Workflows and approvals
How Winlium sends a document for approval, who can approve it, and how an administrator sets up a Workflow Template.
In one minute
A Workflow Template tells Winlium which documents need approval and who approves them. When you submit a document, Winlium finds a matching template, creates one task per approver and waits. The document shows Awaiting Approval until every step is done. If no template matches, what happens depends on the document type (see the table below).
Why Winlium has it
Money and stock should not move on one person's say-so. Templates put a second pair of eyes on large or sensitive documents, and keep a record of who approved, when and why.
How it works in Winlium
- You submit a document.
- Winlium looks at the active templates for that document type, oldest first. The first one whose Trigger Conditions match wins.
- Step 1 starts. Each approver gets a task in My Approvals, a bell notification and (if enabled) an email.
- When a step is satisfied, the next step starts. When the last step is satisfied, the document is approved and its module continues (usually you then post it).
Screenshot pending
New Workflow Template form with Template Details, Trigger Conditions and one approval step
- 1Template Details
- 2Trigger Conditions
- 3Approval Steps
Template Details and Trigger Conditions
| Field | Type | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Text | Yes | Error if empty: "Template name is required". |
| Service | Dropdown | Yes | Picking a service filters the document types. A template saved for a document type that is no longer connected shows under "Other (not yet connected)". |
| Document Type | Dropdown | Yes | Error if empty: "Select a service and document type". Disabled until you choose a service. |
| Description | Text area | No | |
| Active | Yes/No switch | No | Only active templates are matched. You can also switch it on the list page. Default: On |
| Always require approval | Option | No | The template matches every document of this type. This is the default. |
| Trigger Conditions | Option | No | Choose **Only when conditions are met** to show the condition builder. Choose **ALL (AND)** or **ANY (OR)**, then add rows of field, operator and value. |
Condition fields: Total Amount, Document Type, Warehouse, Warehouse Ambiguous (multiple on one document), Department, Branch, Expense Payee Type. Operators: greater than, less than, at least, at most, equals, not equal to, in, not in.
Approval Steps
Select Add Step for each step. A template needs at least one step; otherwise Winlium says "Add at least one approval step".
| Field | Type | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step name | Text | No | If empty, the step is named "Step 1", "Step 2" and so on. |
| Approval type | Dropdown | Yes | Any One, Specific User, By Role and Creator's Manager: the first approval completes the step and the others are cancelled. All Must Approve: every approver must approve. Any OneAll Must ApproveSpecific UserBy RoleCreator's Manager Default: Any One |
| Approvers | User or role picker | No | Pick User or Role for each row. A role means every user holding that role in your company. A person cannot be an approver in two steps of the same template. Select **Add approver** for more. |
| Only run this step when conditions are met | Yes/No switch | No | If the conditions do not match, the step is skipped. |
| Deadline (hours) | Number | No | Sets the due time of each task. Default: 48 |
| Reminder after (hours) | Number | No | The approver gets one reminder after this time, if the task is not yet due. Default: 24 |
| Escalate after (hours) | Number | No | 0 means never. Above 0, the Escalate to field appears. Default: 0 |
| Escalate to | User or role picker | When Escalate after is above 0 | The task is copied to this person. See escalation below. |
| On approve | Dropdown | Yes | Auto-Post finishes the whole approval at this step, even if later steps exist. Notify Only behaves like Next Step today. Next StepAuto-PostNotify Only Default: Next Step |
| On reject | Dropdown | Yes | See the warning below. Return to DraftCancel Document Default: Return to Draft |
| Require comment | Dropdown | Yes | NeverOn RejectAlways Default: On Reject |
| Allow delegation | Yes/No switch | No | Default: On |
| Allow clarification | Yes/No switch | No | Default: On |
Finish with Save Template. On the Workflow Templates list you can switch Active, Edit or Delete a template. Deleting does not affect documents already in approval. Only administrators see these pages.
What approvers can do
On My Approvals, or on the document itself, an approver can Approve, Reject, Request Clarification or Delegate.
- Reject. One rejection from any approver ends the approval. A reason is required unless Require comment is Never.
- Request clarification. The approval pauses and the submitter is asked. The submitter answers with Submit Clarification and the task continues.
- Delegate. The task moves to someone else with the same deadline. You can also plan ahead on Approval Delegations: choose who covers you, the dates and the document types. Tasks then go straight to your delegate.
- Recall. Only the submitter can Recall, and only while nobody has acted on the document yet.
