What is the Approval Module?
The Approval Module is where you, as an attestant, approve, reject, or forward vouchers and payments that have been sent to you for attestation. The module provides a consolidated overview of everything awaiting your action.
For information about what attestation is and how to set it up, see the article Setting up attestation of vouchers and payments.
Activate the module
The Approval Module is not installed by default and must be activated before use. Go to Administration → Modules and integrations → Modules, find Approvals and click Install.
After installation, you will find the module under Approvals in the main menu.
The overview
At the top you will find two filters:
Filter: All types – show everything, or filter by Vouchers only or Payments only
All attestants – show everything, or filter by a specific attestant
The module has five tabs:
For approval – vouchers and payments awaiting your approval
Rejected – items you have rejected
Forwarded – items you have forwarded to another person
Approved – items you have approved
All – full overview regardless of status
The For approval tab shows the columns Description, Customer/Supplier/Recipient, Approver, Voucher, Invoice date, Due date, and Amount. The other 4 tabs also show Status and Message.
The VOUCHER column shows what the item is:
Voucher for attestation – a voucher (e.g. an invoice) awaiting attestation
Payment for attestation – a payment awaiting attestation; the voucher link is not shown until the payment is approved
Voucher draft – a voucher in draft status
Payroll payment – a payroll disbursement from the payroll system
Single payment – a direct payment without an associated invoice
The progress bar below the voucher name shows where in the attestation flow the item is. Hover over the bar to see who has approved and who is still waiting.
Approving a voucher or payment
Click on the item in the list to open it.
Go to the Attestation tab to see who is set up as attestants, and the status for each person: For approval (pending) or Approved.
At the bottom, Note! Waiting for approval from (x/y) is shown when not all attestants have approved yet.
Click Approve to attest. You can add a message that is saved in the history.
Once all required attestants have approved, the payment can be confirmed and signed with BankID. Until then, the payment is locked.
Note: If Wait for approved voucher is enabled in the Bank settings, the payment will also be blocked as long as the associated voucher has not been fully attested – regardless of whether the payment attestants are ready to approve. If this setting is inactive, the payment can be attested and sent to the bank even if voucher attestation is not yet complete.
Rejecting an item
Click the comment button or Reject and enter a reason. The item moves to the Rejected tab and is returned for correction. The attestation flow restarts when it is resubmitted.
Note: Comments from a previous attestation round are no longer shown directly on the item after it is resubmitted, but remain visible in the history.
Forwarding
Click Forward to delegate the approval to another user. The item moves to the Forwarded tab for you.
What does an attestant see?
A user with attestation access only will see the Approval Module when they log in, without access to the rest of the accounting module. Access is managed under Administration → Users and access groups.
Accountants and users with access to the Accounting or Bank module do not need the Approval Module to follow up on attestation. They can find vouchers pending attestation directly under Accounting → Attestation, and payments under Bank → Attestation. Both views have an attestant filter, making it easy to see what is pending across all attestants.
Frequently asked questions
I see a red notification in the module, but no pending approvals.
Try refreshing the browser and clearing browser cookies. The notification will then disappear.
A payment is stuck and cannot be cancelled or deleted.
Contact Catacloud support. A payment can end up in a locked state if the attestation flow is interrupted mid-change. Support can unlock it manually.
The attestant cannot see which bank account the payment is charged to.
Access to the bank module is required to see the account number on payments under attestation. This is a known limitation.
Can I attest multiple vouchers at once?
Yes, you can check several items in the list view and attest them all at once.