Feature Availability

Vtiger Editions: One Pilot | One Growth | One Professional | One Enterprise | One AI

Introduction

Approvals for Inventory ensure that transactions involving products, pricing, and financial commitments are reviewed and authorized before being finalized. This helps your business maintain pricing control, prevent revenue leakage, and enforce compliance with internal policies.

You can configure approvals for key Inventory modules, including Quotes, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, and Invoices. When a predefined condition is met (for example, a discount exceeds a threshold), the system automatically sends a record to the designated approver for approval.

Approval Process for Inventory

The following are the steps involved in approving Inventory records: 

• An approval rule is configured in the required Inventory module.
• Conditions are defined (for example, discount > 10% and total value > $50,000).
• An approver (a manager or a role-based user) is assigned.
• When the condition is met, the record is sent for approval.
• The approver can approve or reject the record.  the record.
• Once approved, the record proceeds to the next stage of the sales or procurement cycle.

Key Features

The key features of Approvals for Inventory are:

• Condition-based approval rules
• Role-based or user-based approver assignment
• Automatic record locking during approval
• Approval history tracking for audit purposes
• Multi-level approval configuration (if required)

Benefits

The benefits of using approvals in the inventory process are: 

• Enforcing discount and pricing policies
• Preventing unauthorized changes to financial documents
• Maintaining audit trails for compliance
• Reducing financial risks
• Improving accountability across sales and procurement teams

In this article, you will learn about:

• Approving inventory records
• Approval examples for different Inventory modules

Key Terminology

Approvals for the Inventory Modules

Quotes Approvals

The following table lists the Quotes module fields that may require Approval:

Example Scenario: As a sales representative, you create a Quote with a 15% discount for a customer. The company policy allows only up to 10% without manager approval.

Approval Flow:

• Condition: Discount > 10%
• Approver: Sales Manager
• Action: Quote is locked until approved
• Outcome: Once approved, the Quote can be shared with the customer

This ensures pricing discipline and margin protection.

Sales Orders Approval

The following table lists the Sales Order module fields that may require Approval:

Example Scenario: A Sales Order exceeds ₹10,00,000 in total value.

Approval Flow:

• Condition: Grand Total > ₹10,00,000
• Approver: Regional Sales Head
• Action: Order cannot proceed to fulfillment until approved
• Outcome: Approved order moves to the delivery/fulfillment stage

This prevents large financial commitments without visibility into management.

Purchase Orders Approval

The following table lists the Purchase Order module fields that may require Approval:

Example Scenario: A Purchase Order is created for a new vendor or exceeds the approved procurement budget.

Approval Flow:

• Condition: PO Amount > ₹5,00,000
• Approver: Procurement Manager or Finance Head
• Action: PO remains pending until approved
• Outcome: Approved PO is sent to the vendor

This controls procurement spending and avoids unauthorized purchases.

Invoices Approval

The following table lists the Invoices module fields that may require Approval:

Example Scenario: An Invoice is generated with special pricing adjustments or tax modifications.

Approval Flow:

• Condition: Manual price override applied
• Approver: Finance Manager
• Action: Invoice cannot be finalized or sent to the customer
• Outcome: After approval, the invoice is officially issued

This ensures financial accuracy and tax compliance.

References

• Approvals in Vtiger CRM
• Approval Process for Quote Discounts