Overview
The Purchasing approval workflow routes higher-value purchase receipts (PRs) to the appropriate reviewers before they are received. When a PR meets or exceeds a configured dollar threshold, Aspire requires approval and records each decision in an approval history log.
Approvals occur before receiving, which ensures that only reviewed and approved costs move forward into job costing and financial reporting. Each PR includes an Approval log with comments, users, and timestamps to support transparency and audits.
How the workflow works
At a high level, the workflow follows this pattern:
You create a PR with Receipt status = New.
Aspire evaluates the PR dollar amount against the approval thresholds defined in the purchasing workflow.
If the PR meets one or more thresholds, it enters the approval workflow.
Required approvers review the PR in sequence.
The PR must be approved before it can be received.
If a PR does not meet any threshold, it bypasses approval and can be received without approver action.
Approval steps and thresholds
A purchasing workflow is made up of one or more approval steps. Each step includes:
An approver (the Branch Manager role or a specific user)
A dollar threshold
Aspire evaluates approval steps in ascending order. If a PR meets multiple thresholds, each step must be approved in sequence.
The PR does not advance to the next step until the current step is approved.
If any step is denied, the workflow stops, the creator is informed of the denial, and no further approval requests are sent until the PR is resubmitted.
This structure allows smaller purchases to require minimal review while larger purchases require additional oversight.
Role hierarchy and approval authority
Approval steps run in order, but Aspire also respects your system’s role hierarchy.
A user with a higher system role hierarchy value than the configured approver can approve the PR at any point after the workflow has begun.
Users with an equal or lower hierarchy can view the Approval log but cannot take approval action unless they are assigned as the approver.
For example, if a Branch Manager is assigned as the approver for a step, a System Admin can also approve the PR during that step. For more information on role hierarchies, visit Understanding Default User Roles and Adding New Roles.
Approval outcomes
Approvers can take one of two actions:
Approve — The PR moves to the next required step or becomes Approved if all approvals are complete.
Deny — The workflow stops and the PR returns to the creator with a required comment explaining the decision.
All approval actions and comments are recorded in the Approval log on the Purchase receipt screen.
Approval status values
You may see the following approval statuses on a PR:
New — Meets a threshold but has not been submitted
In approval — Actively moving through approval steps
Approved — All approvals complete
Denied — An approver denied the PR
Withdrawn — The PR was removed from the approval workflow by the creator and returned to New.
The following diagram illustrates how purchase receipts progress through the approval workflow, including submission, approval, denial, resubmission, and withdrawal. It also shows how each status is reflected in Aspire, action cards, approval log, and purchase receipt view.
The Purchase receipts search list includes a Workflow Approval Status column so you can see each PR’s approval state at a glance.
Receiving and reporting behavior
You can receive a PR only when its Approval status is Approved.
Pending or denied PRs remain visible but do not affect cost reporting.
Approved PRs follow the normal receiving and accounting process.
The Purchasing approval workflow does not interfere with month-end reporting.
Why this workflow matters
The Purchasing approval workflow ensures that higher-value purchases are reviewed before they impact costs. It provides branch leaders and accounting teams with visibility into spending, supports accurate job costing, and maintains a clear, auditable history of purchasing decisions without adding unnecessary steps to routine purchases.