Approvals
Approvals in Silkline provide a fast and flexible way to request purchase approvals. This workflow is meant to serve as a speed limit sign—guiding behavior and flagging issues—rather than a spike strip that brings everything to a halt.
The Basics
Here are the need-to-know basics for how Approvals in Silkline work:
Purchase approvals in Silkline are based on the organization structure and approval limits per user
The default routing for a purchase approval begins with the requester (or optionally their manager) and then progresses up the organizational chart until the approver's limit exceeds the order amount.
The buyer can flexibly modify the approval routing by adding, removing, and reordering approval steps.
The only enforced requirement is that at least one approver must have the authority to approve the order.
Even that requirement has a "break-the-glass" option for when approvals happen outside Silklin.e
Setting your Approval Rules
Users with sufficient privileges can set the organization chart and approval limits that define your organization's approval rules.
Default Approval Threshold
Set the approval limit that's used when a user doesn't have a limit specified. If a user has a limit set that's less than the default approval threshold, the user's lower limit will be used. For example, if the default limit is $500, but Joan has a limit of $250, she can only approve orders up to $250.
Reapproval Threshold
Specify a dollar and percent increase threshold. Reapproval is required only when the order total increases and exceeds the configured thresholds. You can configure whether reapproval requires exceeding either threshold (OR logic, default) or both thresholds (AND logic). Orders at or below the thresholds do not require reapproval. Important: Reapproval is never required when an order total decreases.
OR Logic (Either Threshold - Default): Let's say an organization sets reapproval thresholds of 10% or $10,000 with OR logic. The Organization's default approval threshold is $1,000.
Example 1: A $500,000 purchase increases to $520,000. The $20,000 increase is only 4%, but reapproval is required because the increase exceeds $10,000.
Example 2: A $5,000 purchase increases to $6,000. The $1,000 increase is less than $10,000, but reapproval is required because the order increased by 20%.
Example 3: A $250 purchase increases to $750. The $500 increase (200%) exceeds the 10% rule, so re-approval is required. However, at $750, the purchase falls under the organization's $1,000 default approval threshold, allowing the user to self-approve the purchase.
Example 4: A $500,000 purchase decreases to $480,000. No reapproval is required because the order total decreased, even though the change is $20,000 (which would exceed the $10,000 threshold if it were an increase).
AND Logic (Both Thresholds): With the same thresholds (10% and $10,000) but AND logic, reapproval is required only when both thresholds are exceeded:
Example 5: A $500,000 purchase increases to $520,000. The $20,000 increase exceeds the dollar threshold but is only 4% (below 10%), so no reapproval is required.
Example 6: A $5,000 purchase increases to $6,000. The 20% increase exceeds the percent threshold but is only $1,000 (below $10,000), so no reapproval is required.
Example 7: A $100,000 purchase increases to $125,000. The $25,000 increase (25%) exceeds both thresholds, so reapproval is required.
Organization Chart
Specify a reporting structure and dollar value limits for each user. Click the pencil icon next to a user to define their job title, approval limit, and who they report to.
Default Required Approver
Optionally designate a specific user who must approve all orders in your organization, regardless of other approval settings. When a default required approver is set:
This user's approval is required for every order approval workflow to be considered sufficient
The approval threshold rules still apply - there must still be at least one approver with sufficient authority for the order amount
Both conditions must be met: the default approver must approve AND someone with sufficient threshold must approve
Force approvals bypass this requirement (as they bypass all other approval requirements)
This feature is useful for organizations that want to ensure a specific person (such as a CFO or procurement lead) reviews all purchases, while still maintaining approval threshold requirements.
Always Include Requesters in Approval Chain
Control whether requesters with no budget authority are included in the default approval chain. By default, all requesters are included as the first approver. When this setting is disabled:
Requesters with $0 or no approval authority are excluded from the default approval chain
The approval chain starts at the requester's manager instead of the requester
Requesters who have any positive approval authority (greater than $0) are still included in the approval chain
This applies to both explicitly set approval limits and limits inherited from the organization's default approval threshold
Requesters may still appear in the approval workflow if triggered by other rules (e.g., they're a budget owner)
This setting is useful for organizations where requesters without budget authority should not need to "approve" their own purchase requests, and approvals should go directly to management.