- Bulk. Bulk Approve and Bulk Reject act on several tasks at once.
Who can approve their own document
Winlium blocks it: "You cannot approve a document you submitted". A step that has only the submitter as approver is skipped. Two exceptions: Manufacturing Order and Maintenance Request let the submitter approve their own document. For these, and for an Any One step that includes the submitter, the submitter's own submission completes the step.
Reminders, escalation and notifications
Every 15 minutes Winlium checks open tasks. It sends one reminder, and after the escalation time it marks the task escalated and gives a new task to Escalate to. Both people are notified. Every notification appears in the bell. Emails are sent when switched on in Workflow Email Notifications (all on by default, except Notify submitter as each individual step is approved).
If no template matches
| Document | What happens |
|---|---|
| Expense Claim, Advance Request | Blocked. Error: "No approval workflow matches this expense and no default workflow is configured. Please contact your administrator." (advance requests say "advance request"). A default workflow in Expense Settings is used if set. Small claims under the auto-approve limit skip approval. |
| Supplier Bill, Supplier Payment, Customer Invoice, AR Batch, AP Batch, Goods Receipt Voucher, Stock Adjustment, Statutory Remittance | Stays in Draft (or New) and you may post it. |
| Request for Quotation, Purchase Order, Prospective Vendor, Requisition, Manufacturing Order, Production Yield Adjustment, Prospective Customer, Maintenance Request | Approved automatically. |
| Negative Stock Policy (warehouse or item) | The change is applied at once. |
| Price Update Batch | A company setting decides whether approval is needed. With no template it applies at once. |
Document types you can build a template for
Accounting: Supplier Bill, Supplier Payment, Customer Invoice, AR Batch, AP Batch. Expense: Expense Claim, Advance Request. Procurement: Request for Quotation, Purchase Order, Prospective Vendor Onboarding, Prospective Vendor Restriction/Blacklist. Requisition: Requisition Document. Manufacturing: Production Order, Production Yield Adjustment. Inventory: Negative Stock Policy (Warehouse and Item), Goods Receipt Voucher, Stock Adjustment, Price Update Batch. Sales: Prospective Customer Approval. Compliance: Statutory Remittance. Maintenance: Maintenance Request.
After approval or rejection
| Document | Status while waiting | After reject | After recall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier Bill, Customer Invoice, AR Batch | Pending Approval | Draft | Draft |
| AP Batch | Pending Approval | Rejected | Draft |
| Expense Claim, Advance Request | Pending Approval | Rejected | Draft |
| Purchase Order | Pending Approval | Rejected | Draft |
| Request for Quotation, Requisition | Pending Approval (Requisition: In Progress) | Draft | Draft |
| Goods Receipt Voucher | Pending Approval | New | New |
| Manufacturing Order | Waiting Approval | Rejected | Draft |
| Maintenance Request | Pending Approval | Rejected (can be edited and resubmitted) | Draft |
While a document waits, posting is blocked, for example "Bill is awaiting approval and cannot be posted yet".
Stuck approvals
If a message between services is lost, a document can stay waiting after the approval ended. Winlium repairs this every 10 minutes for Request for Quotation, Purchase Order, Prospective Vendor and Requisition. It asks the approval engine for the real result and applies it. Manufacturing Order repairs itself when you open it. Other types have no repair job; ask your administrator.
Example
Example only. Kemi submits supplier payment SPP0042 for ₦1,250,000.00. The template, called Supplier payments over ₦1M, has the condition Total Amount greater than 1000000. Step 1 is Finance manager (Any One). Step 2 is MD sign-off (All Must Approve, two directors). Mr Bello approves step 1 on 06 Oct 2026. Both directors approve step 2. The payment is approved and Kemi posts it. A ₦400,000.00 payment matches no template and posts directly.
Where it applies
- Setup: Workflow Templates and Workflow Email Notifications in Administration.
- Daily work: My Approvals and Approval Delegations.
- Modules: Accounting, Expense, Purchase, Requisition, Manufacturing, Inventory, Sales, Compliance and Maintenance. For expenses see Expense. Related: Working with approvals and Roles and permissions.
Common mistakes
- Creating a template but leaving Active off. It is never matched.
- Two active templates for one document type with overlapping conditions. The oldest wins.
- Putting the same person in two steps. Winlium greys them out.
- Choosing a role with no users, which silently skips the step.
- Expecting Cancel Document to cancel a rejected document.
- Asking to recall after an approver has acted: "Cannot recall — an approver has already actioned this document".