Propago’s approval workflows help you and your clients manage budgets, inventory, and purchasing thresholds using flexible triggers, rules, and approval routing options. Now there’s a new enhancement that improves decision-making for approvers and reduces back-and-forth during the approval process: required approval request comments at checkout.
What’s New
There is a portal-level setting in Configure Alerts called “Approval Workflow Triggered.” This setting controls whether users see a pop-up alert when they attempt to check out a cart that will route into an approval workflow.
A new option has been added to this setting: Yes – Require Comment
When enabled, any time a user begins checkout on a cart that will trigger an approval workflow, Propago will display a pop-up that:
- Alerts the user that the order will require approval, and
- Requires the user to enter an approval request reason before continuing checkout.
This update pairs especially well with approval workflows triggered by spending limits, payment type, carrier selection, accounting unit changes, SKU thresholds, or any other rule where approvers benefit from immediate context before approving an order.
Benefits to the Client
- Collect approval context up front, so approvers don’t have to chase down “why” after the fact.
- Speed up approvals by reducing follow-up messages and rework.
- Improve consistency and auditability by standardizing the reason capture for exception-based orders.
- Encourage intentional purchasing behavior when an order exceeds budget, quantity, or policy thresholds.
How It Works
To enforce an approval request reason to be submitted when a user checkouts an order that requires approval:
- In the back end, go to Portals / Select a Customer / Settings
- Scroll down to the Configure Alerts section
- Find the setting: Approval Workflow Triggered.
- Select: Yes – Require Comment.
- Click Save.
Once “Yes – Require Comment” is enabled:
- When a user clicks to begin checkout on a cart that will trigger an approval workflow, the pop-up appears.
- The user must enter an approval request reason to proceed.
- That approval request comment is appended to the end of the standard Order Comments (if any).
- Approving managers can see the comment while viewing the order in Pending Approval, helping them make faster, better-informed decisions.
Admin Note: Customizable Pop-Up Text
This new pop-up alert type has been added to the Screen Definitions database. Each client can customize the verbiage of the alert if desired—for example, to include internal purchasing policy language or examples of acceptable approval reasons.