Require Signature by Default
Control whether new approvers added to approval workflows automatically have signature capture enabled. When this setting is enabled:
New approvers added to an approval workflow will have the signature requirement turned on by default
Existing approval steps are not affected—this only applies to newly added approvers
Users can still manually toggle the signature setting off for individual approvers if needed
This setting is useful for organizations where most or all approvals should appear as signatures on the finalized purchase order, saving time when setting up approval workflows.
Admin-only Expedited Approvals
Control who can use expedited approval to bypass normal approval requirements. By default, users with the Buyer or Admin role can use expedited approval. When this setting is enabled:
Only users with admin privileges can use expedited approval
Non-admin users will be prevented from using the expedited approval option, even if they normally have the permission
This setting is useful for organizations that want to ensure only the most trusted users can use the "break-the-glass" expedited approval option.
Sending for Approval
Start the approval
When viewing a draft order, click the Send for Approval on the top right of the page. Note: this button will only show if Approvals are activated for your organization.
Select approval steps
The default approval steps are based on your organization's settings and ladder up your org chart until the approval threshold is met. You can flexibly modify the approval steps as needed.
Approver Type Indicators: Each approver displays visual indicators showing their role in the approval process:
Required Approver (red asterisk icon): The organization's default required approver who must approve all orders
Threshold Approver (sitemap icon): Users included based on the organizational reporting structure and approval thresholds
Budget Approver (dollar icon): Budget owners for items on the order, automatically included to review spending against their budgets
Quality Approver (certificate icon): Pedigree approvers assigned to ensure quality standards for specific items
Additional Approver (plus icon): Users manually added to the workflow who don't fall into the above categories (e.g., "cameo" approvers)
Users may have multiple indicators if they serve multiple roles on the order. For example, someone could be both a Budget Approver and an Threshold Approver.
Budget Approvers: If order items are assigned to budgets, the budget owners are automatically included in the default approval chain. Budget approvers appear early in the workflow (after default approvers, before threshold-based approvers) and are labeled as "Budget Approver" in the approval steps. Budget information, including utilization and spending, is displayed in the approval guide to help approvers make informed decisions.
Pedigree/Quality Approvers: If order items have pedigrees (quality requirements) assigned, the designated pedigree approvers are automatically included in the default approval chain to ensure quality standards are met.
We'll warn you if you select an approval routing where none of the approvers have the authority to approve the order, but you can still start the approval process.
Signature Steps: You can mark specific approval steps as "signatures" that will appear on the finalized PO by clicking the signature icon next to an approver. See below for more detail on how signatures work.
Add notes
Add notes or instructions you'd like to share with the approval request. This will be included in the email to the approver.
Send for approval
Send the request for approval by clicking the Send for Approval button. The first approver will be notified immediately. Subsequent approvers, if applicable, will be notified once the prior approval steps have been completed.
Alternatively, users can self-approve or expedite approval.
The order is immediately approved and the current user is recorded as the only approver. This option is available when the current user's approval limit is above the order amount.
The order is immediately approved and the current user is documented as having used this expedited approval option. This option is only available to users with sufficient privileges when they ordinarily would not have the authority to self-approve a purchase.
Approving an Order
When it's your turn for approval, you will receive an email with key details of the order, notes, an overview of the approval steps, and an option to approve directly from that email.
If you have all of the details you need, you can approve in two ways:
Click the Approve button in the email (requires being logged in)
Reply to the email with one of the following approval keywords:
#approved#approve#yes#ok
If you'd like to review the order details or leave a comment in the order's activity feed, click the Review button to view the order.
Once you have approved, the next approver will be notified.
Tip: When replying via email to approve, simply type one of the approval keywords (e.g., #approved) in your reply. The system will automatically extract your approval from the email thread, even if it contains quoted content from previous messages.
Approving early
Although users are only notified when it's their turn to approve, users can approve an order before it's their turn. To do this, navigate to the order in question and click Approve for your step. You can also go to the Approvals page to search and filter across all approvals.
Rejecting an Order
Approvers can reject an order by clicking the "Reject" button on the approval step. This sets the order back to draft and cancels the approval chain. The user must provide a reason for rejection. The buyer for the order will receive an email notification indicating that the order was rejected.
