The Rule Type determines how Sage Intacct identifies the appropriate approver and how the approval request is routed. When creating a purchasing approval policy, you can choose from different rule types depending on whether approval is based on the purchase amount, the employee submitting the transaction, or the department selected on the transaction.
Value-based approval rules are useful when an organization wants to establish approval limits based on the monetary value of a purchasing transaction. They can also support department-specific approval structures, where different departments have different approval limits or approvers.
The following value-based rule types are available:
- Value Approval
- Value Approval – Progressive
- Value Approval – Department
- Value Approval – Transaction Department
Value Approval and Value Approval – Progressive are permission-level value approvals.
Value Approval – Department and Value Approval – Transaction Department are department-based value approvals.
Value Approval
Value Approval routes approval requests based on the purchase amount. The rule defines the approval levels and the purchase amount associated with each level.
With Value Approval, the request is sent directly to the approval level that applies to the purchase amount. The approval does not begin at Level 1 and then move through each level. Instead, Sage Intacct evaluates the purchase amount and identifies the appropriate approval level.
For example, if the value approval rule is configured as follows:
- Up to 5,000 — Level 1
- 5,001 to 25,000 — Level 2
- Above 25,000 — Level 3
If a Purchase Order is submitted for 15,000, the purchase amount falls within the Level 2 range. The approval request is therefore routed directly to the users who have permission to approve at Level 2.
Value Approval is useful when approval authority needs to be determined by the value of the transaction. It is especially suitable when the same approval limits apply across departments and the organization does not need approval routing to change based on the employee’s department or the department selected on the transaction.
The value approval rule determines the number of approval levels and the approval amount associated with each level. You can configure up to six levels for permission-level value approvals. Users who have purchasing approval permission for a specific level can approve transactions routed to that level.
For example, an organization may configure the following levels:
- Level 1 — Up to 5,000
- Level 2 — 5,001 to 25,000
- Level 3 — 25,001 to 50,000
- Level 4 — 50,001 to 100,000
- Level 5 — 100,001 to 250,000
- Level 6 — Above 250,000
The actual approval limits and users assigned to each level should be configured according to the organization’s approval requirements and delegation-of-authority structure.
Users who are restricted to specific entities or departments may not receive notifications for Value Approval, even when their email notification preferences are enabled. When troubleshooting a missing approval notification, review the user’s purchasing approval permissions as well as any entity or department restrictions.
Value Approval – Progressive
Value Approval – Progressive also routes approval requests based on the purchase amount, but the approval process works differently from standard Value Approval.
With Value Approval – Progressive, the approval process begins at Level 1 and moves through each applicable approval level until the purchase amount falls below the threshold for the next level.
The value approval rule defines the approval levels and the amount associated with each level.
For example, the rule may be configured as:
- Level 1 — 5,000
- Level 2 — 25,000
- Level 3 — 50,000
The approval process starts at Level 1 and then continues through the applicable levels based on the purchase amount.
This type of approval is useful when an organization requires progressive or sequential approval for higher-value purchases. In this model, a higher-value transaction may need to be reviewed and approved by multiple levels rather than being sent directly to a single approval level.
The key difference between Value Approval and Value Approval – Progressive is how the request moves through the approval levels.
For Value Approval, the request is sent directly to the level that matches the purchase amount.
For Value Approval – Progressive, the request starts at Level 1 and continues through the applicable approval levels until the required threshold is reached.
For example, consider the following configuration:
- Level 1 — 5,000
- Level 2 — 25,000
- Level 3 — 50,000
Under standard Value Approval, Sage Intacct evaluates the transaction amount and routes the request directly to the applicable approval level.
Under Value Approval – Progressive, the transaction starts at Level 1 and continues through the applicable levels.
This distinction should be considered carefully when setting up an approval policy because the two rule types can result in different approval experiences for the same transaction.
As with Value Approval, users who are restricted to specific entities or departments may not receive notifications for Value Approval – Progressive, regardless of their email notification preferences.
Value Approval – Department
Value Approval – Department routes approval requests based on two factors:
- The department of the employee submitting the transaction
- The purchase amount
This approval type is useful when different departments have different approval requirements or approval limits. For example, an organization may use one approval structure for the IT department and a different structure for Finance or Administration.
The value approval rule assigned to each department, or the default value approval rule when a department does not have a specific rule, determines the approval levels and the amount limits for each approver.
A rule set is used to manage these department-specific value approval rules.
A rule set can include:
- A default value approval rule
- One or more value approval rules for specific departments
The default value approval rule applies to departments that do not have their own specific value approval rule.
For example, an organization may configure the default rule as:
- Up to 5,000 — Manager
- 5,001 to 25,000 — Director
- Above 25,000 — CFO
The IT department may have a separate rule:
- Up to 10,000 — IT Manager
- 10,001 to 50,000 — IT Director
- Above 50,000 — CFO
If an employee from the IT department submits a 20,000 Purchase Order, the approval routing is based on the IT department’s value approval rule.
The key point is that Value Approval – Department uses the department of the employee submitting the transaction.
The approval flow can be summarized as:
Employee → Employee’s Department → Department Value Approval Rule → Approval
This makes Value Approval – Department useful when approval responsibility should follow the employee’s organizational department.
Approval routing starts with the first applicable approver and continues to the subsequent approvers based on the approval amounts configured in the applicable department rule.
Value Approval – Transaction Department
Value Approval – Transaction Department is similar to Value Approval – Department, but it uses a different department to determine the approval routing.
For Value Approval – Department, routing is based on the department of the employee submitting the transaction.
For Value Approval – Transaction Department, routing is based on the department selected on the purchasing transaction.
This distinction is important when employees create purchasing transactions on behalf of departments other than their own.
For example, an employee may belong to the Administration department but create a Purchase Order for the IT department. If IT is selected as the transaction department, Value Approval – Transaction Department uses the IT department’s approval rule to determine the appropriate approvers.
The approval process can therefore be summarized as:
Transaction Department → Department Value Approval Rule → Purchase Amount → Approval
The value approval rule assigned to the selected department, or the default value approval rule when that department does not have a specific rule, determines the approval levels and the amount limits for each approver.
Approval routing starts with the first applicable approver and continues to the next approvers until the purchase amount falls below the threshold for the next approval level.
Only one department can be selected per transaction when using Value Approval – Transaction Department.