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.
Include Requester in Default Approvers
Control whether the requester is included in the default approval chain. By default, the requester is included as the first approver. When this setting is disabled:
The default approval chain starts at the requester's manager instead of the requester
The requester is excluded from the approval workflow (unless they also appear as a default approver or budget owner)
Approval routing proceeds up the management chain from the requester's direct manager
This setting is useful for organizations where requesters should not need to "approve" their own purchase requests, and approvals should go directly to management.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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