Completing Approvals
An approval is complete when all listed approval steps are complete.
An approval is sufficient when any completed steps have an approval limit above the order amount. If your organization has configured a default required approver, that person must also approve for the workflow to be considered sufficient.
When all steps in an order's approval workflow are complete, the order will automatically be marked as Approved.
Once an order is approved by any approver whose approval limit is above the order amount (and by the default required approver, if configured), the order can be manually moved to the Approved status by using the order state dropdown:
Signatures
Silkline allows any approval step to be displayed as an electronic signature on the purchase order. This is useful when internal or vendor policies require signatures on certain POs. Here's how signatures work:
When sending a PO for approval, click the signature icon
on approval step to use that approval as a signature.Approval steps that are marked as signatures will display a signature badge in the approval workflow
When a PO is released (moved to OPEN status), each signature approval will be written to the PO. The approver's electronic signature, name, and approval date will appear in the "Authorized by:" section on the order web view and PDF
Keep in mind:
Future approval workflows on the same order will replace the existing signatures; these changes are tracked in the audit log
If your organization's reapproval thresholds are such that reapproval is not required for a given PO, new signatures also will not be required
When approving as a delegate on behalf of someone else, the requested approver's signature is displayed on the Purchase Order, not the delegate's
Managing Approvals
A frequent complaint about approval workflows is that it can be hard to see all of the pending approvals requiring your attention or identify where an approval you've requested is blocked.
Silkline's Approvals page makes it easy to monitor approvals and keep them on track. Users can see three tabs:
Waiting on Me – approval requests where you are the current reviewer
Coming Up – approval requests where you are an upcoming reviewer
My Completed – approvals you've already completed
All Approvals – all approvals across all orders
You can identify which approvals someone is blocking by navigating to the All Approvals tab and filtering on Next Approver.
Example: I want to see all orders that are being held up by my Head of Finance
Approval Delegation
Each user can indicate a delegate who may approve on their behalf. This can be particularly useful when an approver is out of the office or has an executive assistant who assists with approvals.
When using approval delegation, the designated individual is copied on approval requests and will see a "Approve as Delegate" button for orders where they are a delegated approver. When a delegate approves on behalf of an original approver, the user completing the approval is recorded.
The applicable approval threshold is based on the original approver's authority, not the delegate. For example, let's say that Connor has an approval limit of $5,000 and Stacey has an approval limit of $10,000. If Stacey designates Connor as her delegate, Connor can approve on behalf of Stacey for up to $10,000. If an approval is requested of Connor directly, his approval limit is $5,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all approval steps need to be complete for an order to be approved?
Nope! An order can be approved when any steps are complete where the approver has an approval limit above the order amount.
Keep in mind that an order won't automatically move to the Approved state until all approval steps are complete.
Can I change approval steps after I send?
Yes! To edit an active approval workflow, navigate to the order and click on the pencil icon at the top right of the approval widget.
If the current step changes as a result of your edits, the new current approver will be notified of the approval request.
Can I re-request approval once someone has already approved?
Yes! To re-request approval, edit the approval workflow and simply remove the approval tag from the corresponding approver(s) 
What is a self-approval, and when should I use this?
A self-approval allows a user to immediately approve the order without starting an approval workflow. This option is only available to users that have an approval limit above the order amount.
What is an expedited approval, and when should I use this?
An expedited approval is a "break-the-glass" option that allows select users to bypass the normal approval limits.
This is useful when:
Relevant approvers have already agreed outside Silkline
The approval is time-sensitive but required approvers are unavailable
When using an expedited approval, the order is immediately approved and the user exercising this option is recorded as having used this option. A reason for using expedited approval is required.
Note: Organizations can restrict expedited approvals to admin users only through the Expedited Approvals setting. When enabled, only users with admin privileges can use this feature, providing an additional safeguard against unauthorized use of this "break-the-glass" option.
What happens if none of the approvers in an approval workflow has the authority to approve an order?
This can happen in several cases:
The order amount changes after an approval workflow has started
Approval limits change after an approval workflow has started
The user starting the approval intentionally sends an incomplete approval workflow – this can be useful if they want to get approvals started
When this occurs, a message like this will be shown:
Order total of $55,000 exceeds highest approval limit of $50,000
In these cases, the order cannot be approved until the workflow is edited to add a qualified approver.
