Approval Workflows

Approval workflows put a checkpoint between "document created" and "document sent." You define rules for which invoices and quotes need sign-off; when a document matches, Invotify automatically holds it back and asks a designated approver to review it. Until they approve, the document cannot leave your business.

This is for teams that want a second set of eyes on high-value, sensitive, or first-time documents — without slowing down everything else. A €200 repeat invoice can go straight out, while a €15,000 invoice or the very first invoice to a brand-new customer waits for an owner or admin to look it over.

The flow end-to-end:

1. You set a rule in Settings → Approvals — for example, "Invoices over €1,000 need admin approval."

1. A matching document is held back. When someone saves an invoice or quote that matches a rule, Invotify creates a pending approval request automatically. Nothing else changes — the document is saved like normal — but it's now flagged.

1. Eligible approvers are notified. Everyone who can act on the request gets an in-app notification with a link straight to the document.

1. An approver signs off. An owner or admin opens the document, reviews it, and clicks Approve or Reject right from the banner at the top.

1. Sending unlocks. Once approved, the Send action works normally. While the request is still pending, attempts to send are refused.

Plan: Approval workflows are a Pro feature (also included with Lifetime). On Starter, the Approvals settings show a preview of how it works with an upgrade prompt — no rules run.

A rule decides when a document needs approval and who can sign off. You can have as many rules as you need, each scoped to one document type. When a document is saved, Invotify checks every active rule for that document type and stops at the first match.

Document type Each rule applies to either Invoices or Quotes. Pick the type when you create the rule. (Invoices and quotes are the document types you can manage in the Approvals settings today.)

Triggers (conditions) Every rule has exactly one trigger that decides whether a given document matches:

• Total above threshold — Approval is required when the document total is at or above an amount you set (for example, €1,000). Anything under the threshold goes out without sign-off.
• First document to a new customer — Approval is required only for the first non-draft document sent to a customer who has no prior invoices. Once that customer has history, their documents stop triggering this rule.
• Every document — Every document of that type requires approval, no exceptions. Use this when nothing should go out unreviewed.

Who is notified Choose which role is alerted when a request is created: - Owner — the account owner is notified. - Owner or admin — the team's admins are notified. This is the typical choice.

Regardless of the notification setting, any owner or admin can review and approve a pending request (members cannot).

Quick-start templates The first time you open Approvals, three one-click templates are offered so you don't start from a blank form: "Invoices over [amount]," "First invoice to a new customer," and "Every quote." Each drops a ready-made rule you can tweak — or you can add a fully custom rule instead.

When a document matches a rule, Invotify creates an approval request for it. That request moves through a simple lifecycle, and the document itself shows where it stands.

Pending The request starts as pending the instant a matching invoice or quote is saved. The document is fully saved and editable — it just can't be sent yet. A pending request is created automatically and is idempotent: re-saving the same document won't pile up duplicate requests.

Approved An owner or admin reviews the document and approves it. The request is stamped with who reviewed it and when, plus any comment they left. Sending is now unlocked.

Rejected The reviewer rejects the request instead, optionally with a comment explaining why. Rejection clears the hold — only a *pending* request blocks sending — so the expected follow-up is to fix the document and re-save it, which creates a fresh pending request for review. Treat a rejection as "don't send this as-is," not a permanent lock.

The banner on the document Open any invoice or quote with an approval request and you'll see a banner at the top: - A pending request shows an amber banner naming the rule that triggered it, with Approve and Reject buttons for reviewers. - An approved or rejected request collapses to a small green or red badge so the outcome stays visible without taking over the page.

Send-gating (the 409 block) This is the part that gives approvals teeth. When you try to email an invoice or quote that has a pending request, the server refuses the request and returns a 409 response with the stable error code `APPROVAL_PENDING`. The UI surfaces this as "This document is awaiting approval and cannot be sent yet." The block is enforced on the server for both the invoice and quote send endpoints — you can't bypass it by hitting the API directly. Once the request is approved (or there's no longer a pending request), sending proceeds normally.

Approvals only work if the right people know there's something to review. Whenever a pending request is created, Invotify fires an in-app notification to every eligible approver — so nothing sits silently in a queue.

Who gets notified: - If the rule routes to Owner, the owner is notified. - If the rule routes to Owner or admin, the owner and every admin are notified.

Who is excluded: The person who created the document never receives the approval notification for it — they can't approve their own request anyway, so notifying them would just be noise.

What the notification says: Each approver gets an in-app notification titled "Approval requested," noting that an invoice or quote needs their approval and naming the rule that triggered it. It links straight to the document's detail page, where the approval banner with the Approve and Reject buttons is waiting.

Where notifications appear: Approval notifications show up in the in-app notification center (the bell in the dashboard), alongside your other alerts. Clicking one takes the approver directly to the document so they can act in a couple of clicks.

All approval rules live in Settings → Approvals. This is where owners and admins set up, edit, and remove the rules that govern the whole company.

The Approvals page: - A short "how it works" intro at the top, so anyone landing here understands the feature. - The Rules list, showing each rule with its document type, its trigger (and threshold, if any), and the approver role it routes to. - Quick-start templates when you have no rules yet, so you can stand up a sensible rule in one click.

Creating a rule: Click Add Rule (or pick a quick-start template). Fill in a name, the document type, the trigger, the threshold (for amount rules), and who can approve. Save, and the rule is live immediately — the next matching document will be held.

Editing a rule: Click the edit (pencil) icon on any rule to change its name, document type, trigger, threshold, or approver role. Changes apply to documents saved from then on.

Deleting a rule: Click the delete (trash) icon to remove a rule. Note that deleting a rule also clears the approval requests that referenced it.

Who can manage rules: Creating, editing, and deleting rules is restricted to owners and admins. Members can still be affected by approvals — their documents get held — but they can't change the rules themselves, and they can't approve requests.