Draw approval workflows control who must approve a draw before it can be billed. Route draws by amount, job, cost code, account, or class.
To approve a draw once workflows are set up, see Approving draws.
1. Understand draw statuses
The Draws page has four tabs:
Draft: Draws you are still building.
For approval: Draws waiting on one or more approvers.
For payment: Draws that are fully approved.
All: Draws across every status.
A draw in For approval never syncs to QuickBooks. It can sync once it is approved and reaches For payment.
2. Open approval workflow settings
Go to Automations.
Open the Approvals tab.
This page lists your workflows and fallback workflows. From here you can add, edit, copy, deactivate, or delete a workflow.
3. Create a draw approval workflow
Click Add workflow.
Enter a Title.
Under Applies to, select Draws.
4. Add workflow conditions
Conditions decide which draws the workflow applies to. Draws support these conditions:
Amount
Cost code
Job
Account
Class, if class tracking is on for your company
For example, you can route every draw over a set amount to a company admin, or route draws on one job to that job's project manager.
Note: Vendor, vendor type, and budget conditions are not available for draws. Those conditions apply to bills, expenses, and purchase orders.
5. Choose approvers
Under The following people should approve the transaction, choose the rule for the first step:
Require all: Every selected approver must approve the draw.
Require either: Any one selected approver can approve the draw.
Auto-approve: Draws matching this workflow are approved automatically.
Then select the users or roles.
Note: Auto-approve can only be used as the first step, and you cannot combine it with more approval steps.
6. Add more approval steps
Use Add step when a draw needs more than one round of approval. For example:
Step 1: Require either the project manager or the bookkeeper.
Step 2: Require all company admins.
Adaptive routes the draw through each step in order. The draw stays in For approval until every required step is complete.
7. Save the workflow
Click Save. Adaptive asks whether to apply the workflow to All existing drafts or Only new transactions. The first evaluates draws already in Draft; the second applies the workflow going forward only.
8. Create a fallback workflow
A fallback workflow is the default approval path for draws that match no other workflow. To create one:
Go to Automations.
Open the Approvals tab.
Find the fallback workflow section.
Click Add fallback workflow.
Under Applies to, select Draws.
Select the users or roles who should approve unmatched draws.
Click Save.
Important: Without a fallback workflow, a draw that matches no workflow is approved automatically the moment someone sends it for approval. It moves straight to For payment with no review.
9. Restart approvals when a draw is edited
By default, editing a draw that is waiting for approval keeps the approvals it already has. To clear them instead, go to Automations, find Approval settings, and turn on If a user edits a draw, restart the approval workflow.
With the setting on, an edit clears every approval already given, and each approver must approve again.
10. Edit or turn off a workflow
To change a workflow, open it from the Approvals tab and edit the title, conditions, or approvers. To stop a workflow from applying, edit it and set it to Inactive. Delete it if you no longer need it.
11. Troubleshoot workflow issues
If a draw goes to the wrong approver, check:
The workflow's Applies to value is set to Draws.
The workflow conditions match the draws you intended.
The approver step uses the correct users or roles.
A fallback workflow is not routing unmatched draws unexpectedly.
Two workflows do not overlap in a way that changes the approval path.
The approver has permission to view and approve the draw.
If a draw was approved with no review, it matched no workflow. Add a fallback workflow, or widen the conditions on an existing workflow.
Managing workflows needs the Manage approval workflows permission. Admins can update roles and permissions under Settings → People.
If you have questions that aren't answered in our Knowledge Base, please reach out to us at [email protected].