the approval workflow:

1. From the denial email, open the PR.

2. Review the denial comments in the Approval Log.

3. Update the PR as needed to address the approver's feedback.

4. Select Submit for Approval. After you save your edits, the PR will re-enter the approval workflow if it still meets the configured threshold(s).

Withdraw a purchase receipt from approval

If a purchase receipt is submitted for approval and needs changes before the workflow completes, anyone with the View Purchasing permission can withdraw it, not just the person who created it. The withdrawing user's identity is recorded in the Approval Log, and any notification emails still route to the Purchase Receipt’s creator.

Use these steps to withdraw a purchase receipt:

1. Open the purchase receipt that is currently in approval.

2. From the Approval Status action card, select Withdraw.

3. Enter a comment explaining why you are withdrawing the receipt.

4. Select Save to complete the withdrawal.

When you withdraw a purchase receipt:

• The receipt is removed from the approval workflow.

• The Approval Status returns to New.

• The purchase receipt becomes editable again.

• No further approval requests are sent.

After making updates, you can submit the purchase receipt for approval again at any time if it still meets the approval threshold.

Edit an approved receipt (PR creators and approvers)

As soon as a receipt is approved through the workflow, its fields unlock so you can edit it while it's still in the New receipt status:

• The fields unlock automatically as soon as the receipt is approved. You don't need to take any additional action to edit it.

• If your edit increases the receipt total, the approval workflow resets and the receipt must be approved again.

• If your edit does not increase the total, the receipt saves without re-entering approval.

• Once a receipt reaches Received status, editing it never re-triggers the approval workflow.

Tip

Because editing never re-triggers approval after Received, users with the Receive Receipt permission can update purchase receipts during and after receiving without sending them back through approval.

Next steps

Once approved, a PR can move forward to Received. If you're unsure why a PR isn't progressing:

• Review the Approval Log to see which approvals are still pending or why a denial occurred.

• If the PR never entered the workflow, contact an administrator to check the workflow configuration, thresholds, branches, and permissions.