How do approvals work with orders in different currencies?
Approval limits are set in your organization's base currency (configured in Organization Settings). When an order is in a different currency, Silkline automatically converts the order total to your base currency for approval comparisons.
Currency Conversion:
The exchange rate is pinned to the date the order was created
All approval amounts display in your organization's base currency
Approval limits and thresholds are always in your base currency
Example: If your base currency is USD and you have a $10,000 approval limit, you can approve a €9,000 order or a £8,500 order (assuming the exchange rates on the order creation date make them equivalent to less than $10,000 USD).
Important: Changing your organization's base currency does not automatically adjust existing approval limits. You'll need to manually update user approval thresholds if you change your base currency.
What is a default required approver?
A default required approver is a designated user who must approve all orders in your organization, regardless of other approval settings. When set:
This person's approval is required for every order, in addition to meeting the normal approval threshold requirements
Both conditions must be satisfied: the default approver must approve AND someone with sufficient authority for the order amount must approve
Force approvals bypass this requirement (as they bypass all approval requirements)
This is useful when organizations want a specific individual (like a CFO or procurement manager) to review all purchases for oversight purposes, while still maintaining approval authority thresholds.
Where can I see the approval history of an order?
You can view the approval history of an order by clicking on the approval event in the order's activity feed, or from the Approvals page.
Do you support group approvals?
Currently, approvals can only be routed to one individual at a time. Approvers can approve early, but they won't be notified until it's their turn.
Our research shows that group approvals actually slow down approvals because when reviewers know that there are multiple available approvers, each individual approver is less likely to take action.
Can I add a "cameo" approver?
Yes! In some cases you may want to add additional approvers that wouldn't typically be necessary for an approval. In Silkline, you can easily add cameo approvers to document their review.
How do budgets affect approval routing?
When order items are assigned to budgets, the budget owners are automatically added to the approval workflow as "Budget Approvers." This ensures that budget owners can review and approve spending against their budgets.
Key points:
Budget approvers are automatically included in the default approval chain
They appear early in the workflow (after default approvers, before threshold-based approvers)
Budget information, including utilization and spending, is displayed in the approval guide widget
If a budget owner already appears in the approval chain (e.g., as a default approver), they are not duplicated
Budget approvers can be removed or reordered like any other approval step
For more information about budgets, see Budgets.
What is a signature approval step?
A signature approval step is an approval that will be formally documented in the "Authorized by:" section on the order PDF. When setting up an approval workflow, you can mark specific approvers as signatures by clicking the signature icon next to their name.
When to use signatures:
For formal purchase authorizations that need to be documented
When creating records for audit purposes
For approvals that should appear on printed or PDF versions of the order
How it works:
Mark an approval step as a signature when setting up your workflow
The step displays with a signature badge in the approval interface
Once the approver completes their approval, their name and approval date appear in the "Authorized by:" section on the order PDF
Multiple approvers can be marked as signatures if needed
What do the approver type indicators mean?
When selecting approval steps, you'll see visual indicators showing why each approver is included:
Required Approver (red asterisk icon): Your organization's default required approver who must approve all orders
Threshold Approver (sitemap icon): Included based on your organization's reporting structure and approval thresholds
Budget Approver (dollar icon): Budget owner for one or more items on the order
Quality Approver (certificate icon): Pedigree approver ensuring quality standards for specific items
Additional Approver (plus icon): Manually added approver who doesn't fall into the categories above
Some approvers may display multiple indicators if they serve multiple roles. For example, a manager who is also a budget owner would show both the Threshold and Budget indicators.
These indicators help you understand the composition of your approval workflow and ensure all necessary stakeholders are included.
What are pedigree approvers?
Pedigree approvers (also called Quality Approvers) are users designated to review and approve orders containing items with specific quality or compliance requirements. When order items have pedigrees assigned:
The designated pedigree approvers are automatically included in the approval workflow
They appear with a certificate icon to indicate their quality approval role
They review to ensure items meet the required quality standards and specifications
This is useful for organizations that need specialized review for certain types of purchases (e.g., lab equipment, medical supplies, or products requiring specific certifications).
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